Marketing your construction services is like trying to sell ice to the Eskimos—there is just so much available, why on earth should they pay to get it from you? The secret is to make your company stand out, and that’s where many construction businesses make their biggest marketing mistakes. Identify whether any of these practices are holding you back from being your best—and fix them, pronto!
Mistake #1: Not Focusing on Branding
Not all construction companies are created equal. You know it, and we know it. Your customer, however, doesn’t know it. He (or she) is often under the misguided impression that one homebuilder is much like another, and without a clear brand personality it’s difficult to establish yourself as any different from the next guy. Whether you’re focused on building your brand as a thought leader in your industry, boosting the market’s awareness of a particular product or service you offer or positioning your company as a leader in a specific niche, your marketing needs to support your focus.
How to fix this: Develop a strong brand personality and infuse all your promotional activities with it. Publish branded content on your website that “tells, not sells” with the purpose of giving your reader information, inspiration and advice, not selling them your services. Package the information together with case studies, photo galleries and other evidence of your delivery, so it combines the educational aspect with the promotional one in your customer’s mind.
Mistake #2: Targeting the Wrong Audience
It’s an easy mistake to think you’re marketing to everybody. Sure you are – everybody who needs construction services, that is. Which isn’t simply “everybody” and translates very directly into marketing mistakes. Take a look at some of your online content and see if you can answer the following questions:
- Is it clear who I am speaking to in this piece, and is it the right target group?
- Is the tone consistent with the level of industry knowledge for the target audience?
- Does the format appeal to the level of education of my average reader?
- Is the presentation attractive enough to entice my target person to read it?
Then assess the accuracy of your responses by comparing them with the results your content marketing is delivering. For instance, are you getting the traffic you want? What percentage of your visitors converts into leads, and leads into sales?
How to fix this: Conduct market research to identify who your ideal customer is and then create a “persona” based on the information. Give your customer a name and personality, a fictitious life, career and family and write these out so you can refer back to the details when you need to. Find a photo of the kind of person you image him or her to be, and save it where you can see it when you plan and implement your marketing. Then target this persona in your campaigns using your research to inform your choice of media, channels, message and special offers.
Mistake #3: Missing Opportunities to Build Influence
It’s not enough to just be one of a bunch of construction companies in your area. To make your mark, you need to build influence in your field and establish your personal and company name as synonyms for quality service and expertise. You’d be amazed at how many opportunities come your way to do so, that many business owners simply don’t notice and miss out on.
How to fix this: “Newsjacking” is the term currently in use for latching onto a current (newsworthy) affair and using it as a vehicle for making public commentary. Look for issues of interest to your customers, such as an increase in the cost of building materials, and then publish an opinion piece about it in your local newspaper and on your blog. Build on this by getting publicity such as a radio interview or give a public address at a local event about the impact on home prices. Print and distribute pamphlets and send out an email newsletter to your mailing list stating your position on the matter and inviting comment and feedback.
Mistake #4: Not Being Visible Enough
Hard on the heels of mistake #3 is a lack of visibility, which many business owners suffer from because they are so busy running their companies. In the online space, it’s challenging to deliver content marketing and social media postings for your own website and profiles. Most marketers produce just enough material to keep their own sites current, which means you don’t get seen by anyone besides your own followers!
How to fix this: Guest posting is one of the primary methods of getting attention, and if you have a viable profile in your industry you have a chance to guest post on industry websites. Imagine the value of a customer going to an online industry publication looking for information on a particular topic and finding a guest post with your name on it, and a link to your website.
This is a surefire way to build up visibility and credibility, and although it doesn’t directly earn you money it may well bring you sales. Combine this with the publicity and branding initiatives listed above, and you have a winning formula for getting your construction company seen by customers.
Mistake #5: Not Focusing on the Right Metrics
You can’t fix problems if you don’t know they exist, so setting measurable goals and benchmarks for your construction company’s marketing strategy is vital to enable you to track your successes and failures. It’s pointless focusing on outputs, however; it doesn’t matter how well you’re doing it if it’s not bringing results, but it’s a common mistake among marketers.
How to fix this: Track your conversion rate, your sales figures and your performance against financial targets rather than how many blog posts you’re producing each week. Sure, you need to deliver according to your action plan, but those figures aren’t the ones that will tell you if your efforts are paying off.
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