The Traditional Ways
I am a former contractor, who started working in this field in the early 1990s. I started in construction because in that day and age you could just walk onto a job site and ask for a job. One of the greatest opportunities in that era and I took advantage of it. I trained my children in the same way. Starting off as a contractor typically meant being related to or knowing someone, or being mentored by others who had started before me in a neighborhood setting. Back then, little formal education was required to become a contractor. The craft was handed down from generation to generation.
Word of mouth was the principal mechanism by which business is won, and the emphasis on reputation is why we still use the phrase ‘good will’. That ‘good’ work would be rewarded with further business from those who had been impressed and wanted to pass on the recommendation is a simple but profound idea: ‘Find the people you’re good at working with, do good work, and those people will tell others.’ This was the system behind business development.
I recall the contracting community I was a part of, and how we often pulled each other’s jobs, teaching each other, sharing tricks and trade secrets. Contractors would mentor each other and help each other get through tough times; we had a true sense of community. Not to mention an employment system where stability, tradition and work ethic were encouraged, and investments sought not for short-term gains, but for sustained profits and practices. It’s not just about getting the job done: it’s about leaving an impression, the kind that will result in positive word-of-mouth marketing and repeat business.
The world of advertising was much different than today’s digital world. The primary medium of print was our vehicle. For me and many other contractors, the newspaper advertisement was the tool we used to market our businesses to local homeowners. These ads were fairly simple. They listed services offered, our contact information. Sometimes they would include a small photo of completed projects. People flipping through the classified ads were the target audience.
If you have a little more to spend, then you can go with print magazine advertising, which is a more targeted effort. You’d look for publications aimed at homeowners, or ones that have the composition of home improvement content. Having an ad in one or more of these magazines gives you a credibility factor, and a visibility factor into your particular niche.
However, TV and radio advertising was still many years down the road for most local contractors as commercial slots on these platforms were too costly. Despite envying the professional-looking commercials that bigger companies could afford, we continued to rely on grassroots marketing.
Over the years, so did our advertising: the telephone book (yellow pages, anyone?) was the next great opportunity to advertise, and getting a good listing in the directory was often the first place many homeowners would look for a contractor.
Despite the mass media we used for advertising, the foundational base of our success rested on personal relationships and word-of-mouth marketing. Every satisfied client was more than a cheque; they were also a referral source: a source of new work, at no cost to us, when they told a friend, family member or neighbor about their experience with us. This version of marketing was much more powerful than anything paid advertising could do.
We also needed to be out in the community. We were a presence at festivals and other local events, we sponsored T-ball teams, and we volunteered for charity drives. By attending local school board meetings, competing in the town’s chili cook-off, and contributing to charity drives and local causes, people saw us and learned to trust us as reliable contractors and good people.
In retrospect, dealing with contracts the old-fashioned way (knocking on doors, sending letters and making calls and meetings) was good experience. It taught us a lesson in persistence, in building relationships. We were part of a small world, basing our livelihoods on reputation and trust. We had no idea that digital technology would transform contracting as we knew it.
The Challenges of Limited Reach
We could build things the old-fashioned way: we could do them right, and we could earn the trust of the people who lived around us. But in the 1990s it was hard to get new business as a contractor. Word of mouth works wonders in your local circle of friends and acquaintances. But how do you step outside that circle and get the word out?
One of the biggest challenges we had was the reach of traditional advertising. While print ads in the local paper on Mondays or in the corner of Aeon magazine were always available, they were not predictable: circulation and ad location could make the difference between a wall full of wares and the cash box still holding on to its contents. As a small business, we took the gamble that some of the advertising space would be seen.
The telephone book, the traditional general directory of local services, was also a problem: it was important to be included in the list of general contractors, but there was no way to differentiate yourself in a static listing and compete with the other contractors listed in the same general category when a homeowner shuffled through the Yellow Pages, without clear reasons to choose one over the other.
We tried to keep up with technology and transform our marketing efforts. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, some contractors began to experiment with simple websites or online directories. But the shift from offline to online marketing was slow and sometimes reluctantly accepted. Many of us were used to in-person conversations and personalized referrals – going online felt like a scary new world.
Also, it was prohibitively expensive to advertise on television or radio, so while we understood the reach, the large companies had the big budgets and those types of ads were not for us: we didn’t do fluff, we did work. We did quality. We did service.
The challenge of finding new business on one hand but continuing to serve the clients we already had on the other was a constant struggle. The worry of spending on advertising that might or might not bring any return was real. We took a conservative approach and stuck to the basics: outstanding customer service and referrals.
Marketing was evolving before his eyes, and while the internet offered new avenues to reach potential clients, it also required him to think differently about gaining customers and building a company. The way online platforms such as social media and online review sites gave consumers power over the contractor-customer relationship forced his company to change the way that it talked to clients.
Contractors such as myself and many of my fellow veterans who cut our teeth in the pre-digital era had to be dragged into the world of digital marketing, kicking and screaming along the way. We had to create a website, then a social-media presence. We had to learn how to navigate algorithms, optimize content so it would get properly indexed by Google, and, perhaps most importantly, learn how to cope with online reviews. New ways of doing business meant new rules to learn, and the ride was bumpy.
