Aerial view of snow-dusted precast double-tee members stacked in a plant storage yard.

Marketing for manufacturers and subcontractors

Marketing for precast producers and building-product manufacturers.

You get one team for your website, search, email, plant and jobsite photography, and company LinkedIn page, so your company holds up when an architect, engineer or contractor looks you up. The work runs on a monthly retainer starting at $8,500, and each month you get a one-page report listing the inquiries, sample requests, plant visits and bid invitations we tracked.

The problem

Why producers hire us

Your reps walk the plant and leave a good impression. Then the specifier looks you up from their desk. If the website is ten years old and the photos are phone shots, the impression starts over.

Most of the structure is decided during design, before the job is bid. Our work gets your plant known to the design team by then.

What architects told the AIA

Your website is where the architect decides whether to keep looking.

  • 71%start product research by searching for the product or category.
  • 74%leave a manufacturer's website if they cannot find what they need within a few clicks.
  • 20%rate manufacturers well on ease of navigation. 87% say it matters.

Source: The American Institute of Architects, The Architect's Journey to Specification, 2018. Survey of 400 architects.

Scope of work

What we build

Finished embedded-brick precast panel face in raking sunlight.

The website

The site that backs up your reps after they leave the room, built so an architect finds capabilities, finishes, typical spans and who to call within a few clicks. Written so search engines and AI assistants can quote it.

Detail of a precast panel mid-lift, dark thin brick below a white fluted band.

Email between projects

Email keeps your name in front of the people who will pick a supplier the next time they have a job or a problem, and the report shows recorded opens and who replied.

A curved precast shell panel hanging from crane chains above its wooden form inside the plant.

Photography your sales team can use

Plant, product, and jobsite photography shot for the way it gets used: proposals, spec sheets, the website, and the trade-show booth. We never use stock.

A concrete hopper discharging fresh concrete onto a reinforced form bed in the plant.

LinkedIn posts of your projects and people

LinkedIn first, because that is where your buyers are. Real projects and real people from your plant, posted consistently, without chasing trends.

Twin elevated highway bridges on concrete piers receding over turquoise water.

Who it is for

Who we work with

The core of our work is precast producers, building-product manufacturers, the suppliers who sell into them, and the subcontractors who install their products. The work changes with the buyer.

Producers

Producers mostly are not specified by name. They get certified, prequalified, and invited to bid. For producers, the work is getting your capabilities in front of the people who decide which plants get invited to bid, while the structure is still being drawn.

Suppliers architects choose

Formliners, pigments, thin brick, and finishes get picked by architects, so the work produces countable outcomes: spec-ready content, sample requests, and education bookings.

Suppliers the plant buys

Hardware, chemicals, admixtures, and form release have to meet the project specifications, but the plant picks the supplier. The work is being the name the plant already trusts the day the current supplier ships late or a mix goes wrong, and the near-term outcome is earning the trial.

The same work fits the contractors and subcontractors who bid and build with these products.

Engagement model

How pricing works

Marketing retainers start at $8,500 a month, with no hourly billing. The fee is flat and covers a set scope each month. You get one team that writes, designs and shoots the photography, and one person to call.

Larger programs add photography, video and original research. See the pricing levels.

The ledger

The monthly report

The monthly report is one page. It lists the inquiries we can identify, where they came from, and the sample requests, plant visits, and invitations to bid that followed.

If we tracked no inquiries, sample requests, plant visits, or bid invitations that month, the report says so, and we talk about what changes.

What the report covers. One line for each, every month.
Website inquiriesWho wrote in, what kind of company, and the page they came from
Sample requestsWhich products were requested and by whom
Plant visitsVisits booked and who is coming
Invitations to bidNew invitations and where the contact first came from, when we can trace it
EmailWhat was sent, recorded opens, and who replied to sales
LinkedInWhat was posted, how many saw it, and who visited the page

Questions and answers

What plant owners ask us

Can you get us specified?

Producers mostly don't get specified by name. They get certified, prequalified, and invited to bid, and the structure gets drawn around precast, or around somebody else's product, long before bid day. Our work is making sure the people drawing it know your plant and what it can do while that is still being decided. We don't guarantee a spec, a bid win, or a ranking for anyone. The monthly report shows what the work produced: who found you, where they came from, and what it led to.

What does a precast marketing firm do?

We build and run the sales tools a precast producer or supplier needs: the website, email, photography, and social presence. Everything is scoped to how precast gets specified and bought. You keep selling, and we make sure what buyers find when they look you up backs you up.

Do you work with suppliers or only producers?

Both. We work with producers, building-product manufacturers, the suppliers who sell into them, and the subcontractors who install their products. We also build websites for architecture firms.

What does precast marketing cost?

Marketing retainers start at $8,500 a month, with one team and no hourly billing. Larger programs with more photography, video and original research run higher. The pricing page lists the levels.

Do you show client work or results?

Client work is confidential and we name a client only with its permission. We work as part of your team, your wins are yours, and we do not publish case studies or testimonials to sell ourselves.

Do we need to teach you the industry first?

No. We work in the precast industry every day and already know the products, the industry, and how projects are bid.

What gets built first?

The website and the photography, because everything else points back to them. Email and social start once there is something worth pointing people to.

Do you replace our marketing person?

No. Where there is someone in-house, we work alongside them and carry the load they do not have time for. Where there is nobody, we are the department. Either way you deal with the same team every month.

Talk to us about your plant.

SkyKPI takes on a few retainer clients at a time, all in industries we know firsthand. We answer within one business day.