Advice from a winner of multiple industry awards
One late September day in 1997, while working as the marketing manager for Mod-U-Kraf Homes, I received what I thought was a suspicious phone call. It was from someone named Jerry Rouleau saying that we had won an award. Thinking it was telemarketer, I quickly ended the call.
In retrospect, I might have been a little abrupt. After hanging up, I remembered our recent contest entry. Jerry was calling to let me know that we had won the Building Systems Councils (BSC)’s modular design award in the over 2,200 square feet category.
In the years that followed, Jerry became one of my cherished friends and a mentor, as he was for many others. I hired him several times to consult, conduct seminars and undertake public relations work.
Whenever I was stuck on a particular marketing problem, I would call him for advice. He was a continual source of support and he made an enduring mark on me and my career.
Jerry’s approach was to meet people where they are through commonsense marketing. He specialized in solutions to everyday fundamental marketing problems.
In one of his seminars, Jerry would ask a builder in attendance for his business’ phone number. Using a phone he had installed in the conference room, he would call that number and ask the person who answered common questions, resulting in often hilarious exchanges. This exercise, although funny, was meant to illustrate the point that marketing is reflected through everything you do. Every member of your team should be a well-prepared and appropriately trained marketer.
Since 1997, I have participated in numerous BSC submissions and was subsequently involved in winning 27 awards, in both design and marketing categories, for companies I represented.
The now named Building Systems Councils Jerry Rouleau Awards is one of the best places to showcase your work. They include awards for marketing and design.
In the pre-digital era, the overall entry format was similar, but putting together the submission process took days. Photos needed to be processed, put into sleeves with labels, descriptions written and forms filled out and then everything was rushed to the post office to be sent before the cutoff date.
The entry format today is a lot simpler as it’s all done online. However, the standards to which judges hold submissions haven’t changed. What does it take to win these, or any other, industry competitions? Here are some tips that have served me well over the past 26 years:
Jerry Rouleau Awards for Excellence in Home Design
These Design awards are the subject of this issue’s cover story, which includes a description of the program. The basics of entering this or any design competition are as follows:
Carefully choose your entries. The first rule is to be judicious in selecting your entries. Submit only what is truly special. An example of a special entry is one that stands out from the rest and highlights a unique design approach or detail, which could range from a unique way of stacking modules, to an unusal roof geometry, to a new type of flooring material.
A not-so-special entry might be a nice house, but with nothing truly unique about it.
Fill out the form completely. As obvious as this seems, it’s where a lot of entries fall short.
Proofread your description so it is understandable to the layman. Do not use insider or shorthand language. For instance, the term “sustainable design” will mean different things to different people. Do you mean the home will use less energy than that which is required by the building code? That 50% of the finishes will be made from recycled materials? Whatever it is, be specific.
Don’t assume prior knowledge. Showcase the home’s features concisely, and do not use acronyms without explanation. You may not have to spell out that EPDM stands for Ethylene Propylene Diene M-Class, but you should at least explain that it’s a type of rubber roofing.
Don’t embellish. Be careful of adjectives or flowery words in your descriptions. Sorry to have to tell you, but you’re not Walt Whitman. Stick to the facts of the house. State the number of bedrooms and baths. Tell the judges what is most important and special about the home. This tip is one of the most important.
Place the home in its environment. Write about the relationship of the structure to its surroundings. This important question is directly asked on the entry form, but many ignore it. If the windows are oriented on the house to take advantage of a panoramic mountain view, say so, as the judges will look for this kind of detail.
Define the market context. Who was the home designed for and to what end? Does it target the entry level, first move-up or luxury second-home market? Where does it fit in your overall stable of home plans? Is this the only type of home you build or just one of several types? How does the floor plan serve the intended market? For instance, if it prioritizes quiet spaces for work-at-home professionals, then describe those spaces.
Highlight relevant features. List the things that appeal directly to your intended target market. If your design is supposed to encourage family interaction, then call out features like the eat-in kitchen where kids can do their homework and parents can help them while also cooking dinner.
Be a tour guide. Write as if you are giving a tour of the home. One (but not the only) way to do this is to describe what someone sees from across the street, when entering the front door and moving from room to room.
Use professional-quality images. Hiring an architectural photographer to shoot is always worth the cost. Clear, convincing photography conveys legitimacy and authenticity to the judges. Also, do not submit artist renderings or digital concepts — they don’t show the actual home, so judges will likely reject them.
Jerry Rouleau Awards for Excellence in Marketing
BSC Jerry Rouleau Awards for Excellence in Marketing showcases the best digital marketing product and print advertisements in the building systems industry.
The categories for the Marketing contest are for Print Marketing and Digital Marketing. For each category, judges choose a winner and an entry of distinction.
Here’s how to get those judges’ attention.
Submit your best performers. Say you’re running Facebook ads with the goal of getting visitors to provide their contact info and register for a drip campaign. Submit the ad that was the most successful at achieving that goal, along with the metrics that prove it.
Don’t submit mediocre entries. If you enter an ad for your homes into the competition, make sure it shows one of your most architecturally special homes. Again, provide metrics to show the ad’s effectiveness.
Answer the four Ws. These are who, what, where and why. Who was the target audience for the ad you’re submitting, what did the ad accomplish, where was it placed and why was it important to your marketing efforts?
Note lessons learned. Be sure to highlight unexpected outcomes that may have taken place and insights you may have uncovered. For instance, maybe you tried different iterations and found that a certain color scheme generated more click-throughs.
Detail the results. What were your goals and were they met? Did you use Google analytics, the Facebook reporting tool or was something else used as your measuring tool? What time period was measured? What set of analytics will serve as the best example of your intent for the piece? All of these questions should be considered.
Edit your visuals. If it’s a digital category, ensure screenshots are edited to eliminate tabs and extraneous visuals.
Reed Dillon is a marketing consultant, freelance writer and owner of Creative Brand Content, in Moneta, Virginia.
