By Eve Bacarrisas, Thrive Agency

With the highly competitive online marketplace growing more saturated by the day, standing out online and convincing customers you are the right construction company to take on their projects can be challenging.

Construction marketing efforts should not only be consistent, but they should also — more importantly — be strategic and targeted if you want to acquire quality leads and improve your conversion rate. These days, paying for TV commercials or billboard ads won’t guarantee an increase in customers. However, because many of your customers browse the web, it makes perfect sense to invest in online construction marketing.

While you have the option to develop your own in-house lead generation strategies, many companies choose to partner with professional agencies offering full-service digital marketing services, from search engine optimization (SEO) to managing construction company reviews. Backed by years of experience and equipped with the latest tools, these agencies are able to guarantee results. 

But that doesn’t mean you can’t implement a couple of lead generation techniques yourself. Let’s have a look at some of the best construction marketing ideas that can generate quality construction leads – those individuals and businesses whose projects can give your company the greatest returns.

Maximize Local SEO

Getting listed in local directories is an effective way of letting people and businesses in your region know more about your company. Because you’re targeting leads in your immediate area, you won’t be expecting irrelevant leads with whom you can’t close a deal, such as customers from other countries. This is a real time-saver. 

Here are ways to elevate your local SEO game:

• Update directory listings. This makes it easier for your customers to find your company and contact you. There are apps that can search the web and let you know every website, social media site or review page that your company appears in. Review and update all the contact information indicated on those posts or pages.
• Include location pages in your site. Have a dedicated page for each of your office locations. Publish your work hours and service offerings per location.
• Offer premium local content. Your customers might want to know about local building codes, standards and requirements. Post content that informs your potential clients and answers any location-specific inquiries to improve your local SEO ranking.

Amp Up Construction SEO Efforts

Unique and valuable content drives qualified traffic. Understanding your users’ search intent and researching the most effective keywords are among the construction SEO techniques you’ll want to use. Whether these are articles or videos, engaging and informative content inspires people to click the link and go to your site.

Aside from establishing brand awareness, quality content encourages backlinks from other sites and mentions from key players. These help improve your construction SEO search rankings.

Optimize Your Website

Your website speaks volumes about your company, so invest in good web design. Optimize your website and ensure all links are working. Focus your efforts on conversion using these tools:

• Call-to-action (CTA) buttons – Most companies place CTA buttons on every page to make it more convenient for site visitors to request a quote, schedule a call or purchase from the site. 
• Content offers – Perhaps your potential customers are still researching and are not yet ready to make a decision. Offer white papers or any useful content that site visitors can access after they fill out the contact form. Store their information and use this for your other marketing campaigns.
• Chatbots – Chatbots don’t only convert visitors to leads by providing valuable information; they enable companies to collect contact information too. Chatbots can also help filter the qualified leads from the non-qualified ones and send their information to the sales team for a future follow-up.

Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing

Paid advertising, when done intuitively, is a very effective construction lead generation strategy. Pay-per-click (PPC) search ads and social media advertising are able to generate construction leads faster than organic efforts. 

Firms on a budget should consider search engine marketing for construction companies simply because of the success companies have had with this strategy. There should be a clear focus on conversion. It is helpful to bid on keywords that indicate high purchase intent and focus on the quality of leads, not just on the quantity.  

Email Marketing

Email marketing for construction companies may involve sending newsletters, case studies, promotions, or follow-up emails. The sales cycle for construction is longer because of it being a major investment, meaning it is vital to stay in contact with your prospective clients. This makes email marketing one of the most effective construction marketing ideas.

You’ll want to store your leads’ contact information and send them valuable content in a way that does not make you seem intrusive. Send them the information they need and the relevant offer they might like so they won’t unsubscribe from your mailing list.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing for construction companies offers potential customers an ocular of completed projects. With more people glued to their social media accounts, this is one of the construction marketing ideas that should not be overlooked. 

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are great sites to display the splendid buildings your company has constructed.

Companies have the option to create a company profile, upload content and advertise via Facebook Business. This platform can provide companies access to highly advanced ad targeting features, making this a highly effective construction lead generation tool.

Online Reputation Management

Negative construction company reviews may affect brand perception and impact lead generation and conversion rates. Your online reputation tells your prospective customers what your company is about and what they can expect from the partnership should they decide to pursue it.

Most clients trust customer ratings. A company that only has a few ratings or negative feedback may not seem as reliable as companies with multiple high customer ratings. This is why many businesses are carefully managing all construction company reviews posted online. 

You can use email marketing strategies to ask your customers to leave their reviews. Monitor all reviews posted online and reach out to those who posted poor ratings so you can resolve their issues. Potential clients not only look at the reviews but also how the company handles feedback. While negative reviews may be unavoidable, it is reassuring to see a company that is proactive enough to help a distressed client.

You can also invest in reputation management software that monitors all reviews and brand mentions online.

Launch a Referral Program

Word-of-mouth is a powerful construction marketing idea because clients are likely to trust their friends’ and families’ recommendations. Design a referral program that rewards satisfied clients who bring in more business.

Have a referral page on your website where people can conveniently input their referrals whom your sales team can reach out to. You can also send these referrals an email inviting them to reach out to you for questions or to send you details about their projects. This helps you determine their position in the sales funnel.

Professional Digital Marketing Agency

Companies who understand the importance of digital marketing but don’t know where to start can greatly benefit from hiring a professional agency to take care of all their construction marketing needs.

These seasoned professionals can customize data-driven solutions aimed at construction lead generation and conversion. They can also take care of running competitive market research to help the company improve existing strategies and processes based on research findings. 

Full-service digital marketing agencies can monitor all launched campaigns and strategize so that your company achieves your desired results.

Conclusion

These construction lead generation strategies have helped many businesses in the digital world. It is important to determine your business goals first and design a strategy focused on achieving these targets. Selecting the appropriate strategy and implementing it properly can tremendously help in generating quality leads that convert to revenue-generating clients.

About the Author

Eve is a Content Specialist for Thrive Internet Marketing Agency in Arlington, Texas. She has more than 10 years of experience in writing content for different industries. A lifelong learner, Eve enjoys reading, learning and exploring. She spends most of her free time working out, training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and freediving. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency is a full-service digital marketing agency. Attract, Impress, and Convert more leads online and get results with Thrive.