Posts Categorized: Digital Marketing

The construction industry is gradually embracing digital communication strategies and tactics

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Last week Pritesh and I attended the 2010 CIMCIG conference held in London. The event was full of marketing professionals and construction industry experts. It offered a great networking opportunity and the chance to meet influential people with whom we had been talking to on social media sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

A major sign that the industry has come a long way is the fact that the #cimcig10 hashtag on Twitter was more popular that day than news about Gillian McKeith in the jungle. On average there were about 10 individuals tweeting live throughout the event (including us), thereby giving professionals, who were not able to attend the event, exclusive up-to-date insight into the topics being discussed. The overall reach accomplished by the #cimcig10 hashtag was over 54 000 people which is phenomenal and would have been very difficult to achieve without social media.

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5 ways construction professionals can use LinkedIn to build a network

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LinkedIn provides a platform for construction professionals to connect with each other and increase their networks by providing valuable business tips and advice. LinkedIn is used slightly differently compared to other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. It has a professional reputation and should not be used as a selling tool. Smart construction professionals will avoid excessive self-promotion and instead sell themselves and their services by being a valuable knowledge source in the community which they serve.

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Building loyalty and reducing one night stands

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We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years re-analysing clients’ web data and measuring the performance of their website(s) against their competitors, business objectives and plans set out for the forth coming year in preparation for the next. Mining through the data to find the insights which will enable me to answer real business questions such as:

  • “Is my website attracting quality traffic?”
  • “Are visitors, and in particular Architects, engaging with my website?”
  • “How many visitors entered my website via my key product pages?”
  • “Is my website converting traffic into leads?”
  • “Which sources are performing the best in attracting traffic and then converting?”
  • “Why do people leave the site from the homepage?”
  • “Which search terms are performing the best against their rankings in Google?” (Hint: Ranking first in Google does not always produce results)

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5 ways construction companies can use online video

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Following on from my previous post on 5 reasons why construction companies should be  blogging, we now look at how construction companies can use online video and in particular YouTube as the tool of choice.

Online video usage and consumption is on the increase. Fact. Forrester Research recently reported that videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page search ranking than traditional text pages. So, if you want to get some of your content onto the first page of Google very quickly then make sure it’s a video.

A quick search on the web for ‘Rainwater Harvesting Systems’ returns a mix of video, image and text based results. This is called ‘blended results’. What I want to point out here is that the video on the left (circled below) is produced by a company called ISW (Innovative Water Solutions) and yet they don’t have a single text or image based listing on the first page of Google, but the video is there driving traffic to the YouTube channel and then if viewers are wanting to know more they then have to option to visit the company website.Read More

It’s not about you

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Your web site shouldn’t be about you – it should be about your prospect and customers. The average technical and trade website visitor is only interested in what benefits them as a business – they are self-centred. So your content language should not be concentrated on “our” and “we” but instead “yours” and “you”. The age old attitude of ‘my website is a shop window for my business’ is still present today, however, the prospect looking through the window no longer wants to know about you as much as  the need to know WIFM…what’s in it for me? Providing value through your content is what makes the difference.

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Government sector lead the pack in email marketing

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A recent email marketing benchmark report published by Sign-Up.to shows that the Government sector is performing the best against 23 other sectors for open and click through rates for email campaigns during Q1 and Q2 of this year. The Government sector is currently achieving open rates of 35.60% which is a significant increase on 2009. This is due to the General Election earlier this year which, for the first time, saw various other marketing channels used alongside email. We saw many parties utilise social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels to attract the ‘online savvy’ audience.

The worst performing sector was the Property sector, dropping from 13.11% to 9.58% open rate in 12 months and this could be due to the current housing market climate we find ourselves in. However, we have to also look at the ‘engagement’ levels for each sector which is measured by the number of clicks to open (Click to open rate) and the Government sector is currently achieving a click to open rate of 25.51% whilst the property sector comes in at 9.23%.

The industrial and manufacturing sector does not fair to badly, with open rates of 19.88% and a click to open rate of 16.87% is around about the average reported during Q1 and Q2. However, the unsubscription rate is slightly higher than average and this could be due to irrelevant information being promoted to the recipient and also the value proposition within the email or campaign itself.

Here is the table for the Government, Industrial and Property sectors for Q1 and Q2 of 2010 of email marketing benchmark report:

email marketing 2011 report

Don’t just put your brochure content online

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Way back, when the web was new, building product suppliers could be forgiven for merely copying their brochures and putting them online. Since then expectations of your web site’s content have changed vastly, so cutting and pasting your brochure copy simply won’t do.

When someone visits your web page they expect to find the information they seek immediately. They won’t want to be taken through an introductory paragraph of self-congratulatory spin, nor enjoy a portrait of your smiling chairman. No, they want to cut to the chase, to find the product they’re seeking, to find the relevant supporting information and to make contact easily.

Here are 6 tips for writing content for your website:Read More

Social Media in the U.K. Statistics

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As social media usage grows and how people share, exchange and source information has changed, marketers are having to change the way they reach out and broadcast their content. If you are still trying to convince yourself on whether social media is a marketing channel, then Hootsuite’s 140+ social media statistics that matter to marketers in 2020 might help you make this decision.

We’ve picked out a few highlights which might help your decision making when it comes to social. One of the main challenges for construction marketers to deciphering whether your audience is actually using social media to inform purchasing.

Well, you’ll be interested to know that people are using social to “research/find products to buy” with around 28% of each age group using social networking sites for this purpose. It’s clear that social media is being used to inform purchasing decisions, and this is apparent in a B2B environment too.

motivations-to-use-social

The social path to purchase backs up these motivations…

social-path-to-purchase

It’s probably not going to be news that video is still the top format on social. 90% of internet users say they watch video online at least once a month.

video-usage

With the amount of people on social, it’s also no wonder that companies are increasing their spend on advertising, which is set to increase by 20% to $43 billion in 2020.

One of the other challenges to consider is which social networking sites are right for your company. This is where looking at the audience demographics for each social media is crucial. For instance, you might think you HAVE to be on instagram because that’s the new trend, but when you consider their demographics (predominantly 25-24 year old women) you might end up putting a whole lot of effort into creating engaging content & not get the results you want.

Consider your objectives before launching any social media, and make sure it’s definitely worth it for your company.

Find out more about social media for construction companies on our blog.

Link to Success

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If you understand the importance of links – and anyone contemplating social media marketing simply must – then you will also appreciate that creating good quality content is the key to the whole exercise. We discussed this in the last edition of My Digital Insider which looked at Social Media Marketing for construction companies. As the social media network becomes more and more part of our daily activity and the lines of communication between business and personal life become less distinct, so the opportunities for your staff to create these links increases. Which means that – as long as those engaged in link creation understand the dangers of inappropriate or poor quality links – you can share out the job. 

Here are just a few link creation ideas. You probably wouldn’t want to use them all, but this does provide a useful checklist if only to remind you that the presentation your MD gave to his chartered institute could be posted to his social networking profile or the video demonstrating the installation method of the  ‘pour and roll’ roof membrane product for a major project would look great on YouTube for prospects and customers to view.

How important is marketing to Main Contractors when it comes to product specification?

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For many construction product manufacturers, achieving product specification early on in the complex design and build process is a key sales and marketing objective. Early involvement from product manufacturers allows the education and collaboration process with Specifiers (Architects, lead engineers, designers etc), a key influencer, to become easier and to ensure the best product is specified for the job/project whilst also providing the manufacturer with the ability to better manage the process and ensure there is very little room for a change in specification.Read More