Building Brands: Recent Episodes
Tim Bouchard
The Building Brands podcast, hosted by Luminus Owner & CEO Tim Bouchard, is a biweekly show that dives into marketing and branding strategies relating to the building materials industry. If you’re an owner or marketer in the manufacturing, distribution, or contracting spaces, this podcast is for you. In each show I’ll dive into a wide variety of topics with industry experts in the building materials and marketing spaces. So whether you’re reinventing a well established company or introducing a new company or product line to the market, these conversations will allow you to draw inspiration from the experiences and knowledge of others who have been there before and succeeded.
An update on the release schedule for the podcast. No we're not going away, just switching things up!
A solo-cast with Tim Bouchard, Owner & CEO of Luminus diving into how new privacy restrictions and opt-in settings for device and online platform users are going to affect paid retargeting funnels and how brand building will start to regain traction again as a major strategy consideration for digital marketing.
Alex Keogan, President and Owner at Eaton Brothers shares his story of acquiring Eaton Brothers in 2020 with his partner, what factored into their decision, why they chose to immediately rebrand the company, and the long-term value the rebrand will provide them.
Libby Johnston, Publisher & VP of Media at the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) & Hardwood Floors Magazine shares her thoughts on the benefits of having a communications plan, what it entails, and how to enact it. She offers actionable advice on where to get started and how to use your plan moving forward.
Tess Felton, Associate Creative Director at Luminus talks about how building a brand persona and injecting a specific personality, voice, and tone into a company’s marketing communications strategy can help establish trust, lead to sales, and build customer loyalty.
Josh Neuberger - Director of Marketing at Uzin Utz North America talks about how his team dialed up their digital sales interactions when they were forced to adapt during the pandemic and carefully considered how to craft personalized experiences for their customers despite the digital limitations they encountered. The results may surprise you.
Lisa Wood, Owner, Designer at Lisa J Wood Interiors talks about the various elements an interior designer takes into consideration when sourcing a product or material and what manufacturer brands can do to provide value to designers beyond just the aesthetic allure.
Jessica Hickman Fresch, Marketing & Sales Director at Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooringtalks about her approach to building brand authority through multiple content outlets as a way to reach, educate, and motivate the company’s target audiences.
John Dupra, Co-Founder of Revel Woods talks about Revel’s journey to developing a more modern approach to the digital sales experience of researching and sourcing hardwood floors online. Through creative thinking, research, and even a little failure along the way, Revel was able to create a guided digital experience for their target audience that fully supports their design processes.
A solo-cast with Tim Bouchard, Owner & CEO of Luminus, addressing the mystery that surrounds understanding the value and ROI of branding and strategy. By nature, a strategic engagement is meant to affect future outcomes, so this episode dives into what some of those intangible and even tangible measurable outcomes are along with how to track some of them in order to understand the long-term ROI of branding.
Ryan Menke, SVP of Sales & Marketing at OFS stresses the importance of maintaining and staying true to the brand of a multigenerational company. He points out ways that a family run business can stay objective and avoid tunnel vision throughout its history so that it doesn’t fall behind in the market and continues to meet the needs of its evolving clients and growing team.
Jordan Russin, Co-President of Russin, talks about preserving the legacy of a 50+ year old generational family business as he and his brother sought to modernize and reposition their company’s brand for the new age of digital. He touches on creative ways manufacturers are supporting distributors and retailers and how Russin has made sure that they live up to being resourceful experts in the industry.
Jeff Carlson, Principal at My Resource Library talks about bridging the gap between the A&D community and manufacturers digitally, making designers' lives easier, how to support dealers, and how a strong brand can help elevate the experience with a manufacturer.
Tim Bouchard recaps the first season of Building Brands by pulling the best building materials marketing tips from a few of the awesome season 1 guests that have shared their experiences with us this year. You’ll hear about how brand, market, and business work together, the value of knowing your audiences really really well, why an amazing brand identity is important, what to consider when launching a product, how to position your company within a niche, using social as an customer engagement platform to strengthen the consumer connection, and what the value of all of this brand stuff we’ve been talking about this year is.
Bryce Stuckenschneider, President & CEO of Loftwall, talks about the impact that crafting a differentiated position in the market had on Loftwall’s recent growth surge along with how changing their approach to WHY they do WHAT they do allowed them to deliver complex and rapid solutions for their customers during a pandemic that pushed their team to meet new challenges quickly.
Eric Edelson, Chief Executive Officer of Fireclay Tile talks about Fireclay’s shift from a wholesale distribution model to a direct-to-consumer business model and how taking a very calculated approach to brand strategy helped set the foundation for building enriched customer experiences that set Fireclay apart in the market and helped grow the company to nearly 20 times the size of where they were before the shift.
