In the construction industry, marketing starts with a great website, but there are four other marketing tools companies should include in their plan. Those four, search engine optimization, branding, social media, and email marketing, should work together to channel visitors to the website. All five marketing channels must use the same voice to tell the company’s story.
1. Website – Your website is your most important marketing tool, regardless of your business type. Chances are, your website will be your company’s first opportunity to impress prospective clients. A well-built, informative, helpful, and well-optimized website provides more opportunities for proposals, bids, and, ultimately, projects. It helps match your services and business approach with the most appropriate visitors.
A professional services website should include seven page types that contain all the information a potential client needs to decide if the firm fits their needs. The website should consist of:
- About Us – The About Us page should tell the company’s story. It can explain the organizations history and express its vision. You might also introduce the team on this page.
- Approach – The Approach page is particularly important in the building industry. Here is where a company talks about what makes it special and how it differs from its professional competitors.
- Services Pages – Be sure to describe every service your company offers on the Services pages. Consider how a visitor might search for the services you provide. A complete list and description of services are particularly important for SEO.
- Markets Served Pages – Highlighting the markets you serve is key to drawing in the right customers. Keep in mind that services offered and markets served are different. Look like experts in the markets you want most to serve. To expand your reach, consider including markets you want to serve in the future. Even if you are open to any business, narrowing to some specific markets can help differentiate you from the competition
- News – The News pages are an open-ended, free space where you can share news, crow about accomplishments, educate, and entertain. Since adding content often and regularly is important for search engine optimization, news pages or blogs are a great place for that.
- Completed Projects – Portfolio pages show potential clients the work you have done. Include prior projects, with descriptions and high-quality pictures or videos to build credibility with visitors and search engines.
- Contact – Make sure it’s easy to contact you, even after hours. You can provide a form to request a quote or more information. Companies should have internal links from every other page to the contact page so that at any point in someone’s visit, they can jump to the actions stage.
2. SEO or Search Engine Optimization – While your website is the most important marketing element, it won’t bring you new clients if it has too few qualified visitors. So, the second most important element is SEO, a process that takes steps to increase the number of visitors to a website. Search engines like Google and others have algorithms that guide them to the best websites for any given search a person makes. Optimization experts can create and edit websites to make them more algorithm-friendly.
Some SEO tools include the following:
- Following layout guidelines to make pages reader-and search-friendly
- Providing complete information about your company and services
- Including keywords and phrases determined by research
- Adding incoming and outgoing links to reputable and appropriate sites
- Regularly adding content to encourage search bots visits and keep the website active
- Using high-quality photos, videos, and graphics
3. Branding – People hire or partner with companies they feel they know well. Effective branding makes building trust with potential clients or partners easier. While prospects can do extensive research to find the ideal company for their needs, branding provides a shortcut or shorthand for your organization and its reputation. When your reputation is represented by your logo, taglines or slogans, color scheme, etc., less research is needed, which means you get an advantage in a competitive situation.
Branding will include a unique but appropriate logo in specific, consistent colors. The logo and color palette should reflect the company’s approach to business, whether traditional, sophisticated, casual, or flexible. The colors should be used consistently throughout all marketing, including signage and collateral materials. A brand could also include either a tagline or slogan in a specific typeface. The fonts should always be consistent, so companies should choose something commonly available. The more often people see the logo, colors, and typeface, the more they will feel they know you.
Another part of branding is the voice used in marketing and communication. Voice is a company’s communication style or personality. Voice includes word choice, sentence structure, and even inflection. For example, one company may say employees while another prefers team members, and some say customers, and others, clients. Sentences and paragraphs can be short or long, and writing can be formal or informal.
4. Social Media -Although social media is more effective in business-to-consumer marketing, like single family home builders, all companies need a social media presence. Social media can help with branding and public relations as well as internal company culture for professional services companies. For example, a construction firm’s support of a local high school team could be a social media post. As part of your branding, showcasing successful projects, team members, new services, etc., can build a company’s professional reputation. Social media also works well for staff recruiting. For example, a construction engineer searching for a new position may watch a company’s social media sites for opportunities.
5. Email Marketing is a good tool for business-to-business promotion. It’s cost-effective, with a higher ROI than many other marketing tools. According to Constant Contact, studies show that every $1 spent on email marketing returns about $44. Marketing studies consistently find high returns for well-designed email marketing campaigns. One reason for their success is the ease of evaluating results and making strategic changes to improve.
Email campaigns build loyalty among existing clients, reach prospective clients with important messages, and drive traffic to your website. Creating a great email list should be step one. Ask clients to opt in as a start. Your emails should look great, be correct (proofread), be interesting, and arrive regularly (many experts say monthly). Then, watch your metrics, like the open and click-through rates. Make changes and compare the next set of metrics so you can continue to improve results.
One option companies choose for an email campaign is sending a monthly newsletter, especially one that supports the brand and presents a company as a community supporter, market leader, and industry expert.
Support and Feed the Website
In professional services industries like construction, five marketing tools, starting with your website, typically carry the bulk of the marketing load. A professionally built website should be a priority. The other four, search engine optimization, branding, social media, and email marketing, support and feed that website. Successful companies coordinate the five marketing channels so they work together, use the same voice, and tell the same narrative.