Review of the Construction Industry Marketing Day

A group of people listen intently to a presentation on construction marketing topic.

The construction industry is experiencing a productivity boost thanks to digitalisation: At the end of September, numerous well-known companies in the construction industry accepted the Ruess Group’s invitation to the first Construction Industry Marketing Day. “Digitalisation” was the buzzword for the event, where nine speakers from a wide range of disciplines took a close look at the digital transformation of the construction industry and marketing. Co-organiser of the top-class event was the Bauverlag publishing house which, with 17 specialist magazines, is one of the major mouthpieces of the construction industry. Publisher Michael Voss and Katja Reich, the new editor-in-chief of DBZ (Deutsche BauZeitschrift), enriched the event with their insights into the publishing world.

Review of the Construction Industry Marketing Day

Marketing managers from world-renowned companies such as Assa Abloy (security technology), from leading building communication technology company S. Siedle & Söhne or from façade specialist seele met at the Ruess Group’s agency offices in Stuttgart’s West End to discuss digital transformation.

Markus Eiberger, Project Partner at the consultancy firm in the construction and real estate sector Drees & Sommer, reported in his opening speech on the advantages of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the associated transformation of the construction industry. Eiberger pointed out that the construction sector, compared to other branches of industry such as mechanical engineering or agriculture, is still very “undigitalised” and therefore extremely unproductive. “This will change a lot in the coming years with BIM or the increased use of 3D printing,” of this Markus Eiberger is certain. The value chains of the construction industry will also change with digitalisation. There are already many new players (start-ups) on the market today, and large digital groups such as Google, IBM and Alibaba from China are also expanding their activities in the construction industry.

The event was brilliantly organised and the participants as well as the lectures were very inspiring.

Markus Eiberger, Project Partner at Drees & Sommer

Markus Rahner moderates a lecture on the topic of construction marketing.
Markus Rahner moderates a lecture on the topic of construction marketing.

The Construction Industry Marketing Day was moderated by Markus Rahner, Managing Partner of the Ruess Group.

nsights behind the scenes of the presentations on construction marketing.
nsights behind the scenes of the presentations on construction marketing.

Katja Reich, the new editor-in-chief of DBZ (Deutsche BauZeitschrift), enriched the event with her insights into the publishing world. // Steffen Ruess, Managing Partner of the Ruess Group marketing agency, spoke about the opportunities of digitalisation in marketing.

Knowing and reaching target groups

Digitalisation also brings with it major changes for marketing – as well as new opportunities. Event hosts Steffen Ruess and Markus Rahner, both Managing Partners of Stuttgart-based marketing agency Ruess Group, highlighted this fact several times. Above all, the evaluation possibilities of digital channels can be used to generate knowledge about the customer – a new field, especially for B2B companies, since they usually do hardly any market research. With manageable analytical effort, marketing managers today can determine how customers and prospects react to brands and products. Customer knowledge therefore returns to the communications department and with it a new level of customer centricity. Steffen Ruess is convinced that in the B2B sector it is necessary for communication and sales to increasingly act as a team throughout the customers’ purchase decision process.

The co-organiser of the Marketing Day, Bauverlag, also discussed how to reach the target groups in the construction industry – such as architects and planners – In the age of digitalisation. Katja Reich, editor-in-chief of the DBZ architectural journal, in tandem with Sarah Centgraf – Head of Digital Innovation at Bauverlag – explained the channels through which a publishing house reaches and inspires its readers today. For Katja Reich, it is clear that print is still important and (for the moment) the core product of the DBZ media brand. A high-quality magazine stands for relevance and communication with the reader eye to eye. Over and above print editions, activities such as newsletters, websites and events are becoming increasingly important. The communication formats are currently supplemented by webinars and podcasts.

The mix of stakeholders and therefore the topics covered on the Marketing Day provided me as a marketing professsional, who is new to the construction industry, with exciting and relevant insights. I would be happy to participate again!

Daniela Konicki, Marketing Manager müllerblaustein Holzbauwerke

Best practice insights

In an extremely entertaining lecture, Markus Kirchmair, Head of Marketing Prolicht, highlighted the successful interaction of offline and online marketing measures. The Tyrolean lighting manufacturer mainly uses its impressive presence at trade fairs as a lead generation machine, but cleverly links these with supporting digital communication measures on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Even print documents with a high-quality tactile design continue to make a significant contribution to the marketing mix at Prolicht. Especially in communication on social media channels, Prolicht’s quick reaction time combined with daring to publish humorous content pays off successfully. Markus Kirchmair also gave the guests some insight into the agile working methods of the team and the marketing tools used.

Insights behind the scenes of the presentations on construction marketing.

Markus Eiberger, Project Partner Drees & Sommer, reported on the advantages of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the digital transformation of the construction industry. // Markus Kirchmair, Head of Marketing at Prolicht, highlighted the successful interaction of offline and online marketing measures in his entertaining lecture.

Diverse topics

In the further course of the Marketing Day, Monika Agler, Managing Director of film production teamWerk and Prof. Christoph Runde, Managing Director of Virtual Dimension Center Fellbach, shared tips and trends on the topic of moving images, and explained current developments in virtual, augmented and mixed reality. The instructive afternoon was concluded by David Krebs from Messe München, who spoke about trade fairs in times of digital transformation and presented new trade fair formats and lead generation tools.

Until well into the evening, the close to 30 participants discussed what they had heard and seen. They agreed that formats based on exchange such as the Marketing Day are very fruitful for their daily work.

People stand together in groups and talk about construction marketing.

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