When your business is growing, whether that be into new services or new markets, it can be a challenge to communicate a personal and genuine demeanor to new potential customers. It's a classic conundrum. When you're a smaller company, the personal touch your customers get is just the way it is. As you succeed and grow into a larger and larger business, showing people that they can still expect that from you can be harder. For Ruston Paving, they believe the key is to stick to what they do great, and let people see who they are. Watch their award winning video here.
"Roughly seventy percent of our work is with repeat customers," said Don Clark, president of Ruston Paving. "Our company has been around for over eighty years, and we understand our markets."
"One of the things I think we excel at is our communication," added Lang Butler, vp at Ruston. “Even though we use technology for a lot of things, we’re old school when it still matters. For example, when you call our offices, an actual person will answer the phone.”
That down-to-earth, ground-level approach is something Ruston Paving takes pride in, and it was also an important factor as discussions about making a video for their business came into focus.
Deciding To Invest In Video
"We had done videos before, just not necessarily for a commercial," said Don Barry, director of business development for Ruston Paving. "They were kind of like still pictures, moving across the screen. It was a little animated."
Once Barry and Butler acquired their drone pilot certifications and started taking high quality aerial footage, they wanted to put something together that would reflect the high-quality work they do on the jobsite.
"We wanted to take it to the next level, and we worked with a production company called 325 Productions to make that happen," explained Barry. "When you're talking with a client, sometimes you can only explain so much. But once they can see the video, see how the milling process works, and see our equipment, it can really showcase what's going to get done."
Ruston Paving didn't just want to upgrade their visual quality for this new video, they also wanted to shape its content around the company's core values.
"I think one of the main differences from our original video and what we captured here is that we wanted get our employees a lot more involved," added Clark. "We wanted to create something more authentic to who we are, and I think we did that."
"The truth is, and we tell our employees this all the time, we can market the company to a potential customer, and we can sell the job," Butler elaborated. "But on the day the work gets done, it's the crews that make the company who we are to them in the end. They're the face of the company at that point, that's who they’ll remember."
With this in mind, they wanted the video to feature their excellent crew workers as much as possible.
Executing The Vision
To capture the jobsite footage, the video crew from 325 Productions spent time filming a handful of different projects all at the same time. They efficiently captured the work being done, as well as getting natural performances from the non-Hollywood-trained construction workers.
"They helped out a lot with the interviews," said Barry. "Sometimes people aren't comfortable when they're in front of a camera. They can freeze up, and it can feel awkward for anyone. But they were really good with coaching everyone, letting the camera just run, while they talked to them in a natural speaking way. It really comes through in the final video."
Ruston Paving President Don Clark also felt that the image of the company came through in other ways, that were just as intentional.
"We are a professional company, you know, and the money our customers spend with us can be a large investment," said Clark. "All our crews look sharp [in the video] and that’s just how they are when they’re working on our projects. Everyone in hi-vis gear and all our equipment is custom painted to be instantly recognizable. You know that's us."
"We wanted to begin, even when a client is still in the vetting phase, to portray exactly what they're going to get," said Butler. "But it also can help with recruitment. We believe potential new hires might see it too, and it will show something about what it's like working here."
It all comes down to their way of doing things, which to them means staying away from what they consider gimmicky decisions.
"A lot of companies are using CRMs now, and that's fine, but we rely on our project managers for a more organic approach," said Barry. "Just be real, you know? Call people up when you think of them, as opposed to sending them a canned message. I think that's important, and that shows through in the video because of the authenticity of our guys."
