The Four P’s - Product, Price, Placement & Promotion

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of the homes you build and the construction services you offer to prospective clients. Content marketing enables you to attract home buyers and large remodeling projects with increased awareness for your services. Though marketing can be a difficult differentiate from other forms of promotion and is often confused with advertising, we've not only defined the aspects of marketing but have provided a list of online marketing tactics to be used. Think of it as a marketing tool box filled with ways to get prospects to take notice of the new homes, additions and renovation projects your company builds.

The Four P’s of Marketing a Home Improvement Firm

Marketing is not one element but a combination of factors that moves a product through conception to the customer. It is characterized by the four P’s:

Product (Service) - The contractor services such as new construction, kitchen and bath renovation, home additions and development you offer to your target market. 

Price - The determination of the price of each service you offer and the net value after determining price setting, discounting, credit and cash purchases as well as credit collection.

Place – The distribution channels used to get your services to the ideal buyer. This includes the location of your business, shop front, distributors, logistics and the potential use of the internet to sell products directly to consumers.

Promotion – The method for which the consumer is made aware of the homes you build or construction services you offer.

To market your construction or design-build successfully, a builder needs to think of the product from the consumer perspective. Unlike with selling, which is concerned only with convincing the client to buy your product, marketing is more about developing a desire for the homes you build.

A Residential Builder's Marketing Tool Kit

For the best results keep a list of the marketing tactics. Every business needs a set of tactics that can ensure the efforts of your campaign.  The tool kit comprises several elements that will all combine in one seamless campaign to raise awareness of a business’ brand and product. These elements are:

Website Landing Pages

Using some landing pages can increase an organization’s lead generation. Companies that have increased their number of landing pages from 10 to 15, for example, have seen a 55% increase in sales. The number of landing pages should be determined by the number of marketing messages that are sent out. For instance, a marketing message about a new e-book should be directed to a landing page about the e-book, not a typical landing page about all the e-books available.

Call-To-Action

For such a small item on a website or blog page, the call to action can play a vital role in getting a prospect to give up their contact information. A strong call to action can convince visitors to learn more about the construction service you offer. Call to actions should be part of every aspect of a marketing campaign - from your website home page, every blog you post and on all e-mail campaigns.

E-mail Marketing

Despite the introduction of the past decade of social media, e-mail marketing is still an important aspect of marketing. A report in 2012 stated that 11% of all online transactions could be traced back to an e-mail campaign, only direct searching and organic searching had higher proportions. If e-mail marketing is to be effective, organizations have to send the best e-mail to the right audience. The key to email marketing is to use nurturing based on website behavior. A monthly email blast is better than nothing at all but the real magic happens when you can email prospects about the things they have expressed interest in on your website. 

Blogging For Business

Blogging is an essential tool in the toolkit. It can define a business, give it personality and is an excellent sales tool. Organizations that post 15 or more blog articles per month can see an increase of over 500% in their lead generation. Blogs are great for optimizing a site's SEO and pushing forward any marketing campaign.

Social Media Marketing

Word of mouth is often the best method of marketing, and social media helps promote word of mouth marketing. Nearly a third of all online transactions can be traced back to direct searches initiated by word of mouth. It's important to provide marketing messages designed to increase the word of mouth effect. Social media is perfect for providing "How To Guides" and "FAQ" messages to be spread to thousands of potential customers. The key is to provide content that is both interesting and helps people buy your services. Next time you're at a High School sporting event take a look around and what you'll likely find is that half the audience is splitting their time between their smartphones and the game. Odds are there on social media channels.

Marketing Analytics

A recent poll of Chief Marketing Officers (CMO's) indicated that they're planning to increase their spending on marketing analytics by 60% in 2016. Knowing what's working takes the guesswork out of your marketing efforts, reduces cost and increases your return on investment. It's essential to the effectiveness of a marketing campaign to know what messages are working best, which social media platforms to concentrate on and which of the above-listed tactics need to be developed further to get results. Without these statistics, your construction firm will waste valuable budget on ineffective marketing.

Summary
Buying a home is the most considered purchase a person makes. Prospects are going to ask friends their opinion of your firm, they will search on social media platforms like Houzz, Pinterest and Facebook and they will read every page on your website and blog. Be proactive and intentional with your marketing. Watch your analytics and know what's working. Construction businesses should be asking how do I implement integrated, inbound marketing campaigns that increase leads and convert them into customers?