Learn how to generate leads for construction contractors with digital marketing strategies and tactics to grow your business.
Lead generation for contractors is hugely important, but due to the stiff competition within the industry, it’s often difficult to achieve the results you want without the help of a team. A business card or a simple sign on the road just won’t cut it these days. The online world is far too profitable and opportunistic to ignore.
Unlike many other industries wherein much of the “work” can be performed online or from a distance, construction-based work is majorly done on-site. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on local search results. Ensure your business is listed on every nearby online search directory you can find. Some of the best free business directories that you should ensure your business has a presence on are as follows:
- Facebook (5 Tips for Starting a Facebook Business Page)
- Apple Maps
- Google My Business
- Bing
- Yelp
- LinkedIn Company Directory
- MapQuest
- HubSpot
- Yellow Pages
- Super Pages
- Thumbtack
Now that you know some sources you should appear on, let’s dive more into depth.
Here is how to generate leads online for your construction business:
1) Inbound Marketing for Contractors
As opposed to digital outbound marketing, which forces itself into the view of the prospect in the form of traditional media and paid advertisements, inbound marketing, also known as content marketing, means that the quality of content you produce will naturally bring leads to you.
You want to produce content that your audience will find useful. Your audience is anyone in the home service/building industry, therefore, this shouldn’t be too hard. People in this industry tend to enjoy content such as how-to guides, tutorial videos, home-improvement suggestions, before and after renovations content, common home-building mistakes, and anything else you believe you can provide your knowledgeable expertise in.
Examples of inbound marketing include blog posts, videos, webinars, and eBooks that potential clients will want to read, find valuable and educational, and hopefully encourage them to view your company as credible. Additionally, be sure to include content on topics that are unique to your company while maintaining professionalism; don’t be afraid to show personality!
2) Website Optimization
Your website is your front page on the Internet; it’s how your clients “meet you.” Therefore, your site will be the platform by which prospective clients will take advantage of your inbound marketing efforts. Optimizing your website will not only ensure that potential clients find your content quickly, but that they also view you as a professional and be more inclined to stick around.
Here are 3 ways to optimize your website:
A) Search
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website will be the bread and butter of your efforts. Google is constantly crawling and ranking search results and websites using their system Rankbrain, which allows you to play a role in where your content lands in this process.
By adding one particular relevant keyword or phrase to your website (and per piece of content), making sure it loads fast (use Pingdom Website Speed Test to find out your website load speed), and making your website convey professionalism, you’ll generate website visitors that stick around longer and check out more than one page.
Common SEO tactics include boosting your social media activity (which is also an easy way to connect directly with potential clients), improving your DA (Domain Authority) score through appearances on other sites, applying special keywords to documents (which can be easily found using tools such as LSI Graph), and optimizing your website, article, and image metadata. Search engines will take notice of these aspects and place your website in higher slots on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
In order to keep track of your optimization and website traffic efforts, be sure to install a service such as Google Analytics. You will be able to see data such as demographics, CTR (Click Through Rate), time spent with your content, and whether or not website visitors choose to interact.
Related Post: How to Perform an SEO Audit
B) Content
As mentioned earlier, providing high-quality content is essential when generating quality leads. Be sure to create content that’s up-to-date and accurate. Content that provides answers to specific queries is why people will visit your website and is what will keep them coming back for more.
Take a moment to consider the clients you currently have – what kind of questions do they ask you? Are they curious about how the process works? Do they want to know how to build things? Are they inquiring about where you obtain your materials?
Additionally, creating content that answers common questions will mean people will be more inclined to recommend your website. People trust their friends more than any piece of content you could create, and shareable content makes for easy referrals!
To effectively engage your target audience, consider creating a variety of content types, such as:
- Blog posts: Share industry news, insights, and trends, or provide how-to guides and tips for common construction projects.
- Videos: Create tutorial videos or showcase before-and-after transformations of your projects.
- Webinars: Host webinars on relevant topics, such as construction best practices, building codes, or green building technologies.
- Guides or whitepapers: Offer in-depth guides or research on specific construction-related topics.
- Case studies: Share success stories and testimonials from your satisfied clients.
C) Conversion
When you begin to see traffic on your website, it’s important that you give these prospective clients clear instructions to take the next step through lead magnets. Lead magnets are call-to-actions that prompt people to either contact you about their construction needs, provide steps to receive a free consultation, display incentives, or simply to opt into your newsletter to follow along on your content creation. Don’t let your website get lost in the competitive shuffle.
