How Building and Design Firms Can Do Their Own Digital Marketing

(Contributed Post)

In today’s world, being digitally active and successful is an absolute must for any company that wants to stand out in the highly competitive marketplace. That said, it should not be a surprise that digital marketing trends have found their way into the architecture, engineering, and construction industries.

Well, while there is practically nothing that an impeccable digital marketing strategy can’t do on the online front for a construction company, it is vital to note that there is a specific set of skills that go into digital marketing for building and design firms.

Usually, businesses and companies in the AEC industry offer unique products and services that require a level of sophistication to resonate with future customers. That’s probably why most building and design firms have been slow to venture into the digital marketing world.

No matter what type of construction business you’re in, you want to adopt a digital marketing strategy that will help rise above the competition, establish credibility, and build relationships geared towards achieving the most desired success.

To help building and construction firms in Singapore build a successful digital presence, this post will in-depth discuss how such companies can do their own digital marketing.

Photo by wutzkoh from Envato

Understanding Digital Marketing In The Building And Construction Industry

At its core, digital marketing refers to the use of the internet and digital technologies to promote products and services with the aim of targeting, reaching out to, and building relationships with customers online.

Digital marketers utilize a vast array of different tactics, strategies, and online tools to help their respective companies achieve their marketing and sales goals.

Companies in the building and design industries can also leverage these strategies to reach out to target customers and ultimately achieve their goals as a business.

Again, considering that the global pandemic severely hit Singapore’s construction sector, it is imperative for building and design firms to up their game and leverage strategies that will help them bounce back to pre-pandemic levels and even perform better.

Whether you’re starting a company or are already in the market, it is a good idea to understand how you can build digital marketing strategies and start promoting your firm by yourself instead of hiring digital marketing strategies.

Of course, firms doing their own digital marketing are in a better position to survive the digital era because they better understand the processes and procedures of their firm than any other person or identity.

Creating Digital Marketing Strategies

For the most part, digital marketing takes place in an office on a computer. On the flip side, the majority of building and design work is done outside, on job sites. This means the skills of a designer and a digital marketer aren’t likely to cross over.

However, above everything else, a firm’s digital marketing strategy should genuinely reflect the company culture and what it does or can offer to its customers.

Truly, change is scary. But any building and design firm that wants to remain competitive needs to adapt. Of course, the construction industry has yet to adopt digital marketing on the scale of other sectors, meaning there is a lot of room to pull ahead with some creativity.

No matter what size your company is, you need to create an online presence to actualize your marketing and sales goals. When starting, you need digital marketing assets that allow you to reach and interact with prospects. Essentially, these are valued items in the world of digital marketing and include things like:

• A company website
• Social media profiles
• Email themes
• Data
• Video content
• Website content
• Branded assets
• Online products or tools

While these are the commonly used digital marketing assets, marketers are constantly coming up with new ways to reach customers and prospects online. With a well-established and optimized company website plus social media profiles, you stand a chance of reaching a greater percentage of prospects.

As a company, once you create an online presence, the rest of the work will depend on your creativity and ability to use the company data to drive viable solutions.

Digital Marketing Strategies For Building And Design firms

Leveraging digital marketing can be great to grow and scale commercial and residential construction businesses online. With that in mind, a typical building and design firm marketing campaign will use these key digital marketing strategies.

1. Web Design and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Once you have a strong website in place, the next thing on your to-do list should be optimizing the company website for search engines. Your website is the centre of your online marketing efforts, and, again, you can’t claim to be doing digital marketing effectively if users can’t find your website online.

The idea is to make your website show up on the first search engine results page.

Considering that most people use mobile devices to search for things on the internet, it is also imperative to ensure that your company website is responsive and easy to navigate especially on mobile. Working closely with your developer will help ensure that your website comes out the best.

In a nutshell, the website should be compelling, easy to navigate, and cover a lot of ground with helpful content from the get-go.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing has proven to be one of the most effective digital marketing strategies. It has also delivered excellent results for construction businesses that have already adopted digital marketing.

When done right, email campaigns allow you to directly connect with current clients and potential leads. For instance, a quick email blast allows you to update customers and prospects on company news, new offerings, new services and remind them that your company is out there should they have a renovation request that needs completion.

Notably, as a building and design company, you need to vary your email content to tailor it to the varying needs of your customers and prospects alike. Unless you are sharing company news, targeted emails work best as they showcase how you can help your clients complete various projects.

When starting out, you can use the services of a reputable digital marketing platform to help send tailored messages to your contact lists.

3. Content Marketing

As the name suggests, content marketing is the use of content (including media) to promote the products and services you offer while building trust between you and the target audience.

In the digital marketing world, content marketing campaigns mainly refers to writing and publishing valuable pieces on your website. This could be anything from articles, blogs, informative graphics, and educational media.

Most digital marketers across industries prefer combining articles with relevant infographics - but using more content forms could cater to all audiences.

Above all, make sure that your content is useful and resonates with future clients.

Remember, customers in need of your company services need to see some of your completed projects, so make sure to include more or less a gallery with images and videos of completed projects. It helps build credibility.

4. Utilize The Company’s Social Media Profiles

Social media is becoming an invaluable asset in the digital marketing space. In fact, those free social media pages could be the company’s gateway to new clients as long as the digital marketing team uses them correctly.

Thankfully, nowadays, you can easily integrate social media platforms with your website so that you can easily share website pages on social media.

With over 4.96 million social media users in Singapore, there is a perfect environment for social media platforms to flourish rapidly. Building and design firms can tap on various platforms and use them to network and establish themselves as an authority in their area of specialization.

As a construction company, you can use social media platforms along with Pinterest to host images from your portfolio to inspire prospects. Tapping into social media can help you build your reputation and gain a competitive edge.

5. Live Chats and Chatbots

The first thing that often comes to mind when live chat and chatbots are mentioned is customer support service. Contractors can use the live chat window or chatbot feature on their website to provide prospects and customers with detailed information about offerings and services.

While using the chatbot feature hugely gives the impression of stellar customer support services, it plays an integral role in reaching out to current clients and prospects. Using live chat windows, professional designers get a chance to discuss various aspects of their services with prospects, which can be handy in ensuring they better serve their customers.

Conclusion

In today’s digital world, most people turn to the internet whenever they need some information or want to purchase a given product or service.

This means that businesses and companies with an online presence are likely to connect with prospects, whom they can convert to customers as long they establish themselves as an authority in the sector.

Building and design companies can also leverage the world of the internet to grow and scale their firms. Thankfully, building digital marketing strategies and implementing them is not the hardest thing a company can do. The effort and cost are worth it.

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Author Bio: Tom Koh is the Principle SEO Consultant with MediaOne Business Group, an internationally acclaimed digital agency. He has more than 12 years of digital marketing consulting experience. Some clients include Canon, Procter & Gamble, Cambridge University, Boston Consulting Group, Acer, Fuji Xerox, China Telecom, Hotel Intercontinental and Whirlpool.