Marketing a construction company is an easy task.
Wait… no it’s not! As a construction estimating service and licensed general contractor, we’re well aware that construction is actually one of the most difficult industries to advertise…
However, what many contractors don’t realize is that construction marketing strategy can actually be simple if you pick the right method. Email marketing has become an essential component of marketing strategies for businesses across all industries, but especially construction.
With the right approach, email marketing can be one of the most effective ways for contractors to reach their high quality clients, generate leads, and build strong customer relationships.
Step 1: Building an Email List
Building an email list is the foundation of any successful email marketing strategy.
The key is to identify your target audience and create lead magnets that will encourage sign-ups. What are lead magnets? They’re basically anything of value that you offer in exchange for someone’s email address, such as a free guide or even a free consultation.
Even if you don’t offer subscribers anything, you can increase your chances of getting sign-ups if you make the sign-up process easy. Place opt-in forms on your website and social media channels very clearly, but not too “in-your-face”. As long as the forms are clear and concise, you can use your website and social media pages to build your emailing list without even having to check.
Organizing the List
Simply having your full list on a spreadsheet with no labels can quickly run you into problems.
If you want to make your emails a bit more personal and relevant, it’s important you segment your email list. To segment your list means to separate people based on demographics, occupation, project size, etc. so that you can tailor your email content to specific groups and increase the chances of engagement.
Step 2: Writing Effective Emails
Okay so you got your list… Now it’s time to get to writing!
Once you’ve figured out which mass email program you’ll use (MailChimp, Sendblaster, Hubspot, etc.) it’s time to write your first email. There are a few elements that can make your emails stand out and get more clicks:
First, your subject line needs to be enticing. It’s crucial that you put plenty of time in coming up with a “clickable” title that uses clear and concise language, but also leaves the reader with some curiosity about the post itself.
Second, it’s good to try to make your email more personal. The less obvious it’s a mass email, the better, because then readers feel more compelled to open it. For example, if the email is from a person rather than a company—or if the reader is addressed by name—there is a feeling of personal recognition that attracts people.
Balancing Between Commercial and Informational Posts
The content of your emails needs to provide value to your subscribers. If you feel up to it, you can post insightful content: industry trends, upcoming projects, anything that potential clients would be interested in, outside of inviting you to bid. If you’re too promotional and don’t have enough practical information to balance things out, you’ll quickly end up being one of those accounts that people just ignore.
Finally, always finish off with a good call to action, which is how to add commercial value to your email by promoting whatever follow-up you would like for them to do.
Step 3: Getting Timing Right
Once you have your emails written down, you don’t want to just start posting every day (unless you want a lot of angry subs in your inbox).
A big factor in the success behind email marketing is getting the timing and frequency of your emails right. You don’t want to overwhelm your subscribers with too many emails, but you also don’t want to be forgotten by sending too few, so it’s a tough call to make.
There’s two factors you want to consider: What’s the type of content you’re sharing? What are your subscribers’ preferences? Depending on whether or not subscribers are expecting to read your emails a lot, is the first telling point you want to consider, but in the end, you’ll learn mostly by experimenting with different schedules.
Specifically, while you’re analyzing your emails’ click-through rate, try out different times of day and days of the week to see if your CTR is affected. As a contractor, you’re going to have many different types of clients on your emailing list: architects, subcontractors, interior designers; all of these clients will have very different schedules that work for them.
How to Analyze Your Results
Finally, we have the most important step, which is to figure out if all your work has been working. Analyzing and optimizing your email campaigns is crucial. By tracking key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can get a bigger picture.
One method of studying your email marketing success is to use A/B testing. This method splits up your emailing list into an A Group and a B Group, with each group having different variations in its content. Using this method is great because you get to see which subject lines, content points, and calls-to-action resonate the most with your audience and get you the most CTR.
Overall, email marketing is a big lead magnet that most contractors are neglecting, but with enough attention to detail, it can revolutionize your sales pipeline.
The Secret to 10X your Construction Business
If you are interested in growing your construction business, I’ve prepared a short training video for you that you can watch for FREE:
In this training, I will show you how you can put your estimating on autopilot and boost your sales to 10X your business in 90 days; step-by-step with a simple copy and paste formula!
