| Greetings!
In this issue of the Competitive Advantage newsletter we have details of two new publications in the Sustainability arena which are of importance to the whole industry. We also have some suggestions to help you minimise the cost of marketing and improve communication effectiveness.
I hope you find this edition of the Competitive Advantage newsletter interesting. If you have any comments or questions please email me using the link at the end. |
| Sustainability Strategy |
This month sees the publication of two long awaited documents relating to sustainability.
On the 11th June the Government published its Strategy for Sustainable Construction. "This represents a commitment from the industry to work towards the Government's vision by reducing its carbon footprint and its consumption of natural resources, while creating a safer and stronger industry by training and retaining a skilled and committed workforce. It lays out specific actions by industry and by Government which will contribute to the achievement of overarching targets within each of the main areas covered by the sustainability agenda". It is an important document which will have an impact on all aspects of the construction industry. The report advises that the Products and Materials Division of Defra has started work on three construction roadmaps for materials covering Plasterboard, Toilets and Window Systems. It is also intended that 25% of materials used by 2012 will be from recognised sustainable sourcing schemes.
The long awaited BRE Green Guide to Specification Online is also now available, simply visit their website and register. You can then view the ratings and see how your products are rated. A hard copy version will be available later in the year.
Recognising the importance of sustainability, Competitive Advantage is introducing a new quarterly survey - Sustainability Watch. We will be reporting feedback from Sustainability Consultants and Architects about their level of activity designing sustainable buildings and their attitudes to sustainability and different types of material.
You can still purchase our report "The Influence of the Sustainability Consultant" and the database of sustainability consultants.
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| Value for Money Marketing |
I recently presented at a Chartered Institute of Marketing seminar on Value for Money Marketing. My presentation was an extract from one of my open training courses, and listed sources of free market information. You can get the links for these information sources from the Information page of the Competitive Advantage web site. |
| How specifiers use the Web |
Finding the most effective means of communicating with customers is always a challenge. Some recently published information from ESI research shows that 44% of construction specifiers and buyers now use the internet as their main source of information for products they have not sourced before. Google is the most popular search engine, being used by 90%, the next most popular is Yahoo which is used by only 6% of buyers. The research includes information on the features used and required for the ESI Directories, but many of these points will have equal relevance to the design of your company's own technical literature and web sites. There are two research reports available for download from the ESI website.
· Information Sourcing in 2007
· ESI Product Development Buyer Feedback |
