If you own a construction company, you probably have little to no extra time in your day. There are a lot of things on your plate – managing your employees, getting projects setup, etc. Marketing your business might be the last thing you want to think about. However, it is definitely the most important. Having a solid marketing plan in place for your construction company can be the difference between growth and stagnation. That is why I’ve put together this guide, to help you put together a marketing plan to grow your construction company starting today.
Take Your Construction Company To New Heights
Interested in purchasing the “Construction Company Marketing Playbook” for $7? This guide will walk you through everything you need to do to create a successful construction company. Enter your details below to be notified when it is available!
*We will never share your information with advertisers or 3rd parties
1. Social Media Marketing
You may have heard it hundreds of times, “your construction company needs to be using social media”. You shouldn’t just be using social media, you should be using social media to effectively reach and engage your target demographic in order to build trust and get them to convert into a lead. That may sound tedious and hard to do but the truth is it isn’t.
Social media, especially Facebook, makes it incredibly simple to find your target demographic and show them relevant advertisements. The process is quite simple.
- Open Facebook and navigate to their ads manager.
- When prompted to create an ad, choose “website clicks”.
- Follow the steps to define your target audience. You’ll notice that you can dive incredibly deep into the demographics – gender, sex, location, and even specific interested. As a construction company, you will want to take a moment to think about your target audience for this ad. Are they new homebuyers? Are they people who live in homes and not apartments? Are they property managers?
- Once you’ve defined your audience, you’ll be able to input the web page you want them to land on. This should be a page that has your contact form to make the process of getting in touch with you easier for the lead.
Using social media as a means to show your advertisements is just one of the many ways your construction company can utilize social media marketing. In addition, you should invest time in building a community within your social channels. You can show off your projects by posting pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and Houzz, and promote great client reviews and testimonials.
The key to a successful social media campaign is to keep people engaged. Don’t stretch yourself too thin and try to be on every social platform – that’s a recipe for disaster. Choose the amount of social platforms that you feel comfortable engaging and building a community with on a regular basis.
2. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization may be one of the best ways for your construction company to generate new leads. Why? You don’t need to pay for the leads generated by SEO. With pay-per-click campaigns, direct mail, and sometimes even email marketing, you have to pay for each person that receives your marketing campaign. With SEO, you don’t pay for the traffic generated because it’s free and organic. But there’s a catch. To generate this traffic your website has to have the best content in order to be ranked first in the search engines. This all starts with a process called “keyword research”. Keyword research is the first phase in any successful SEO campaign. It entails going out and finding specific phrases your target audience is searching for to find the services your construction company provides. Once those keywords are found, they are used to optimize your website by creating content around them. The more optimized content you have on your website, the greater the chances are of a highly targeted lead landing on your website. But let’s back up for a second. How do you go about conducting keyword research for your construction company? It all starts with the Google Keyword Planner. With this nifty tool you will be able to search for phrases that your target demographic is searching for, get recommendations on other keywords to possibly use, and see the search volume for each of the keywords. You will want to compile a list of keywords around the services you offer and your location. Here are a few examples to get you started:
- “construction companies in [your state/town]”
- “kitchen remodeling in [your state/town]”
- “bathroom remodeling in [your state/town]”
You’ll notice that I included the state or town. This is to narrow down the searchers to only those who are looking for your service where you are located.
Once you have a list of these keywords, it’s time to start creating content around them. This content can take the form of pages on your site (such as service offerings) or even blog posts. The key in creating keyword optimized content for your construction company isn’t to try to stuff in the keyword as many times as possible, it’s to create a thoughtful, informative, and helpful document for the person searching for it. In doing so, you will be rewarded by the search engines and build trust in the eyes of the reader/lead.
3. Reviews
When it comes to SEO for local businesses, one of the most important elements of any campaign are reviews. Positive reviews show the search engines that you are providing a great service to your current customers. And this positive service will be rewarded by the search engines by placing your website higher in the search results. What’s great is that this is probably the simplest marketing strategy around for construction companies. All you need to do is make sure that you reach out to past customers and ask them to leave reviews on your Yelp and Google Business pages. If you’re unsure of whether they’re going to give you a positive rating, ask them beforehand if there is anything you can do to ensure a positive review.
