Contractor Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Market Your Construction Company

In this guide we will go over effective contractor marketing strategies you can use to grow your construction business online. From your website, to seo and social media we cover all the important marketing channels.

Estimated Read Time: 22 minutes

Out of all the challenges contractors face, finding new leads and converting them into clients is still the most difficult.

Many contractors don’t know how to leverage modern marketing strategies to attract high-quality leads. They just implement a few tricks they learned here and there without getting any results.

But here’s the truth: To get quality inbound leads, you need a smart contractor marketing strategy.

And this is the only guide that will give contractors a step-by-step process to market themselves confidently and attract leads on autopilot.

Why should you market your contractor business?

Look back ten to twenty years from now, and you’ll see a completely different audience.

People didn’t use the Internet before purchasing anything; they relied on other methods like friends’ recommendations, in-shop purchases, etc. So, contractors leaned on location-specific methods to market themselves.

Today, 64% of the world’s population uses the Internet for finding what they need. The Internet opened access to the world’s population, but it also increased competition.

So, to sell to this “internet-savvy” audience and compete against other contractors, you need to leverage modern marketing to grow your business.

Keep your sales pipeline full

Using contractor marketing strategies, you build a lead generation system that helps you keep your sales pipeline full — so you’re always booked and don’t have to worry about where the next sale will come from.

Attract high-quality clients

Contractor marketing strategies help you attract better-quality prospects.

For example, sharing renovation design tips on Instagram will attract people looking to renovate their home. These leads are much more likely to convert because they have a specific requirement that you solve.

Build a strong online presence

Marketing is all about visibility, but when everyone’s online, there’s a risk of fraud. Using contractor marketing strategies, you build a solid online presence that speaks for your credibility.

Your potential customers check you out online before deciding to hire you. And being impressed by the reputation you’ve built over time, they’ll want to work with you.

Now that you know the many benefits of marketing your contractor business, lets review 12 ideas to contractor marketing success.

Contractor marketing strategy: 12-step process to market yourself as a contractor

Here are the steps you need to take to create a contractor marketing strategy:

Build a professional online presence
Create a strong offline presence
Set up marketing automation
Leverage SEO (content marketing)
Master local search engine optimization
Set up email marketing campaigns
Execute social media marketing
Use video marketing
Run PPC paid advertising
Paid social media
advertising
Set up a referral partner system
Review your progress and iterate on the process regularly

1. Build an strong online presence

Having an expert online presence makes sense when more than half of the world’s population is online. And that starts with creating a business website for your contracting company.

Create a contractor website

Your business website will be the first point of contact with your potential customers when they find you online, so it has to make a great first impression. To position yourself as an expert, create a website that highlights:

Testimonials from your past clients
Showcase your work in a professional portfolio
Your experience working in the industry
Services and unique offers
Simple lead forms and call to action

For example, we designed a website for one of our clients, Luxe Reno & Design, and included all these points but specifically highlighted customer testimonials on their home page. In addition, we used many factors to position Luxe Reno & Design as experts.

Used phrases like “20+ years of experience”
Explained the renovation process
Displayed attractive images of work they’ve done
Displayed strong industry partner logos
Simple contact forms

If you have customer reviews on third party sites like Facebook, Google or Yelp, make sure to automatically publish them on your website, like we did on the below example.

However, building a website won’t do you any good if it ranks on the second or third page. Statista found out that 58% of online traffic is generated through mobile — more than half of total online surfers, yet we see many contractor websites not optimized for mobile.

Many contractors don’t know that by not optimizing for mobile, they’re sabotaging their chances of ranking first on SERPs. Your website should load within 2 seconds, even on a mobile device. So, before doing anything, choose a mobile-friendly contractor template when creating your site.

We’ve created more than 3,000 websites for contractors so far, and we can confidently say that showing up first on SERPs has helped our clients more than anything.

“I couldn’t be more happy with the website Contractor Gorilla, and specifically, Aaron built for Artech Wallcovering Installation! Artechwalls is an incredibly professional site, and just days after being published, it is already generating leads.”
~ Phil R., Contractor Gorilla client

Create a social media presence

Where do you think your potential customers find you other than Google? Correct — social media! In fact, 55% of consumers discover new businesses on social media.

To build a strong social media presence, here’s what you should do:

Pick 2-3 platforms where your customers spend the most time
Create profiles on each of these platforms and design them professionally
List your services, customer testimonials, and work examples
Add your business website and contact information

People won’t remember you if they find you on Google once because they have a million other reasons to forget about you — that’s how distracted our lives are. So, your goal in setting up a solid social media presence is to increase touchpoints with your customers. Be available on as many platforms as you can manage.

2. Build a strong offline presence

Half of the world’s population uses the internet, but that doesn’t mean traditional methods don’t work anymore. As much as having an online presence is essential, being known in your local community also matters.

