Creative brand strategy when there’s no money

In a down economy, creating a brand that treats clients like partners is even more important, but it requires more creativity. Brooke Mathes-Yep, vice president of corporate marketing for NCI Building Systems, talks to Savage's Robin Tooms about NCI's strategy for succeeding in a hard-hit industry.

Robin: Hello, and welcome to this edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies. I’m Robin Tooms, vice president of strategy at Savage, and my guest again, is Brooke Mathes-Yep, vice president of corporate marketing at NCI Building System. So Brooke, welcome back to Brandonomics.

Brooke: Thank you, Robin.

Robin: I know that you’re in an industry that has been hit by the recession, and it’s something that other industries have as well. But you’ve been charged with being creative in how you address that with your clients and treating them like partners. So tell us, how should companies be approaching that?

Brooke: NCI was hit particularly hard being a construction entity after the subprime mortgage bust. And a lot of our customers had so many difficulties with financing. At that time, nobody was doing it, and so we got creative and conducted some market research to find out how we could assist our companies with – or our customers with the challenges that they were having. And out of that, we developed distinctive, one of a kind customer-financing program. This helped our customers find financing despite the challenges of the economy. And as a result, not only did we put forth a powerful differentiator, but we’ve also realized additional projects into the pipeline as a result.

Robin: That is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking we should all be thinking in a recession. So what was the sales team’s reaction to this?

Brooke: They loved it, and it was actually something that they had asked us to explore previously, but the need and the mechanics of it didn’t really come to light until we had this challenge with the economy. So I think it’s a great example of how you can turn a challenge into a wonderful opportunity.

Robin: You’re right, fitting that unfit need. Thank you so much, Brooke. I appreciate you being our guest today.

Brooke: Thank you, Robin.

Robin: Thank you. This has been another edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies.

 

NCI Building Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets a comprehensive list of metal buildings and components for construction in virtually every sector – commercial, industrial, agricultural, institutional and governmental. NCI builds communities, from schools to manufacturing and the places in between. https://www.ncilp.com/