Getting Specified Isn't The Goal. Getting Preferred Is.
The materials industry obsesses over getting into the spec. But specification is downstream. The real battle for architects’ attention, memory and trust starts long before the spec gets written.
Every material manufacturer wants to get specified. Of course they do. Get into the project, get written into the documents, beat the competition, get the PO and sell more material.
But I think our industry spends way too much time obsessing over the end of the decision and not nearly enough time thinking about everything that happens before it. Because specification isn't where the decision starts.
Long before a material gets written into a spec, an architect or designer has probably already experienced the brand. They found the website, saw the material, ordered a sample, opened the box, touched the product, searched for technical information, talked to a rep or encountered the company at a trade show. Then they compared that experience against a bunch of other manufacturers competing for the same project.
Somewhere in all of that noise, preference started forming. Or it didn't.
Getting Specified Starts Long Before The Specification.
PERFORMANCE GETS YOU INTO THE GAME
Let's be clear: performance matters. Technical data, price, availability, certifications, sustainability and service all matter. You need the fundamentals.
The problem is that your competitors have fundamentals too. They have ASTM reports, EPDs, BIM files, warranties, samples, websites and sales reps carrying bags full of brochures and promises.
So what happens when everybody can check the boxes?
That's where things get interesting. Because human beings don't make decisions on technical performance alone. We remember. We trust. We recognize. We develop confidence. And eventually, whether we consciously realize it or not, we prefer.
Performance can qualify you for the decision. Preference helps you win it.
ARCHITECTS DON'T EXPERIENCE YOUR ORG CHART
This is one of the biggest disconnects I see in the materials industry. Manufacturers separate everything. Marketing handles marketing. Sales handles sales. Product handles product. Someone owns samples. Someone else owns packaging. The website lives somewhere else entirely.
The architect doesn't give a shit about your org chart.
They experience one brand.
Your website is a signal. Your sample is a signal. The box it arrives in is a signal. The crooked label on the back is a signal. Your sustainability claims, booth, rep and follow-up are all signals.
Individually, they may seem insignificant. Collectively, that's your brand experience. And those signals are either strengthening preference or quietly leaking it.
YOUR MATERIAL CAN BE BADASS AND YOUR BRAND CAN STILL BE BEIGE
This is the part manufacturers don't always want to hear.
You can engineer an incredible material and create a completely forgettable experience around it. I've watched companies obsess over chemistry, strength, durability, tolerances, testing, finishes and manufacturing processe... as they absolutely should. Years of development. Millions invested. Brilliant engineering.
Then they throw the sample into a cardboard box with a brochure and send it to the architect.
What the hell happened?
You engineered the shit out of the material and stopped engineering the moment someone actually experiences it.
That's a preference leak.
And it matters because specification risk starts long before the specification. If your material is exceptional but nobody remembers the brand, that's risk. If your sample experience looks like everybody else's, that's risk. If architects have to hunt through your website for information, that's risk. If your sustainability story smells like marketing bullshit, that's risk.
And if your product is badass but everything surrounding it feels beige?
That's absolutely specification risk.
STOP ENGINEERING ONLY THE MATERIAL
Material manufacturers are extraordinarily good at engineering products. I think it's time we started engineering preference with the same level of intention.
That's the idea behind Preference Engineering™. It isn't prettier marketing, another campaign or changing the logo because somebody got bored. It's deliberately looking at the experiences surrounding a material and asking what each one is making somebody think, feel and remember.
Does it create trust? Does it create desire? Does it make choosing us easier?
Or, more simply:
Is this experience building preference... or leaking it?
That's a much more interesting question than whether the brochure looks nice.
AWARENESS IS A PRETTY LOW BAR
The industry talks endlessly about awareness. More awareness. More impressions. More traffic. More eyeballs.
Fine.
But awareness only means somebody knows you exist.
I want them to remember you. Then I want them to prefer you. Eventually, I want them to ask for you.
Awareness → Memory → Preference → Demand.
That's the progression that matters.
So instead of only asking, “How do we get architects to specify our product?” maybe we should ask something harder:
What would make an architect want our material before the specification ever gets written?
Now we're talking.
Because specification is downstream. Preference happens upstream.
And if you want more specifications, maybe the answer isn't pushing harder at the bottom of the funnel. Maybe it's having the guts to build a material brand people actually give a shit about.
Getting specified isn't the goal. Getting preferred is.
No Beige. No Boring. Just Material AF.™
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