Alex Miles
Numerous marketing strategies are used in the built environment to obtain and convert leads, from content marketing, social media marketing, and even SEO. Most, if not all, decision-makers will have expectations for their strategy of choice, but the reality of these strategies may defer from whats expected of them.
This blog covers 9 construction marketing strategy expectations and how you can set yourself up for success by understanding how each strategy really works for your business.
Construction Marketing Strategy Expectations:
- "SEO guarantees the number one spot on Google results pages"
- "SEO will produce instant results for your construction marketing strategy"
- "You can rank just by using keywords."
- "Websites only need to be functional."
- "Content marketing can skyrocket sales."
- "PR is an outdated strategy for construction marketing"
- "Social media will make your construction business go viral and increase sales."
- "Construction doesn't appeal to the demographic of social media users."
- "Email unsubscribers are bad for Your construction marketing strategy"
SEO guarantees the number one spot on Google results pages
No one can guarantee the number one spot on Google. With the constant changes to Google’s algorithms, rankings are unstable and you can either lose or gain positions depending on the changes Google makes.
In 2020 Google ranked websites/pages based on the quality of their content rather than the keywords used or the number of links (backlinks) the page achieved. In recent times it can even be said that backlinks' significance has increased, with SEO tools such as Ahrefs identifying backlinks as a vital tool to increase your position on Google.
Due to the unpredictability of Google, your business should be setting realistic goals. Starting with website best practices regarding content and ensuring your content is helpful for the audience you're targeting.
SEO will produce instant results for your construction marketing strategy
SEO is a potent tool to get you ranking on Google. However, it isn't a quick fix. It can take Google months to understand the changes you have made to your site; therefore, for 'quick fixes' SEO isn't ideal.
SEO takes time and consistency before you can begin to see results, it may take between six months to a year before you notice any significant improvements on you’re ranking performance.
In some instances, PPC (pay per click) may provide you with quicker results compared to SEO, but it won’t be as effective in the long run. This is because whilst PPC may provide you with instant results, you still risk the chance of coming across as unreliable and untrustworthy to your audience, which may result in less traffic.
The key to good SEO is consistency and patience. We advise you to implement an SEO strategy before you need it.
You can rank just by using construction keywords.
If only it were that easy. The construction industry is one of the largest in the UK. Your business will not gain its desired ranking simply by implementing a few construction keywords into your website and content.
Good search engine rankings come from using multiple SEO best practices such as backlinks from other reputable web pages, internal links to your own pages, optimised meta descriptions, great on-page experience, the list goes on.
Due to Google's constant algorithm updates, you cannot rely on just using your chosen keywords to rank well on search engines.
Keywords get you found for specific terms. However, if the page the user lands on doesn't deliver what they were looking for, they will look elsewhere; your competitors.
Keywords are vital for getting found online, however, they must be part of a more comprehensive SEO strategy for you to see the best results.
Websites just need to be functional
Yes, your building product website needs to be functional, but it also needs to convey your business's identity and value clearly and effectively.
Your user experience is essential. It's what makes visitors return to you when searching for a product solution.
You will also want to consider how inclusive your website functionality is for everyone. For example, while an image-heavy site may appeal to the millennial specifier, a more senior specifier won't have the same experience. They want to access case studies and product information overviewing imagery.
Understanding your audience is the first step to a great site. The next step is optimising it. Consider including alt text in your images, and use the correct heading tags for screen readers to convey the information clearly to your audience. An accessible website will provide everyone with a positive experience and is looked at favorably by Google.
Content marketing can skyrocket sales
Whilst content marketing can help to obtain and nurture new leads, it won’t improve your sales on its own, that is down to your marketing and sales teams. Content is predominantly at the top of your sales and marketing funnel in the form of blogs and helpful resources but is also used towards the end of your funnel in the form of case studies and demos. Although content will help to capture your leads, it is then up to your marketing and sales team to connect and retain them as customers.
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The true aim of content marketing is to lead value within your business. By providing your prospects and customers with helpful content to answer queries and give solutions for what they are searching for. Your content should be consistent and of high quality with insightful and helpful information in order to generate and create a great experience for your leads.
PR is an outdated strategy for construction marketing
PR might be losing its touch in the traditional sense of newspapers and magazines, but that doesn’t mean PR is obsolete. It’s just simply going digital. Many construction businesses have been using PR as a part of their marketing strategy to promote themselves in newspapers, magazines, and radio to meet their target audience and gain customers.
This may have worked before, but It may not work in the future. That is where digital PR comes in, the only difference is that the content is on a digital device rather than a physical copy of a newspaper. The end goal is still to promote and reach a target audience, but to do so, you need to build contacts and relationships with journalists to get your content published online. Digital PR isn’t only used to promote a brand or product through media outlets, it’s also used in order to improve SEO by gaining quality backlinks off media outlets and gaining referral traffic to their website.
Social media will make your construction business go viral and increase sales
There is this misconception that using social media will instantly make you go viral and will result in an increase in customers and sales. Whilst social media is a great marketing tool, going viral won’t come instantly. Becoming viral won’t produce long-term results, you may see a big increase in sales for a short period of time but as the trends change customers will see your brand as “old news”.
For your business to have a strong social media presence, you must be consistently posting high-quality content and engaging with your audience, which could be responding to comments and answering queries via direct messages. Good online engagement will create a positive customer experience which will result in long-term loyal customers. Don’t expect to go viral, instead aim for consistency and you will achieve much more valuable results for your business.
Construction won’t appeal to the demographic of social media users
A recent article by Hootsuite shows that the majority of Instagram’s demographic is mostly made up of millennial's and gen z with 30.1% of users being 18-24-year-olds and 31.5% being 25-34-year-olds. Facebook is also reported by Hootsuite to be the most liked platform of the 35-55 year old demographic and allows customers to rate and review businesses by sharing their experiences with other users.
You can use social media effectively for your construction business by creating helpful posts based on the industry or a how-to post for one of your products, promotional content for new upcoming products, and even more, personalized posts showing the behind the scenes of your business or activities on national holidays which will reveal your brand’s character.
Overall today’s Instagram users may be your next generation of customers so it would be in your best interests to capture them now rather than later and miss out on a sale in the future.
Email unsubscribers are bad for Your construction marketing strategy
If anything, someone unsubscribing to your emails can be a good thing. There could be numerous reasons for this happening, they may not need your services, they may have found another solution, or they may have not been interested in your product to start with and therefore saved you a lot of time by chasing unqualified leads.
Unsubscribers filters out leads who don’t fit your buyer persona and won't be able to get the most out of your product or service. This means your emails will be going out to leads who do fit well with your business and more time and money can be spent on lead nurturing them rather than wasting your time chasing those who don’t qualify.
Conclusion
All of these construction marketing strategies are can be great for your business when used correctly and effectively. Today we expect instant results, whether that’s from a google search, an amazon parcel, or an SEO site that promises instant results. consistency and patience will go a long way when putting these into practice and will be the key to producing better results for your construction business.
About Insynth
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.