Marketing a construction company is an easy task.
Wait… no it’s not! As a construction estimating service and licensed general contractor, we’re well aware that construction is actually one of the most difficult industries to advertise…
However, what many contractors don’t realize is that construction marketing strategy can actually be simple if you pick the right method. Email marketing has become an essential component of marketing strategies for businesses across all industries, but especially construction.
With the right approach, email marketing can be one of the most effective ways for contractors to reach their high quality clients, generate leads, and build strong customer relationships.
Step 1: Building an Email List
Building an email list is the foundation of any successful email marketing strategy.
The key is to identify your target audience and create lead magnets that will encourage sign-ups. What are lead magnets? They’re basically anything of value that you offer in exchange for someone’s email address, such as a free guide or even a free consultation.
Even if you don’t offer subscribers anything, you can increase your chances of getting sign-ups if you make the sign-up process easy. Place opt-in forms on your website and social media channels very clearly, but not too “in-your-face”. As long as the forms are clear and concise, you can use your website and social media pages to build your emailing list without even having to check.
Organizing the List
Simply having your full list on a spreadsheet with no labels can quickly run you into problems.
If you want to make your emails a bit more personal and relevant, it’s important you segment your email list. To segment your list means to separate people based on demographics, occupation, project size, etc. so that you can tailor your email content to specific groups and increase the chances of engagement.
Step 2: Writing Effective Emails
Okay so you got your list… Now it’s time to get to writing!
Once you’ve figured out which mass email program you’ll use (MailChimp, Sendblaster, Hubspot, etc.) it’s time to write your first email. There are a few elements that can make your emails stand out and get more clicks:
First, your subject line needs to be enticing. It’s crucial that you put plenty of time in coming up with a “clickable” title that uses clear and concise language, but also leaves the reader with some curiosity about the post itself.
Second, it’s good to try to make your email more personal. The less obvious it’s a mass email, the better, because then readers feel more compelled to open it. For example, if the email is from a person rather than a company—or if the reader is addressed by name—there is a feeling of personal recognition that attracts people.
Balancing Between Commercial and Informational Posts
The content of your emails needs to provide value to your subscribers. If you feel up to it, you can post insightful content: industry trends, upcoming projects, anything that potential clients would be interested in, outside of inviting you to bid. If you’re too promotional and don’t have enough practical information to balance things out, you’ll quickly end up being one of those accounts that people just ignore.
Finally, always finish off with a good call to action, which is how to add commercial value to your email by promoting whatever follow-up you would like for them to do.
Step 3: Getting Timing Right
Once you have your emails written down, you don’t want to just start posting every day (unless you want a lot of angry subs in your inbox).
A big factor in the success behind email marketing is getting the timing and frequency of your emails right. You don’t want to overwhelm your subscribers with too many emails, but you also don’t want to be forgotten by sending too few, so it’s a tough call to make.
There’s two factors you want to consider: What’s the type of content you’re sharing? What are your subscribers’ preferences? Depending on whether or not subscribers are expecting to read your emails a lot, is the first telling point you want to consider, but in the end, you’ll learn mostly by experimenting with different schedules.
Specifically, while you’re analyzing your emails’ click-through rate, try out different times of day and days of the week to see if your CTR is affected. As a contractor, you’re going to have many different types of clients on your emailing list: architects, subcontractors, interior designers; all of these clients will have very different schedules that work for them.
How to Analyze Your Results
Finally, we have the most important step, which is to figure out if all your work has been working. Analyzing and optimizing your email campaigns is crucial. By tracking key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can get a bigger picture.
One method of studying your email marketing success is to use A/B testing. This method splits up your emailing list into an A Group and a B Group, with each group having different variations in its content. Using this method is great because you get to see which subject lines, content points, and calls-to-action resonate the most with your audience and get you the most CTR.
Overall, email marketing is a big lead magnet that most contractors are neglecting, but with enough attention to detail, it can revolutionize your sales pipeline.
The Secret to 10X your Construction Business
If you are interested in growing your construction business, I’ve prepared a short training video for you that you can watch for FREE:
In this training, I will show you how you can put your estimating on autopilot and boost your sales to 10X your business in 90 days; step-by-step with a simple copy and paste formula!
