The Construction Company’s Guide to Marketing

Construction marketing focuses on building strong relationships, reputation and trust. Consistent branding, a strong website and media presence and good event planning can greatly impact whether owners or public entities trust the company enough to award them a project. Marketers must be strategic and able to shift as companies evolve and goals change. 

This article will cover what goes into marketing a construction company, offer tips for leveraging marketing strengths to win contracts and explain how marketing can contribute to a company's overall success.

Overview: The Keys to Construction Marketing

Marketing for construction companies is different from most business marketing in that it involves much more relationship management and event coordination than traditional marketing.

Construction marketing is a fine art that weaves together relationships within and outside the company, visual branding like fence wraps and high-quality site photography, and compelling proposals that show the most persuasive reasons this company can deliver the project on time and under budget.

Establish trust in the industry.

Trust is fundamental to gaining business in construction, and consistent branding and marketing efforts can maintain and build upon a company's trustworthiness from successful projects. When boots on the ground perform their jobs well and managers communicate effectively with owners, it provides a foundation for the company’s reliability on projects. Then, the marketing department enhances the positive impressions by trumpeting these successes and maintaining the relationships that build trust.

Build a good reputation.

Reputation flows from completing projects but also from maintaining a consistent presence at events, on the web and with signage. All communication, including project proposals, should show the company as honest, transparent, safety-conscious and trustworthy.

Marketing professionals should coordinate high-quality professional photography and videos of successful projects and then make sure that these visual representations of the company’s work are distributed and promoted. Social media posts publicize milestones and awards, keeping the company top-of-mind. Marketing also keeps track of industry award entries to ensure that the company’s most likely projects have a chance to win industry accolades.

Create & maintain strong relationships.

Through events and emails, marketing can also help smooth social ties with previous and potential clients and business partners. Building relationships with potential clients can include inviting them to events, arranging dinners and other get-togethers, and producing meeting presentation materials. 

Nurturing relationships with previous owners can help foster repeat business and maintain ties in case the company needs a reference for a new project similar to the prior client’s project type. Marketing can even help build relationships with potential subcontractors and other partners.

Crafting compelling proposals.

While project managers and other technical personnel might write factual and accurate proposals, the marketing team can craft language that flaunts the unique characteristics to win a bid. 

Marketing keeps track of information on previous projects and can put together an overall proposal that clearly states the compelling reasons for an owner to choose the company for the project.

Keep the company in the public eye.

Nowadays, construction marketing requires maintaining digital marketing channels. This includes keeping up with social media and maintaining an up-to-date website highlighting project experience with compelling text and photography. Promoting company milestones is an ongoing project.

Marketing teams can write press releases or ghostwrite articles for trade magazines to keep people in the business apprised of groundbreakings, completed projects, and awards. Local or regional news outlets can also feature updates on projects. Plus, the marketing department can oversee signage on site, such as fence wraps and company truck graphics.

Support company initiatives.

The construction market can change quickly, and marketing strategies adjust as a company’s goals and projects shift. While construction marketing focuses less on generating new leads, the marketing team’s efforts can help company leaders develop and maintain the business relationships that lead to future contracts.

How to Help Win Contracts with Marketing

One of the most important tasks for construction marketers is writing project proposals and coordinating all the paperwork for request for proposal (RFP) responses for public projects. 

Traditional wisdom considers the lowest price the deciding factor in winning a bid, yet if the proposal doesn’t make a case for how the company will competently complete the project to specifications, on time, and within budget, it could fail. Companies need persuasive proposals to negotiate and stand out beyond price alone.

Collaborate with technical staff.

Proposals require technical details, and marketing staff can collaborate with technical personnel to make sure all necessary information is included. Companies need to articulate how they can keep the project on schedule and propose how they will complete the work. 

In addition, marketing can work with the technical team to communicate why the proposed method or materials are superior for the project. A compelling and trustworthy narrative for project completion is important for any project to be competitive.

Build strong brand recognition.

Owners have confidence in a company when they are familiar with the brand. Common strategies to help companies establish and build brand recognition might include displaying banners and fence wraps, adding the company name to heavy equipment, branded trailers onsite and superintendents and other staff driving vehicles with company signage. Every instance for stakeholders to see the company name helps strengthen brand recognition and support efforts. 

Track supporting experience.

Maintaining archives of past projects and current staff to include on bids can also help give proposals strong supporting evidence. Keeping track of the experience of superintendents, engineers, project managers and other key personnel allows marketing to highlight and promote these staff members on proposals for similar projects. 

If the bid is for an industrial project, highlighting team members with industrial experience — either with the current contractor or previous jobs — can help prospective clients trust the team’s capabilities.

Use resourceful soft skills.

Construction marketing involves tracking RFP and award deadlines, so strong organizational skills to manage multiple pieces of information are helpful. Marketers also need strong communication skills to remind internal teams when information is required and interview them to extract the best insights to include in upcoming bids or marketing materials. 

Collaboration, creativity, problem-solving and adaptability are necessary skills for managing events and communications that support industry relationships.

Marketing for Different Types of Construction Companies

Residential builders and smaller contractors can use the same marketing playbook and concepts as larger GCs, but the scale and focus vary. Architecture firms and specialty contractors must also build reputations, maintain trust, document projects, and produce written proposals. The Society for Marketing Professional Services offers resources for A/E/C marketing and business development professionals in various types of construction companies to hone their skills.

For the residential market, gaining news coverage in local news outlets may be more valuable than trade magazines to increase business. Documenting projects with high-quality photography and fostering relationships with owners and developers in the target market will help companies secure contracts.

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Adapting Marketing to a Changing Construction Landscape

Adapting to shifting economic conditions and market demands requires marketing that tracks a company's priorities. Construction companies often need to diversify project types or regions to meet the current conditions, and marketing strategies can help support the overall company goals as challenges arise. Marketing helps GCs sell their brand to win work no matter the changes in the industry.

Marketing strategies support and further construction companies’ goals, presenting the company in the best light to potential clients and the community. 

While price and schedule are significant factors in winning new projects, marketing professionals' work can make the difference in gaining the confidence of stakeholders by fostering relationships, gaining industry recognition, maintaining a favorable reputation, and publicizing company projects to keep business flowing.

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