By the turn of the 21st century, technology and marketing began to work hand in hand to revolutionize the contracting industry. The contractors who were willing to innovate and adopt digital tools were able to reach more of the market more effectively than those contractors who were not adapting. The traditional ways of getting work began to change, becoming more dynamic, more open and more connected.
In hindsight, the access issues I faced in the first few years of my contracting life shaped my marketing mindset and made me realize that, from the get-go, it was going to be about rolling with the punches as the rules changed and evolved. What I learnt from those days, fighting to stay relevant as the world around us changed, would come in useful in the following years, as the business began to move online.
Though overall strike rates were low, this determination seemed to fuel the spirit of the community. Members shared information, attended workshops and learned how to utilize social media to reach more customers. People found ways to help one another, for instance pointing out new trends and sharing tips on how to overcome different challenges.
As the internet became more widely used and user-friendly, contractors began experimenting with online advertising via pay-per-click campaigns and targeted ads on social media. These online initiatives helped us reach specific demographics and geographic areas, allowing us to maximize our marketing reach and our return on investment.
But now that all the ads were online, the competition was even stiffer. Contractors competing nationally needed to make themselves stand out online from competitors on the same crowded piece of digital real estate. Any contractor who excelled at engaging with his customers and building his reputation online could get good reviews, and thus a good online reputation.
Digital marketing might have revolutionized our trade, but real values remained the same: craftsmanship and customer service were still what we did best. Technology kept evolving, but the values we learned from those who came before us stayed the same.
All in all, the challenges of limited reach in the early days of my contracting life allowed for ingenious marketing to arise – a concept that has evolved from word of mouth and printed advertisements to a new digital paradigm of connectivity. Adapting to changing times has been a must, but it has also been a welcomed boon; as a professional committed to his craft, learning new ways to reach clients and customers has been an important part of my professional life.
Embracing the Digital Advantage
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that digital marketing is no longer an option – it’s a necessity in today’s market. The way people search for and contact contractors has changed. In the future, if you don’t have a digital marketing strategy, you won’t survive.
Because of the internet, the playing field has been levelled, giving even the smallest contractor a chance to compete with the big boys. A website acts like a virtual storefront, where clients can find out details about the business, the services, their work portfolio, testimonials and contact information. Investing in a quality website adds a layer of professionalism and trust to your brand, making a lasting impression to those who visit your website and potentially turn them into a lead.
Then there is search engine optimization (SEO), which allows contractors to tweak and optimize the content of their website with relevant keywords and identifiers, boosting their rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) so that they appear higher up Google and other search engines, and thus have a better chance of reaching out to leads who are actively searching for a contractor in their area. This would be a very good example, let’s say a flooring company in Las Vegas was trying to do some command content by adding in targeted keywords and they wanted to attract customers that were interested in garage floor epoxy. How would they do it? They would use a long tail keyword inserted within content that would make sense, like this; We are epoxy flooring Las Vegas.
Social media is a tremendous tool contractors can use to interact with their audience and demonstrate their knowledge. Photos of their work, educational information and testimonials from clients can be shared through Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and other channels. Social media can create brand awareness and engagement, leading to traffic to the contractor’s website.
Customer reviews on Google My Business, Yelp, Houzz and other websites can make or break a company. Positive reviews build the contractor’s reputation and win future business. On the other hand, negative reviews will turn away clients. Managing your online reviews requires proactive effort. You must remind satisfied clients to review you on the appropriate sites. And you must respond to every customer’s concerns.
Targeted paid advertising can be a great way for contractors to make back a large return on investment. Contractors can use pay-per-click (PPC) ads on search engines and social media, to target specific demographics and geographic areas. By developing a clear demographic and geographic strategy, and crafting ads with a strong message, contractors can increase their exposure and generate quality leads.
Contractors still find email marketing to be a low-cost, personal communication channel to past clients and interested prospects. An email list of past clients and prospects is a valuable asset, allowing contractors to stay front-of-mind, share news about services or promotions, and keep relationships going over time. A well-crafted email campaign can drive repeat business and referrals.
The mobile revolution has only expedited the trend towards digital marketing for contractors. More and more consumers search for local services on their mobile devices when they are on the go. Contractors need to make sure that their websites are mobile responsive, and their content is optimized for mobile users so that they can have a pleasant experience.
AI-driven analytics is changing the way the contractor of the future will market its business online. These new tools can compute data from customer behavior, predict market trends and optimize marketing tactics on the fly. The contractor can use data-driven insights to help fine-tune the process and allocate labor and marketing capital efficiently.
Finally, it is clear that the digital advantage has given today’s contractor the opportunity to reach and interact with a large number of people in a digital world. Using the right digital marketing strategy for today’s consumer will help the contractor to increase their visibility, earn credibility and grow their business in this competitive world.
If you want to stay competitive in the contracting business today, you have to adapt and innovate. The digital revolution is not a fad, it is a paradigm shift that requires proactive adaptation and improvement. Using digital marketing can help contractors prepare for the future and get a foothold for growth.