A solo-cast with Tim Bouchard, Partner / CEO of Luminus, breaking down the anatomy of a true brand strategy and what makes it so critical to have when approaching conversations and work regarding sales and marketing initiatives for not just building materials companies, but any company or organization.
Christopher Lyon, President of Tournesol Siteworks talks about how Tournesol leveraged growth through a distinct technology that met a budding need in the outdoor market and expanded upon that to reshape how architects, designers, and contractors approached outdoor spaces. From there, he talks about Tournesols path to growth, differentiation in the market, and becoming a go-to partner.
Michael Bustin, Global Chief Growth Officer at Durasein talks about how he and Durasein used brand strategy to differentiate itself as the company entered the American market and what key aspects of the strategy gave Durasein the ability to really connect with its audiences and build a community around the brand allowing it to break through in a commoditized market.
Mitch Lewandowski, Chief Commercial Officer from Brand Technology talks about how to make an impact in the market with a brand new technology by understanding your audiences, understanding their pain points, educating and inspiring them to see greater possibilities in their work. And he even works in a little bit of sales strategy advice.
Nate Renzella, Technical Sales Representative from Tremco talks about how Tremco manages multiple product brands under one parent company, how that approach has helped grow Tremco by offering more solutions to their customers, and how to maintain brand recognition with such a diverse product catalog.
A solo-cast with Tim Bouchard, Partner / CEO of Luminus, talking about what goes into planning and producing a high performance building materials website. This includes early strategic questions, visitor flow planning, and optimized creative execution all leading to a website that serves as THE best sales tool for your potential and current customers.
Dane Danielson, Director of Education at Gould Turner Group talks about architectural project processes, how research for building materials and building products is approached, and the various ways manufacturers can attract architects and designers and build a lasting relationship with them.
Keni Thacker, Founder of 100 Roses From Concrete talks about how advertising ended up where it is today with a lack of representation in marketing departments and ad creative and how the growing diversity in audiences is demanding a shift towards more inclusive advertising. He also touches on how to build more diversity within a company and the wins that can be realized for everyone by making positive change.
Josh Taylor, Brand Director at SIXINCH USA talks about the importance of a unified brand strategy through a well defined brand identity that utilizes consistent visual styles, a unique brand persona, cultural outreach, and voice & tone. We also go into how these elements collectively contribute to building long-term brand loyalty and aid in ongoing marketing strategies.
Chelsie Butler, Executive Editor at Kitchen & Bath Business Magazine, talks about the importance of trade publications, the audiences they serve, how a brand can best prepare to work with a publication, and the value of using this type of content outlet.
Andy Donovan, President and CEO of dPost and dStudio in Buffalo, NY talks about how video can provide extremely engaging creative as part of an integrated marketing strategy, how to approach this type of production, and the value that you can get in return depending on your objectives.
Julianna Arjes, Social Media Strategist and Taylor Friehl, Designer at Mortarr dive into the importance of creating connections with your audiences through social media, what to expect when committing to a social media strategy, and how to measure its effectiveness.
A solo-cast with Tim Bouchard, Partner / CEO of Luminus, talking through the situations companies are finding themselves in as we navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in regards to brand strategy’s importance to marketing communications during an economic downturn.
Mike Bowers, Managing Director at InnerView Group, talks about the importance of executing brand strategy, not just in external communications, but internally. How brand dilution can happen through the various levels of your sales channels. And why over communicating, might not be a bad thing right now.
Billy Peele, Marketing Manager at Doug Mockett & Company, touches on the importance of new product development and how Doug Mockett & Company has used crowdsourcing product design through their annual design competition to augment their new product pipeline and amplify their brand.
Ben talks about the many aspects of finding opportunities in the market that require innovative products and the different ways to approach launching a solution-based product that solves an unresolved problem faced by your target customers.
Matt dives into a number of topics centered around the benefits of using influential content creators as part of a marketing plan to increase exposure, where to find these influencers, and how you might approach working with one.
Amy & Meghan touch on the importance of a corporate brand strategy, marketing’s involvement in new product development, and the most important things to keep in mind when bringing a new product into the market.
Ben talks about how BIMsmith was started, the ways technology is providing advantages for manufacturers, how it’s benefiting building professionals, and what future role technology will play in the building materials industry.
Kevin talks about how Thermory USA was introduced into the North American markets and the challenges he faced, how product education and innovation have supported their rapid growth, and how truly understanding his customers needs has led to more successful and measurable marketing activities.
Mike LaDuca, Chief Creative Officer at Luminus, talks about the world of brand strategy, what went into him developing strategic marketing and branding processes, how Luminus entered into the building materials marketing space, and how organized brands can play a support role in their various distribution and sales channels.