Looking or B2B marketing construction industry tips? We’re going to go way deeper than that. For too many players in the construction industry, the marketing game is played much the same. Nearly every construction company out there is promising the same thing: being on time and on budget. This message doesn’t distinguish one construction company over the next. On the other hand, it isn’t uncommon to hear from companies in this industry that marketing isn’t a reliable way to acquire new business, and therefore not a part of their business model. This is a huge missed opportunity.
Construction is a highly competitive field. If you don’t have marketing to communicate with and nurture prospects, and if you don’t separate your marketing message from everyone else, you miss out on the ability to capture new bid opportunities, brand loyalty, referrals, and much more. Having a website alone isn’t enough. The good news is that expert construction industry marketing can help you immediately stand out from the crowd. That’s because VERY few construction companies are doing it well. In our podcast episode “Success Tips for B2B Marketing in the Construction Industry,” we share 17 critical tips to help you nail down your marketing if you run a construction firm. You can also find many of these tips below.
1. Extend Your B2B Construction Marketing Brand BEYOND the Portfolio
It is not enough to say “Our work speaks for itself.” Competition is too high and everyone is saying that. Resting on your laurels – your past projects, clients, and gallery of incredible buildings – impressive as it may be, doesn’t set you apart in this crowded market. Every touchpoint in the buyer cycle (yes, even how you write your RFP responses) should communicate your difference and be clear on your brand.
2. Your Branding Should Have a Cultural and Personable Feel
You are selling to people after all. Think about how you function as a team, what your core values are, how you want clients to feel working with you. These are all things that can help people make a decision to work with you instead of a competitor.
3. Distinguish Your Message From Your Competitors
“On time, on budget” is not a positioning statement for differentiation. Neither is “200 years of combined experience…” or “We offer both design and build services.” We urge you to dig deeper. Your industry knows the value of establishing a strong foundation. It is imperative you know who you are, what your unique business promise is, and how to speak for yourself in a way none of your competitors can match.
Real World Example – Fractional CMO for Construction:
“Commercial roofing is an intense and highly competitive market. Moser Roofing came to The Marketing Blender to clarify their message and market strategy. Moser Roofing Solutions grew 15% from 2020 to 2021, 50% in 2022, and continues to grow predictably and sustainably with Blender’s support.”
4. Own Your Niche And Grow From There
Specialization is key to growing your business. Be specific on who you are an EXPERT at serving. You’ll discover that they will hear you loud and clear with your niche messaging. For example, you may have completed several projects for dentist offices. Start using this to your advantage to reach more dental practices, then medical offices, then healthcare as a whole. Master one vertical first. They can then lead you to others in their broader industry. Find your champions and cultivate them.
5. Create Community And Leverage a CRM
What if you are an established construction company with a diverse portfolio? Your next step is to look at how to create a community around the brand. We highly recommend using a CRM with automation and nurture outreach to track across all your platforms. This data could be the evidence you need to account for your marketing spend.
6. Use Organic And Paid Social in Your Commercial Construction Marketing
Your social media should be multimodal. Post organic content and paid ads to reach a wider geographic area and target audience. Your content strategy should show more than the work you do; it should showcase people, relationships, and stories of impact.
7. Target the Right People with Paid Advertising
When using paid advertising, focus on reaching a secondary audience. That is, don’t try to communicate with developers who are among the hardest audiences to reach. Instead, aim to communicate with a secondary audience – people who are their trusted targets advisors and referrers, such as architects and designers. Word will get to the developers.
8. Don’t Underestimate SEO in Your B2B Construction Marketing Efforts
There are often keyword clusters you can and should target with both organic and paid SEO efforts. A good SEO strategy to follow is prioritizing long tail and specialized keywords of this industry rather than the highest competition ones. You’ll get more views with less competitive words in a smaller market than with highly competitive words in a larger market.
9. Collect More Google Reviews
Google reviews are a great way to enhance your image, show your authority, and optimize search engines for local SEO. More reviews can get you more views. Reviews with photos routinely get hundreds or thousands of views.
10. Look For Professional Groups You Can Serve
Going back to the example of a construction company who previously worked on dentist offices, it would then be in their best interest to search for professional groups related to dentistry. By inserting yourself in conversations among these groups and providing value through education or sponsorship, you expand your pool of potential clients who need your specialized construction.
11. Gain Visibility With Public Relations
PR is still a great way to get word out about your expertise and effort. However, you can’t make it about you or your organization. That’s not what audiences want to hear. Find out what your community cares about and aim to tell your story through that perspective. It needs to be more than simply a new building going up. Plus, if the story of impact is exceptionally great, consider submitting for awards. This matters to your influencers.
12. Get to Know What Developers Care About
Developers are bombarded with requests. That’s why the are so hard to reach. If you want to succeed in communicating with them, you will need to know what they actually care about. They want resources that help them achieve their goals. They typically care about:
- More and bigger projects
- Access to funding
- Faster sales/lease ups
- Recognition for marquis projects
- Industry awards
13. Share Industry Knowledge As a Form of Commercial Construction Marketing
Smart decision makers often really do want to know what is happening behind the scenes, especially when they are invested in a project. Knowledge is power. Regularly share your insights, advice and industry knowledge that your audiences may not have. It makes an impact.
14. Use Your Physical Assets to Create a Strong Brand
Invest in professional photography of your sites, fleet, equipment, and personnel. Use these images across all your marketing materials. This will create a stunning, seamless brand that your customers can recognize at every touchpoint.
15. Nurture Relationships in Your B2B Construction Marketing
This is very much a business that leans a lot on “who you know.” The tactics above can get you face to face with your audiences, but you still need to forge the right relationships and partnerships to open more business opportunities. A good rule of thumb is to add value everywhere you can. Your audiences will thank you for it.
16. Use Marketing is For Talent Attraction Too
Your people are part of your brand. In this industry, though, it can be hard to find and keep the best talent. That’s another area where marketing can help.
Ready to Get Started with Marketing Your Construction Company?
A thoughtful and carefully executed commercial construction marketing strategy will pay off for years to come. Expanding your reach from one-to-one sales and business development to a true marketing ecosystem is a powerful move. Now is the ideal time to start since most construction companies are NOT putting in this effort. By investing in your company’s marketing, you can immediately stand out from the rest – a huge win for anyone in this crowded industry.
At Blender, we have deep experience in the B2B marketing construction industry. If you’d like to know more about how we can help you deploy these strategies or discuss having your own fractional CMO for construction, schedule a discovery call.
