A Primer for Building Products Marketers

Think about the last time you left your office or your home – or anywhere – without your mobile device. Chances are the moment you realized you had forgotten it, you turned around to retrieve it.

Be without your device for even a few hours? Unthinkable these days.

As a building materials manufacturer, you know that your customers and prospects – architects, designers, specifiers, builders, contractors, dealers, DIYers – live in this very same hyper-digital, constantly connected, wireless world. Information and entertainment is readily available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, anywhere they are.

And the methods and mechanisms to deliver your digital message to them – social media, email marketing, online display advertising, search engine marketing, websites, landing pages, mobile device geofencing – enable you to be precise and specific in who you target and where.

Choose a certain type of customer with certain demographic characteristics. Get specific about the geography. Create a campaign that will resonate with your prospects. Target them through the channel that makes the most sense. Retarget them based on their online behavior that is trackable. Reach the audience you seek. Drive them to explore more and to ultimately inquire about your product. Convert them into a customer. Avoid wasting your marketing dollars. Whether you manufacture windows, exterior cladding, or continuous insulation, it is all possible with careful research and meticulous planning.

The inevitable byproduct: Concerns over data privacy, and an evolving paradigm of rules and regulations aimed at protecting consumers.

According to Pew Research, 67 percent of Americans surveyed say they have little to no understanding of what companies are doing with their data. In that same study, 72 percent believe the government should do more to regulate what can be done with one’s personal data.

Achieving a better understanding of this quickly evolving landscape is key to protecting your building materials brand and ensuring you are maximizing your efforts in digital marketing.

An Evolving Regulatory Climate

According to the Government Accountability Office, The United States does not have a singular, comprehensive policy that governs the collection and use of personal data. The legislative climate is quickly changing – across the nation and around the globe. Two key examples:

• GDPR: Put into effect in May 2018 by the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is described as the “toughest privacy and security law in the world.” Any brand that targets or collects data related to people in the EU are subject to its regulations, and violators can face harsh fines that can reach into the millions.
• CCPA: First passed in 2018 and then modified in 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives consumers the right to know what personal information is collected about them by a business and how that information is used. Among other things, it also affords people the right to delete personal information collected from them and to opt out of their information being sold or shared.

Your business may not be located in Europe (or in California for that matter), but if you target consumers in those geographies and your company meets certain other benchmarks, your building materials brand is subject to these privacy laws.

And this is only the beginning.

According to Bloomberg Law, 18 states have created consumer privacy laws that impact how marketers of all kinds can track and utilize a user’s personal data online. Some are comprehensive in nature, while others are more targeted. Some are new this year, while others have yet to be activated:

• Taking effect as of July 1, 2024, Florida’s law targets only companies that make more than $1 billion in gross annual revenue.
• The Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA) also took effect on July 1 and is considered to be one of the most stringent privacy laws passed to date in terms of the protections it provides.
• The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) went into effect this summer and governs how large companies sell, collect, or process personal information of consumers. The law contains exemptions for small businesses.

One of the greatest concerns for marketers – including building product marketers – is how to ensure your operations are complying with this complex web of laws, especially when you have customers across the nation, or even across the pond.

The Cookie Conundrum: The Only Thing Constant is Change

Invented 30 years ago by a web browser programmer at what was then Netscape Communications, cookies in digital advertising are text files placed by a website on a user’s browser. These cookies collect data about that user’s online activities. There are generally two different types of cookies – first-party cookies, and third-party cookies:

• First-party cookies are connected directly to the website you are visiting. First-party cookies enable that site – and the brand behind it – to collect data about you, how often you visited the site, what pages you visited, how long you remained on the site, and more.
• Third-party cookies are created by domains not on the website being visited. These cookies are used for online advertising purposes and can create a digital footprint of your online behavior. This includes sites you have visited or preferences you have made known online. Say a customer visits your website and browses your products and services. When a third-party cookie is attached to that user, your ad for your product can then be served up to them on other websites they might visit.

Four years ago, Google began conditioning digital marketers that it would eventually phase out the use of third-party cookies in the name of privacy protection. After four years of debate, delays, and hand wringing, Google reversed course earlier this summer, saying it would not remove or “deprecate” third-party cookies in Chrome after all. According to a July 2024 article in Digiday, Google plans to roll out an updated approach that “…lets users make an informed choice across their web browsing.”

As part of this evolution, Google is creating what it calls the Privacy Sandbox. As reported by Digiday, Google’s Privacy Sandbox was initially poised to replace third-party cookies. It remains in development. Google continues to position it an alternative to those traditional online tracking devices.

Managing the New Digital Landscape: Best Practices

As reported by Forbes, at a time when regulations and requirements are in a state of flux and often difficult to discern, it is important to adopt certain best practices for your digital marketing ecosystem as a building products brand. Ensure your marketing team and your marketing agency are following a checklist:

• First Things First: First-party data (acquired on your website or through an opt-in form where a user chooses to share their information with your brand) remains a valuable tool when it comes to knowing and understanding visitors to your digital property. Maximize the data collection on this front. For example, if someone opts in by providing their email address, it is a clear signal that they are open to receiving more information from you – about your products, your services, or company news. As such, your brand can potentially transform the casual observer to a marketing-qualified lead through a variety of tactics.
• Informed Consent: Want to use a person’s personal information in some way, particularly as it relates to marketing to them? Make sure there is an opt-in framework in place. You have likely seen the leading edge of this practice when you visit certain websites. Typically, a pop-up message will appear, asking you to customize what types of cookies the website can gather from you as you explore the site. Is your brand’s website following this practice? How about landing pages you maintain for your brand?
• Count Me Out: Does your brand conduct email marketing as part of its digital marketing program? Make sure people who receive your emails can opt out without any obstacles or delay. This means including an “Unsubscribe” feature on every email that goes out. It should take only one or two clicks to officially unsubscribe to the list.
• Cleaning House: How is your organization processing data and storing it? What kind of information are you storing, and for what purpose? New regulations require you to have answers to these questions. This might require your marketing team to conduct a full digital audit to ensure your house is clean.

The world of digital marketing has revolutionized how building materials brands can seek out customers, engage them, and convince them to purchase products and services. As building product marketers navigate the tricky waters of data privacy, they must continue to tap into the tools available so they are spending their marketing dollars wisely and maximizing return for the brand. The added responsibility: Balancing that against a prospect or customer’s right to privacy and adherence to the laws that protect those consumers.