Let’s face it, a lot of new-age marketing trends, such as short-form videos, flash sales, product reviews, etc., are catered to e-commerce companies, leaving it difficult for other industries to figure out an effective strategy.
Unfortunately, construction is one industry in which some of the latest trends don’t apply. However, there are still valuable marketing resources that the construction industry can use to attract and retain new clients and, even more so, support hiring needs. So, this month we’re looking at some marketing tools that the construction industry can use to enhance their business!
Email Newsletters
Email marketing is a simple way to keep in touch with your customers (and staff) about upcoming events, projects, community engagement, and company milestones. In fact, B2B marketing emails see a 23% higher click-to-open ratio than B2C emails. Before starting an email newsletter, consider what information is valuable to share with your clients/community and how often. For instance, you may want to send out a monthly newsletter that highlights a new product, internal methodology, or recently-completed project and any relevant awards or recognition your company has received. By including informative and valuable topics, you’ll help earn more trust with your audience and, in turn, validate your worth, win more projects, and/or attract a new employee.
Reviews
Reviews are an important part of any company’s digital presence. Whether the reviews are on Facebook, Google, Yelp, or hiring platforms such as Glassdoor, the more positive reviews you can get, the better. One way to boost your online reviews is by asking your customers and employees to review your services in your communications. For example, when you’ve finished a job, you can utilize QR codes to distribute to your clients so they can quickly leave a review on your reviewing platform of choice. Secondly, repurpose strong reviews in emails, on social media, and repost them to your website.
Interactive Tools
If you’re in the process of creating or revamping a website for your company, consider adding interactive tools like cost calculators for supplies or an interactive infographic that explains your process. If your company has a rich history, you can create an interactive timeline that users can easily toggle through to better understand your business and your team’s experience. While these tools might not be considered necessary in your sales process, they are unique features that help your business stand out from the competition and add a layer of value to your overall brand. Last, cost, convenience, and accountability go a long way, therefore if you have invested in an app or client portal that streamlines the process and allows clients to track the progress of their order or project, make sure you market it accordingly.
Blogging
Blogging is still a relevant and successful marketing tool that nearly every industry can use to generate leads and promote your business as a thought leader in your field. This is because blogs have become a part of everyday life on the internet, with an astounding 77% of users admitting to reading blogs. Blogs can be utilized for SEO purposes and to garner attention from your target audience, or they can live on your site for your sales team to reference when clients ask about your process, services, and successes. If you’re utilizing SEO to get more eyes on your website, Google’s keyword planner is a valuable tool for determining which words or phrases you want to rank for that can also inspire your blog content. The possibilities are endless when it comes to crafting your blog; as long as your content is relevant and engaging, your customers will appreciate a look into your expertise.
Community Engagement
This topic tackles three different goals, which includes attracting referrals to grow business, hiring, and corporate responsibility. First, associations and school engagement (colleges, universities, and trade schools) provide valuable platforms for brand awareness and professional development for fostering referrals that continue to drive business. Associations can help you find your village per se and be with like-minded individuals that support growth within the industry. Secondly, when focusing on hiring, the standard is to post on social media or websites like Indeed. Yet, you can take this a step further by considering where some of your top talent has come from and target the educational institutions where they graduated from. Alumni associations, construction management and engineering programs, and job fairs all become effective ways to get your brand into the public and uncover the next generation of talent. Last is corporate responsibility and giving back to the community. For construction industry companies that gain significant traction from existing client work or the public sector, traditional sales/marketing do not apply as the referrals are fed frequently. Giving back to the community, whether it be through charitable and sustainable work or valuable internship or scholarship programs – corporate responsibility programs are important ways to increase brand exposure and attract top talent while avoiding the “hard” sell.
Now that you have the tools, it’s time to put them to work within the construction industry for your business. By enlisting the help of a marketing agency with experience in your industry, you can gain the support you need to deliver on your marketing goals and grow your business. Learn more about Rizco’s proprietary 6-step process, which will give you measurable results.
