3 Planning Tips | BPM Revit-BIM Content Marketing Guide

#1 – Building Product Manufacturer (BPM) Website Hosts BIM Files

Typically, a Building Product Manufacturers’ (BPM) Marketing Department creates BIM files to promote the specification of their products; within their clients’ BIM design projects.

While BIM files promote the manufacturer’s brand; successful pre-built BIM files provide real cost-savings to the BPM’s design + contracting customers. BPM BIM files provide the manufacturers’ distribution network with digital planning tools to assist designers + contractors’ with their project product selection process.

Logically, a Marketing Department should choose the building product manufacturer’s website as the first and best location for file-hosting of their BIM files.

1. Links to the BPM’s digital design files (BIM, CAD, specifications) should be prominently displayed on the front page of the corporate website
2. Indicate the BIM file-types of your products for your clients to download. (Revit, ArchiCAD, Vectorworks or Bentley BIM files)
3. Within the BIM Library, populate product images, contact links, product warranties, construction specifications and tech data sheets around your individual BIM files.

Fact: Designers expect to find and search for a BPM’s BIM files on the BPM website, first. They assume the most current files are located on the BPM website with supporting documentation.

Tip: Do not syndicate the BIM Files with BPM BIM File Library Websites or BIM File modeling service websites; until the BIM library is completely hosted on the BPM website.

For example, our corporate BIM Library website annually delivers more than 5 million Revit model downloads to our visitors. Collectively, four BIM Libraries that host \ syndicate our Revit models, achieve only 10% of our total annual website downloads.

The Bradley  BIM library was hosted on our corporate website for 18 months; prior to adding other BIM Library services.

#2 – Know Your Client Market & Design Tools

Where are you selling the majority of your products? USA? Europe? UK? Middle East? China? Australia?

What BIM software are your design and construction clients using in your major sales market(s)?

If the USA is your major market; Autodesk Revit is the dominant BIM software tool.

Fact: Planning strategically, more US Revit design firms, projects & software users; will financially benefit from pre-built BPM Revit models.

By serving the BPMs’ major market (first), the BPM obtains the best, initial financial Return-On-Investment (ROI); for creating BIM files for their clients’ software.

BPMs will benefit from their clients’ input in a larger market; as they share ideas and functionality they want from their BPM BIM files.

Once their major market has been served, the BPM reviews how to serve the 2nd most popular BIM software used by the BPM’s clients.

BIM Library Kick-Off:

1. Define (major sales market, budget, product list, web location & pages, manager, etc) for a BIM Library ‘Pilot Project‘ in an Autodesk Revit file format. (if the US is the BPM’s major market)
2. Manufacturers’ define a short list of their best products; that will be modeled & distributed by the ‘pilot project’ to their major market.
3. The Sales Department will typically identify their top-selling 5-10 products as the best candidates for the initial BIM library.

#3 – Quality BIM Content is King

Designers use manufacturers’ pre-built BPM BIM files as the “virtual equivalent” of the manufacturers’ real products.

Realize, if your BIM file quality does not meet BIM \ VDC Managers’ quality requirements; your BIM files will be rejected.

Model rejection, based on lack of functional quality, eliminates the risk; that poorly created BIM files will corrupt the firms’ BIM workflow processes & project standards.

What happens if your BIM files are disqualified from the firms’ standard BIM libraries?  Your real products may be excluded for consideration; from the firms’ standard specifications.

Myth: Providing a BIM file for your product guarantees the designer, engineer, contractor or owner will use your product.

Before hiring a BIM file modeler\consultant or contracting with a BIM Library Service –

1. Ask for detailed recommendations from the architects, engineers or contractors; that actually used the BIM content modelers-providers manufacturers’ BIM files.
2. Organize a BIM file evaluation team with several of your design & construction clients.
3. Depending on the complexity of your product; ask the prospective BIM content modelers-providers to create 1, 2 or 3 BIM product sample files.
4. Next, submit these sample BIM files to your client BIM file review group. Ask for their ‘project review‘ of the BIM files’ quality and performance.

Fact: A great BIM product file of a bad product, will not get the bad product specified.  However, a bad BIM file of a great product –may exclude the product from objective design review.

The (1) Planning Phase creates a road-map for the next phases; (2) Modeling, (3) Marketing & (4) Managing a BPM BIM Initiative & BIM Library

The Planning Phase identifies a project manager, defines a pilot project, project costs, website placement, BPM ROI for BIM Library costs and potential clients for the BIM Library review group.

This is the first article in a short series of BPM BIM Content Marketing Articles. Three future articles Modeling, Marketing & Managing a BPM BIM Initiative & BIM Library –will feature 3 market-proven tips from our BIM Initiative founded in 2009.

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