We get it - owning a construction company takes a lot of dedication and time. And marketing on top of everything else can seem overwhelming. That's why we're revealing construction marketing tips to help make your strategy clearer and hopefully easier to implement for you and your team. Not to mention, help increase leads and grow revenue for your business. Sounds pretty great, right?
In our last blog, we started this two-part series and revealed five of our ten construction marketing tips, including:
- Identify your ideal clients
- Know your competition
- Develop your brand
- Design your website for success
- Grow your online presence
Now, let's pick up where we left off with construction marketing tip number six.
6. Produce Helpful Content
Inbound marketing is a revolutionary strategy to promote your construction or homebuilding business. It is not a fad, but a way to further develop your web presence in order to effectively reach your ideal clients. Instead of focusing on “outbound” marketing, like newspaper ads and cold calls, inbound marketing appeals to potential clients by publishing informative and entertaining content on your website. Essentially, you attract new clients to your site by answering their questions and offering solutions to their home-related problems. This content will show up on search engines as individual articles, all linking directly to your website. Thus, increasing website visitors, and hopefully leads as well.
Blogging
Your website visibility will be maximized if you add a blog page, featuring articles that you craft yourself to help solve some of your clients' and potential clients' pain points and questions. No matter where your website is hosted, whether on HubSpot, WordPress, etc., many of the website templates currently have a built-in blog feature. If your website template doesn't have a built-in blog, simply plug in a Wordpress blog page to an existing site.
Why is a blog such an important construction marketing tactic? Having a blog helps you add pages and searchable terms to your website, which increases the likelihood of your website being ranked higher on search engines. Also, a blog with helpful information, presents you as a credible source and thought leader in your professional field.
Content Offers
The other key aspect of inbound marketing is capturing the contact information from your website visitors. You can do so by adding forms to your website, as well as content offers. A content offer can be a number of free downloads hosted on your website, such as:
- An eBook
- Checklist
- Template
- Webinar
- Video training series
7. Nurture Existing Leads
Once you've acquired some leads with your helpful content, the marketing doesn't stop there. It's vital to continue to nurture those leads so they hopefully become customers. Although phone calls and sending personal emails are solid traditional ways to nurture leads, we have some other ideas for you to try to drive those leads down the sales funnel to becoming a customer.
Segment Your Leads
Now that you've collected a database of leads in your CRM (customer relationship management) system, it's time to segment your leads in a way that makes sense for your business. There are a number of ways you can go about segmenting your leads. The important thing to consider is how you are planning to market to these groups. That means the segmentation has to be intentional, not sporadic. Here are a few examples:
- Geographic location - By segmenting your leads by location (city, county, neighborhood, etc.), you can send targeted content like recently completed projects in their specific area.
- Project type - Granted you've asked for this information via a form on your website, knowing what type of project your leads are interested in can help you deliver content tailored to their interests. For example, say a homeowner is interested in a kitchen remodel. Sending them information about patios and decks is probably not relevant, and can cause the homeowner to become unengaged.
- Partner vs. customer - If you receive numerous leads from industry professionals, such as realtors and architects, it's important to segment those individuals. They will most likely want more portfolio-type content like case studies and general information about your construction company, including your process and how you're different than the competition.
Email Marketing
After segmenting your leads, you're ready to take on email marketing. While you may think of email as being ineffective and spammy, surprisingly, it's nearly 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter at acquiring customers. Sending a personalized email providing helpful resources, can help you connect with your clients, on their own time. Whether it's in the form of a newsletter to help keep them up-to-date, or a simple email linking to a new blog post or page on your website that's related to their interests. The key is to always provide value. That way, your contacts will recognize your emails as something worthwhile, and are more likely to take time out of their day to read them (or at least glance at them).
On the flip side, try to avoid only sending emails that come across as purely promotional. That can end up with your contacts marking your emails as spam, or even unsubscribing.
Newsletters
Like we mentioned above, a monthly or quarterly newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with leads and keep your construction company top-of-mind. With an email newsletter, consider including information like:
- Company updates
- Popular blog posts
- Industry news and trends
- Case studies
Okay, we know what you might be thinking. "I'm not a graphic designer. How can I design an email newsletter?" Don't worry. Today's email marketing platforms make it easy to put together great-looking professional emails. You just have to decide which one fits into your budget. Some of our favorite tools include:
8. Establish Partnerships
A great way to get your business name out there and grow your client base is by establishing partnerships with other professionals in your area. As you might have guessed, this construction marketing tip is all about networking. There are four main professions to target:
- Architects
- Designers
- Organizers
- Realtors
Now, let's go into more detail about each partnership and why they're so beneficial for your construction business.
