Marketo recently published an infographic about how Content Marketing differs from Traditional Advertising.  While I appreciate all the buzz the platform vendors have created around story telling, it’s been my experience that the lessons they preach need significant tweaking before they make sense in a buildings context.  In another free downloadable asset, Marketo talks about the complex buying process as a cycle that spans weeks or months and involves many different people. Complexity is relative: selling software is more complex than selling athletic shoes. (Marketing Automation platforms have grown up to serve B2C and IT marketplaces.) The complexity and length of the buying process for new building technologies have been off the scale compared to either.  (Just ask a Cleantech VC) The stakeholders are not many, but multitudinous. Suffice it to say, the people that write the new marketing books are all about being digital, while the people that rule buildings are strongly grounded in the physical world.  So, often there is a disconnect.

This blog is my attempt to bridge the gap. Here I intend to highlight the brands and people that are succeeding at buildings content marketing and explore the components of their strategies. Surprise! – it’s not always the big guys that are leading the way in creating relevant and compelling content. The small and medium sized firms that comprise the traditional AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry as well as real estate and facility management service firms have really taken really to online marketing. Moveover, they have the domain knowledge that ensures authentic voice.