Content Marketing for Construction Companies

Content marketing is the new buzzword in the marketing industry, but it’s actually been around for ages. You most commonly see it for business-to-business companies, especially professional service firms. You can find a lot of resources for content marketing in the A/E/C (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) industry, but they cover very little for construction companies.

First off, what is content marketing?

Content marketing is educating your prospects and not directly selling – you want to be a resource, the go-to resource. Doing content marketing properly positions your company as an expert and builds awareness for your firm. When you are the expert, clients seek you out and pay more for your services. It will help you get more negotiated work and require you to do less low bid proposals. Also, when you’re the expert, many times your not competing with anyone else — they’re only talking to you because they trust you and want your expertise. Content marketing also leads to better qualified job applicants that want to be with a like-minded team or they are young, hard working individuals that want to learn from the experts.

Content marketing is a philosophy, not a marketing strategy. It is about educating your prospects so they can make an informed decision. If you believe your company is the best at what you do and the more knowledgeable a prospect is, the more likely they will choose you, then content marketing is for you. If you compete purely on price and do not have any expertise over your competitors, then you should stick to low bid work. Having expertise in a niche industry or vertical market makes content marketing easier and more effective because of its focus. You’re probably here because of our focus in construction marketing — we understand the construction industry, the nuances of marketing construction companies, and we know what works. Therefore, you are looking to us for our knowledge and expertise.  Your prospects are looking for the same thing, so why not let them get it from you?

So, what does content marketing include? Just about everything. Many think of content marketing as just being online because of search engine marketing. It is much more than just blogging. We’ve always considered your website the hub of your communications, and this it is even more the case with content marketing because your blog and news feed will be the center of your content marketing plan. Content marketing also includes offline education such as presentations, articles, white papers, lunch and learns, and books. Mix your offline work with your blog, webinars, and social media to have a robust content marketing mix.

Don’t freak out that it is too much work. Yes, content marketing takes time, but you can take one topic and cover in multiple mediums. I will discuss “content marketing for construction companies” via our blog, YouTube channel, white paper, and articles in industry publications. I’ll distribute each piece via our social media channels including LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and use it in our email newsletter. Not so bad now is it? Also, I do not recommend trying to do everything at once. Start slow – write a blog and promote it via your LinkedIn page. Once you get comfortable, combine a few blogs into a white paper and add Twitter to the mix.

It takes time, but it is manageable and that blog post I wrote 5 years ago is still attracting visitors to our website. When you do this, you get more bang for your buck than a billboard or tv ad. Also, buyers are more likely to buy from content marketing than an ad because they trust you when you educate them because they see you as an expert.

Remember this is a mindset and philosophy, not a short-term marketing gimmick. You’ll have prospects coming to you, and only you and they’ll pay you more for what you’re already doing because of the expertise. Not to mention, this reduces your buying cycle because they trust you, are educated on their problems, and it is really a matter of if you want to work with them and can they afford you. Some are willing to save up for you if they can’t afford you today because they’d rather wait to work with you then work with someone else. Why? Because you educated them that you’re worth it.