How’s the Marketing Strategy for Your Contracting Business Working?
By 4 min read
If you have spent some time researching online marketing for your construction business, you probably already understand that having a solid online presence is key. But, how do you know that you have a solid online presence? With these tips and tools, you can get back-end analysis of your marketing approaches. That way, you can target your budget in the best directions.
- Set Measurable Goals
There is an unlimited amount of information you can gain from your marketing tactics. To get any useful data, you have to specify what you are hoping to get from any one marketing campaign, such as:
- clicks
- conversions (clicks that turn into sales or requests for more information)
- engagement with content on your website or social media accounts
For example, you might decide to post a couple of sponsored ads on social media. Determining whether you are looking for more site traffic or more engagement with the content you post will help you measure the success of the campaign.
- Know What You’re Looking For
Some marketing approaches make it very simple to measure how you have done. If you publish a short eBook with tips for your clients in selecting a service like yours, seeing how many people found it and downloaded it will give you a pretty good idea. However, there’s a lot of data out there related to the campaign that you might also want to look at. When you consider how well a campaign worked, you don’t want to limit your research to the end result. On eBook downloads, you might think about:
- how many people used specific search terms
- how many found the right page
- from where your visitors arrived
Services like Google Analytics can make it fairly easy to answer these questions.
- Track Engagement
Although it can be tempting simply to measure how many more sales you get, there are other aspects of building a strong online presence. Tracking engagement with your brand will help you cement a relationship with your existing customers and show potential clients that you are responsive to their concerns. Set up alerts so that you know when people have mentioned your business. Many social media platforms have analytics built in so you can get information about the people who are clicking on, liking and sharing your posts.
- Try A/B Testing
When you are just getting started with your contracting business, it’s often hard to tell how to begin. Once you start digging into all the free marketing information out there, you might feel afraid of alienating customers with the wrong button color. This is what A/B testing was made for. If you can’t decide between one approach and another, try both. Limit what you are trying to measure as much as possible. This means that if you are testing the wording you use in an advertisement, keep everything else consistent. That way, you will be able to determine which ad garnered the most clicks.
- Stay Up to Date on Search
It’s really easy to get stuck on an outdated marketing approach. Stuff that marketing experts were recommending just a year or two ago might be seriously obsolete now. If most of your visitors come from a Google search, keep up on the current search trends. A few years ago, everybody focused on short, simple search terms, such as “landscaping contractor San Francisco.” Now, search optimization often prioritizes natural search terms, like “Where can I find a landscaping contractor in San Francisco?”
- Don’t Let Your Campaign Lose Momentum
When you first start a marketing campaign, give it a definable end date. Experts have mixed views, but most think you need to give at least 45-90 days to collect enough data. If you have a limited marketing budget, you don’t want to waste a dime on campaigns that aren’t working. Give them a run, see how you did, and revise your plan as needed.
Knowing if your marketing strategy is turning into sales for you is crucial to keeping your contracting business thriving. These tips help you get the most out of your money. To learn more about how to get started building your contracting career, contact CSLS today!
