7 Effective Ways To Market Your Construction Business

But marketing a construction business isn’t easy. The market is crowded and projects are big, costly, and ad-hoc. Successfully reaching clients willing to invest in your services requires a clear and thoughtful marketing plan. 

Below, I tell you how to market a construction business to build trust, get noticed, and beat the competition.  

How To Market a Construction Business: 7 Proven Tactics

Here are 7 online and offline construction marketing strategies that work for all sizes and types of construction businesses. 

Your brand is how people recognize and remember your construction business. 

Choose a clear and impactful business name, perhaps something that reflects your company’s services or values or that’s catchy and easy to remember. 

Next, create branding elements, such as your logo, preferred brand colors, and fonts. These should look professional and be versatile enough to fit well in multiple places, such as your website, signage, staff vests, and hard hats. 

Tools like Canva or Looka are excellent options for getting started at a lower cost. If you have the budget for it, consider hiring a branding agency or graphic designer to elevate your designs. 

Don’t forget about brand personality: the set of human traits associated with your brand that’s reflected in your tagline, language, interactions with customers, and more. A strong brand personality builds trust, showcases your values and ethos, and sets you apart from competitors. 

One company with strong branding is Suffolk Construction. This company’s brand philosophy is “Build. Invest. Innovate,” which accurately represents their unique selling point and their positioning as a disruptor in the industry. 

Your website is one of the first things customers check when considering your services because it shows you’re a legitimate and established business that people can trust. 

Don’t have an in-house tech team to build a website? Hire an expert on platforms like Fiverr. Moreover, platforms like Wix, WordPress, or Squarespace offer DIY templates that are easy to use and work well for companies on budgets. 

Here are the web pages to include: 

Avoid heavy jargon on these pages so anyone from homeowners and corporate clients to subcontractors and workers can understand it.

Importantly, optimize your website for mobile phones. According to one report, 64% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, so ensure your website is clean, easy to navigate, and well-formatted when people view it on their smartphones.

When someone needs a contractor, they’re likely searching Google, so that’s where you must get noticed to generate leads for your construction business. Here’s how. 

Set up a Google Business Profile (GBP)

This free tool gives your company space on Google and Google Maps’ results. 

• Go to the Google Business website to create an account. 
• Enter your company’s name, location, and category. 
• Add a business description, operational hours, and photos of your work.
• Verify your business by email or phone. 

Here’s an example of a complete profile for Lancaster County Backyard.

Nail your SEO 

Next, you must increase your GBP’s visibility so that it actually shows up higher in the search results when people look for construction services in your area. 

This is called search engine optimization (SEO), and an easy way to do this is by using your potential customers’ search keywords—for example, “construction company in Maine”—and adding these keywords to your website’s copy, blogs, social media pages, etc., especially in titles, headings, and meta descriptions. 

According to Thomas Borcherding, Owner at Homestar Design Remodel, another way to improve SEO is through backlinks. 

Borcherding explains, “Google’s algorithm is built on a thing called PageRank… when first starting out, I encourage you to build links from other websites going to your website. For instance, you can sponsor local sports teams or reach out to local, related professions. 

“Google sees this as a form of trust and quality,” he says. 

That said, these strategies are only the tip of the iceberg, and SEO can get complex. While understanding what Google’s algorithm rewards is important, you should also know what it penalizes and keep an eye on when the rules change. 

My recommendation? Read Google’s SEO Starter Guide, and consider hiring a well-reputed local SEO expert or agency. 

Invest in PPC ads 

Ever seen “sponsored” websites at the top of the search results when you’re Googling a product or service? Pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google and Google Maps can put you on top of the search results immediately. 

This is especially useful for new businesses that haven’t made their mark yet or haven’t had long enough to nail SEO, but it can be pricey, costing about $4.50/click according to digital marketing platform WebFX’s proprietary analysis. 

Marketing on social media is a powerful way to build brand visibility, showcase your construction quality, boost website traffic, and establish a presence. 

Suzette Conrad, Marketing Director at BOLT Builders, shares, “We’ve gotten several leads from Instagram and some from TikTok. And even if leads aren’t specifically from social media, I know seeing our presence online, seeing us making educational or relatable videos, and seeing that we are willing to be part of the community makes people pick up the phone.”

Social media includes a wide range of platforms. For construction marketing, I’d recommend focusing on visual platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, which let you share images and videos. 

You can post progress photos, before-and-afters, short-form video content, construction timelapses, and more. The best content has a good chance of bringing more attention to your page. But even if this doesn’t happen organically, you can use social media for paid advertising or even boost your posts for as little as $1/day by one estimate. 

Many potential clients still use directories to search for local services, so you must list your construction business in the right directories, both online and offline. Create complete profiles with your company’s name, location, website link, business hours, photos, etc., on platforms like Yelp, Angi, and HomeAdvisor, and respond to inquiries promptly. 

