President's Message - March 2024
In recent weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of getting together with members from across our chapter at our regional networking events in San Francisco and Santa Rosa. Thank you to everyone who attended and thanks especially to our amazing Membership Committee volunteers who make these possible (the next round of coffee meetups is coming soon!). Volunteering with SMPS offers opportunities to meet members from so many different firms, markets, disciplines, and specialities. I always enjoy hearing the different journeys that lead members to this curious little industry of ours. While there are some common themes, no two are exactly alike.
Speaking of journeys, the program we have coming up for you on April 10 – Beyond Buzzwords: Marketing Sustainability in the Built Environment – is very much motivated by my own journey to professional services marketing. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the outdoors. So, while it wasn’t until college that I learned about terms like "sustainability" and "corporate social responsibility," the idea of reducing human impact on nature has always been of interest to me. An introduction to the concepts of “green building” through a fun internship in the marketing department of a local home builder cemented my interest, and I resolved to put my marketing skills to work for a company seeking to grow in this niche. “LEED” was literally the search keyword I used to find the job post that ultimately led to my first role in the industry.
It didn’t take long working in an engineering firm to realize how important it was to get the details right any time we needed to communicate technical or measurable information (which is, as we are talking about sustainability here, approximately all the time). As marketers, this hopefully prompts us to develop close collaboration with our technical staff and the rapport needed for effective information sharing, reviewing of processes, and so on. First, though, we have to break through the frustrating barriers of dense and imposing terminology, at least enough to know what questions to ask to complete our project profile, awards entry, or social media campaign.
Beyond the language, marketers and business developers seeking to integrate sustainability into our strategy face the challenge of communicating our value proposition to audiences in compelling ways. We have no shortage of measurable claim candidates in this line of work, but which matter to the buyer, and how can we prove them? Add to this today’s market, where environmental marketing claims are simultaneously everywhere (and thus harder to differentiate with) and also under increasing scrutiny from a variety of stakeholders, and the task becomes even more daunting.
This intersection of marketing and sustainability — both the unique challenges we face as marketers working with these subjects, and the particular opportunities our roles offer to effect change — is a topic that I’ve been wanting to bring to SMPS for a long time. I could not be more excited to host this incredible group of panelists who bring diverse perspectives on how marketing leaders and firm leaders can go beyond the buzzwords to integrate sustainability for business growth.
I know some of you are as enthusiastic about this topic as I am, and others may be new to it or perhaps don’t see it as part of your role. As we're going to get into with the panel, sustainability really is a topic that everyone in an A/E/C firm needs to know about in order to succeed in today's market. We're going to break that down in a really approachable, relatable way, that I expect will be pretty fun as well. Please join us and share this program with your technical staff who are interested in learning more about sustainability in buildings.
Justin Nagy, CPSM
President, SMPS San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Marketing Director at Stok
