Greetings!
Welcome to this month's edition of the Marketing Newsletter. This month we have details of two useful sources of marketing information which will help those writing their budgets for next year. The government have published their construction statistics annual and UBM have published their readership survey - the first since 2005.
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| Construction Market Activity |
Last month the Office for National Statistics told us that construction output had risen in the second quarter of 2010, this month they tell us that construction new orders in the same quarter fell by 14% compared with the first quarter of 2010 and by 9% compared to the same period in 2009.
We have also seen the Construction Products Association publish their latest forecast. They expect a rise of 1.3% in output in 2010, a fall of 0.8% in 2011 followed by modest growth in the following 3 years. They expect RMI to fall during this period while new work will increase. Prospects in housing will also be mixed with Private increasing and Public declining. The commercial and industrial sectors are expected to make a recover in 2011.
Supporting the optimism concerning the commercial sector, the August 2010 Commercial Property Review published by Knight Frank expects the second half of the year to be quieter than the first. In their London Office Review they say that following two quarters of exceptionally strong take-off there was a fall back in Q2 of 2010 which can be seen as a pause for breath with demand for quality stock and large units remaining strong. Another wave of demand is anticipated towards the end of the year.
Anecdotal evidence from surveyors cited in the RICS Q2 Construction Market Survey suggests the key issues facing the industry are the continued lack of development finance, public spending cuts (notably the suspension of the BSF programme), insufficient clarity provided by the new government on existing projects (creating even more uncertainty amongst developers) and an overall increase in competition (as larger firms are now bidding for smaller contracts).
Watch this space as the October Spending Review moves closer, hopefully bringing some clarity to the situation.
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| Construction Industry Statistics Annual |
A useful planning tool is the governments Construction Industry Statistics Annual. The latest edition, covering 2009, was published today. This provides a wealth of information about the construction industry and is free to download from the Office for National Statistics website.
Chapters include New Orders, Output, Price & Cost Indices, Government departments' construction plans, Local Authority expenditure, National Lottery funded projects and Key Performance Indicators.
Monthly statistics are also published covering prices indices and output of key products. The August report was recently published and can also be downloaded.
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| Who Reads What Publication |
Last week United Business Media, who publish many of the industry's leading journals, published "A study of product decision making, information sources and readership" which they describe as independent research. One should always be cautious of independent research when funded by an interested party, but it does provide useful information. Available for download from the web the report is split into 5 sections.
The first is an estimate of the numbers of different people working in the industry, by category. A useful piece of information as the government's figures were last updated in 2006. Although it does not clarify the source of the information.
The next two sections are average issue readership and regular readership, covering 11 publications. These present variations on the frequency of readership for the whole industry and by activity. This is where the cynic starts to question the impartiality of the results. Competitive Advantage regularly ask respondents about their journal readership when conducting research for clients. There is no doubt that Building is one of the most popular titles, but in our experience Construction News is usually a close second. This survey shows that while 40% (average readership) of the industry read Building only 11% read Construction News. Is it just coincidence that this is a competing publication?
We then have some additional information on regular readership. This shows the overlap between publications, the readership by different decision makers and readership habits. Again the UBM titles do very well.
The final section considers online behaviour and starts with some useful information on the preference for hardcopy v digital information. Preference for both print and digital tends to be the most popular. As you would expect from a publisher, responses focus around different forms of journal content. So no clues about reducing print costs for literature. Once again the UBM publications are the most popular for website visits.
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| Forthcoming Events | |
As the weather is reminding us, the Summer is over and it is time to think about opportunities for personal development over the Autumn.
On the 22nd September I will be chairing an afternoon seminar organised by CIMCIG. Marketing to Architects will have speakers from large and small architects' practices, a QS as well as looking at the design process and the regulatory outlook. There should be something for everyone.
Also coming up are my one day open courses held at the Building Centre, see the website for details. Most popular are:
Effective Specification Selling - 11th October
This gives an understanding of the specification sales process, embracing architect, engineer and contractor. Designed to inform the salesman it is also useful for those working in marketing as they can gain a better understanding of the decision making process.
Marketing in the Construction Industry - 14th October
Designed to provide those who are new to the industry with an understanding of those factors unique to the construction industry, more experienced marketers have also found the day a useful checklist of the various activates. Handouts include a useful set of reference documents.
See our events page on the website for a list of other industry events. |
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Chris Ashworth
Competitive Advantage Consultancy Ltd
Phone: 0844 6698728
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Tel: 0844 6698728
Chris Ashworth |
| | Our Services |
The following Reports are available Online:
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