“Offline networking can bring recognition and a personal touch to business networking. A face-to-face meeting is much more substantial than a Facebook message, and although it takes more time and energy, it provides unique opportunities that cannot be gained any other way.”
~ GetDex.com

To build a strong offline presence, you should:

Tell your friends and family about your business and ask them to refer you
Attend networking events and build connections
Ask your past clients for referrals
Partner with contractors who offer complimentary services
Always have business cards to hand out

3. Set up automations using a CRM

One thing outstanding contractors do well is set up automations and systems. When you build multiple sources to attract leads, it can get confusing to manage them. Setting up a CRM allows you to centralize management in one dashboard and optimize your leads pipeline.

You can set up automations like whenever someone fills up the lead form, they’re automatically added to a prospects list, and your sales team is notified to schedule a call with them.

This way, you automatically grow your prospect list to whom you can market your services later. Building systems help you save time and improve your conversion rate.

Normand Chevrette, CEO of CME Group says:
“At CME Corp, we’ve seen some incredible outcomes with our CRM solution. One client, for instance, cranked up their lead generation by a whopping 45% in just six months after getting on board, which eventually translated to a solid 30% bump in their overall sales.”

Using CRM analytics to get deep into customer insights, you can also increase repeat customers. Plus, a CRM can help you organize customer data based on location to optimize your offers.

Create workflows using a reliable CRM like HubSpot or Jobber and start optimizing your leads pipeline. Don’t know how to set up a CRM? Let us handle that for you.

4. Leverage SEO (content marketing)

A one-page website is not enough, as the best it can do is rank for a few keywords. To squeeze the most out of Google traffic, you need to start a blog and leverage SEO services and content marketing to rank first for many keywords in SERPs.

You won’t find any business saying it hasn’t seen positive results with content marketing. A recent report by Semrush asked businesses if content marketing brought any significant results — 97% of them agreed.

Contractor business is no different — if you publish helpful content and optimize it for SEO, you’ll rank for many search terms and drive traffic organically that will convert into customers.

Consider the story of Tellus, one of our past clients. They needed a better website and organic rankings. We helped them grow their organic traffic by 319%, resulting in more leads and revenue growth by 3X in one year.

When done correctly, SEO can potentially drive you top-quality leads for many years. Here’s the process we follow at Contractor Gorilla to help our content marketing clients:

Review their website to understand the market position.
Optimize the website for better speed and mobile-friendliness.
Research competitors and find the market gap.
Research the market to figure out questions their audience asks.
Research top-priority keywords with high organic monthly volume.
Create a content marketing strategy and calendar.
Write high-quality, helpful blog content to help their readers.

Figuring out SEO might take a while, but it’s worth your time and effort. If you get your website ranking on Google, you’ll get leads and position yourself as an industry expert for people who remember you when they need your services.

5. Leverage local SEO

According to the latest Statista survey, one in every three online consumers uses the internet multiple times weekly to find local contractors.

The remaining two of three use it daily, weekly, or monthly. The point is that other than 1%, everyone looks up local businesses online before choosing one.

So, if you’re not showing up for local searches, you’re probably doing something wrong, and you need to start doing one thing right — optimize for local SEO.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Optimize your Google My Business profile

Google My Business is a powerful tool for contractors to show up for local searches — your business shows up when customers are searching close to your area.

It’s super helpful to people because when they click on any of the local search results, they get all the details about a business.

Since Google has 4.2 billion active users and 92% market share, optimizing your GMB profile becomes a logical choice as it allows you to appear as a “rich result” for critical keywords.

Here’s what you should do:

Step #1: List your business on Google My Business.

Step #2: Add accurate details like business name, the area where you serve customers, phone number, website, mailing address, availability, business description, and work images.

Tip: Keep your NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) accurate to show up higher in SERPs.

Google wants to deliver accurate results to its audience, and by keeping your information up-to-date, you send positive signals to Google bots.

Step #3: Ask your customers to leave reviews and ratings on your business page. The more five-star ratings and reviews you get, the higher your position on SERPs.

Tip: Respond to every review you receive.

Step #4: Add an accurate location to show up on maps. Some customers might click on maps to find businesses closer to their location.

Optimize for local keywords

Other than targeting global keywords, ranking for local keywords will get you in front of a local audience more likely to convert.

What is a local keyword?

Local keywords are generally area-specific, like “plumbing services in Canada” or “interior designers near me.”

Local traffic delivers a better conversion rate because of the matching search intent. Global traffic might hesitate due to location constraints, but local traffic would not.

“Local keywords have lower search volume but higher intent, meaning that people who search for them are more likely to convert. Global keywords have higher search volume but lower intent, meaning they attract more traffic but less engagement.”
~ LinkedIn

While ranking for area-specific keywords like “plumbing services in Los Angeles” is easier, optimizing for ‘____ near me’ keywords like “interior designs near me” purely depends on your Google My Business Profile. The more accurate location you give, the better your chances of showing up on such results.

