3 Aspens Media Helps BPI’s Marketing Department Do More with Less

Building Products Inc. (BPI) is a two-step building materials distributor that has been serving the Midwest since 1957. Their offerings include GAF shingles, James Hardie siding, TimberTech AZEK decking, Quality Edge roofing accessories and many other top brands. They sell and distribute these products to local lumberyards, who then sell them to contractors and homeowners. 

In early 2022, BPI’s new President/Owner, Kyle Schull, was looking for a way to boost their digital marketing capabilities. At the time, marketing was a one-person department, and that one person was handling everything from flyers and business cards to providing sales support. In other words, there wasn’t anyone in-house who had time to focus on crafting a digital marketing strategy. 

Still, Schull wanted to help lead distribution’s transition into the 21st century. He was looking to jump into the digital content realm to communicate their value proposition of excellent service and lowest total procurement cost to a wider audience. 

“We really had nothing internally that was aimed at digital strategy. If we were to try to take care of that in-house, it’s tough to stratify how much time it takes to get any piece of content looking remotely ready to be published.” – Davis Van Roekel, Marketing Manager, BPI 

Challenge: Establishing BPI’s Online Presence Without Overloading Their Marketing Department 

Schull’s vision for BPI was to use digital marketing to position the company as not just a building products distributor, but also as an industry consultant. He wanted to offer content that lumberyards, contractors and even homeowners would find useful. 

Of course, that’s easier said than done. With so much work to do on the ground, BPI needed to find a cost-effective way to create high-quality content that would demonstrate expertise as part of their brand. 

3 Aspens Media first started working with BPI when distribution marketing consultant Susan Merlo brought us in as a content partner. 

“3 Aspens Media does everything, from spit-balling strategy ideas to taking care of the interviews instead of me having to set those up and talk with everybody, to initial copy, to editing, to formatting,” Van Roekel said. “They’ve really taken a lot of things off my plate. A lot of different tasks fall under that content umbrella, so they really help check off a lot of those boxes and free up a lot of time.” 

Solution: Forming a True Content Production Partnership with 3 Aspens Media  

Van Roekel describes working with 3 Aspens, and especially their primary contact, Nina Baker, as “seamless.” Before each biweekly meeting, Baker emails him an agenda and an updated content schedule. This makes the meetings quick and productive, and from there, Baker and the 3 Aspens team design and create a wide range of content for BPI’s website, from blogs and case studies to ebooks and digital flyers. 

The 3 Aspens team’s ability to handle every stage of the content creation process means BPI doesn’t need to commit in-house resources to produce great content. 

And not only is the content professionally designed, but it also covers specific nuances their niche of customers — lumberyards, contractors and homeowners — would expect a building products consultant to cover. 

“Whether it’s covering the details of the building materials industry where we’re trying to get a lumberyard’s attention, laying out the benefits of GAF shingles for the homeowner from a warranty or technical standpoint, or presenting the trends with exterior houses in 2023, 3 Aspens has done a good job of accurately writing to each of our audiences,” Van Roekel said.  

Outcome: Strengthened Customer Relationships at an Affordable Price  

The content that 3 Aspens has created with BPI has already helped them enhance their position in the building products space. Van Roekel pointed to a case study with Pro Deck Supply, a major customer based in Minnesota, as an example of work that has “definitely helped strengthen customer relations.” 

Van Roekel describes 3 Aspens Media’s work as “bridging the gap” from idea to action, thereby making Schull’s vision of BPI as an industry expert with a real online presence into a reality. 

“It’s so easy to sit in a meeting and say key phrases like ‘digital strategy’ and ‘leads’ and this and that,” Van Roekel said. “But then you go back to your office and it’s like, ‘Okay, how does that translate into this Word document I’m looking at?’”  

3 Aspens makes that translation process a lot easier — and the impact can be seen in the company’s budget. 

“Distributors seem to always be asking, ‘How do you do more with less?’” Van Roekel said. “And 3 Aspens effectively does the job of a full-time employee for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time commitment.” 

“It personalized the company and helped show what we’re capable of from a relationship standpoint,” Van Roekel said. “And posting that blog onto our social media has gotten pretty good engagement as well.” 

3 Aspens Media is a B2B content strategy and marketing content production firm. We work with distributors and the companies that serve them. We translate their benefits to key decision-makers through case studies, guides, social media, email, webinars and more. 

Get in touch with us at info@3aspensmedia.com to learn more.