The construction industry is unique, with way more options than most, such as exterior and interior painting, landscaping services, gutter cleaning, driveway sealing, home repair, and commercial construction.
The list goes on with the different ways that you can be helpful to someone who needs your help at home.
It’s no surprise that the competition in your area will already be doing some form of marketing.
They might be using television ads, calling on their connections, or even using billboards to get their business noticed. However, you can still give yourself an advantage over this competition by starting to market more effectively through various channels.
This leads us to ask the question – what are the most effective ways to get construction leads?
Build a more attractive website
Your website is your selling tool that conveys a message to clients and captures their attention. For your site to engage your customers, it has to be visually appealing and easy to use.
Moreover, your site has to be optimized for conversions, making it the perfect place where customers take the next steps toward conversion.
Make sure that your website includes the following:
- Clear call-to-action elements that persuade people to contact you;
- A “Contact Us” page detailing your location. Pictures of your employees would also be a good idea, as they create trust between you and your customers;
- A detailed “Services we offer” page which breaks down all the features and benefits of your services, as well as your starting prices;
- Phone number and areas you serve.
Luckily, you have some control over the experience your website provides. To stay ahead of the competition, create a website that’s an online destination people can’t wait to visit—and that won’t turn visitors off.
Be active on social media
When starting to market a construction business, the idea of social media marketing is probably not at the top of your list of important things to do. It’s not about what you are doing, but rather who you are connecting with.
Social media has made it easier than ever to find and communicate with customers who may be potential leads for construction companies.
You can use these social media accounts to publicize your services and promote your construction business. The trick here is that you don’t want to post everywhere and anywhere and appear like a spammer even though your target audience is big.
At the same time, you need to find a way to tap into all the different social media networks available today.
For example, some of your customers might be active on Pinterest, searching for inspiration on how to remodel their homes. This channel would be perfect for you to share your ideas and experience with your potential customers.
Run some ads
Construction business owners who want to get more leads for their business each month should consider using pay-per-click advertising. PPC marketing for home renovation can help small business owners find new leads while increasing conversion rates and sales.
In the past decade, PPC has taken off as a viable tactic to create awareness of your construction business across a variety of popular search terms.
When people search for a contractor using a popular keyword, Google generates an “ad” based on what it thinks you may be interested in reading or viewing. They then take that information and display it to you based on your geographic location.
Invest in SEO
Once you have your website up and running and have invested some of your budget in ads, it’s time to think long-term.
Search engine optimization is a great choice for any local business to generate organic traffic from search engines.
There are two fundamental goals you should have in terms of SEO, one tactical and the other offensive. The first goal is to build rankings that help your site rank high in the top 10 “organic” listings of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords relevant to your business.
The second goal is to drive traffic to your site to make sales or generate leads.
Build local authority
The objective of local SEO is to increase your presence in your local neighborhood.
You do this through Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter, business directory websites, etc. Put another way, an online presence that focuses on your location rather than your business name.
This way customers will be able to find you when searching for specific keywords in the local area (i.e. “construction in Vegas”).
Focus on the following:
- Optimize your Google Maps listing;
- Be consistent across platforms by providing the same business name, address, and phone number;
- Generate more reviews both on Google Maps and on your website;
- Create local citations.
Acquire local citations
Your online reputation and rankings are not just limited to what comes up when someone searches your website URL.
Local citations or mentions of your business name include any online mention of your business’s name, address, and phone number.
These can be listings on local business directories such as Yelp, Yellowpages.com, Whitepages.com, and Local.com as well as Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and blog posts that include business names and location information.
Even though local citations are purely online mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number; they still hold a lot of weight in terms of rankings.
Sign up for a CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a fancy way of saying that a business needs to keep track of the health and status of its relationships with customers and prospects.
A CRM system allows you to accomplish this and helps you stay connected and streamline processes. It also lets you quantify our relationship and interactions with customers and prospects so we can improve your profit margins.
The biggest benefit to construction businesses is that CRM software allows you to consolidate all of your contact information into one organized place, streamlining your interactions with leads.
It also helps organize your data in ways that allow you to improve lead conversion. If you can identify, at a glance, who is most ripe for sales messaging and opportunities, you will find yourself with more leads closing to sales.
Encourage word of mouth
Word of mouth is still the best and most effective form of advertising and it will continue to be so as long as humans continue to exist.
The fact that people can freely talk about your home renovation services to their family and friends without having to pay for it makes it priceless, but working up those referrals can certainly take a lot of time.
When you’re just getting started, making sure those who recommend your business get rewards to help you build that base of referrals is important.
Automate your email marketing
Email automation is a great way to ensure that your customers never get bored of hearing from you. You can also use it to remind previous clients about the work you’ve done for them and encourage them to share your company on social media.
Just make sure you’re not going crazy with the number of automated emails you send, or else your mail provider will think you’re a spammer.
You can also automate your direct-mail campaigns with tools like MailChimp. This will be perfect for more casual home renovations where you only want to send out letters once or twice a year to customers, friends of customers, and new leads.
If you’re doing larger home renovations or more commercial jobs, you’ll need to hire someone to do direct-mail campaigns on your behalf.
Generate monthly reports
As much as it’s important to create a long-lasting online marketing strategy for your construction business, it’s equally important to track the return on investment on these channels.
One sure way of doing that is to create automatic monthly reports of all your expenses and the profit you have generated from each channel. The reports you create will help you see how much profit you’re generating from each channel, which can also tell you if the channel is worth it or if it’s time to try something new that is more promising.
Conclusion – construction leads
The one thing I’ve learned from being in business for many years is that a little competition is a good thing.
When the competition in your area is doing marketing in some way—whether it’s door-to-door or leaflet distribution—it shows us that there is a target market present. It also signifies that there is already a demand for what you can offer.
We all have to do our share of marketing, whether it’s paying for an ad or handing out flyers, but when others are getting the word out about your service, it allows you to build relationships with potential customers.
Struggling to create a digital marketing strategy that generates profit? WebLime is a leading digital agency rooted in Maryland. We work with contractors and members of the trades and are here to help you grow your construction business.