Construction Marketing: Generate leads and improve existing relationships
- Thursday, 09 March 2017
Digital marketing is a great way not only to get new leads but to develop and improve existing business relationships. Although certainly, quite a few companies in the construction industry already have a digital marketing team or agency, your company can always improve on existing strategies. Learn more in this article.
Digital marketing has given companies the opportunity to communicate in real-time with customers. More importantly, it has been a way to deliver information about your company to potential customers before they even speak to a human being. That is why content and distribution are so important. Deliver an attractive, compelling message in a way that can be easily found through a few keystrokes. In fact, according to an article in Construction Business Owner, over 75% of potential customers do online research before even contacting anyone in your company. That is why it is critical for your team to keep the following in mind:
Invest in content marketing
Try to walk a mile in the shoes of your potential customers. Since you now know that over 75% of them are doing online research before making a purchasing decision and that there will be no human interaction for this part, the information you publish about your company is crucial. Invest in content marketing. Even if you decide to outsource content generation, make sure that you hire a pro. Your message, core offering and benefits must be crystal clear for potential customers. Your content should try to answer questions such as:
- Why choose your company and not your competitors?
- What is your value offering?
- What kinds of guarantees do you offer?
- What kind of technology do you use?
- Do you have any experience or do you have any kind of certifications?
- What has your company accomplished?
- Among others
SEO + Social Media + PPC
Now that you have content covered, distribution is the next challenge. Sure, you may have the best looking deck or website in the industry, but how are your potential customers going to find them? Start with the digital marketing trifecta: SEO + Social Media + PPC. But before you even scratch the surface on these strategies, you have to make sure you have an objective. For example:
- Objective 1: Potential customers should find your website and fill out a contact form
- Objective 2: Potential customers should download your white paper or other materials in exchange for their email address and contact information (someone in your sales team can then follow up with them).
Once you have that clear, then you can build a solid distribution strategy or inbound marketing strategy, that will "pull" clients into your website.
Nurture your leads
Once your potential customers have made contact with your staff, either by providing their contact information for a follow-up or actually calling your office, your sales team needs to be prepared to close the deal. Here is where human interaction begins, and only human interaction can deliver the client.
Real-time communication with existing customers
It's not just about new clients, it is also about keeping existing customers happy. Real-time communication is a great way to do this. All of their questions, doubts, fears, or anything that they may need, must be satisfied as quickly as possible. For example, customers frequently want to know about their project's progress. You can easily show them by giving them access to your construction management software. They can log in and, at a glance, know how their project is coming along.
Also, keep customers in the loop of your latest projects and developments via a newsletter. Invite them to attend "webinars" (short for web-based seminars), that can educate them about certain things about your business or topics related to the industry.
As you can see, digital marketing gives your construction business a sea of possibilities. Try them, measure them and thrive.