If you’re anything like the hundreds of home services contractors I talk to each year, you spend a lot of time—way too much time—worried about your business. Big questions are keeping you up at night:

• Why isn’t my phone ringing off the hook?
• Where can I get more leads—without going broke in the process?
• What do I need to do to beat my competition?
• How can I grow my business so I can make more money?

In your attempt to answer these questions, you’ve likely spent a ton of money on contractor marketing—and received very little return. So you’re feeling a little ripped off and a lot frustrated. 

That’s understandable! I happen to believe you deserve to get real results from your marketing. But here’s the problem: You don’t have time to become a marketing expert—because you’re too busy being a home services expert.  

Here’s some good news: You don’t actually need to be an “expert” to start getting results. 

The #1 marketing strategy for construction and home services

I can’t stand to see hardworking home services contractors and home builders waste their money on bad marketing. The way to avoid getting ripped off is to understand the basics of the #1 marketing strategy you should be implementing: online marketing.

Why online marketing? Because online is where your customers are. 

“But Ryan,” you might be saying, “We’ve built our business on word-of-mouth referrals. That’s what we want to focus on.” Fair enough, friend. But I’m telling you: Online marketing is simply the digital version of word-of-mouth referrals. According to TechCrunch, “More people ask for recommendations related to home services on Facebook in the U.S. than any other topic.”  

Want to get better at construction marketing or home builder marketing? Want to generate more leads for your contracting business or home services company? It’s time to focus on online strategies.

Making sense of online marketing for home and building services 

I recently teamed up with Constant Contact to produce their new comprehensive resource, The Download: Making Sense of Online Marketing for Home & Building Services. This 68-page guide is packed with accessible, practical tips to help you get more qualified leads and grow your business. 

In this free download, you’ll learn about five key pillars of online marketing:

1. Mobile-friendly website. This is your online hub, the one-stop-shop for people to learn about what you offer and how you can help them.
2. Email marketing. Email is the best way to nurture relationships with current and potential customers.
3. Primary social media channel. Choosing one channel (spoiler alert: It’s probably not TikTok) will prevent you from getting overwhelmed and allow you to harness the power of social to build awareness, serve your customers and drive action.
4. Listing and review sites. Claiming your listings on, for example, Google My Business and Yelp, can help you manage your reputation and engage with potential customers.
5. Content marketing. Offering useful content online helps you get found and builds trust with prospects.
6. Bonus pillar: Paid digital advertising. In some cases, you’ll have to pay to reach people. That’s not “bad,” but you’ll want to do it in a smart way to avoid wasting money.

Sure, there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to home services marketing. But the guide we’ve put together will help you connect the dots so you’ll feel more confident about building a marketing strategy that works. 

Over the next few weeks, I’ll unpack some details about each of these pillars, but for now, let’s get super clear about how critical an online marketing strategy is for your home services or construction business.

Your customers are checking you out online

Remember, as many as 97 out of 100 people go online to learn about local businesses. And they search for you in one of two ways:

1. By your company name
2. By what your company does + your location (e.g., “HVAC near me” or “[city name] home builder”)

If they’re searching for you by name, you have a leg-up on the competition. They’re looking for you, not them, after all.

If they’re not searching for you by name—which happens way more often than you’d think—you may not have a leg-up, but what you do have is an opportunity. 

The Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is packed with ways for your business to jump up and down hollering, “Pick me! Pick me!”

If you apply what you learn from The Download, our guide to online marketing for home & building services, and this series of blog posts, potential customers will be more likely to find your website, social media accounts, online reviews, and business listings. Sure, they’ll probably see your competitors’ stuff, too, but with your own savvy online marketing strategy, you won’t need to worry so much about that.

If you’re not online, you’re invisible

If you want to grow your home services or construction business, you’re going to have to get more customers. To do that, you need more leads. To do that? You have to be online in an intentional, strategic way.  The Download: Making Sense of Online Marketing for Home & Building Services will help you do just that.

Get our Free Guide to Online Marketing for Home & Building Services

Learn to use online marketing to get your phone ringing off the hook.

The post Marketing for Contractors, Home Services, and Construction: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Constant Contact.