The construction industry is no stranger to change.

For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it pushed construction companies to rethink their operations. With each new project, contractors and developers had to determine the best methods for keeping a consistent level of productivity while also accounting for social distancing and employee use of PPE (personal protective equipment).
As resilient as ever, the construction industry is up to the challenge of getting creative with its marketing in the face of significant change. The goal is not just to survive the aftereffects of the pandemic and periods of economic uncertainty but to design a better brand that always helps them stay competitive.

At The Mauldin Group, our creative team has vast experience serving businesses across multiple industries nationwide and internationally. We offer customized marketing plans that capture your unique story to help you stand out and ensure your messaging reaches your target audience. Here, we detail seven components that make an effective construction marketing strategy.

Construction Industry
Common Challenges with Construction Marketing

Even without major events like the COVID-19 pandemic, marketing can prove difficult for construction businesses. You may have encountered these common issues contractors and developers face with marketing campaigns:

  • Limited knowledge or resources: As project management and similar tasks are often the focus in construction, you may lack the expertise needed to determine which marketing tactics are best and how to implement them.
  • No budget for marketing and advertising: If you’re unsure of the most effective techniques for marketing your business, you may waste resources on campaigns that don’t generate qualified leads.
  • Reliance on certain marketing strategies: Word-of-mouth is a common way for growing construction businesses, but there are other approaches your company may not have considered.
  • Updating marketing to suit a technology-driven world: Technology has altered project proposals and communications, and construction companies may be unsure how to leverage it in place of traditional interactions.
  • Differentiation from competitors: Since many contractors and developers offer the same — or similar — services, pinpointing what makes you stand out can be hard.
Creating a Construction Marketing Strategy that Works

If these challenges resonate with your construction company, you may wonder what it will take to establish a clear, unique brand, enhance visibility, and ultimately increase profits. These seven ideas from The Mauldin Group will help you craft a personalized marketing strategy, which enables your campaigns to reach potential clients at the right time:

SEO Optimized
An SEO-optimized Website

Whether you’re a large construction company serving commercial clients or a small contractor providing home renovations, you need a great website!
Think of your website as your digital business card; it builds trust with your target audience. If your website is poorly designed, it’s sure to prompt some prospective clients to try a competitor. Conversely, an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly website helps visitors locate the services they need and get answers to their questions.

A robust construction website will include the following:

  • About page: Discuss history, mission, values, company culture
  • Service pages: Detail the various services you offer
  • Testimonials page: Build trust by showing what past clients have to say about you
  • Gallery page: Provide visual evidence of your skill and past work
  • Blog page: Establish yourself as a leader in the industry and support SEO
  • Contact page: Help prospective clients get in touch with you easily

When developing your website, don’t forget the importance of search engine optimization (SEO). This practice is integral for seeing your pages rise to the top of search engine results pages (SERP). Effective SEO will consider optimizing your website through keywords and internal linking (onsite SEO), and managing your presence on social media, review sites, and other external sites (offsite SEO).

Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing

Social media has become one of the most popular means of disseminating marketing materials for every industry. Unlike some traditional modes of advertising, and even other digital marketing techniques for websites, social media marketing can reach people at any point of the day, no matter where they are.

In construction, different social media platforms are better suited for different types of businesses. For example, if you own a home-building company, consider Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As you build your following on these accounts, you boost brand recognition and can increase referrals. They also provide a great opportunity to get to know prospective clients on a more personal level.

For contractors and developers primarily serving commercial clients, LinkedIn should be the focus. With this platform, you can connect with decisions makers interested in proposals for large projects. It also allows you to augment your referral network with vendors. To increase your presence on LinkedIn, consider posting blogs regularly that showcase your business as a thought leader within the industry.

Monthly Newsletter
Monthly Newsletter

If you rely on email marketing, a monthly newsletter can be a great resource. This newsletter can contain highlights of finished projects and those currently in progress. It may be tempting to discuss sales or discounts in the newsletter, but focusing on your services and past work is more important for building loyalty among existing customers. This technique can encourage more clients to refer you to homeowners and businesses interested in your services, potentially leading to more profits than if you simply discuss a discount.

