Greetings!
As the recession bites, budgets will come under pressure and Competitive Advantage's aim is to develop free or low cost services to help you get the best value from your spend. In this edition we have a number of suggestions to help you. |
| Delivering budget value |
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Marketing Communications
You may be looking at where to cut your marketing spend and to help you decide we have just published our report Specifier Communication Channels. Some very useful reports have been published in the past by RIBA and CMP, but nothing for a few years. This report is impartial with most questions unprompted. You can read my review Architect Communications or, if you invest in advertising, PR, web sites, literature, product directories, exhibitions or CPD why not purchase the report which is only £250.
Benchmarking Club
Wouldn't it be useful to know what the industry average spend is on marketing and sales? Especially when trying to justify your own budgets. To help sales and marketing managers with their decision making we are setting up a free benchmarking club. Information will be collected anonymously on a quarterly basis, consolidated and then circulated to participants. I hope you would like to participate or learn more.
Interim Managers
Sadly a number of our clients have been made redundant, and although we are not a recruitment agency we do see this as an opportunity for everyone. If you have a project that needs progressing, or need someone on an interim or part time basis please contact us. There is a growing pool of experienced individuals to help you with your projects without the need for a long term commitment. |
 Using Sustainability to Sell |
Despite the economic recession, we can expect sustainability to remain a key criteria in building design. This is good news for the manufacturer who can expect products to be selected on their sustainable credentials at an early stage of the design process, and once carbon footprints have been calculated and submitted to Planning, designers will be reluctant to go back and change their designs - reducing the incidence of specification switching. We are seeing an increase in the number of sustainability consultants working in architects' practices and this provides an important opportunity to create demand. To help you understand this opportunity Competitive Advantage conduct Sustainability Watch providing a quarterly report on changes and developments. The next survey will be conducted shortly and at just £300 this can provide valuable information to you and your sales team. See the web page for details of a special offer. |
 Housebuilder Meltdown |
At their recent forecasting conference the CPA told us that we can expect house building to decline by 24.1% in 2008, with a further fall of 6.8% in 2009 before it shows growth of 8.5% in 2010. Depressing news. But as the market starts to level from its dramatic fall earlier this year it is a good idea to monitor progress. Housebuilder Watch provides a quarterly report on private sector Starts and Sales, by region as well as reporting on property mix. The October edition has just been published and it indicates some interesting changes to the mix of dwellings being constructed. Learn more by subscribing or purchase a copy online for £300. |
| Free Industry Report |
A new service, the Glenigan Index has been launched, which includes a free monthly report on the state of the industry based on planning activity. This is just part of a range of new services they are offering which will help provide a better insight into the industry. |
