Level Up Your Construction Marketing Strategy: 10 Tips for Specialty Contractors

Whether you’re a small specialty construction business or a growing enterprise, developing an effective construction marketing strategy can feel overwhelming when you’re spending so much of your time managing bids and doing the work.

Fortunately, building a steady stream of clients within the construction industry is easier than you think.

Here are ten marketing strategies you can implement this quarter and continue to build upon.

1. Define Your Best General Contractors

Before you can determine the best ways to attract new business, you need to understand which general contractors are bringing you the most profitable projects today.

Set aside some time to analyze your bids from the past year. Which types of projects were you most likely to win, and which contractors presented those opportunities?

Based on this information, develop ideal customer profiles — a summary of the types of general contractors you want to attract and what’s most important to them. Include the following details for each: 

• Industry focus
• Company size
• Project type
• Primary decision makers (known as your buyer personas) 
• Others who influenced the decision process
• Lead source 

You’ll likely notice patterns as you review your top customers. Maybe five of them came from a single referral source or event. From there, you can develop marketing strategies to find and target similar companies. 

2. Build a Strong Online Presence

If a lot of your work comes through personal connections with general contractors or project owners, you may not invest a lot of effort into your online presence. The truth is, even if you get a referral from a connection, the first thing a potential contractor is going to do is Google your company. Without a Google business profile, a professional website and customer reviews, a new prospect is less likely to take your company seriously. Your construction website should clearly explain your services and include recent examples of your work. It should provide an easy way to contact you and request a proposal. 

Search engine optimization is also key because it allows potential clients to find you easily. Free or low-cost tools like SEMrush, Yoast, or SurferSEO can help you identify terms general contractors are most likely to search when looking for your services.

Including those terms naturally in your website’s page titles and headers, URLs and other content you create will increase the chances of someone finding your website while searching. 

3. Use Content Marketing to Showcase Your Construction Marketing Expertise

Showcasing your expertise is an important part of building a strong online presence. Websites updated frequently with useful and relevant information show up in more searches than static sites. Content can be anything from blogs to case studies and videos that demonstrate successes you’ve had in the past. Showcasing the construction process through engaging video content, such as timelapse videos, can effectively demonstrate your company’s capabilities and build social proof. 

Be sure to include a strong call to action that will lead readers to consider your company for their next project. Remember to screen your content through the lens of your ideal customer profile and buyer persona. If it’s something they are likely to read or watch, it’s something that belongs in your content marketing.

4. Use Social Media for Brand Awareness

If you are a small business owner doing installations and on-site work, you probably have no time for social media marketing. And you might think of social media as a place where your kids go to learn the latest dance trends or where your peers go to engage in political arguments. 

However, certain sites and networks are powerful tools for reaching new clients. They can help you engage with prospects, post industry insights, and showcase your projects. 

Facebook is the most popular social media site for construction companies overall, and LinkedIn has more than 9100 construction company profiles. If you can cut through the noise, those are a lot of potential clients. The best way is by staying on topic. Creating project spotlights to show your successes, introducing members of your team, and highlighting industry news and trends all work to establish your company as an authority in your industry — making it easier to win bids and close deals.

Don’t try to be everywhere. Be selective and find one or two social media platforms that work best for you where you can realistically commit to posting regularly. 

5. Network with Local Builders and Architects

The construction industry is built on relationships, so networking may be one of the most reliable source of new business for you. 

Make an effort to attend industry events, join trade associations, and connect with local contractors and architects. Depending on your construction specialty and your location, you might consider associations such as: 

• Associated Builders & Contractors 
• The American Subcontractors Association
• The National Subcontractors Alliance
• The National Electrical Contractors Association
• Plumbing Contractors of America
• The National Association of Women in Construction
• The National Black Contractor Association
• The National Association of Minority Contractors
• Construction Marketing Association

Personal connections play a huge role in how businesses work across the board, and specialty contracting is no exception. General contractors and project owners want to know and trust the person they are using for their projects. Take the time to build that trust.

6. Manage Email Marketing With a Construction CRM

A good customer relationship management (CRM) platform makes it easy to connect with customers and prospects by email and measure the success of your marketing efforts. 

You can see who opened and clicked each email, follow up with someone when they show interest, and maintain a record of all communications so your entire team can see them. 

CRM platforms also provide tools for managing email and newsletter campaigns and sending individual emails, quotes, pricing, and proposals. Email marketing is a powerful tool for strengthening customer relationships, from welcoming new contacts to personalizing communications, converting leads, and securing projects. 

You can even create automated email workflows to stay in contact with prospects and follow up on bids. 

7. Offer Free Consultations or Estimates

Estimating a bid can use up a lot of resources, so you want to give these out sparingly. Consider offering pared-down versions of estimates based on general project specifications. Project estimation software can also be a huge help, making the process much more efficient. Customers who have a positive experience in the free estimate process are far more likely to convert into sales. As long as you clarify that these estimates could change as you learn more about the project, they can be a significant pull for potential customers. 

8. Ask for Customer Reviews

Testimonials have a significant impact on sales. Seventy percent of people trust reviews and recommendations from strangers, according to Statista, and 97% of B2B customers said testimonials and peer recommendations are the most reliable type of content, according to ThisMoment. 

Of course, this type of marketing only works if you are getting positive reviews. When a customer has a good experience, make it a practice to ask them for a positive Google review or a testimonial for your website.

If you receive a less than positive review, make sure you respond both online and offline to address concerns. 

9. Provide Excellent Customer Service

We’ve already talked about the importance of personal connections in marketing, and customer service ties into this. If you go above and beyond to meet the needs of your current clients, there is a good chance they will share that experience with others in their industry. 

Customers who see you working hard to meet their needs are much more likely to return when they need help on their next project.

10. Track and Analyze Marketing Results

To make adjustments to your marketing strategy and marketing campaigns, you need a clear idea of what’s working and what’s not. 

Keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPI) like website traffic, social media engagement, and lead generation. Doubling down on your marketing efforts can help refine your strategies and engage with potential clients more effectively. If any of the changes you’ve made are working, lean into them. If not, adjust accordingly. It’s important to have good business intelligence software to help you break this information down and sort through it. With organized data, you can make the changes you need to see improvements.

Elevate Your Construction Marketing Strategy With TopBuilder

As a complete construction business development software, TopBuilder makes it easy to email prospects, manage and track bids, and see your entire sales pipeline with clear dashboards. 

You can target customers and prospects with enticing offers tailored to their industry, increase conversions, and measure the performance of all your efforts with an email marketing platform that’s fully integrated with your sales, operations and accounting. 

Take the first step toward growing your company with a platform that’s as specialized as your business. Schedule a consultation today.