The more places your business is listed, and the more accurate and consistent the information is, the easier it is for people (and search engines) to find and trust you.

You can also register your business in local chamber of commerce directories and trade association listings, like the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America, National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and The Blue Book Network: the modern Yellow Pages for commercial construction. Being listed on these increases visibility and credibility with potential clients. 

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways to market your construction business, and Borcherding explains why. 

“Construction companies are largely driven by referrals and reviews. Potential clients are keen on doing research on your company to ensure their large investments will be safe, which can be in the hundreds of thousands or millions, depending upon your specialty.” 

Additionally, Hunter Kosar, Owner at Twisted Nail Broker Services, explains: “Countless times we have landed a small portion of a job only to land all stages of the job through loud and proud referrals.”

Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t about crossing your fingers and hoping people will talk about your company. You must take active steps to make it happen.

Here are some ways to encourage word-of-mouth marketing. 

• Ask clients for reviews: “Make it part of your workflow with every job,” says James Charles, COO at E-Impact Marketing (who has 7 years’ construction marketing experience). For instance, send them a direct link to your GBP, Yelp, or Facebook review page via email or your CRM platform at the end of a job or when you’ve crossed a milestone in the project. 
• Respond to all reviews: Thank people for positive feedback and address negative comments professionally. This shows potential clients that you’re trustworthy, open to feedback, and easy to work with. One report found that 89% of consumers are likely to use businesses again if they respond to both positive and negative reviews.
• Create a referral program: Use a form on your website, a referral link, or even verbal referrals, and offer incentives such as discounts on future work, to encourage clients to refer your business. 
• Leverage partnerships: Work with related professionals, such as suppliers and realtors, to cross-promote each other’s businesses. 
• Do a good job: Most importantly, running your construction business efficiently, producing high-quality work, and treating your customers right are critical to getting good reviews and referrals. 

While the world is going digital, offline marketing is still critical, especially in construction, where visibility in the local community keeps your business’s name in front of local homeowners, builders, and other decision-makers. 

When asked about what works best in construction marketing, Justin Olewack, CEO at BOLT Builders, explained, “Really awesome [looking] signs and trucks (people see them around our projects and it’s a reminder we’re there to help), mailers, a good online presence. It all works together to get our name out there and remind people that we’re worth the call.” 

Consider these ways to enhance your offline presence. 

• Place sturdy and weatherproof signs at the front of your active projects so neighbors and passersby know who’s doing the work. Add your company’s logo, website URL, and contact information. Use high-contrast colors and a large font to ensure signs are readable from a distance. 
• Apply vinyl decals or magnetic signs to company vehicles, such as trucks, vans, etc. They work like billboards regardless of whether you’re parked or moving between sites. 
• Create engaging flyers or brochures and distribute them in locations where your target audience might see them, for instance, hardware stores, bulletin boards, coffee shops, or local events.
• Use direct mail to send flyers to potential clients in the area. Include compelling offers like free estimates or seasonal discounts to spark interest. Time mail smartly (for example, to promote outdoor work in spring) so you can get the most value for your money. 

How To Market a New Construction Business on a Budget

Starting a construction business is tough. As Borcherding says, “What does a new construction company with no historical sales, clients, or reviews do to foster trust?” 

Luckily, as an expert in this space, Borcherding has answers:

“I found that the best solution to this problem was to act with full transparency during the sales process. Offer a killer warranty and assure them that you will remain solvent should any problems arise post-installation.” 

James Charles from E-Impact Marketing also shared tons of useful advice, starting with the importance of starting local (i.e., within a 20–30-mile radius around your business). “You don’t want to go out there and compete against the entire sea… focus first on local specific marketing channels… customers prefer to hire from somebody who’s local to them.”

Additionally, James recommended that setting up and maintaining consistent online profiles, taking quality photos, and asking for and responding to reviews are all high-impact tactics to boost marketing efforts with little to no cost. As he puts it, “50% of that is stuff that you can do yourself and can do for free.”

FAQs

What is the best marketing strategy for a construction company?

The best construction marketing strategy combines online and offline tactics. A well-optimized Google Business Profile and targeted pay-per-click ads paired with actively managed customer reviews and referrals are the strongest ways to market your business locally. 

How do you get leads for a construction company?

The best way to get leads for your construction business is to ensure you’re discoverable where clients are looking for your services. Create complete and accurate profiles on platforms like Google and Yelp, list yourself in industry-specific directories, and ask your clients and partners to recommend your services. 

What is the fastest-growing sector in construction? 

Green building and sustainable construction are among the fastest-growing construction businesses in line with growing demand for energy-efficient homes, eco-friendly materials, and compliance with environmental regulations.