Why Marketing is Necessary in the Booming Construction Industry

Despite supply chain shortages that threaten many projects, the construction industry is still booming, and experts don’t expect that boom to end any time soon. The recently passed infrastructure bill adds to this momentum and will help fund investments in new projects or in infrastructure updates. 

Unfortunately, a materials shortage paired with shipping and freight delays is adding to construction company costs, but this is counteracted by growing numbers of projects and large infusions of funding and investments.  

The demand to build isn’t expected to die down, but it will be met with delays and potential shortages of supplies and trained workers. This dynamic presents a challenge for construction companies, but it’s also an opportunity. As the industry shifts and some look to new places for business, it’s the perfect time to invest in a brand and marketing strategy to help grow your construction company.

Branding and marketing is a great way to build name recognition and help attract clients, projects, or employees to your construction business. 

Brand Strategy for Construction Companies

There are more projects and more opportunities than ever in the construction industry, but that also means more competition. For your business’s development, it’s critical that you identify what sets your company apart – so, what makes your work better and different than your competitors? Maybe you’re mostly vertically integrated so there’s very little contracting out, or maybe you have an internal data team that provides precise estimating for each project so change orders are minimized, or maybe you are the fastest and always stay on budget – whatever your key differentiators are, make sure they are incorporated into your branding message. 

Depending on your target clients, you can also develop branding for different audiences –perhaps you have messaging aimed at Presidents of major construction or development companies and messaging for sub-contractors and importantly, your employees. This segmented branding can further tailor your communication and increase its impact both internally and externally. 

In the past, much of your work may have been secured by your reputation and word of mouth, but as more businesses look in new places to get the job done, it’s an opportunity to expand your reach and grow your customer base. Especially as the supply chain shortages force some companies to change the way they do business. 

Branding requires that you create a message that you will use across your materials to help potential customers understand your company’s value. This often requires brand planning to delegate how you will communicate your message. 

Branding can often sound like an unnecessary tool in the construction industry, but it’s simply how you define yourself to your ideal customer. Being clear on this message from the start will help you attract and secure more clients. 

Marketing Strategies for Construction Companies

Identifying your brand message and strategy is the first step. The next step is developing a marketing strategy to help put your information into the hands of your ideal customers. Instead of trying to talk to someone who has no interest in what you do, marketing allows you to narrow your focus, so you are talking to the people who are looking for your specific skill sets and track record.

Once you have your message, make sure you’re communicating it through your channels, which include your website, social media, and email, not to mention the talking points used in one-on-one meetings with clients. When your messaging is consistent across platforms, it gets reinforced, and your brand becomes clear throughout the industry. 

This multi-pronged communication strategy takes time and consistency, but it does yield results. As more people hear and see your messaging and branding, they will pick up on the details that define your company. 

In addition to blanketing your communication channels, we also recommend relying on your own experts or portfolio to highlight the quality of your work. Leverage the experience and accomplishments of your senior leadership team to write helpful blogs or articles that will be circulated among industry insiders. Or use examples from your portfolio in your messaging to highlight the world class work you’ve done to help boost your credibility in the industry. 

In addition to the traditional marketing channels, consider taking out ads in specific places that your ideal customer visits – from trade publications to digital ads. Digital marketing offers unprecedented ways to target – getting as specific as age, location, and business. At INDUSTRI we use tools that can measure the success of each platform and provide direct feedback so we can adjust our strategy if we see more success in one platform versus another. 

All of these tools help spread the word about the work you do and help you target new clients who might otherwise not be aware of your business. Marketing helps funnel your ideal clients directly to you, so you don’t have to spend time making calls or working to drum up business – the business comes to you when you have a clearly defined brand and a marketing strategy to communicate it to the right people. 

INDUSTRI provides a lot of this support to our clients, identifying what sets you apart, developing branding, and identifying the channels to communicate and market this message to clients, your employees and importantly, potential employees. Read more about how our process works here. 

Conclusion 

Many construction companies don’t take advantage of branding and marketing because of the nature of the work – they feel it doesn’t apply to their industry, but that simply isn’t true. At a time when the construction sector is booming, now more than ever is the time to ensure that you have a strong brand, messaging platform and marketing strategy to elevate your construction business and find the jobs, clients and employees you’ll need to grow today and into the future.