A strong brand is integral to any business, regardless of what industry you’re in. However, it’s even more paramount within construction, where competition is fierce against the myriad of like-minded competitors.
Because construction often takes place outside, there are lots of natural opportunities when a site is established to market yourself for free to every passer-by. Thanks to your hoarding and vans, plus a long-term presence on site, you’ll be able to get noticed easily.
Provided all your team is working to professional standards, this will also earn you a good reputation and possibly even some future work. However, a strong brand can make all the difference in how powerful this presence is, and how memorable you remain in their minds long after you’ve left site.
Winning work is vital for business success – and, with dozens of other companies all vying for the same work, you need to ensure you get noticed. A well-presented, beautifully packaged tender document can go a long way. Not only does it demonstrate high-standards and professionalism, but it also shows a willingness to win the work because you have gone to such efforts.
We’d always recommend personalising a tender document where possible, either with the customer’s branding weaved throughout or bespoke illustrations. Additionally, if the job is worth the investment, you can also create beautiful presentation boxes for delivering your tender and making a positive impression from the very start.
One of the biggest problems we find when providing marketing support to construction businesses is their lack of decent photography. In the event that they do have good imagery, this is typically only ever of the finished product.
Beautiful as this may be, it doesn’t show the teams in action or demonstrate them doing their job capably and professionally. It also means that when you see these images on the website, you have no idea what part of the job the business in question was actually responsible for. Did they draw the plans? Put the groundworks in? Build the partition walls? Wire the electrics? Supply the furniture?
We always recommend being proactive in your photography, getting images wherever possible to ensure you can tell the full story of each project. It’s always worth getting a photographer down to site when key moments are happening, such as demolitions, concrete pouring or steel frames being erected. These ‘active’ photos always turn out well.
Photos can add another layer and dimension to your brand messaging and identity when included in your sales collateral and website. They also separate you out from all the other construction companies with polished imagery, but with nothing ever showing them on site.
In the event that you need to see what is on top of a roof or building, but you can’t reach it or easily access it, drone videography and photography can be a valuable tool in helping you to get a bird’s eye view.
You can use images and videos captured by a drone to make informed and educated decisions on your project plan, or to demonstrate your access routes when explaining to the client how you will execute their project effectively. You can also use this information in surveys, and to see any key areas that you will need to consider.
At Aphra, we have years of experience with bid writing for construction tenders. As such, we can support your team in winning work on a flexible and cost-effective basis.
Our Sales Director, Matt Jolly, who worked in the construction industry for 7 years prior to joining Aphra, prides himself on achieving 100% for one of his client’s tender submissions. We also have a track record of achieving the highest marks available for our client’s when writing their social value answers, typically because we have also created compelling social value marketing campaigns for them that mean they can then answer these questions excellently.
Although construction businesses don’t tend to use their website as part of the day-to-day running of their business, it remains an important part of a construction marketing strategy.
Your website is like a digital brochure for your business, ensuring that when clients do look you up, they see all the best parts of your business and can identify clearly how you might be able to help them. It adds another layer of trust and credibility, which is vital in particular when looking to win round new businesses that you haven’t worked with before.
A good construction website will include information on the business and its team, the sectors they work in, services provided, key campaigns they’re running, their supply chain, accreditations, testimonials, and leading case studies. It may also be a place to advertise new jobs and to demonstrate why people would want to work with and for you.
There are many occasions where you may need to run an event – from trying to engage with the community to reaching out to local schools and colleges, or even at trade shows and exhibitions. A marketing agency such as Aphra can help you run these functions effectively, ensuring you’re getting the most out of them, without you needing to be distracted from your day-to-day operations.
You can have peace of mind that all of your event collateral will be managed – from brochures to business cards, leaflets to merchandise. In the case of Aphra, we also attend these events on behalf of clients to support them on the day with lead generation or talking to people about the business, and to also capture event photography.
Social value campaigns are an integral part of construction business development because they typically feature as a marked question in tenders. This is even more prevalent for public sector work, where social value – and giving back to your local community – is an important factor in who may win the project.
At Aphra, we work with our clients to develop compelling and market-leading social value campaigns that will set them out from their competitors and ensure they get noticed. We’ll look at how to increase your local economic multiplier, and ways in which you can specifically impress certain key prospects with your work. In the past, this has included a mental health in construction campaign, promoting women in construction, supporting local high schools and colleges with their STEM courses, and running environmental campaigns.
While there’s often no disputing the value of photography, many fail to recognise the value that videography can hold in telling a compelling narrative – whether that’s showing your team in action on site, demonstrating your knowledge as part of an interview series, or by showcasing a finished project for a case study, visually showing it going from the ground up.
Videography doesn’t have to be a complicated or costly addition to your construction marketing strategy. We often combine our photography and videography when attending sites to ensure we get as much content as possible. Videography can feature within your tender presentations, as well as on your website and social media channels, as a versatile sales and marketing tool.
Whether it’s your business cards or capability documents, promotional merchandise or letterheads, lanyards or hoarding, signage or handover documents, it pays to invest time and energy in ensuring all of your collateral is consistent, professional and executed to a high standard.
It all comes back to the way you present your brand – but also in instilling confidence. If you’ve done a great job in presenting your own business, then customers will have confidence that you’ll also look after theirs when working on it. There’s a vast difference between having ‘okay’ and ‘excellent’ standards.
Need help with your construction marketing? Get in touch with us at Built by Aphra today, either by phone 01206 806336 or by e-mail: [email protected].
