Choosing a full service agency that is prepared to get dirty could make all the difference to your marketing, especially if you’re in the construction industry.

At a recent meeting with a prospective construction industry client, we were asked, “Would you be prepared to attend some of our installer training courses?”

A simple question, and one to which our answer was a definite, “Of course!”.

What surprised us was the marketing manager’s delight at the answer. “You wouldn’t believe the trouble we have had trying to get some agencies to attend the courses,” we were told. It appears that most agencies simply aren’t prepared to get their hands dirty, or risk a broken nail.

As a full service, integrated marketing agency that is deeply entrenched in the construction industry, our work has seen us don helmets, boots, gloves, protective eye-wear and hi-vis vests to climb scaffolding, scale ladders, enter formwork climbing systems, be swung over a canal by a crane and descend into pipeline trenches.

We’ve been as high as 40-storeys and as low as 30 metres. Why would a simple training course be a challenge?

Our view is that we will do whatever it takes to gain knowledge of our client’s products and services, or obtain the perfect camera angle for stills and video, even if it does mean getting down and dirty!

In addition, by undertaking site visits, experiencing the challenges of product installation and talking to customers, specifiers, site operatives and project managers, we are able to enhance our understanding of the markets in which our client operates and provide a much more informed, and effective, service when it comes to creating all forms of marketing communications.

The approach gives us first-hand experience of the processes involved in the selection and application of our clients’ products and informs copywriting, design and delivery methods. It can even provide the client with new perspectives for product and service development.

So, next time you’re considering an agency that claims to be experts in construction industry marketing, ask them how dirty they’re prepared to get!