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The way people interact with brands has changed dramatically over the last decade, with more and more people using the internet and social media platforms as a means researching products, consuming news, communicating, and of course being entertained.
This transformation has had a major impact on the construction industry and forced both B2B and B2C brands to evolve and explore the world of digital marketing and how they can use it to reach their audience.
Whether you have an established online presence and are looking at ways to optimise your activity, or you’re taking your first steps into digital, our guide to digital marketing in the construction industry will help you understand which platforms are right for you and how to use them effectively to grow.
The evolution to digital has affected every corner of the construction industry. From consumers getting DIY inspiration from social media influencers and shopping for products online, to local social media groups discussing planning applications in their area, the need to establish a strong online presence is as important as ever.
There are many reasons why creating an online presence is important, one main reason is to build trust with your audience, whether that is consumers or potential clients. An online presence means that not only can people find information about your brand to answer any questions they might have, but it also means that you can control the information that is available to them and how it is presented.
Having your own online presence allows you to shape the user experience of your audience to support the actions you want them to take, whether that is purchasing a product or booking a consultation.
In the next section, we will look at how you can lay strong foundations for your online presence.
It will come as no surprise that all companies in the construction industry must have their own website. However, throwing a few lines of text, a phone number, and a few photographs onto a free template you found online probably isn’t going to fill your audience with confidence. Your website is going to be your audience’s final destination for around 90% of the digital activity you run, so it needs to look professional and provide visitors with the information they need to make a decision on whether they want to do business with you.
Two factors you must consider when developing your website in responsiveness and the user experience. Put yourself in the shoes of the visitor and ask whether the website is both easy to use and quick to navigate. We now live in a world full of instant gratification and people are increasingly expecting the same experience in every online interaction. In a study by Google it was found that over 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if the page takes longer than three seconds to load. When it comes to ease of navigation a study by HubSpot found that 76% of consumers say that the ease of finding information on a website is a critical factor in determining their likelihood to return.
To help visitors find the information they need on your construction website, there are key pages you should include:
Services – This one should go without saying but for B2B construction companies it is vital to outline the services you provide. Don’t be afraid to go into detail, the more information you can provide about what you do not only builds trust but also increases the likelihood that you will cover an aspect of the service that the visitor is looking for.
About Us – It is a cliché but it is one that remains true “people buy from people”. An about us page allows you to introduce the faces behind the brand and helps visitors understand who they might be working with. Information about the team and history of the company all contribute to building trust.
Our Work/Case Studies – An our work page is an opportunity to provide evidence of what you are capable of. A services page can detail all the things you are capable of but a page dedicated to case studies is a great way to bring it to life and help visitors visualise what you could do for them.
Contact Page – Again this one is a no-brainer but make sure you have a page that provides clear information on how people can get in touch with you. Provide all possible options, whether that’s a contact form, email address, phone number, or physical address, every visitor has their own preference for how they like the communicate.
SEO can be a powerful tool for helping your audience find your website based on the terms they are using on search engines. Being able to rank highly for terms related to your product or business can be a make or break when it comes to attracting new customers or clients organically.
According to the Advanced Web Ranking Study, where you rank can make a huge difference in the click-through rate you receive. The study showed the click-through rates of the first 5 positions as:
1st – 31.7%
2nd – 24.7%
3rd – 18.6%
4th – 13.6%
5th – 9.5%
This highlights the importance of ranking highly and putting the work in when it comes to optimising your website from an SEO perspective. You can read more about how to do it on our SEO blog here.
For regional companies it is also crucial to consider the importance of local SEO to ensure you can be found in your local area. There should be three key areas in your local SEO strategy:
The SEO activity we covered in the previous section can take some time to reach its full potential, this can be 6 months or longer. If your construction company or the one you work for is in the early stages of its digital journey and is looking to drive results quickly you need to leverage paid advertising.
SEO builds up momentum over a long period of time and can have a huge impact once it is established. In contrast, paid advertising is a tap that can be switched on and off at the drop of a hat.
Digital advertising can feel out of reach for a lot of construction companies who simply “haven’t got the budget”, however advertising should not be viewed as a cost, done correctly digital advertising is an investment to drive more business by giving up a small percentage of profit margin to increase the volume of sales.
Google Search Ads are a great way to appear in search results for relevant terms for your business if your SEO strategy is not yet established or the existing results are ones you know you won’t be able to outrank.
Search ads are most effective when targeting people who are towards the bottom end of the sales funnel and are in the market for the service or product you offer. With that in mind, the best hooks you can use on your ads could be booking a consultation, making a purchase, booking a demo, or starting a trial. Because these users will be only a few steps away from making a purchase decision you need to focus on activity that will help push them over the line.
Click prices and amount of traffic differs greatly between industry, even within construction itself, so it is important to test your ads and compare the results against your own goals rather than industry benchmarks. If you are happy with the amount your ads are spending for the amount of revenue they are generating then keep going!
Social Media Ads can be effective for both consumer marketing and B2B depending on the channel. It is important to focus on the channel your audience spend their time on and why they are spending their time there. A business professional may use Facebook or TikTok, but they are more likely to interact with work-related content on a business platform such as LinkedIn. Targeting them on platforms they use in their downtime could turn them off and create negative feelings towards your brand.
So what does an effective social media ad strategy look like? Well, firstly, keep it simple! There are tried and tested formulas that can be effective when used in the right way. Three key ones are:
User-Generated Content Testimonials – Let your customers sell for you. A video of your latest customer standing in the conservatory you’ve just built for them while they talk about how great the service was and how happy they are with the finished results helps build trust with potential customers and helps them visualise the results.
A Day In The Life – Videos showing products and services in action help others visualise how it could work for them. “My life now” clips showing how their day or life could be better with the product really drive home the message.
Why It’s For You – Help people identify themselves as a person who will love your product or service. Combined with the right audience segments you can state exactly who it is for in the advert and frame it as the problem it solves “If you’re sick of…”
As mentioned in the Social Media Ads section, it is important to identify which channels are most relevant for your audience. There’s no benefit to “doing TikTok” because it’s a popular platform if it’s not the right audience for you. Focus on perfecting one channel before adding on another, and don’t waste your time on channels that are simply the wrong audience.
Consider creating a content rota that moves between different types of posts so that you can keep your content fresh. Cover important topics that are happening right now in the construction industry so that your potential customers or clients can see that you are experts within the space.
However, the key element to organic social media is interaction. Simply posting content on broadcast is unlikely to generate interactions from your audience, especially when your organic posts are likely only reaching around 5% of your audience. Comment and interact with posts from industry news channels to tap into their audience and join relevant groups related to your business. This highlights the importance of the “social” aspect of social media, interacting with users is a better way of building a bond than posting twice a day on your own channel.
Analysing the performance of your digital marketing is crucial to developing strategies over time as you identify the channels and types of content that are most effective for driving the results you want. Using tools such as Google Analytics in conjunction with campaign links and dashboards in Looker Studio, is an effective way of to keep on top of what is driving key results for your construction business.
Some of the key KPI’s you will need to monitor are:
You don’t need to do everything to have an effective digital marketing strategy. Some companies try and do too much and spread themselves too thinly. Start the fundamentals, create a comprehensive and professional website that is optimised for SEO, make sure you Google My Business profile is complete and up-to-date, add on an ad campaign and build from there.
Digital marketing is most effective when you plan, activate, then review. By following these steps you can double down on what works and avoid what doesn’t.
If you would like to discuss how you could take your digital marketing to the next level, get in touch with our team today.
