Marketing Advice for Commercial Construction Firms

B2B marketing is always complicated, but it’s especially hard for commercial construction companies because of these challenges:?

• Ups and downs in the economy…feast or famine
• VERY long sales cycles
• A “Who You Know” culture with a HEAVY reliance on sales
• Difficulty getting to the table for new deals
• Few areas for differentiation (everyone makes the same claims)
• Competition for local projects is really national competition
• Developers are notoriously difficult to reach on any platform
• Difficulty knowing if marketing is having an impact of marketing on revenue

The Good News: Your Competitors Suck at Marketing

Few commercial construction companies are doing marketing well. This means there is opportunity for significant differentiation in the quality and effectiveness of YOUR branding and marketing. Here's our best advice for how to make every part of your marketing MUCH better.

#1 Brand

Branding should extend BEYOND the portfolio. It can and should be outstanding because every touch point sends a message. Having pretty pictures of projects on your website is not enough.?Your brand should maximize the interesting aspects of who your organization is culturally and how your customers and your community experience your impact.

#2 Positioning

Stop sounding like everyone else. “On time, on budget” is not a positioning statement or differentiation. You also don't get to brag about your "200 years of combined experience." It doesn't sound smart. It sounds like everyone else. Doing a good job is table stakes.

Want to dive DEEP into commercial construction marketing? Watch this episode of The Marketing Blender Show.

#3 Specialization

Own your niche and grow from there. Everyone wants to do more types of projects, but if you can’t specialize, you will struggle. Take over one vertical at a time instead of trying to be everything to everyone. Find your brand champions in your existing verticals and cultivate them so you can grow faster through referrals into other verticals.

#4 Optimization

If you are established and already have a diverse portfolio, look at how to create community around your brand. Also, DEFINITELY be using a CRM with automation and nurture outreach. Track, track, track across platforms.?

#5 Visibility

• Social media should be organic AND paid to create a blanket of branding that reaches your geographic area and targeted roles. It should show MORE than your projects. It should showcase people, relationships, and stories.
• Social selling is a great add on for traditional social media. Your business development folks should be leveraging social selling to reach influencer targets?
• Look at PR as a way to ensure visibility. Figure out what your community cares about and aim at that, there needs to be a story BEYOND a new building going up.

#6 Digital

Don’t ignore SEO. There are often keyword clusters you can and should target with organic and paid SEO efforts. These won’t be the highest competition keywords. Instead, look for longer tail and more specialized keywords where you can educate and provide value. Also, PLEASE gather Google reviews. These are gold dust for local SEO.

Paid advertising targets should be trusted advisors and referrers (e.g., architects and designers). You probably can't reach real estate developers through traditional advertising channels, so you need to start with the people who influence them. This approach can be surprisingly effective.

#7 REALLY Know Your Target Persona

Target developers with messaging that is SPECIFIC about how you will help them achieve their goals. Keep in mind that what they really want is more and bigger projects, access to funding, faster sales/lease ups, recognition for marquis projects, and industry awards.

Note I've helped several clients market to real estate developers. Want a FULL copy of my developer persona? Send me a message.

Ready to Get Traction?

If you want to wow the market with B2B construction marketing that really works, schedule a discovery call.

#b2bmarketing #b2bstrategy #commercialconstruction #realestatedevelopment