13 Marketing tips for general contractors

When it comes to contractor marketing, you’ll want to try different tactics to attract new clients and keep them coming back. With the right marketing strategy, you can optimize on the contact information you’re collecting from your target audience to get business in the door and understand their needs better.

Once your contractor business gets in a marketing groove, you can only go up from there.

How do contractors get customers?

Potential clients are always looking for contractors who can help improve their homes and execute renovation plans. If you want new leads to find your contracting business, you need to use marketing tactics across multiple marketing channels and ensure a friendly user experience to close the deal.

How to market a small contractor

While word-of-mouth and referrals are traditionally the best way to get new clients, the right digital marketing strategy with search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and social media campaigns can help small contracting businesses.

How can I get more customers for my contractor business?

Your contracting business can get more customers when your current client base spreads the word about the outstanding work you’ve done on their projects. Also, a solid social media marketing campaign can showcase the type of general contracting work you can do for potential clients.

Contractor marketing is not just about getting more customers – it’s about keeping them coming back. The following marketing strategies will take your contracting business to the next level.

13 Marketing strategies for contractors

1. Have a mobile-friendly website

Building a high-quality website and keeping it up to date will go a long way with lead generation for your contracting business. Your contractor website should include:

• Company name
• Pricing for common services
• A form to request a quote or consultation
• Email address, phone number and other contact information
• Answers to frequently asked questions about construction services

Website design and hosting may have a monthly fee, but it’s worth it if you can attract a few new customers every month.

2. Claim your Google Business Profile

A business profile or business page on search engines, such as Google or Bing, help companies like yours gain testimonials and market your service business.

When you claim your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and maintain the page by posting new promotions and offerings, the algorithm will show your company higher in search results. This will send more potential clients your way and increase company growth.

3. Improve your SEO

If we’re talking about contractor marketing, you’ll hear a lot about SEO.

To improve your local business’ search ranking using SEO, you’ll need to update your contractor website pages and business listings to include the right keywords for your industry, specialties and geographic area. If done correctly, the SEO-optimized content should come up on the first page of results on search engines.

Google can also tell if your website is mobile-friendly and will factor this into search rankings. All these little details will make all the difference when potential clients are looking for a general contractor in their area.

4. Invest in local SEO

Local SEO is an SEO marketing strategy for getting leads specifically in your service area and community.

Your local SEO will encourage customers to immediately take action by calling to get a quote or schedule service because they found you right in their backyard.

5. Be on social media

General contractors often hear about using social media to market their construction company. Using platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook to post organic how-to content, testimonials from satisfied customers and promotional offers can be an excellent start for brand awareness that generates leads — saving you money on paid advertising.

Investigate and experiment to see which social media sites are best to reach your target audience: Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok or LinkedIn. Each channel has different features that may be more conducive to showcasing your business.

6. Run pay-per-click (PPC) ads

PPC advertising should drive potential new business to a landing page encouraging them to book an appointment or request a quote when they see your contractor business ad. This online marketing strategy typically provides more qualified leads than organic advertising programs because you can target people with particular interests and demographics.

Google Local Services offers PPL (pay-per-lead) advertising, meaning that you only pay if a user submits their contact information in a lead generation form.

7. Create email marketing campaigns

So you have hundreds of email addresses and phone numbers, but how do you optimize this contact information? When done right, email marketing is a proven strategy that can get customers to request a quote or schedule service because you’re marketing straight to their inbox.

Customers can take action directly from the email campaign with call-to-action (CTA) buttons that tell them exactly how to reach your construction company.

8. Make high-quality content

They say content is king, but that’s only if you create the right content for your business. Potential customers want to see a blog highlighting your expertise, email promotions and social media posts boasting projects you’ve worked on. A piece of valuable content could be the thing that triggers the client to contact your business for service.

9. Request and respond to your reviews

Online referrals, reviews and testimonials are the new word-of-mouth. There are also more opportunities for customer touchpoints, like phone calls, in-person consultations or virtual meetings required to make the sale, complete the job or revisit a complaint.

Provide outstanding service and request reviews for your contracting business. The positive reviews will start rolling in, and your SEO and online presence will improve.

10. List your business in directories

You may want to consider joining Home Depot’s Path to Pro Network, HomeAdvisor or Angi. Their website directories are great places to get exclusive, qualified leads from customers looking for the work you provide.

11. Utilize account-based marketing

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a marketing plan that requires your sales and marketing team to strategically work together to target high-value business accounts.

If you have existing business accounts that you know you can pitch additional and recurring services to, account-based marketing aligns your revenue goals with the specific needs of those business customers. This is a proven marketing strategy to keep steady income in your business and build strong relationships with your business clients.

12. Create videos to engage potential customers

Featuring video content, like do-it-yourself instructions for home improvement or how-to hacks, can inspire potential customers to request a quote or call you for a consultation.

For example, if you’re a roofer, showcasing your roofing projects can give new leads an idea of what they can expect when they hire you. And if they discover your videos when searching for information on roofing contractors in their area, you will be top of mind and the one they trust to complete the project.

13. Track analytics to monitor marketing campaigns

Numbers don’t lie, and because of this, you must track them. Google Analytics and programs like Facebook Ads provide metrics for tracking who is clicking on your ads and from where. This information can immensely help you successfully scale and market your contractor business in the long-term.

Improve your content marketing and reputation management with Broadly

Knowing your target audience and what contractor marketing ideas you want to use are the first steps to executing your contractor marketing strategy. Don’t stress out about understanding SEO and Google’s algorithm when Broadly can help you optimize and make the most of your reviews, website traffic and overall user experience.

Ready to get started on advancing your business’s online presence?