Marketing for construction companies and contractors can be really tough – especially for the contractor or construction company owner. After all, you didn’t study plumbing, heating and air conditioning, or remodeling because you want to have a deep understanding and knowledge of the human psyche. But ironically, when it comes to contractor marketing and sales, the human psyche is the absolute number one thing you need to have a deep, concrete level of understanding about, in order to be successful.
Another thing to consider is the fact that as a business owner, you’re incredibly busy. So the last thing you need to do is spend more time figuring out how to use marketing tools properly, which ones to be using, what platform works best for you as a contractor, what creatives to use, how to write ad copy, how to write e-mails that generate high open rates… the list goes on and on and frankly is exhaustive.
This is especially true here in the Modesto / Turlock area, since we live in an area that is heavy on the industrial side of things. I happen to live around Stanislaus State University, and right here alone, just along Golden State alone there are probably 25 to 40 contractor companies here in Turlock, and I know the same is true of many locations in Modesto, due to how many industry-oriented companies there are around here.
That’s probably why when I deal with contractors, whether those are my own contractor clients or just companies I consult with, there seems to be a misunderstanding about the things that are going to be needed in order to get the company to their goals. It goes something like this:
“Content marketing? Why do I need to write stuff? I’m not an author!”
“Videos? Why do I need to make videos? I’m not a musician!”
And in reality, this should be expected. After all, people like me who get paid to understand consumer buying behavior, psychology, marketing, sales, and entrepreneurship, we pay people who know how to work with power tools because we can’t. The same is true of marketing knowledge.
The truth is that marketing for service providers like contractors is an entirely different world than marketing products, and requires an entirely different set of marketing skills, knowledge, tools, and even platforms.
There are a lot of things that come into play with contractor marketing on a very deep level, that while I can’t cover all of the information here in a blog at the deepest level, I can definitely dive into and share some insights on.
So whether you’re a contractor, subcontractor, work in construction, do kitchen remodeling, cabinet making, or anything along this line, this article is going to give you some seriously insightful tips about the type of approach you should have in your contractor business.
Why Contractor Marketing Needs To Be Thought About Differently
At the most basic level, humans have three primary drives when it comes to things that trigger their behaviors: Pathos, Ethos, and Logos.
- Pathos has to do with emotions, and comes from a root word meaning passion.
- Ethos comes from the root word that means ethics, and has to do with building trust and rapport.
- Logos comes from the root word that means logic, and has to do with the presenting of facts, and things that make rational, logical sense.
The way that contractors should approach their marketing is from a standpoint that really understands these basic human drives, and puts them to work for the contractor. Let me explain.
For most companies who sell products, when it comes to ethos, or ethics, the main concern buyers have is, is this product under warranty, and can I get my money back if I don’t like it? As long as customers know that there’s a warranty and that they can get their money back, the trust building issue is for the most part taken care of. But this is entirely different for contractors on multiple levels.
For one, contractors and construction professionals have to come into the customers home. Homes are the most sacred space that any of us have, thereby making the entire experience intrinsically intimate. If there are any embarrassing items on the floor or in the house, the contractor is going to know it. It gives a whole new meaning to the idea of airing your dirty laundry. A home is also the largest investment many American’s ever make, making people very understandably wary about who they let in their homes. So the fact that people have to come into the customers home means that all your contractor marketing efforts should absolutely double down on the ethos aspect of your marketing efforts, based on this fundamental aspect of human psychology and behavior.
It’s the reason why employees at contractors’ companies must be thoroughly background checked. It’s the reason you had to go through licensing. It’s the reason why there’s insurance. It’s the reason why contractors have bonds.
But it’s also the reason why you should communicate at every step and at every level within your company that the customer relationship and trust is something that is of the utmost importance to you.
One HVAC contractor that I think does that really well here in Turlock is Wally Falke’s Heating and Air Conditioning. They give customers a free second opinion just in case they’ve been burned by an AC repair job or install in the past. They also give a written one year warranty contract as well as lifetime guarantee on workmanship. They’ve also done community outreach, and their social media presence is really good, and centered on the community rather than on just their sales.
