Choose Promotional Material Carefully
When a startup construction and design company looks for ways to promote their business that don’t break the bank, they often look to promotional merchandise. Yet if those promotional items aren’t related to the work they do itself, the message—and the medium—often end up in the trash.
Focus on the Client
The mistake these companies often make is to market themselves instead of putting the focus on the client. When a company centers its promotional efforts on what it can do for its clients, it creates positive buzz for its brand, which translates to more dollars in the company’s collective pocket.
Here are seven client-centered marketing tips to promote a construction business.
1. Post Before and After Photos on Social Media—Nothing promotes a construction company better than a photograph of a company’s good work. Nothing makes a client happier than to show off her or his new home—or even a new room! Good work will speak for itself. But when potential clients hear how quickly a company can complete a job—with cleanup thrown in for good measure—they’ll want to know more. So, a company also needs to also:
2. Post Client Kudos—Not only should a company publish its clients’ compliments on social media, but it should also scatter them throughout its website. A dedicated testimonial page on the company website, along with clients’ remarks scattered throughout, creates confidence in a company’s brand. Yet a construction company can create even more confidence in their know how when they:
3. Create a Blog That Offers Helpful Information—A construction pro doesn’t have to be a Pulitzer-Prize winning author to write simple how-to articles. Just jot down some ideas and find a local copywriter to turn the pro’s expertise into a blog post that will help clients save money or live more comfortably. To find new clients that aren’t connected to the digital world, though, a company needs some brick-and-mortar promotions as well. Spread the word with targeted promotional merchandise. Not the cheap stuff that ends up on the dumpster. Instead, a company can:
4. Offer Promotional Laundry Bags—No better argument exists for buying a better home or upgrading the one you have as does a trip to the laundromat necessitated by a pipe leak, a home without laundry facilities, or a broken-down washing machine. Not only will potential clients see the company name on their laundry bag every time they trudge to the laundromat, reminding them that there’s another solution, but other potential clients who are at the laundromat for the same reason will see the bags with the company logo and give the company a call. Another way to reach potential clients offline is to:
5. Give Potential Clients Portable Tape Measures with Company Contact Info–People in the market for upgrades to their home often wander the aisles of the big-box stores, looking for ideas. Of course, if they can pull out a handy measuring tool to check out the size of the furnishings they are considering, that will be a big help. Every time they pull out that tape measure, they’ll see the company’s name—and realize that they might be better off giving this construction company a call instead of trying the DIY route. But they have to have a spot to stash the tape measure. A construction company can also:
6. Get Promotional Pocket Tees into the Hands of Clients and Prospects—Everyone needs a place to stash their tape measure while they walk around the hardware store. Pocket tees provide the perfect place. Companies should make sure that their clients stash their stuff in a pocket t-shirt bearing their logo, name, and phone number. Nothing like a store full of potential clients (hardware stores are, after all, for home improvement) staring at a company’s name to build brand awareness. To pull all of these promotions together, a construction company can also offer:
7. Customer Referral Bonuses—Whether a company uses a tracking system to reward online referrals or simply rewards customers who tell their friends (or people they run into at the big box store), it needs to reward loyal customers who serve as brand evangelists with a reward. If a construction company offers people who refer them to others a percentage off their next repair or remodeling job, it will reap two rewards: First, it will get the new customer’s business, and second, the next job that needs done for the person who referred them. A win-win proposition.
Strategic promotions don’t always require a huge outlay of cash. Some of the finest ideas to promote a construction business, as one can discover from these tips, are some of the least expensive. For more ideas that will help make promoting a construction business easy and economical, contact the business marketing experts at Nova Custom Printing and Embroidery today.