30 Oct · 29 min

Word of Mouth Is the Biggest Multiplier in Construction Marketing | Julie Maeker

In this episode of Marketers of Technology, Andres talks with Julie Maeker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliamaeker/), Head of Marketing at Plancraft (https://plancraft.com/), a Hamburg-based company that develops cloud software to streamline quotes, invoices, reports, and project management for tradespeople and construction businesses. Julie's path runs from business administration in Münster and strategic marketing in Lisbon to performance, growth, and campaign roles at About You, a fashion e-commerce retailer now part of Zalando. She explains why she was drawn to purposeful marketing for the trades, how she grew a marketing team from seven to 26 people and more than tripled brand awareness, why word of mouth and creators matter more than performance ads in construction, and how localization shapes marketing across Germany, Austria, and other European markets. Topics Discussed: - Julie's path from business administration in Münster and strategic marketing in Lisbon to performance, growth, and campaigns at About You - Why she moved to Plancraft: a purpose-driven mission to give tradespeople more time on the craft and less on paperwork - The market gap she cites: around four million trades businesses in Europe, only about seven to ten percent digitized, and an estimated 2.1 million missing workers - What Plancraft does and its vision of an AI-native product that helps trades businesses run on autopilot - Running a brand awareness survey on joining in March 2025, starting from single-digit awareness, and a later brand lift study showing it more than tripled - Growing the marketing team from seven to 26 and splitting it into performance marketing, brand and content, and community teams - Why trust and word of mouth matter more than performance ads in the construction world - Working with creators in the trades, where the largest has around 150,000 followers and relationships are still built on eye level - Two large branding bets in Germany, the company's biggest and most mature market - A top-performing ad idea that came out of a sales call, tested first in Italy and rolled out to the other four markets - Localizing for Germany and Austria, and why German ads can't simply be reused in Austria - Using AI for translation while relying on local marketers to proofread tone and humor GTM & Technology Adoption Lessons: - Measure your starting point. Julie began with an independent brand awareness survey so she knew where the company stood, then ran a second study to see whether the budget paid off. - Add structure as the team grows. She moved from one team of seven to three sub-teams for performance, brand and content, and community, so each area had clear ownership. - Build a brand as a differentiator. With many competitors in Europe, she argues that in a world of AI a brand tradespeople love becomes a key differentiator. - In trust-based industries, invest in word of mouth. Tradespeople are skeptical of performance ads on social platforms and rely on recommendations, so creators and community carry more weight. - Use sales conversations as creative input. Plancraft's best-performing ad idea came from a sales call, with a salesperson showing a new feature directly to the camera. - Test in one market, then localize and roll out. The ad worked first in Italy, then performed across all of the company's markets once translated and adapted. - Pair AI translation with local judgment. AI helps with translation, but local marketers catch tone, irony, and dialect that machines miss. // Sponsors: Front Lines — Silicon Valley's leading Podcast Production Studio. We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. Mention you are a listener and get a 10% discount. www.FrontLines.io/Podcast-as-a-Service