So, here’s what you should do:

Make a list of all your service-specific local keywords
Publish high-quality content on each keyword
Build backlinks with local businesses

Pro tip: Increase your chances of showing up for local searches by adding address, map, and contact information on your website in the footer section and a dedicated contact page.

Register your business on local business directories

Another thing to consider is registering your business in local directories like Yelp, Angi, Facebook, etc. Registering your business exposes you to new audiences and improves brand awareness.

Here’s how you should approach it:

Register in some globally recognized directories like Yelp and Facebook for more exposure — these have large audiences with low intent.
Register in some location-specific directories to get in front of local customers — these have small audiences with high intent.
Register in some service-specific directories to get in front of customers looking for your services — these have small audiences with high intent.

Be in a mix of low and high-intent customer directories to keep getting new leads and building awareness.

Acquire backlinks from quality websites

Finally, to show up for local search terms more often, run a backlink campaign and focus on acquiring backlinks from other websites. The ideal businesses to target are those that offer complimentary services (these are more open to giving backlinks.)

There are many link-building methods, but the most effective are guest blogging, blogger outreach, and creating linkable content. Which method you choose depends on the time and effort you can put into it, but if you can’t afford both, you can outsource it to an agency like Contractor Gorilla to build backlinks.

6. Set up email marketing campaigns

There’s a problem with website traffic — it’s not yours unless you capture it.

Leads who might convert in the future

Many people visit your website for many different reasons. Some are genuinely interested, some clicked out of curiosity, and some accidentally. And while the likelihood of “genuinely interested” to become your customer is higher, that doesn’t mean that curious and accidental visitors aren’t a good prospect.

They might not become your customers now, but they can in the future — so by not capturing them, you’re leaving money on the table. Did you know email marketing is the most effective of all marketing methods, with a $36 ROI on every $1 spent?

That’s why you should start an email marketing campaign.

You nurture them by sending valuable emails and convert them once they’re ready.

To build an email list, here’s what you need to do:

Step #1: Choose a reliable email marketing software like Convertkit or Mailchimp.

Step #2: Create an irresistible freebie or lead magnet you’ll give your subscriber for free in exchange for their email. This freebie can be anything of interest to your customers.

For example, you can create an ebook for a remodeling to help people understand the remodeling process. Or a checklist to guide readers on how to hire a contractor.

Here are some other lead magnet ideas to offer your subscribers:

Webinar
Free consultation
Free Media
Discount offers
Workbooks
Cheatsheets

Step #3: Create an email capture form — you’ll embed it on your website to capture visitors.

Or show it as a popup like this:

Both ways are great for getting the attention of website visitors. Once you set this up, people interested in your offer or your business will subscribe.

Pro tip: Make sure what you offer has real value and it’s something your website visitors want.

Step #4: Send valuable emails to nurture your subscribers. Prepare a weekly or monthly email newsletter schedule and send helpful information to showcase your expertise.

Mix in promotional offers occasionally to give the opportunity to people who’d like to work with you.

Pro tip: Don’t overdo promotional offers, which might irritate your subscribers and result in unsubscribes. Market your services in your newsletters sparingly and keep providing valuable information.

Subscribers who are already customers

As a contractor, you’d want your customer to refer you, write a review or even use you for future projects.

That’s where email marketing can help. You can create a separate group of your customers and send them unique content to keep nurturing them. You can also use this to upsell add-on services.

7. Leverage social media content marketing

In an ideal world, people have all the time to stumble upon your social media profile, get curious about what you offer, click on your website link to learn more, and say, “This is what I have been looking for!” and book a consultation.

In reality, people are often distracted and rarely get curious about a brand by stumbling upon a content piece created by that brand they found while scrolling.

Here’s why people follow you on social media:

Well optimized profiles
Valuable content shared consistently
Follower count

These are all the elements of social proof any customer would want to see to check your credibility. You want people to have a similar experience when they land on your social media profiles. Of course, building a massive following like Bechtel Group will take time, but you can start building valuable content to get started.

And remember, an average user spends 2 hours and 24 minutes per day on social media — make sure your ideal prospects stumble upon your content when they’re at it.

Here’s what you should do:

Optimize your social media profiles
Create a content calendar for social media
Create and publish content regularly
Share your work, client success stories, and testimonials
Engage in DMs with your followers on social media
Respond to comments and comment on others’ content

Here’s an example of a testimonial post on X (Twitter:)

8. Leverage video marketing

Let me state the obvious: Videos are the most engaging content format, and in this distracted world, if you’re fighting for attention, videos are a must.

In fact, according to the latest report by Semrush, 70% of traffic went to blog posts that included at least one video. This is your reason to start investing time in video marketing so you can leverage it to attract more leads.

