Construction marketing is tricky.
Some companies choose to ignore it completely.
To them, their partners in architecture or engineering will always feed them with new projects. 
However, if you’re serious about growing your business, construction marketing is essential.
The only problem is…
How?
Construction marketing takes an entirely different approach from conventional marketing.
It’s certainly not the same as marketing a product or even a service.
That’s why in this article, you’ll learn what marketing for construction companies looks like in 2021:
All in super-specific and practical steps, so you can start working on it right away!
When people think of advertising, they often think of television commercials or radio ads.
And that’s very much what traditional advertising is.
But when was the last time you saw a construction ad on television?
Or heard about construction services over the radio?
That’s right… you won’t find any.
That’s because marketing for a construction company is completely different from other industries.
Construction marketing is ALL about who you know.
All construction marketing ideas revolve around making connections.
The more connections you have in the industry, the more projects you’ll get.
Traditional construction marketing seeks to build these connections through tradeshows or by joining associations.
There, you’ll rub shoulders with developers, contractors, architects, and engineers in the industry and build relationships with them.
And the next time they need a good construction company?
You’ll be the first one they call.
That’s why building relationships is the bread and butter of construction marketing – and don’t expect it to change anytime soon.
However, while building business relationships isn’t going away, new ways of making these connections are coming up.
And in 2021, getting these connections is heading online.
Yes, you should still attend tradeshows or join associations whenever you can.
But if you’re looking for another avenue to market your company and build new relationships in 2021, going online is a must.
Here are four reasons why online construction marketing is a good idea:
Tradeshows are about displaying your business to as many relevant people as you can.
Unfortunately, not everybody in the industry is going to attend the same tradeshows as you are.
That’s where online marketing comes into play.
With a solid website, you can put up everything you display at trade shows for the entire internet to see.
And like tradeshows – where you get to show off to people in your industry – search engine optimization (SEO) allows you to target people specifically looking for construction companies.
That’s why digital marketing is a great way to create awareness of your company.
Plus, we are getting deeper and deeper into the internet age.
It’s 2021! If your construction business still doesn’t have a website, you’re going to miss out on many opportunities.
Want to position yourself as the industry leader for building hospitals?
Or hangars?
Or neighborhoods?
Whatever type of project you’re after, online marketing helps you stamp yourself as the authority for those types of projects (We’ll take a look at how in a bit).
Check out how Bechtel does this on their site:
They make it a point to show their visitors every one of their expertise.
Online construction marketing allows you to showcase your work in all its glory.
And even if you don’t have any projects to display, you can demonstrate your expertise through your content.
This way, you can get more work and win new types of projects – expanding your business further.
Online marketing puts you out there.
People can find you online, see your expertise, and finally, shoot you an email or give you a call to create a new connection.
Nobody has to figure out how they can get a hold of you anymore.
Online marketing makes it extremely easy for people to get in touch with you, and on your terms.
One problem with tradeshows is that once it’s over, it’s over.
You may have made new contacts – which is great – but you won’t make any more until you join another tradeshow.
And this can be quite an expensive way to market yourself.
Contrast that to online marketing.
In online marketing, once you have a professional website up and running, you can use it to build new relationships and win new projects consistently.
Online construction marketing is also an affordable way to brand your business.
Branding can be very expensive – especially if you’re getting into television ads.
You can use your website to display your brand or get into social media for far less than traditional branding.
Online construction marketing will give you a big boost.
No doubt about it.
However, it can only do this when you do it right.
Too many people don’t understand how to market their construction business online.
They try a few things that they’ve read of – and are surprised when it doesn’t return anything.
That’s because construction marketing is vastly different from other industries.
In this section, you’ll learn exactly how you should market your construction business for the best results.
Prestige.
It’s what most of your digital marketing efforts will revolve around.
You want your company to look as prestigious as possible.
And there’s no way you can do that without a professional website.
However, a professional website might not be what you think it is.
For one, your website should be more than just a brochure website.
It should do more than just show who you are, what you do, and how to contact you.
You’ll learn what exactly to put on your website in the next section.
For now, know that brochure websites have very little value. And they’re certainly not what you should be aiming for.
On the flip-side, if you’re thinking of a sophisticated website with a handful of tools and beautiful designs – that’s not it either.
Instead, you should aim for a simple yet professional website that gets the job done.
Take a look at Turner Construction’s website.
There you can see absolutely everything the company is up to.
It’s a tremendous way to keep their name on the news.
Now, you could go for the old-school way, printing the stories in offline copies.
You could publish your stories in trade journals, industry magazines, business journals, and local newspapers.
And that’s great.
However, if you want more reach, you’ll also go for online press releases.