Then there’s pathos, or passion. Are you just another company providing just another service? Or are you someone who’s incredibly passionate about helping people stay warm during the winter, as an HVAC contractor? Do you love the fact that you get to help people in your community stay cool, comfortable and healthy, through providing air conditioning to them? If you’re a kitchen re-modeler, what feeling do you get when your customer walks in through the front door of their home and looks at the project you just completed, both hands held firmly over their mouths in disbelief that this is still the same place they call home because it looks so drastically better?
The truth is that passion is contagious. When people can see how much passion you have for your job, and how much joy it brings you to deliver at or above the level of expectation your customers have when they work with you, that makes an impression, whether you think it does or not. So the question for the contractor becomes, what are you doing in your business to communicate and show that you have passion for what you do? Are you proud of it? Do you have pictures of you and your service team on your website? Do they look happy? Do you have videos of you with happy customers and clients? Do you have video of you standing beside the work you’ve done? What can you do to communicate your passion?
Here another question to consider: if you’re so passionate about what you do, why do you not have any articles on your website about what you do? Because there’s wisdom in that old adage about “writing home” about something that’s noteworthy to you. All of these things communicate on a very primal level to the human psyche that you’re credible, and someone people should do business with.
Understanding The Customer Journey
Contractor’s services are usually high ticket items, and the cardinal rule of marketing for high-ticket items is that, the higher the ticket price, the more time or energy the customer will have to invest in you in order to make their decision. In terms of your marketing, that often translates to seeing your name multiple times before actually hiring you for a job.
The Customer Journey always begins with awareness. That’s why it’s so critical for contractors to invest in things like a well designed website that serves as a sales platform for the contractor, as well as SEO, also known as Search Engine Optimization. I also recommend that contractors factor social media marketing into their marketing equation for the simple fact that people tend to be on their mobile devices more and more every single day. And if that’s where customers are, then by all means, that’s where you need to be. It also helps with SEO campaigns.
One mistake that I see a lot of companies make though, when it comes to their social media marketing (especially my Modesto and Turlock clients,) is they try to sell too much on social media. Meaning, the posts that they make tend to be about THEM. But that’s not how social media works – literally.
At an algorithm level, Facebook for instance, is trying to make sure that anything it’s going to show people is relevant to them. In other words, Facebook is using it’s algorithm, named EdgeRank, to make sure that whatever content it shows people follows the #1 rule of marketing – “WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?”)
If the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm feels like the content you’ve posted doesn’t really have any value to the person viewing it, say, because you’re too busy talking about yourself, instead of things the user would be interested in, it penalizes you by showing what you wrote or shared, to less people. And there’s a very specific reason for why it does this.
Facebook wants to keep people on their platform for as much time as possible to maximize ad revenues. Period.
They also want people to have a happy experience using the platform.
You have to understand that with the 2 Billion people that use Facebook each month, combined with the fact that it’s a free service, the only way for them to make that exchange of value make any sense, is to make money with ad revenue. And they can only make ad revenue if people stay on the platform. If people start tuning out or logging out, they lose money. And they’re obviously not trying to let that happen.
So. What’s any of this have to do with you as a contractor as it pertains to your marketing approach?
Have a strong presence on social media, but try to make it as community oriented as possible. Not as YOU oriented as possible. Share helpful tips, color combinations, explain why this wood is better than that wood, post links to free downloadable guides, such as color matching guides for interior designers, or pitfalls to avoid for new homeowners, for contractors. These activities all increase user happiness on Facebook, and as a result will be shown to more people.
When it comes to SEO, just create lots of great content and make sure to put it on the blog section of your website. Educate and give value to people. When people go looking for ideas via Google, they’ll come across your articles, and the more times that happens, the more you build rapport with your community members, and the more they’ll think of you when they’re ready to buy. Because remember, contractors don’t sell cheap widgets, they sell high ticket professional services. You’re gonna need to build some serious rapport with your community before the leads and calls will start pouring in. But rest assured – if you do all that I’m telling you to do in this article it WILL happen.