Positive reviews aren’t just great for search engines, they also are great in showing potential customers that your construction company knows what its doing. These reviews build social proof, which builds trust in the eyes of potential customers.
4. Directories
When a homeowner is looking for a construction company, they may bounce around from site to site. More often than not, they will land on sites that aren’t construction company websites but rather directories that help them find construction companies in their area. To ensure that your construction company has the best possible online presence, it needs to be on those directories. It isn’t necessary to be on every single directory but you will want to have profiles on local directories and industry relevant ones too. Here are the top construction company directories your business should be on:
What’s more is that these directories will also provide your website with powerful links that will help your sites SEO, pushing it up in the search results.
To really take advantage of these directories, you will want to completely fill out your profiles with unique and helpful content. Try to describe your construction company effectively and answer any immediate questions that a new lead may have.
5. Network with Potential Clients
Time and time again, research has shown that networking is the best way to market your business because networking can lead to referrals. But it can be hard to network when you have to run your business at the same time. That’s why it’s important to find the right networking events so you aren’t wasting your time. Here are a few that are perfect for construction companies…
- Meetup.com: This website allows you to host events locally. If you don’t want to put on an event because it’s too much of a time commitment, think about sponsoring an event in your town and using the opportunity to network and market your business at the same time. You can sponsor mommy meet-up groups, interior decorator groups, and even meet-ups for people that are new to the area.
- Chamber of Commerce: Your local Chamber of Commerce is an excellent way to meet other local, reputable businesses in your area. Most memberships are only a few hundred dollars.
- Facebook Group: Here’s a unique idea – start a Facebook group and invite local businesses to join. This allows you to put together a “digital” networking group where businesses around your area can chat and even exchange referrals.
6. Advertise Your Work
Putting signs on recent construction is a smart way to advertise your services and market your skills – think of it as an artist “signing” their work. People that admire your craftsmanship, attention to detail, and quality will be likely to pick up the phone and call you for a quote on a construction project. Many construction companies also put their business name and contact information on company vehicles as a method of advertising – magnetic decals are a great option.
7. Get Accredited
Having your construction company accredited can go a long way toward getting new clients in the door. Some recommended accrediting companies are Home Builders Association and the local Better Business Bureau. There are some potential clients that will only deal with accredited construction businesses and look at their database of members for finding the right company for them.
8. Look for Unique Advertising Opportunities
Thinking outside of the box when it comes to marketing and advertising your construction company is a great way to tap into a new market of customers (one your competitors might not be). Here are a few simple ideas to get you started…
- Take out advertisements in local blogs. Local bloggers are a lot more influential than people give them credit for. Even if bloggers in your area don’t seem to have advertising options, send them a message anyway and ask.
- Sponsor a little league baseball team. It’s not only a great way to market your business but you’re also able to show that you care about your local community.
- Create simple instructional videos that inform people how to do small construction tasks. While they may decide to “DIY” instead of hiring you for this one task, they will most certainly trust you and look to you for future projects.
- Run a contest. People love free things (even the chance to win something for free). By running a contest for something like a free bathroom or kitchen makeover, you could potentially collect the information of hundreds or even thousands of leads.
9. Offer to Help in Community Projects
Volunteering may seem a little scary to most construction companies that are looking to market their business because it means giving away their services for free. However, what you gain in return is far more valuable. Think about the exposure you’ll get if/when your local news organization picks up that you’ve helped repair a home after a storm or fixed-up a rundown community center. Not only is this exposure priceless, it will show the people in your community you care more about helping them than a paycheck.
Wrapping up…
Marketing your construction company doesn’t have to be hard or tedious but it does involve a well thought out plan and a time investment. If you’d like to talk about how Digitalux can help with your construction marketing initiatives, contact us for a free evaluation and consultation.