More and more people are starting to prefer to get their news online.
That’s why it only makes sense to make online press releases part of your online marketing strategy.
You probably aren’t expecting someone to search “construction companies near me,” see your name, then get you for their project right away.
That isn’t how construction marketing works.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work on your local SEO.
You see, there are two benefits of great local SEO:
As you can guess, construction companies are highly interested in the second one.
Trust is a vital factor in whether you get the project or not.
How does local SEO build trust?
First, you can position yourself as the best construction business in your city with good local SEO.
With it, your company will show up on Google’s map-pack, the first three businesses that show up when people search for “construction companies.”
No, people won’t immediately get you for the project if your name is the first to show up in their search result.
But being there first will build so much respect for your company name.
It’ll position you as one of the bests around town.
The best part?
It’s not at all difficult to get started.
We covered this in-depth in our SEO guide for construction companies.
All you have to do are three things.
First, head over to Google.com/business, fill up your details, then verify your address.
You’ll get a Google My Business profile by doing so – and can start ranking on Google’s map-pack.
Your GMB profile will also give you a professional business card whenever someone types your company name on search engines.
This makes it super easy for people to get information on your business, such as address and phone number.
They can even see your reviews here as well.
Once you’ve set up your GMB profile, it’s time to get citations from directory sites.
Head over to sites like Yelp, Apple Maps, or Bing, and list your business there.
The more your NAP (name, address, phone number) appears on the internet, the higher your GMB profile will rank on Google’s map pack.
Finally, ask your clients or partners for reviews.
The more good reviews you get, the higher you’ll rank on Google maps.
But be careful!
Don’t give anything in exchange for reviews. Google will penalize you if you do.
Branding doesn’t have to be expensive.
Thanks to the rise of social media, you don’t have to dump a lot of money into branding campaigns anymore.
Social media is also an easy way to get news of new projects out, like what McDermott Construction does here:
Will social media win you new projects?
Probably not.
That’s why if you’re not comfortable with it, it isn’t essential for online marketing.
However, if you want to spread awareness of your company, social media is an easy and cheap way to do this.
Now let’s get super practical.
What exactly should you put on your construction website?
How do you make it more than just a brochure, without making it too complicated?
Aside from a home and contact page, here are the four things every construction website should have.
What good is a construction website that doesn’t show any of the buildings you’ve built?
It won’t build any prestige, will it?
That’s why having project showcases are vital for construction companies.
You need to show visitors all the wonderful structures you’ve built.
But don’t stop there.
Don’t just upload images of the buildings you’ve worked on. You need to add some content as well.
Go into detail about the challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and how your work helped the community.
Show your readers that you are an expert, and show that you care.
How do you convince people that you can build a hangar if you’ve never built a hangar before?
Write about it.
Do extensive research into hangar construction. Learn everything you need to know about it. Talk with architects, engineers or contractors who have worked on hangars.
Once you know all about it, write a highly-educational article about it.
Here, you can demonstrate that you know everything you need to know about hangar construction.
Then, with some SEO work, everyone looking for hangar construction information will end up on your website.
And with the high-level of information that you provide? Don’t be surprised if they ask you to build it for them.
So start a blog on your website.
It’s the perfect place to show readers that you know exactly what you are doing. And in the process, gain their trust.
Want to build even more trust?
Give readers an inside look at your company.
Show them the experts you have in every department.
Show them what the people working for you have achieved in their careers.
Give them the sense that they’re getting the very best in the industry when they turn to you.
Turner Construction again does this very well.
Your about page should also give visitors a background of your company and information on you.
This way, when people search your name, your website will show up (and not your Facebook profile with you having a beer!).
The ‘About’ page for construction companies is super important.
It’s something that you shouldn’t ignore since trust is a HUGE player in this industry.
So work on it. Show the human side of your company. Show that you have the experts to build the best structures around.
Aside from sending out press releases, it’s also a good idea to have them on your website as well.
This way, visitors can see everything that you’ve been up to – the projects you’re working on – all in one place.
These are slightly different from your project showcases.
There, you tell the whole story once the project is finished. However, the press releases go out like news articles – as you are working on the construction.
Construction marketing is tricky.
It’s certainly not the same as conventional marketing.
Especially when you’re talking about going online!
However, with a good marketing strategy and solid SEO, you can transform the confusion into something super profitable for your construction company.
But don’t think it’s easy.
Oh no, SEO and digital marketing require a LOT of work and expertise to do right.
That’s why you should get professional SEO services instead.
Here at The Gallas Company, we can take your construction website to the next level. With our advanced SEO techniques, we can help you DOMINATE your industry.
Find out how we can get you to that #1 spot!