Many industry contractors realize that marketing and advertising their services are essential to getting a consistent workflow. However, advertising is not necessarily what contractors are great at. If you’re not getting enough sales, you might want to point toward an economic issue. However, the problem might be that your marketing needs an overhaul.
In this article, we’ll cover the top ten best contractor marketing ideas for 2024. Use these ten ideas to successfully market your contracting business.
Why Contractor Marketing is Necessary
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of which contractors in their area are the best. Even armed with this knowledge, consumers prefer to look online at reviews and contractor websites instead of settling for word-of-mouth.
Marketing is essential for construction contractors because it lets them gain insight into their buyers’ business challenges. With this knowledge, contractors can better target marketing messages and tap into the right channels to reach the ideal customers at the perfect time.
Your target audience is looking for your services online. If you don’t have a website and don’t utilize a marketing strategy to nurture leads and make sales, you’re already behind. Read on to find out what you can do to develop your marketing strategy for your contracting business.
1. Make Your Website Fast and Effective
Your website is the first place that potential customers will look for your services. If you don’t have one, you’re not likely to get new customers. Most consumers judge a company’s credibility on their website design alone.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when building your website:
- Make it fast. Most customers will expect pages to load in three seconds or less. Make sure your website is fast by reducing image sizes. Consider using a content distribution network (CDN) as well to make load times faster. Double-check that the server you’re using is appropriate.
- Make it functional. Websites should be coded for SEO.
- Make it mobile-friendly. Approximately 51% of online traffic in the United States comes from mobile devices. Your site should be mobile-friendly to ensure you’re getting part of that traffic.
- Make it secure. Google favors HTTPS sites. If your site is HTTP, you may not get on the first page of the search results.
- Make it user-friendly. Your site should be well-designed and easy to navigate. Include items such as click-to-call or instant chat features. You should also include a page for testimonials, photos of past work, or anything else that keeps your customer in mind.
2. Claim Your Google My Business Listing
The first thing a user will do when searching for a local business is use Google. Their search will then compile a list of companies in the local area that fit the search. These results appear in the “Local SEO 3-pack” box. This is a Google My Business listing. If you claim this listing, more leads will find your business.
Claiming your listing is as easy as filling out contact information, adding photos, and verifying the address. On your GMB profile, potential clients will find all the information they need about your business. They can also visit your website for more information if they choose. People can also find reviews from previous customers on your GMB profile.
Claiming your GMB listing is one of the best contractor marketing ideas for 2024 because it helps you drive local traffic to your business.
3. Connect with Leads Through Social Media Marketing
Social media is an excellent advertising and marketing method for contractors. It allows them to connect with their audiences quickly and directly. If you invest in social media marketing, you can deliver content straight to your audience and interact with them.
To begin using social media for contractor marketing and advertising, start by choosing which social media platforms you want to use. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter are just a few options for social media platforms. Consider which platforms your leads will use the most when choosing your social networking platform. Once you’ve selected the social networking platform, you can start posting content.
The content you post depends on the platform you choose. For instance, Instagram is primarily for photos, while Facebook allows for almost any type of content. Aside from organic posts, you can run paid advertisements. Paying for advertising ensures your content is seen by audiences regardless of if they run a search for you or not.
The content you choose also depends on your target audience. The great thing about social platforms like Facebook and Instagram is that you can get specific content targeting. You can specify things like location, income, interests, behaviors, and more. Maybe you have a few target audiences and want to create specific campaigns to align your content with each. Whatever you decide, you’ll have plenty of options.
Using social media marketing as part of your marketing strategy will let you connect directly with your audience, produce leads, and make sales.
4. Utilize Email Marketing
Email marketing may seem like an outdated form of marketing, but 61% of consumers prefer to be contacted by brands through email. Email marketing is an effective strategy that helps you nurture leads toward conversion. Here are some benefits of using email marketing for your construction business:
- It’s a low-cost way to start advertising and generating leads
- 85% of marketers use email marketing to distribute content organically
- Email marketing is expected to grow in the coming years
As a contractor, you likely have a client base of vendors and subcontractors you must communicate with often. You probably also have a list of prospective and current clients. Having an up-to-date email list will help you stay at the top of everyone’s mind when they need a contractor. Adding to your list of subscribers will also add to your customer base.
To get new leads, you must obtain a list of subscribers. You can do this through your website or social media pages. Create an email sign up bar on your website to get new visitors to sign up or post about it on your social media channels. Once you have your list of subscribers, you can send them valuable content.
