Walking in the Park and Reminiscing

I spent time yesterday along a little river in Rochester, Minnesota, walking in the park and reminiscing.

During my Alby Materials tenure (1992-2003), Independence Day usually found me taking long, solitary walks while working my way through the framework for the company's next annual marketing plan.?

I was likely an uncommon sight, mutter things like:

“The purpose of our marketing is to profitably serve an increasing base of repeat and referral customers.

“We will achieve our purpose through an integrated program of engineering the customer experience; emphasizing our logistics, technical, and production mastery; demonstrating our passion and technical expertise; asking for repeat and referral business; partnering with others; and making it easy for customers to find and connect with us.”

“Market segments to be served include infrastructure … (including flowable fill, grout, and open-graded aggregate applications), and agricultural, aviation, commercial, educational, governmental, health care, industrial, institutional, and residential ready-mix markets.”

“Our ideal customers include builders, business owners, contractors (including bridge, curb-and-gutter, flatwork, footings, foundation, geotechnical, landscape, masonry, parking lot, pavement, and roofing), developers, excavators, farmers, GCs, home owners, architects, engineers, and facility and property managers.”

“Our chief competitive advantage is our intense customer focus.?No ready-mixed concrete supplier cares more, works harder, or invests like we do to ensure employee, customer, and project success.”

“Our marketplace identity:?Ready-mix concrete is our passion.?Our team loves what it does and maintains an energized, enduring drive to perform well – on every project, in every identified market segment, for every customer.”

“Specific marketing tools we will employ will include?(usually a long, A-Z laundry-list of marketing tools … ‘association involvement’ to ‘Zippo lighter promotional products give-aways’).”

“Our after-sales strategy: Significant investments in customer success, including post-sale strategies, keep-in-touch programs (newsletter, direct mail, customer surveys), customer education efforts (Alby University, trade show education programs, and the Humaneering Seminar), the Construction Career Connection, and cooperative customer marketing support."

My mutterings did not include financial resources required for investing in customer acquisition and retention efforts.?I saved those (important) details – and the development of the annual marketing plan calendar – for office work following the Independence Day break.

New Twist to an Old Custom

In 2003, my solitary-walk custom took a different direction.?I had always wanted to start my own enterprise before I turned 50.?

I had the best job in the world: Promoting ready-mixed concrete for Alby Materials and its customers.?Yet I spent that July 4th penning my resignation letter.?

It worked out okay.?I still mutter (a lot, per my wife), but 18-years later, as one of construction's go-to-guys for marketing and business communication support, my Phill Domask Consultancy continues to help construction professionals earn decent returns on the time, money, and efforts they invest in their work.

If you are struggling to grow your construction enterprise, a long, solitary walk may be in order. Think about the purpose of your marketing, how you can achieve it, what market segment(s) you will serve, your ideal customers, your chief competitive advantage, your marketplace identity, the specific marketing tools you will employ to achieve your marketing purpose, and your after sales strategy.

Happy Independence Day, and continued success.

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