Marketing your construction business is critical to longterm growth and sustained business. Start with these eleven construction marketing ideas. They are effective, proven, and free construction marketing ideas that can really go a long way in attracting new customers and increasing business growth.
1. Boost Your Presence on Social Media Platforms
For both large and small businesses, social media a great opportunity to show consumers the more personal side of your business.
When done consistently and correctly, social media is an excellent tool to use in order to reach potential customers and communicate with existing customers. If you aren’t actively engaging with people on social media each day, you’re missing a huge opportunity to grow your business.
RD Olson, an Irvine, California based General Contractor does a good job on their Facebook page of showing a more personal side of their business. They typically post 6-7 times per month and only about 1/3 of their posts are about their current or past projects. The other 2/3 of of their posts are showcasing their staff in a different light…from a team softball league championship to executives in a retreat wearing red noses. Personalization is key!
Not sure which social media platforms are right for your business? Facebook is still king for B2C businesses (businesses selling direct to consumers), giving the most ROI when used correctly. LinkedIn comes in at a strong #2, in some cases giving better results than Facebook for B2B businesses (businesses selling to other businesses).
LinkedIn is a great place to interact with other businesses and its executives. Make sure you’re liking, commenting and engaging with people on a regular basis who are in your industry or are your potential clients.
Don’t forget the 4 to 1 rule. For every 4 posts, only 1 should be “salesy.” People don’t want to be sold to, they want to be educated. This rings true more than ever with social media.
Not sure what to post? Glimpses into life behind the scenes at your office or in the field is a great place to start. Residential construction companies should try posting tips for homeowners on interviewing contractors or upgrades on your home that have the best ROI.
Commercial construction companies should post energy saving tips for facility directors or do a snapshot on a new technology they are using on the job-site.
Remember, when you’re a resource to your customers, they keep coming back for more. Exciting content keeps them interested and your business top of mind.
2. Maintain Relationships with Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of those wonderful marketing tools that so many people skip over because they think it’s too expensive. In reality, there are free email marketing services, like MailChimp, that are great avenues for construction companies to attract new customers. You can send 12,000 emails each month at no cost!
MailChimp has templates you can use to have awesome looking emails without any design or coding trouble. AWESOME! You can also track who opens your email and tell if they clicked on any of the links that you included.
Email marketing is also a great way to maintain existing customer relationships by mailing weekly or bi-weekly articles to your past and current clients. These emails should contain great information that is educational to whomever is on the receiving end.
The 4 to 1 rule applies here to. Feel free to include a special if your company is running one…assuming you have emailed consistently over a set amount of time and those other emails have been informational.
Email marketing is a numbers game. The more people you email, the better response you will have.
Try adding an email capture tool to your website like this one from Hubspot. When people go to your website, there should be a pop-up that asks for an email address. You’ll be amazed at the results!
3. Keep Your Company Website Fresh with Great Content
When made correctly, websites can be your #1 sales person. They should be selling for you while you’re sleeping. Seriously…that’s how websites are supposed to work.
I get it, websites can be expensive for a start-up construction company. Our websites start at $5,000 for a templated version and custom sites start in the $20,000 range. For existing businesses that have a proven business model, this should be more important than any other sales or marketing expense you are considering. Trying to decide between construction marketing ideas? Make sure this on stays on the list!
Still don’t want to make the investment? That’s okay. You can start by building great content for your existing site that will help drive traffic.
Take a look at the blog one of the nation’s leading architects for schools, PBK out of Houston, Texas. Their blog is updated regularly with content that is intriguing and educational to their client base.
None…I mean none, of their content is a sales pitch. Even if they mention a recently completed project (which they rarely do), it is only used as an example in the context of the educational post.
PBK does integrate a couple of cool videos of their projects in this section, which they call “Insights.” My favorite is the unveiling of the new University of Houston locker room to the football team…what a great way to show the humanization component behind their job and company.
