"We don't really need to market" — really?

· 3 Comments

Liz Kupcha is facing the reality of a business start-up in her efforts to provide marketing consulting services for the AEC industry.  One of the pioneers in the social networking space (she had a presence within LinkedIn and other social networking sites long before the great masses found their way to the space) and with a leadership role in the SMPS Long Island Chapter she should be able to find a place in the marketing space.

But who said a business start-up is easy, especially in a recession environment.  So, she reports in her blog, she picked up the phone and sought some business.  I’m not sure if the calls she made were truly cold or were reconnections with existing clients, but the excuses for “not interested” still tell us a lot about the state of marketing in the AEC community.

  • “We only work for the State.” Heellloooo…have you read a paper lately? The State doesn’t have any money.
  • “We don’t do any marketing.” How do you get work?
  • “We’re a small firm.” Yeah and…how do you pay your employees?
  • “The economy is bad so we’re not doing much marketing.” Maybe I’m the victim of misinformation but I was taught that when things are slow, that’s the time to step up the marketing efforts.
  • “The phone just rings for us.” What happens when it stops? What will you do then?

Kupcha writes:

I learned that companies have their respective thoughts (as misguided as I might find them) about the “necessity” for marketing or what constitutes “marketing.” I was trained that marketing consists of various activities that are conducive to a firm securing work. Some firms will openly embrace an assortment of items within a “marketing mix” while others will focus on one or two activities and be dismissive of the rest.

I’m not going to call folks out and say they’re wrong and I’m right but quite frankly, I fear for the futures of firms that keep all of their eggs in one basket.

I agree with Liz.  The paradox I’ve observed (and I’m sure she will also see) is that the people who need our marketing/consulting services the least are the ones most likely to be willing to pay for them.  In other words, they already “get it” and are looking for incremental rather than fundamental change in their approaches, and see our advice as worthwhile.

I also hope that Liz, in developing her business, is focusing her own marketing efforts close to home with respect for existing relationships and connections.  Going out in the wild cold world is tough especially in the AEC community’s relationship-focused world.

I’ve added her worthy blog to the Construction Blogs listings.  If you are in New York, you may also find value in attending her upcoming seminars/programs, referenced here.

  • http://www.kupchamkt.com Liz Kupcha

    Thanks for the plug Mark. The one thing that I didn’t include was a comment that somebody made to me when he said that he’s not looking to change his approach to marketing. Not for nothing that might’ve worked for years but with increased competition, firms need to not only rethink their respective approaches but find other ways to give themselves a stronger competitive advantage.

  • http://ConstructionMarketingIdeas admin

    Liz, you are certainly correct about the point you make in your comment. Of course, marketing is about getting people to “change” and that is a hard thing to do — anytime. So somehow we must relate our approaches to what the potential clients “want” even though it may not always be logical. This is easier said than done, of course.

  • http://www.brandconstructors.com/ Perryn Olson

    My response is, “You don’t want to be in business do you?” That’s an amazing question that can’t believe people ask. Sometimes I will even ask, “Do you want to work less and get more money for it?” Marketing can build your market share and recognition to the point that better clients come to you (“the phone just rings”) and you can charge these larger clients more money for your more valued services.