If you’re ready to expand your construction business and bring in more customers, you’re going to have to up your marketing game. This may mean using new marketing strategies that get your name out there to more people or that target your audience better. But marketing can be a full-time job, and it’s easy to get lost among the many different construction companies out there. If you need new marketing strategies to help you stand out and to get your name in front of the right people, here are a few that are proven to help businesses grow and expand.
Join the Construction Marketing Association
The Construction Marketing Association or CMA is an organization dedicated to helping construction companies market themselves to potential customers. This organization provides resources and training in how to market your company. You can even complete one of their certification programs and truly take your marketing skills to the next level. Members of the CMA enjoy access to a marketing newsletter, research guides, webcasts, discounts, the opportunity to network with other members, and much more.
Have Objectives
It’s easy to say that your marketing strategy’s goal is to bring in more customers, but how are you measuring its success? What, exactly, does “more customers” mean to you? You could say that getting one new customer from your strategy means it was successful, but few people would consider that a win. Instead, you need to have a particular goal in mind—grow your business by 10 percent, sell more of a particular service, or increase your market share in a certain area. Whatever your objectives are, they need to be clear and they need to be measurable. Otherwise, you’ll never know if your marketing strategies are working. If they aren’t, take time to reevaluate.
Know Yourself
In order to market yourself, you need to know yourself. This marketing strategy may seem odd since much of the work is done behind the scenes, but it is incredibly effective. In fact, this strategy often drives all of your marketing plans. It first involves sitting down and defining your business. What are your main services? Who is your market? What value to you provide to your clients? How are you different from your competitors? What is unique about you? By answering all of these questions, you can better formulate marketing messages that make you stand out and show clients why you’re the construction crew they want to partner with.
Forge Relationships
Think about all of the related companies you often work with—contractors, equipment companies, suppliers, and anyone else you have frequent contact with. Have you thought about partnering with them to market your company? Often, these partners will market you if you’re willing to market them. It’s an easy way to get your name out there and benefit from referrals.
Take Advantage of Everything Available Online
Have you started marketing yourself online? Some construction companies don’t because they don’t really see the point—there’s no products you can sell online or services you can offer. But you can still market yourself, especially since so many people use the internet to find services. It’s easy enough to find someone who will create a website for your company. Once that’s done, you may not have to dedicate much time to maintaining it if you don’t want to. You can choose to write and post regular blogs or update project photos on a regular basis, or you can have a more static site that simply drives customers to your office.
Also, don’t forget social media. You will need to be more active here, but it can be a worthwhile investment of your time and resources. Social media sites allow you to share information, photos, videos, and other content with customers and potential customers. You can use your social media pages to really give customers a look at you, your team, and what you can do. While your website acts as a professional marketing piece, you can use your social media as a more informal method of connecting with people.
Provide Something for Free
While you likely don’t want to provide any of your actual construction services for free, you can create online content that you give away to your customers. Offering something for free is a great way of getting someone’s attention, and studies have shown that people are more likely to pay for services if they get free content first.
There are a number of different ways to create free content online. You can film a series of instructional or informational videos, or you can create an eBook. As a construction expert, you know a lot about building a house or do’s and don’t for a remodeling project. You can translate this knowledge into a series of videos or articles about basic home repair. Teach your customers how to fix small problems on their own, then provide them with reasons why building a new home would be a much better solution to their issues. There are many ways you can spin your knowledge into content customers may be interested in.
With a few of these marketing strategies in place, you’ll begin to see more customers coming in, allowing you to expand and grow.