Engaging Videos
High-Quality, Engaging Videos

Construction is one industry where you don’t want to neglect visual content. When drafting written content for service pages, posting messages on social media, and sending newsletters, be sure to incorporate videos.

As helpful as images can be, videos are particularly effective because they allow you to immerse viewers into projects. You can create a virtual tour of a completed project and use a slideshow to reveal before-and-after images to build trust with potential customers. What’s more, video production is efficient; you can use a single video for multiple marketing purposes.

Subcontractor
A Subcontractor and Partnership List

Just as most construction consists of more than one material, projects involve various partners. By working with trustworthy vendors, your construction business can create a partnership list. This is a compilation of the many organizations that you call a partner, and it can elevate your brand.

A partnership list is especially helpful for contractors and developers for commercial projects. Therefore, an ideal location for it is your LinkedIn account. On your page, include a section for partners with a contact form to encourage possible partners to connect with you. You can also look into construction organizations to join and share your membership on your website. For instance, construction businesses may join their local Chamber of Commerce and business trade associations.

Webinars
Webinars

Webinars are valuable for educating potential customers, partners, and even employees. Figuring out what topics your target audience is most interested in learning more about is key to a successful webinar. You may consider collaborating with a partner for these events to increase outreach and demonstrate your expertise. EBooks are another great resource for keeping your audience informed about your industry.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Campaigns

Paid advertising, or pay-per-click, helps your website reach the top of SERP for securing qualified leads. However, unless you’re experienced with PPC, it can be challenging to see the desired results from your campaign. Experienced marketing teams, such as the one at The Mauldin Group, can prevent you from launching a flawed PPC campaign that may cost you more than it helps you profit.

Construction Marketing
Construction Marketing Done Right at The Mauldin Group

These elements can revitalize your construction marketing strategy, but it requires a skilled team with specialized knowledge of the industry to make a difference. The Mauldin Group has experience serving contractors and developers and the necessary resources to design a customized marketing strategy that helps you achieve short and long-term goals. Whether you want to increase brand recognition, engage with more qualified leads, or boost sales, our team will help you discover and implement the right strategies to reach your target audience at the right time.

What Clients Say

Veronica Miller

Outstanding direction for my business by The Mauldin Group. Bonnie Mauldin explained everything in a way that I could understand. I’m not overly technical and she made me feel very comfortable and confident that I could successfully implement her recommended action plan. I highly recommend The Mauldin Group.

Beverly Hathorn

Ms. Mauldin is very knowledgeable and professional – she provided very good insight on steps to move my business forward, and I came away with a well-designed, workable marketing plan. I am very happy with the service I received, and I plan to continue working with her going forward. She’s very easy to talk to, and I highly recommend her services!

Melinda H

Bonnie Mauldin and Team are a class act. We absolutely love our new website and the branding advice we received has been extremely helpful. Their attention to detail, timeliness, and creativity are excellent. We (Salisbury Advisors) highly recommend The Mauldin Group for digital marketing needs.

Jennifer Callender

The Mauldin Group is AWESOME!! They helped me navigate my LinkedIn presence while driving the RIGHT clients to my business. I am so pleased with the outcome of the campaign that they’ve put in place. They are thoughtful and knowledgeable partners. I look forward to working with them even more as I continue to grow my business.

Amazing Case Studies!

What We Did For Arco Steel

Arco Building Systems, Inc. was founded in 1979 as a small storefront business on the main street of Tucker, Georgia. We soon found that there was a demand for a metal building company that paid very close attention to detail and personal service along with low prices. Joining The Mauldin Group partnership team three years ago, Arco’s goal was to make their brand more recognizable as a national company. With a website that was not performing optimally for SEO and little activity on social media, The Mauldin Group created an SEO plan to raise Arco’s online presence.

arcosteel_website_marketing

What We Did...