Update your blog a couple times a week with engaging content that suits your customer base. Include great imagery (nothing pixellated please) throughout your blog posts and website to get people to stay on the site longer and make sure your site has very clear calls to action on every page (preferably in a non-spammed pop-up). Finally, share your website content regularly with your social media followers to drive traffic.
When your budget allows, invest in a quality website that is Optimized for Search Engines. It’s by far the best dollar for dollar marketing and business development investment your business can make.
4. Grow Your Audience with Video Content
In addition to engaging content, people like videos. Video content is one of those construction marketing ideas that can really go a long way because people are 17X more likely to watch a video than read a blog post.
Take a look at this video that was made by Shapiro & Duncan in Rockville, Maryland. Over 75,000 views…pretty amazing!
Not sure where to start with making a video? Fortunately, there are ways to craft a well-thought-out, engaging marketing video for free by enlisting a film student or doing it yourself. To help, there are websites like Wistia that offer tutorials on how to create videos on an iPhone that look professional.
Need ideas of video content? Start with the most basics of your industry. Think: What Is Three Phase Electricity? What Is In Paint? What Is A Heat Pump?
If you still need inspiration, check-out Quora. It’s a question and answer forum that allows you to see what kinds of questions people have about your industry.
5. Develop a Customer Referral Program
As mentioned before, word of mouth is perhaps one of the most powerful marketing tools there is, which means a customer referral program should definitely be on your list of construction marketing ideas. Wondering how to go about setting up a customer referral program? It’s easy and can be done a number of different ways. From offering free products or services for existing customers to offering a reward for referring new customers, customer referrals go a long way in spreading the news about how great your company is.
My favorite is Sunworks PowerPay Referral Program. They have even come out with an app to make it super easy for their happy clients to refer friends and family. It clean, easy to use and gives great rewards. Need more ideas, check-out this list of 51 referral ideas.
6. Reach New Customers with Industry Partnerships
Partnering up with other construction businesses for joint projects is one of the construction marketing ideas that doesn’t cost any money and yields tremendous results.
Whether it’s teaming up for a special event, promotional giveaway, or webinar, you’ll end up enjoying access to an entirely new group of potential customers. After all, you get twice as much notice when you partner with another business.
Not sure where to start in developing these relationships? Try your local AGC (Association of General Contractors) chapter. They always have great events and are a fantastic place to meet General Contractors, Trade Contractors and even Architects. This is the August calendar for the San Diego chapter…there is a LOT going on!
7. Invest Time in Networking
Networking is perhaps the best way to market any type of business because it often results in referrals. Although networking can be time consuming, there are great platforms that will ensure you find the right type of networking events for your business.
Try 3 basic networking tips:
- Never Eat Lunch Alone: Always ask someone to join you for lunch…preferably someone from outside of your company.
- Build Genuine Relationships: The person who builds great relationships doesn’t think about what they want; they start by thinking about what they can give.
- Get Out There: Try a new networking group in your community at least once a quarter. You’ll be amazed at the amount of people you meet and how quickly your network grows.
Not sure which of these construction marketing ideas to start with? The philosophy of “never eating lunch alone” is a great place to start!
8. Use Photos
Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn by up-selling your recently completed projects through amazing photos. This is one of the construction marketing ideas that is so simple, but so often overlooked by construction companies.
Look at the portfolio section of the Cobb Architecture website. The photos are absolutely stunning and do a better than average job showing pictures of houses.
Your website should be full of high-resolution photos of every single project you have successfully completed. Great photos keep people on webpages 67% longer. The photos should be edited for optimal color and should be easy to navigate between.
ProTip: Try the apps Snapseed and VSCO for taking better photos with your iPhone.
Data shows that the credibility of a company that uses high-quality, professionally edited photos on their website increases by 186%.
Look at the photos from the website of Chasse Building Team. They are all professionally edited and show what could be boring and mundane photos in incredible lighting with pops of color and unique angles. Amazing!
