Louis Vuitton. Erewhon. Nike. There is value in brand recognition. But is establishing that brand and generating that recognition any different for a construction company than it is for high-fashion leather goods, luxury grocery stores or world-renowned sports brands? According to Greg Kerr, owner of Alchemy Merch, not really. All the best brands essentially boil down to one thing: core values.
Founded in 2016, Alchemy helps companies across the country—including Apple, Nickelodeon, NatGeo and Nike, to name a few—produce logos, apparel, accessories, promotional and retail products, offering full customization services along with those products. Since its founding, Alchemy has produced over four million products for its clients, but that is just the start. Beyond those four million products are tens of millions more in eyes caught, conversations started, pens borrowed, t-shirts passed down and brands recognized.
As someone who not only helps produce brand products but sees firsthand the true value of company branding, Kerr has acquired some serious wisdom on marketing dos and don’ts. He recently sat down with Construction Executive to divulge Alchemy’s top pieces of branding advice, and it applies to construction brands both decades old and just starting out.
What should be a company’s strategy for tailoring a brand type or style specific to their business?
I think the most important thing to do when you’re thinking about your branding or any secondary merchandise is to really consider what the brand’s core values and the mission statement are, and reflect that in all of your messaging. Whether that’s the logo, the ad copy, merchandise, make sure that all of that is completely aligned with what the company stands for, and that it is clearly communicated to the customers that you’re trying to serve, because that’s the way to differentiate yourself.
Sometimes it’s important to focus on the things that you are really good at or you are an expert at, and to lean into that.
Once you have established your brand, whether you are a new company or a more well-known brand, what is something all companies need to be mindful of when displaying their brand in public?
As long as the brand is truthfully representing itself, I don’t see how you can go wrong. If you put thought into a product in the same way that you may with a marketing campaign to showcase how it represents your company—in the way you want it to be represented—that same amount of thought or effort should get put into any kind of products that you’re making, especially anything that your employees are going to be wearing or using.
We’ve done pin sets for companies before that represent a company’s core values to users and/or customers. They can also be a way for the employees to showcase themselves within the company. For example, we’ve made pins based off of how many years an employee has been with a company—one year, five years, 10 and so on. So, you can use these products in ways to celebrate your own team as well.
From the more veteran employees to the new hires, how do you get everyone at the company to agree with and buy into the brand identity?
That’s the hardest thing. It comes down to your hiring practices, because if you’re trying to build a certain vibe within the company, or observe a certain set of values, those things are reflected by your employees. When you’re onboarding somebody, these things should be clear to them and that person should also match those values.
You need everybody heading in the right direction, having the same goals, the same mission statement, the same understanding of what the company is there to accomplish, what it is the company does best, why somebody is choosing this construction company over another. That messaging needs to be clear, and when you do clarify that, then it can be put out in all these different marketing materials, in the copy on your website that can be reflected in supporting merchandise. Figuring out what that vision is for your company is the key to unlocking that. Because a brand without a vision, without a statement, without any specific values is just a name.
How does a company know when it’s time for a refresh or a rebrand?
If you need a little bit of an injection of insight, excitement or a reason to move things along, or if you’re looking at your company and it just seems like there aren’t clear core values behind it, that can be a signal that it’s time to sit down and focus. Maybe it is time for a rebrand—whether that’s the iconography that you’re using, or the text or logo need to be updated, or the messaging and pictures on your website. If you do pools or landscaping, large-scale construction or smaller projects, are the pictures and verbiage on your website representing your best work and geared towards the kind of clients that you want to attract?
When it comes to selling merchandise, how does a company walk the line between catering to popular demand and taking a risk with innovative products?
It’s finding a product that will actually be used by the people you’re giving it to. A lot of us as entrepreneurs focus on building the business. These elements of the branding, of who the company really is, can get thrown to the wayside because we’re only focusing on doing the work. It’s important—if you want to differentiate yourself, if you want to stand out, if at some point you’re looking to potentially expand—that there’s brand equity. That deserves a good focus, in my opinion.
That focus will lead to ways to support your company through merchandise. Even if it’s a promotional product at a trade show, if you make something that’s more interesting, and somebody’s going to use it, that dollar that you spent just went a lot farther than if you just went for the cheapest thing that you could get. If you’re making t-shirts, spend the extra dollar per shirt to get the one that actually feels nice that somebody’s going to wear over and over.
If a company has a strict budget and must decide what products to invest in and where to display them, what would generate the most ROI?
I would think some of the PPE that everybody will be wearing on the jobsite. There are potentially a lot of other people and vendors you’ll be interacting with on the jobsite. By putting your logo on the things that are most visual and visible, you’re reinforcing your brand.
If you’re exhibiting at a trade show, you should bring something that somebody can take away with them—even something as simple as a nice pen—and that they will use over and over, or that will get passed from person to person. Getting your brand name in hands can potentially lead to other jobs. Taking a little bit extra time to brainstorm or spending even a little bit more money for something that is useful for the people to walk away with, there is a lot of value in that.