  • SEO optimized the Arco Building Systems’ website to show up on the first page of Google for over 100 key search terms.
    • Results – Increased traffic and increased geo-targeted leads by quadruple.
  • Managed and optimized a Google AdWords campaign to target specific regions and specific types of steel buildings, including high end factories and warehouse buildings.
    • Results – Increased website traffic and increased geo-targeted leads by double.
  • Managed social media channels.
    • Results – Increased brand outreach and recognition; Expanded growth in engagement with prospective and existing customers.
  • Updated company information on over 70 online directories with photos, company hours, contact information and special offers.
    • Results – Increased traffic to the website and new customers.

What We Did For Design Components

Design Components, Inc., located in Fayetteville, GA, has been in the metal building accessories business for over 40 years. With gross annual sales of more than $3 million, DCI has made a name within its industry as a leader for delivering the highest-quality, customizable, steel accessory products with exceptional customer service.

design-components-website-marketing

What They Needed…

DCI’s existing website had several challenges. It was not SEO optimized to its fullest. The website was also hard for customers to navigate efficiently. Last, they needed a way to increase their brand recognition and drive more qualified leads to their website.

What We Did...

  • Created and developed a more functional WordPress website to replace DCI’s existing Kudzu website.
    • Results – DCI received more inquiries in one month, than in 2 years with Kudzu.
  • Added an industry interest and informational weekly blog to attract engineers, building planners and steel industry professionals.
    • Results – DCI’s website traffic increased significantly.
  • Created a new presence on several social media platforms where we curated and published content.
    • Results –DCI’s website moved up to Page 1 Google rankings for key search terms.
  • Managed a Google AdWords campaign to drive pre-qualified leads monthly to DCI.

What We Did For Zoom Recreation

Zoom Recreation is a commercial playground equipment provider offering products and services to Southern California parks, schools and communities. As a new vendor in the market, they are quickly gaining strength for their reputation of providing visually attractive, high-quality products with a flair for fun.

zoom-website-marketing

Key Objectives:

As a new vendor in the California market, the client came to The Mauldin Group seeking to establish their brand. They also wished to rank at the top of Google in searches.

  1. To Rank on Page #1 of Google for industry top keywords to increase qualified leads
  2. To land at the top of organic searches.
  3. To increase brand recognition in a new market.

What We Did...

The Mauldin Group designed and implemented a strategy incorporating several modes of digital marketing. This included the design of a visually impactful and highly-functional website implementing the use of SEO to gain in search rankings. Strategic PPC to assure ZOOM appeared at the top for several critical keywords. Creative content development to support all avenues of marketing and solidify the Zoom Recreation brand in customers’ minds.

Website

To help establish the Zoom Recreation brand and provide a visually impactful way for potential customers to learn about the product line, The Mauldin Group designed and developed a website. The website incorporated the “fun” and “colourful” theme of childhood play through the company’s outdoor equipment offerings. Navigation was strategically designed to offer easy to find information and encouragement of a call to action. The end goal being an instantly recognizable brand memorable to all visitors.

SEO

To enhance SEO we created content and strategically implemented features placement for the website. The content uses highly-searched keywords to bring potential customers to the website. The blog assures continual fresh content updates and topical information to enhance Google rankings. At present Zoom Recreation ranks for more than 20 keywords on the 1st page of Google.

Paid Media

To cultivate PPC or Paid Media, we launched a series of campaigns across the Southern California with the goal of gaining qualified leads.

Through research, we created a list of high search volume and high priority keywords for which Zoom Recreation improved search performance and gained a higher ranking on Google.

We continue to oversee PPC performance to assure that the campaigns are performing optimally and costs ad spend if cost effective.

At present we have more than 20 keywords on the 1st page of Google.

Construction Marketing Services from The Mauldin Group

The Mauldin Group recognizes the complex marketing needs of construction and home services companies and leverages our 30+ years of experience with digital marketing, web design, and related services to devise a customized strategy tailored to help you get real results. We develop relationships with our clients, guiding them with marketing at each point of the customer journey, and consulting with them on improving their strategies through competitive analysis and market research.

Locations Served