9. Get Involved in the Community
Another effective free construction marketing idea is to get involved in the community. This can be as simple as helping fix up a home or volunteering at your kids high school football game. Either way, always wear a branded shirt and show your absolute best smile to everyone you interact with. You’ll be shocked at the feedback.
“We love working in our community and giving back to the area we call home. Our favorite charity is Habitat for Humanity. The dividends for our company are always positive and our employees absolutely love it.” – Jenn from HomePride in Savannah, Georgia.
No matter how you choose to get involved, you’re likely to gain exposure, which itself is priceless because it demonstrates that you care about the community. Make sure to post about your involvement on your social media page. It’s important for the community to see that you care about more than just your bottom line! Look at The KYA Group in California. They do quarterly events with the entire company that promote giving back to the community and always share the photos on their social media accounts.
10. Get Personal
This is one of our favorite construction marketing ideas! So few construction companies implement Getting Personal into their marketing campaigns.
Showing a personal side to your business gives your current and future clients an inside look into your team and culture behind the scenes. People want to engage with other people, not with businesses. Once businesses stop acting like businesses and start acting like people, they see their digital marketing campaigns yield tremendous results!
Layton Construction mixes their project photos and updates with photos of what’s going on inside the office. We love this photo of the Layton summer interns meeting with the President/CEO of the company.
Don’t be afraid to show pictures of your team outside of the office, especially if you’re a large company. KPRS, one of the largest general contractors in the country, does a great job of showcasing their team outside of the office. This provides a more personal experience to their clients and makes a large company seem more approachable and personable.
11. Optimize Your Site For Search Engines
Search is how people discover information on the internet. In a world where over 90% of online experiences start with a search engine, showing up on the front page of Google can be the deciding factor between a business that’s thriving and one that’s, well, bankrupt. As far as Construction Marketing Ideas are concerned, this might just be the most important to your long-term business success.
88% Of People Don’t Go Past The First Page Of Google
Look at our search for Custom Home Builder San Diego. The map section is skipped over by 83% of people completely, meaning most people jump right down to the results. Houzz ranks #1 and#2, but again…65% of people skip right over national websites like Houzz or Angies List.
The first business that shows up on google is MDD Homes, a custom home builder in San Diego. Perfect, that’s exactly what I was searching for in Google. Their site is perfect optimized for Google as a custom home builder, easy to use and has great videos of their projects.
The second and third sites are also optimized for Google, but aren’t quite as easy to use and navigate. With some quick changes to their site map and internal/external linking, these sites could easily surpass the current #1 spot.
The fourth site, which has the most Google reviews (almost all being perfect) is missing a huge opportunity to capture the #1 Google spot by not having an optimized site. A site redesign could yield Dream Design Builders some major traffic on Google!
The difference between ranking #1 and #2 isn’t massive when you’re talking about something like a homebuilder. But, the difference between ranking #1 and #2 if you’re a service company who works in responsive mode is massive! (ie AC Repair, Disaster Restoration, Plumbing Leak, etc).
In today’s information economy, search engines are the arbiters that determine what answers consumers get to their questions, and it’s critical for any brand to have a strong presence in search.
Google is the most popular website on the Internet, so why wouldn’t you leverage it? Through search engine optimization, you can rank higher on Google so you can get more visitors to your website. Imagine ranking #1 on Google for “AC Repair”, “New Air Conditioner” or “Best AC Company in Chicago.” It’s no secret your business would skyrocket and your outbound sales efforts would turn into responding to inbound website inquiries.
So, there you have it, 11 proven construction marketing ideas that any company would benefit from. Best of all, they’re all free. With the right amount of time management and dedication, any construction company can take one, two, or five of these effective construction marketing ideas and utilize them to grow their customer base, revenue, and business as a whole. What are you waiting for? Give one of these construction marketing ideas a try today.
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Which one of these Construction Marketing Ideas is your favorite?