Architects
Architects design buildings and homes, right? That means they also need a builder to bring their vision to life. And that's where your company comes in. Make sure to prove your craftsmanship with a strong portfolio of completed projects when trying to establish partnerships with architects in your area.
Designers
An interior designer is all about helping their clients make their homes look beautiful. And sometimes, that means renovations. Becoming a part of a designer's suggested contractor list is a great thing, and definitely something to strive for. That way, when those renovation projects come up, they know who to tell their clients to call.
Organizers
Just like the interior designer relationship, the goal here is become a part of the organizer's list of go-to contractors for them to recommend to their clients. In order to appeal to them, think about the type of projects an organizer would be dealing with - pantries in kitchens, closets in bedrooms, etc. - and how your business can further assist their clients in those spaces.
Realtors
Creating business partnerships with realtors is the perfect example of a symbiotic relationship where both individuals mutually benefit. Think about it. You (as the construction business owner) benefit because the realtor can offer your services to their clients who are looking to sell their home and need some updates, or have purchased a new home and want to renovate to make it picture perfect.
The realtor also benefits because he or she now has a trusted construction partner they can recommend to clients. And that improves the overall experience for the homebuyer, thus making that client more likely to recommend the realtor to their friends, and hopefully become a repeat customer years down the road when they want to sell.
See? Symbiosis. 👍
9. Get Involved in your Community
As a construction company or homebuilder, you help make your community beautiful. Spread the word and get involved in the community! Volunteering is definitely one great way to do that, and will help make your current clients and potential customers see your company in a positive light. Another way to get involved is by hosting and attending networking events and trade shows in your area. Let's take a closer look at what that construction marketing tip could entail.
Host an Event
Think about some of your recent projects that you are especially proud of. How awesome would it be to showcase your work at an event like an open house? Granted, you'll need approval from the homeowner, but this can be a super impactful way to get potential leads to become clients. Reason being - they're getting the opportunity to see your handiwork firsthand. And that gives them peace of mind that your company will do a great job with their project as well.
Another event you could consider is a live training series for DIY projects at your office or design center. You might be thinking, "How would that get my company more business?" Great question! Although you are giving attendees some insider information on how to complete DIY projects around the house (yes, small projects you could technically be doing for them), you are also creating relationships with these people and building trust. That way, when it's time for a major renovation, they trust you as the expert and are more likely to contact you for help.
Attend Networking Events and Trade Shows
Attending networking events or trade shows in your area is your opportunity to have face time with potential clients and discuss how you can help them with their home renovation projects. Not sure what networking events or trade shows are available in your area? Ask your team for suggestions, or do a simple Google search to see what's coming up. A great example of a trade show that would be perfect for a homebuilding business in Charlotte is the Southern Spring Home and Garden Show. This show is all about home improvement, making it the perfect place to market a homebuilding business.
Pro Construction Marketing Tip: Before attending a networking event or trade show, make sure to understand your audience. That way, your "elevator pitch" and marketing materials can be better targeted to their needs and interests, thus improving your chances to get new business leads at the event.
10. Track Your Success
We've now covered nine construction marketing tactics and strategies, and now for (arguably) the most important step - tracking your success. Without tracking, you have little to no insight into what worked and what was not so successful for your construction business. By using online tools, you can track your success, analyze results and hopefully develop your marketing strategy for the future. A few online tools to review include:
- Google Analytics - See where your website visitors are coming from (organic search, paid search, social media, etc.), bounce rate (i.e. the percentage of website visitors that go to a webpage and immediately leave your site), number of page views, plus your top pages, and more. If you're not sure how to get started with Google Analytics, check out their free Analytics Academy training.
- CRM (customer relationship management) system - such as HubSpot - Analyze the number of web views to contact form fills (view to contact ratio) to understand how many visitors convert to become a contact or lead. You should also look at the contact to deal ratio, which details the ratio of the number of leads or contacts that move to the deal stage.
- Google Search Console - Learn which search terms website visitors look for which lead them to your company site. This can be especially helpful when planning future content because these are terms people are actually looking for more information about. They are looking for the answer to their question or a solution to their problem. So, answer it through content! Through Google Search Console, you can also see where you're currently ranking for specific keywords to see if your efforts are working.
