Welcome to the first instalment of my 5 Favourite Construction Marketing Tools – this is the start of an ongoing series that will be published here every Friday. To keep succeeding in construction, make sure to return here every Friday or sign up to my newsletter here.
Earlier in the week I highlighted some key construction business marketing tips that would enable small and start up business’ to stand out against bigger competition. Today i take things further with a mix of online and offline construction marketing tools that can provide genuine success to your building business.
Online Instant Customer Conversations
Social media has increased the need for instant chat facilities on websites. Construction business websites that promise to get back to you in 24 hours, or are only reachable via a generic telephone number are no longer acceptable.
Existing research on e-commerce websites states that customers have a higher possibility of becoming loyal to your business and 4.5 times more likely to buy as a result of instant conversation tools being a website feature.
Even if your construction business’ doesn’t offer e-commerce, instant chat is still extremely important. It makes the process effortless, which a key requirement of a modern omnichannel marketing approach. Your customers will want to find your technical data, installation advice, pricing and more from your website easily, if they are unable to find chat conversations provide a safety net for your business.
Don’t let your customers slip away and direct them personally to the information they need quickly and efficiently.
Positives: Very little investment cost, safety net if customers can’t find content, appear big but only requires one person to main the conversations (at least early on)
Drawbacks: Customers may become even more frustrated if instant conversations are offered, but no one is there during working hours to respond.
Write Construction Industry Content for your Business Blog
Developing your construction business as an expert in its field can be achieved through a frequently updated blog. They are also a great means to promote your products/services, latest announcements and events.
The content should be designed to be educational and informative about a specific service you offer, without the audience perceiving it as a sales pitch. Each post should focus on and be optimised for a specific key word or phrase related to your business.
The major benefits of blogging on your construction website include:
- Increase in perceived level of credibility and expertise amongst potential customers
- Once submitted to search engines and social media they can help to increase website traffic
- Ideal content for your email newsletter campaigns
However, blogs take a lot of time and commitment and require careful attention to the topics you are discussing. This makes it difficult for small and start up business’ to sustain a blog straight away as the focus will be on gaining new business. To be successful with your blogging strategy make sure to implement an achievable content calendar you are able to achieve.
Positives: Low investment cost, can be written in house, long term benefits
Drawbacks: Requires time if written in house, does not guarantee business in the short term
3D Animations
Animations of your construction products being installed are a highly engaging marketing tool
- Look highly professional and are great for sharing on your website and social media.
- Static Images can be used in technical literature, blown up for posters and other marketing collateral
- Great for installers, architects and more to use when installing and learning about your products
- Empower your sales people
- They remove the lighting issues associated with live filming.
- Different sections of installations can be zoomed in to provide detailed footage and images
- Provide the ideal angles to show exactly how the product is installed.
- Look highly professional and are great for sharing on your website and social media.
3D animations aren’t cheap to produce, but they represent a significant long term investment that makes your business look the part.
Pros: Content represents a highly valuable resource that can be used on a multitude of platforms
Cons: High initial investment
Here’s a great example of how you might use 3D construction animations on your social media.
It's Friday and we're mixing things up a bit with our animation of the Hush HD1014 Acoustic system. Used for both floors and ceilings, it consists of Hush 28 floating floor boards, Hush Seal 20 and absorbers.#fridayfeeling #soundproofing pic.twitter.com/wohi5uXDjN
— Hush Acoustics (@hushacoustics) August 17, 2018
When hosting 3D construction animations on your website a longer video may be more acceptable:
Go live with Facebook or Twitter Periscope
Social media tools such as Facebook Live or Twitters periscope are a great way to build your construction business’ personality – you a more than someone sitting behind a desk. They provide a valuable opportunity to access your customers through their normal social media activities, to keep them engaged focus on providing an entertaining experience.
Construction business’ should use Facebook Live and Twitter to showcase:
- Profile projects
- Product launches
- Attendance at construction events where they can attract the interest of people at the show or those unable to attend.
Statistics indicate that Facebook Live is vastly more popular than periscope amongst companies, largely due to better functionality and it’s significantly larger number of users (twitter 300 million/facebook 1 billion).
If your construction industry business has a strong facebook following it may prove to be the most beneficial social media channel to adopt for your live filming requirements.
Pros: It’s free to use. Enter your audiences social media space, create a personality and element of entertainment around your business.
Cons: Hard to control quality, needs to be strict guidelines to prevent damage to your business
Drone Video Footage
Drones in construction are well documented in my blog and there ability to capture incredibly cinematic and engaging footage should be utilised by your construction business for both building and marketing benefits.
Shown on your building companies homepage and via social media they immediately capture the eye of your audience and sustain their interest.
Ideal for showcasing projects, the factory line, premises or team it can really help to enhance the professional perception and personality for your business.
Pros: Looks fantastic and is highly transferrable across all online platforms, great for presentations and enhancing business credibility
Cons: Relatively expensive, may require local authority approval for filming
BONUS TIP – Events and Exhibitions
Construction events and exhibitions are a perfect construction marketing activity to get your business in front of new clients. The costs are high to exhibit, but a few conversations with architects, house builders and self builders can lead to a huge number of new enquiries.
This type of personal interaction is often impossible over the phone or via email and their attendance indicates they are there to identify new business opportunities for themselves. Ecobuild and UK Construction Week represent some of the most popular events in the construction industry calendar.
If these types of construction events are too expensive for your construction marketing budget, smaller localised events are a great option enabling you to focus your work on a specific region.
Construction and local business events provide excellent marketing opportunities for building business’ to introduce themselves to new audiences.
DCE CPD Exhibitions for example offer small nationwide events that provide a local platform for construction business’s to introduce their services to new customers.
They can be used to discuss how products and services meet specific legislation and building standards.
Pros: Excellent opportunity to meet new clients, network, raise business profile and get noticed
Cons: Large events are expensive and generally out of reach for small companies.
Even More Construction Marketing Tools
These are just five of my favourite construction marketing tools for business’ in the construction industry. Check back every Friday for five more essential marketing tips that will help support your construction business’ success.