Some tools allow you to tailor emails to specific subscribers as well. You can send loyal subscribers promotions, coupons, and special deals to persuade them to engage. By investing in email marketing for your contractor business in 2022, you’ll engage leads that are interested in you.
5. Manage Reviews
One of the most important things you should do when developing a strategy for your contractor marketing is managing reviews and testimonials. When people look you up online, one of the first things they’ll consider before hiring you is your reviews. Therefore, managing them is vital to ensure new leads choose you over others.
The most popular sites are Yelp and Facebook. Some other websites you may receive reviews on are the Better Business Bureau site, TrustPilot, and Google. The point is, you will receive reviews and ratings on any site people are looking for you. However, if you’re just getting started, you should push for reviews on Google.
If your products and services are great, you’ll have many positive reviews. However, negative reviews are a part of life. It’s not a bad thing to have negative feedback. However, it is a bad thing if you don’t handle it. Customers like to be acknowledged, so leaving comments on reviews will make them feel like their reviews matter.
If you get negative reviews, comment on them and address the problems. If you get positive reviews, thank the people who wrote them. If you don’t have time to manage your reviews, hire a review management firm.
6. Create a Video Commercial
Creating a professional video to advertise your products and services can move mountains in terms of lead generation. These commercial ads give your contracting company a visual identity and must spark a connection with your brand and your audience. Mobile searchers love videos, so optimize for sites that use video as their prime content type.
Ideally, you should employ a professional production company to help you create your commercial. However, your budget may not be adequate to afford this. It’s not impossible to develop your commercial yourself if you’re on a budget. Remember these tips when making your video commercial:
- Represent your brand clearly. Use both verbal and visual cues to convey your brand’s name and logo throughout the commercial.
- Keep it short and simple. 30-60 seconds is the standard, but attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Try to get the point across in 15 seconds or less.
- Write a script for people to follow. A script is more predictable than improvisation.
- Remember B-roll footage. Consider filming snippets on-site of a job or a finished project. With this footage, viewers get a feel of what your company does.
- Include testimonials from previous customers.
You can make your own commercial for your general contractor business successfully. Look up more tips for DIY commercials to get a sense of what to expect.
7. Utilize SEO
SEO is a classic but often underutilized form of marketing in the industry. The purpose of SEO is to organically bring your page to the top of the search engine results. You can drive a lot of traffic using simple and effective SEO techniques. Best of all, SEO is very budget-friendly if you do it yourself.
Rank for the base keyword, “contracting service + service area” (for example, “deck builder Denver CO”). Optimize your home page for this keyword by using it in headings, throughout the text, meta descriptions, and everything else. However, make sure not to keyword spam. Google is programmed to know when pages spam keywords to rank higher. Therefore, be careful and keep your keyword concentration under 3% for each page.
8. Use Geofencing Advertising
Location services aren’t just for finding out where your potential customers are anymore. You can now use location services to set up a geofence or a boundary around an area. You can make this as small as a 3-mile radius or as large as 50 miles (or more). Once people enter this invisible boundary, they can receive notifications about your contractor business.
As a contractor, you’ll want to target areas where your leads will be. For instance, a trade show happening at a community center is a great place to set up a geofence. Once you’ve learned how to work the geofence, you can move it around to different locations depending on where you think your leads will be. Utilizing a geofence will help you generate leads.
9. Use Pay Per Click Advertising for Immediate Results
If you follow all these tips and still find yourself not getting any leads, you might need to give yourself a boost. Pay per click advertising (PPC) ensures that you’ll appear on the first page of Google. When customers search for the right keywords, your products and services will be front and center (instead of the second or third page of the search results).
Pay per click advertising is the way to get fast sales. These ads are a very cost-effective way to reach targeted local prospects in Google.
10. Face-to-Face Marketing
Don’t underestimate the importance of rare marketing events such as conferences. At networking events, you can connect with other contracting businesses. These connections can create opportunities for referrals and valuable business relationships.
Your local Chamber of Commerce is a valuable resource for connecting with other contractors as well. Utilize these networking opportunities to build relationships with other contractors. Distribute business cards, establish your brand, and enhance your credibility with your target market at these events.
The Bottom Line
Improving your digital marketing plan will help you generate leads, make more sales, and help your business thrive. Use these ten tips for contractor marketing and grow your business quickly.