The year 2020 has caused us all to pause and look at how we operate and market our businesses. This is true especially for construction companies, many of whom have been working throughout the quarantine as essential businesses.
Contractors have had to figure out how to work strategically while incorporating the need to practice social distancing and using PPE. Yet while many have risen to the challenges the pandemic has produced, many of those companies are also taking this time to take a long look at their marketing strategy for the future. Beyond simply surviving, a comprehensive strategy of marketing for construction companies can help you build a better brand during these challenging times and stand out from the competition.
Here are some of the most creative ideas to try when marketing for construction companies during these interesting and challenging times.
Here at NITRO PLUG Digital Marketing, we know that construction marketing has always presented challenges. As we have entered the digital era, and device-driven technology has taken over everything from how we communicate, to how we purchase services, and even the proposal process, construction firms have been forced to embrace technology in place of the more traditional methods of marketing for construction companies.
Whether you own a small firm specializing in residential remodeling, or are a large commercial contractor who excels inputting up skyscrapers, construction marketing today means that you'll need to have an online marketing strategy that functions across platforms, technologies, and communication methods.
Here are a few techniques and strategies to help you build your brand, increase leads, and get your business “top of mind”with prospects and construction leads.
It's marketing for construction companies 101 -Every construction business, big or small, needs a professional-looking website! Today, if you don't have an online presence, you’re not generating leads effectively. Consumers buyers' journey begins online. Your website is often the point of the first contact for a potential buyer. It builds trust and establishes your legitimacy. If your prospect can't find you online, they move on to your competitor.
To be effective when marketing for construction companies a website should at a minimum include:
• An About Page –Tell your visitors who you are, what you do, and why they should work with you.
• A Service Page –Let potential clients know what services you offer
• A Testimonial Page –This is an important page for building trust. Peer review carries the most weight with other potential buyers. A Testimonials page is a critical element!
• Gallery Pages –A perfect way to profile your work. Visual impact is important, especially in the construction industry. Use before and after pictures, and whenever possible, use professional photography!
• A Blog –Blogging is a great way to build authority for your company and thought leadership in the industry for you. Blogging is also a great way to build your Search Engine Optimization efforts through fresh, relevant, content, and can help you to improve your ranking on search engines.
• A Contact Us Page –Allow potential clients to reach you easily! Include location data as well as phone, and email contact information.
You need to have strong dynamic local SEO both off-page and on-page. A blog with images optimized with alt tags and metadata is the perfect approach.
Social media is one of the most effective platforms when marketing for construction companies. However, it's not like traditional marketing. Traditional marketing is about “sell” social media marketing is all about “tell.”
Education is the key to effective social media marketing. Social media gives you the opportunity to take a personal approach with your marketing. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can help you to build a referral network to pass on your name and advertise your company via word of mouth.
Use these platforms to humanize your business, educate consumers, and build personal relationships with your prospects and current clients. When using social media platforms, follow the “four to one rule.” For every four posts, one can be sales oriented. Proper social media etiquette will get you positively noticed!
Email marketing is another great technique of marketing for construction companies. Newsletters are an amazing tool to build an email campaign around. With a newsletter, you can showcase current projects, share your community outreach efforts, highlight your team members, educate readers, and more.
While newsletters can have a sales element to them and are a great way to promote a sale, discount, or special offer, make sure that your content is predominantly educational!
Email marketing is an excellent way to nurture prospects through their buying journey. Make sure if you do send newsletters via email to give your readers an opportunity to opt-out, and only use email addresses that have been freely given to you. Never send blanket emails to purchased lists that can be interpreted as spam!
Targeted pay-per-click advertising is another excellent technique of marketing for construction companies that will get your message in front of a targeted audience and generate qualified leads. PPC advertising can be extremely effective, but it requires a fair amount of work. This is often one area where it pays to hire a professional.
PPC advertising requires a fair amount of tweaking and testing to maximize its effectiveness and is typically a very fluid marketing tool. However, with careful oversight to maximize its performance, few online methods of construction lead generation can produce results like a well-designed, properly done PPC campaign. PPC advertising, like social media, is an outlet that can produce results quickly when compared to blogging and other methods.
However, as previously mentioned, this is one tool for construction marketing, that is best left to the experts. Otherwise, you can end up wasting marketing dollars and have little to show for your spend.
Construction lead generation can be challenging, but when done properly, it's an investment that will pay off! While there are some marketing elements that you can perform in-house, it takes a team that is knowledgeable in digital marketing and comfortable working with the industry to make it really work.
Carefully coordinating your strategy when marketing for construction companies is the key. A well-executed, strategy consisting of various platforms can deliver incredible results including more qualified leads and greater profitability. We at, NITRO PLUG Digital Marketing can be the experts you need to optimize your digital marketing profile or help you develop one. Contact us today.
Maxine has extensive experience in the digital space and in driving positive experiences for clients. Her background touches large companies, where she successfully led marketing teams through grownd-breaking initiatives.
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