You should start a YouTube channel (which makes sense as it’s the second most popular search engine after Google) and create videos to attract a YouTube audience.

But creating videos takes time; is it really necessary?

Here’s the best part: You can repurpose YouTube videos into many content to fill up your monthly content calendar for all your marketing resources. Here’s Neil Patel sharing his content repurpose process:

You can take this one step further by converting your video into short reels, which can be shared on different social media channels.

Let’s take an example:

Suppose you interview a past customer on a Zoom call. In this meeting, you discuss a common problem they faced, how you helped solve it, and the results they got with your services.

Here’s how you can convert this into many content formats:

Record the Zoom call for a YouTube video
Take out various snippets from the video for multiple short reels
Convert video transcript into text to publish a blog post
Take out various snippets from the blog post for multiple text-based social media content
Use it as an audio-only podcast episode and publish it again on YouTube/Podcast
Share short snippets as customer testimonials
Convert testimonials into a text-based format

See? You can literally convert one video into multiple content formats.

9. Use paid advertising

If there’s any problem with organic marketing, it’s that it takes time to get results. On average, you’ll spend 6-12 months to build your organic marketing channels before you can expect to see any results.

But what if you want to get instant wins? That’s when you leverage paid advertising to generate leads.

PPC advertising

PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is a marketing model in which you advertise your business to a set of audiences and pay for each click.

Pro PPC + SEO strategy: Try to secure both organic and paid positions for high-intent keywords to increase touchpoints with your customers.

In this SERP listing, the likelihood of clicking on Semrush is higher because it holds three spots on the results page.

Use retargeting ads

You can also consider retargeting ads to target people who interacted with your business (e.g., visited your website) but haven’t taken action.

Why target these people when they haven’t taken any action?

Because this doesn’t mean they’re not interested. They are your ideal customers (because they browsed your website) who might not convert now (for several reasons!) but will become customers in the future.

By retargeting them, your business ad will appear on multiple touchpoints (browsing the internet, social media, etc.) and increase their chances of converting.

You’re not their priority right now, but you will be in the future, so you appear in front of them time by time, and when they’re ready to convert, you’re first in their mind.

10. Use social media advertising

You can also consider social media ads to get more exposure. Pick your top platforms with established profiles and run ads. You don’t have to run social media ads to drive customers strictly; you can do other things:

Promote your profile to grow followers
Promote your Facebook group to increase group members
Promote your email offer to grow your email subscribers
Promote a blog post to get more views
Promote your customer stories to build brand awareness

Social media platforms like Facebook give you various tools to run ads successfully. Leverage Facebook demographic ad filters to run ads locally.

When used correctly, both PPC and social media ads can drive great results in terms of traffic, leads, and conversions. We ran PPC ad campaigns for one of our clients, Madrona Log Homes, and increased their leads by 217%.

11. Set up a referral partner system

The easiest and most effective way to get new leads is to ask your previous clients to refer you. This is because of the power of word-of-mouth — 88% of consumers trust people over any marketing message.

Suppose you want to get your house repainted. You have two options:

A painter referred by your friend
A painter you found online

So which one would you choose? The first one because you visited your friend’s house and loved the work.

That’s why word-of-mouth (referral) marketing is so powerful for contractors.

It can be as simple as reaching out to each of your past clients who loved your services with a heartfelt thank you email for choosing you and asking them to refer you to other people.

Most clients would gladly refer you, but you can add a deal sweetener. You can incentivize your clients who refer you to new clients.

Set up a referral system using simple tools like ReferralFactory and add incentive offers that make the most sense. You can also choose their pre-designed templates, like this one for plumbers:

Below is a vide that can help get your referral program started.

12. Review your progress and iterate regularly

With many marketing channels, analytics and extracting logical insights can get overwhelming. But without performance analysis, you’ll make decisions that cost you in the long run.

Ideally, you should review your performance across all channels daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually to see which gets the best results. Then, you double down on that and remove any poor-performing platforms.

Setting up an all-in-one platform, such as Improvado, for analytics can come in handy by allowing you to review everything in one dashboard. You can set up analytics and sales charts and connect your CRM to track leads.

Remember to always make sure you have enough data to make a marketing decision. For example if your ad gets 5 clicks and no conversions this does not mean the ad isn’t working.

A modern contractor marketing strategy will help you grow

Don’t just wait for customers to come in — it won’t work. If you want to thrive as a contractor in today’s world, you need to use marketing methods that work.

Yes, marketing takes time and effort, but it can be rewarding. And if you aren’t confident to do it yourself, let us do it for you. Contractor Gorilla creates customized marketing strategies for contractors to help their businesses grow.

Book a free consultation call with us, and let’s create a contractor marketing strategy to skyrocket your inbound leads.

Do you have a question or are you interested in working with our team?