Keepin' It Creative: Department Spotlight on P1 Marketing

“I think of us as a creative agency for P1 associates.”

Marketing + Communications Manager Victoria Hoffman understands that serving P1’s internal customers is the way in which Marketing serves the company.

“We have an open door to discuss whatever they need, might need, or don’t even know they need,” Victoria explained.

“Each associate at P1 is our customer. It is our goal to help them be successful so they can go out and help their customers, whoever that may be.”

“Sometimes support departments lose sense of their direct contribution, because we are ‘behind the scenes’,” she said. “But serving our associates is where we see the impact of our contribution.”

Marketing and Proposal Specialist Beth Martens points out Marketing’s important role in setting P1 up to obtain business.

“One of the main functions of my job is making sure everything is up-to-date on third party compliance web sites, like Avetta and First Verify, in addition to addressing individual prequalification requests from customers,” Beth said.

Prequalifications can be complex, and Marketing alone doesn’t have the answers to technical or customer-specific questions, so it takes the whole village to complete most of them, including Safety, HR, the project manager working with that customer, and often one or more executives.  The same goes for the proposals prepared by Marketing.

“We are here to organize and drive the proposal process, and of course make it look and sound good, but we aren’t the technical experts,” Beth said. “We rely on the project team to provide the right information to address the RFP (request for proposal).”

Reinforcing a Brand

“A brand is a position, a promise, a marketing or business concept that helps people identify a company, product, or individual. It’s your personality – as perceived on the outside.”

Victoria notes that people often confuse brands with things like logos, slogans, or other recognizable marks, which are marketing tools that help promote goods and services.

But your brand comes from a lot of places and is built over time.

“Your brand promise is a value or experience your company’s customers can expect to receive every single time they interact with your company,” she said.

She says the primary way a brand is built is by the associates who provide a consistent experience to customers - how customers experience you, day-to-day, over time, until you have a certain reputation.

“Marketing alone can’t build that brand, but we reinforce it with repetitive, consistent messaging in which we tie what we do to who we are,” Victoria said. “That’s a critical function of Marketing – teaching people how to think about P1 Group.”

She says repetition is key. 

“Marketing often uses simple, yet repetitive, verbal tools for reinforcement to remind people how to think about us,” she said.

Some examples are “P1 Proud”, “Serving the Communities in Which We Live and Work”, “The Expertise of Many, the Power of One”, “All Things Facilities”, and “Proud Past, Focused Future, 100 Years Strong”.

“People may notice these are repeated on social media, in blog stories, in the newsletter - anywhere we want to reinforce what we stand for, and who we are,” Victoria said.

Supporting Culture

Creating culture closely relates to how we tell P1 stories. One of Marketing’s goals is to make sure associates hear P1’s stories and know how to talk about what differentiates P1.

The P1 Connection newsletter is one way the department does this. The articles are designed to showcase the abilities of P1, from trade to trade, office to office.

“We all get easily siloed in what we do every day, and forget there’s a large, robust company all around us,” Victoria said.

“What someone is doing in Virtual Design & Construction could have implications for Building Technologies, and what someone else is doing in Preventative Maintenance Sales could lead to something for the Millwrights, just as an example,” she said.

Of course, you have to have a little fun, too.

Beth and Tiffany founded the “Culture Club” to plan events throughout the year designed to bring inclusive fun to all P1 offices. Representatives from Human Resources and each office round out the club to help plan such events.

So when you see free popsicles, Spirit Week, a beer cart, or a selfie photo booth, thank your Culture Club!

Looks Matter

With an extensive background in graphic design and video production, Digital Media Specialist Tiffany Oldham knows that sometimes, looks do matter.

“Good-looking materials do more than you think. It can be the difference between impressing a customer or looking just like everyone else,” Tiffany said. “The more professional you look, the more credible you seem.”

With input from the team, Tiffany helps keep marketing materials looking fresh, neat, and professional.

“We get a lot of positive feedback on the look and functionality of our materials,” she said. “I hope customers can see the reason P1’s materials look top notch is because they reflect a company that is top-notch.”

Come. Sit. Share.

Victoria notes that the more associates get in the habit of sharing their work and news with Marketing, the more Marketing can share it with the right audiences.

“Telling our story helps people feel who we are – it humanizes us,” Tiffany added.

“We aren’t a building, we are a collective of expert humans that get the job done. People want to know who you are as well as what you do.” 

Marketing hopes you enjoy reading the stories of P1 as much as they enjoy sharing them!

Meet the Team

Victoria Hoffman, Marketing + Communications Manager

• 25 years of corporate communications, marketing, creative, and public relations experience
• “Communications and Marketing Swiss Army Knife”
• Bourbon preferred

What Victoria Does: Leads the marketing team to bring a consistent brand message for P1 by finding creative ways to tell the story of our organization and our people; works with executives and team leadership to identify the right communication tools for the job; proposal development; writing; graphic design; web; social media; art direction; and special events

Beth Martens, Marketing Proposal Specialist

• 21 years experience in layout, design, digital illustration
• Earned P1 “stripes” working in Dispatch for 7 years
• Likes to play with paint. @Bmartens_studio

What Beth Does: Reviews and addresses prequalification and request for proposal needs; manages swag and giveaway items between associates and external vendors; develops and executes pop-up stores and other charitable opportunities; contributing writer to newsletter and other marketing materials; co-founder of the P1 Culture Club, coordinating and executing special events for multiple offices

Tiffany Oldham, Digital Media Specialist

• 14 years of graphic design and visual marketing
• Experienced in multiple industries, including Title Boxing and Bass Pro Shops
• Will work for wine.

What Tiffany Does: Graphic design; video shooting and editing; lead photographer; manages layout and design of P1 monthly newsletter; manages P1 Instagram; helps update company website with experience in basic HTML and web editing; co-founder of the P1 Culture Club, coordinating and executing special events for multiple offices