Ensure that every page of your website, including your content pages, have these lead magnets. Keep in mind that it often takes users a few times of viewing them before they’ll take action, so be sure to place them in more than one location!
3) SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Search engine marketing is the process of purchasing ads on search engines. When utilizing this process, consider whom you are targeting. In addition to potential clients, be sure to create ads geared towards companies you want in your referral network, such as realtors.
Below are the basics of SEM as well as some things you can do to get your content shown more frequently in high traffic locations:
A) PPC (Pay Per Click)
PPC, sometimes considered in conjunction with CPC (cost per click), is a branch of SEM that allows advertisers to display ads for their products or services to potential clients that search for relevant topics.
What makes PPC unique is, as its name indicates, construction companies are only charged for the placement of an ad when a user clicks on the ad. While this sometimes takes the form of a fixed price charged per click, most often it is handled through a set daily budget. Then, depending on how often the ad is clicked, the price per click will adjust accordingly. Tools commonly used in this process are Google AdWords and Bing Ads, for Google and Bing search, respectively.
The incorporation of PPC then begs the question, if advertisers are only charged when someone clicks on their ad, how do they ensure that their ads are shown on a SERP in the first place? Well, given the nature of the model, advertisers cannot pay more to have their ads shown over their competitors; therefore Google has implemented something called the Ad Auction that determines the relevance and order of the ads.
So basically, keyword your ad correctly, keep on top of your ad data, and watch the clicks roll in.
B) CPI (Cost Per Impression)
Similar to PPC, CPI is when construction companies are charged for their ads. This will only happen when their ad is displayed to a viewer. In this way, it is similar to traditional media such as newspapers, in which a newspaper will charge for ad space based on readership and reach.
High traffic websites offering CPI advertisement space may choose to measure ad impressions through CPM (Cost Per Thousand). For example, an advertiser would only be charged $5 for every thousand impressions incurred on the ad.
To measure the success of these ads, advertisers will compare the number of impressions to the number of clicks on the ad, and come up with the CTR, shown as a percentage.
C) SEO
Search engine optimization is essentially a free form of SEM, therefore SEO and SEM are oftentimes seen as separate entities. However, given the nature of SEO and the similarities it shares with SEM, it will be an important part of your marketing strategy. As with your SEM ads, SEO involves specially curating your content and website so that they show up on search engines such as Google.
4) Social Media Marketing
Social media can be a large contributor to lead generation for contractors. If you are not active on social media, you are missing out on the opportunity to connect with potential clients. Social Media allows companies the opportunity to share their industry knowledge, connect with other construction companies, build brand awareness and answer questions from potential clients.
It is important that you regularly post on these platforms to ensure that you do not go dormant. It is a good practice to post engaging and insightful content that benefits your audience around twice a week.
Considering social media is increasing in popularity by the day, it is important to stand out from your competitors. One method that construction companies can utilize is by getting referrals, reviews and recommendations. After each client you serve, ask them to leave you a review on both your social media pages and a Google review. Not only will you be able to build trust from the community to generate new clients you will also be able to improve your services from the feedback given.
To succeed in social media marketing, follow these best practices:
- Develop a consistent posting schedule and stick to it.
- Share valuable, informative, and engaging content that resonates with your audience.
- Respond to comments and messages in a timely manner.
- Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews and testimonials on your social media pages.
- Collaborate with industry influencers and participate in industry-related events to expand your reach.
Having a proper digital marketing strategy in place can increase the number of leads for your contractor business. Instead of spending money on traditional practices, get ahead of your competitors and start a digital media strategy and get your content marketing running today.
Marketing is one of the departments in your company that can function either in-house or be outsourced to an independent marketing agency. While marketing can be time-consuming and complex, it is an integral part of maintaining relationships with existing customers and attracting new ones, and it shouldn’t be left to chance.
You have a couple of options when it comes to moving forward with your construction contractor’s digital marketing strategy. One option (which is also the more common approach) is having a team member handle certain marketing activities. The other is hiring a contractor lead generation marketing agency or consultant that specializes in construction marketing, which can be a beneficial choice if your company lacks budget or experience in this realm.
If you would like to explore either of these options before you invest in a digital marketing strategy for your contractor business, I would be more than happy to be your guide. You or a team member Schedule Free “Digital Marketing For Construction Contractors” Discovery Call with me using the form below or reach out via one of the social networks below:
