Masonry Magazine August 1978 Page. 17
MARKETING AND MASONRY
continued from page 8
small-scale, wholly independent low-volume specialty niche and create a very satisfactory business-albeit on a very modest scale. The past eight-year history of IMI demonstrates your industry isn't satisfied with this boutique or "cottage industry" approach to American masonry.
A fourth characteristic helping to describe masonry in marketing terms is the bewildering variation in product forms and applications involved. Even to a layman, the application of masonry varies strikingly by type of structure, geographic region and locality, customizing preferences of the owner or architect, budgets available, government codes and regulations.
Furthermore, with almost a dozen separate and distinct crafts represented within the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen alone-bricklayers, stone masons, tile setters, block layers, marble masons, terrazzo mechanics, etc. there are a tremendous number of variations and categories under the "masonry" umbrella.
Here, too, there are differences and similarities in comparison to other marketing categories. Such fields as soft drinks, television receivers (where the 19-inch screen has become the standard) and cigarettes (where even with the proliferation of brands and forms, less than a dozen account for 90% of the consumption)-these are all categories where a very few brands and forms make up immense quantities of volume.
But there are other product lines which resemble masonry in the larger number of varieties and applications available. For instance, in the automotive arena, even in this year of line-simplification, there are 259 separate and distinct American-made models for sale. Come to think of it, residential central air-conditioning installations are also customized, with no two home contracts exactly alike. Stereo components are another good example of a product category with considerable variation, and certainly much of the apparel and fashion industry has as one of its strongest points the fact that buyers are able to individualize their purchases to their own taste.
Identification and Communication Tricky
The point to be learned from this particular characteristic is that ready identification and communication are extremely tricky. It's hard to picture, in quick and understandable fashion, exactly what the product is or looks like. In fact, this multiplicity suggests that you have to emphasize versatility, localization and variety as a basic strength of your selling proposition. In a very real sense, you have to work at demonstrating that the many varieties and forms in which the product comes is a trademark, an inherent characteristic, unique to masonry.
We turn now to the second component in our marketing equation-the prospect, customer or user. Here, too, there are several characteristics of the masonry category which are similar to some other marketing situations and different from still others.
First of all, in dealing with masonry and its marketing, we're dealing with an unusually complex group of publics. Even with the brief introduction I've had to this field, I've begun to appreciate that you're working with an almost incredible variety of wholesalers and dealers, distributors, contractors, craftsmen, engineers, architects, government bodies, owners tenants, and on and on-all playing a variety of roles at different stages in the construction process.
We have to understand and appreciate that each of these forces is working with a different set of priorities and prejudices, interacting with each other in ways that fundamentally affect decisions being made to use or not use masonry. Adding to the complexity of the transaction, the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding masonry of each group are shifting and changing continually as new people and organizations enter the field.
For most mass merchandized grocery, household and toiletries categories, the proposition is quite different. Although their sales volume can be huge, these marketers are dealing with a relatively simple, easy-to-describe market target-the ultimate consumer. In their business structure, they use the various levels in the distribution chain essentially as conduits for presold products or services. This is not to suggest their job is easy. Careful selling and development of retailers, distributors and other middlemen is essential, but knowing who does what to whom, and how to reach them, is more clearcut, understandable and direct.
But there are other areas which offer resemblances to the complexities of masonry's intertwined sales proposition. Good examples would include major high technology projects such as in mass transit or those requiring an extensive network of service such as the postal service, telephone companies and trans-national shipping concerns.
The fact that you're dealing with a complex, interrelated collection of publics requires that you understand all the many groups involved and how they act one upon another. This point I'm sure is evident and of prominent concern to you. But a bit less obvious may be the matter of appreciating how this interaction is changing over them. Exactly what role does each of these publics play in a given project? How much influence does each really have? On whom? What do the key influences in each group think now about masonry and its alternatives? What are their key concerns? What are the most effective and practical ways of reaching them? And how do you monitor shifts in their attitudes?
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MASONRY/AUGUST, 1978 21