A marketing plan can help differentiate your construction company from competitors.
After several years of decline in the construction market, McGraw-Hill Construction estimated that the construction industry would increase 8 percent in 2011. While this may certainly be welcome news to those who work in the construction industry, it is still a very competitive business. Construction companies who market their product and service offerings effectively can position themselves for success, and the best way to do this is to create a detailed marketing plan.
Goal Setting
The first section of a marketing plan for a construction company is goal setting. You need to set realistic and measurable goals you want to achieve in the next year. For example, you might help sponsor an annual event where you gather volunteers to build homes for indigent people in your area. Or, you can speak at your local chamber of commerce meetings to help increase awareness of your company. The key here is to write your goals so they are specific and measurable, such as, "Raise $25,000 for annual home-building event by June 2011."
Market Research
The next part of your marketing plan is conducting market research. Gathering market research can help you can make more accurate predictions about future growth in the construction industry in your area; identify key strengths and weaknesses of competitor construction companies; and position your business for future growth. Although conducting market research is time-consuming and potentially expensive, there are several different options for how you can do it. If you have a large marketing budget, hiring a market research firm is the fastest and most-effective way to help you gather research. If you don't have the budget to hire outside help, you can conduct your own research by going to chamber of commerce meetings and learning about the building trends in your city; studying your competitors' marketing strategies for their construction companies; and using the Internet to search for relevant research.
Target Audience
Analyze the data you collected in market research, and use this data to determine your target market, which is the group of customers your construction company does business with most often. Market research can lead to a variety of insights about your target customers. For example, if your construction company targets commercial real estate customers, you may have conducted surveys in market research that showed how these clients tend to be middle-aged males who are strong users of technology. Use the information you gathered to create a detailed profile about your market, including their gender, age level, income level and technology preferences.
Marketing Strategies
The last part of a marketing plan is identifying your marketing strategies, which are the promotional methods you will use to market your construction company. These strategies are driven by your market research findings. For example, if your target customer profile consists of commercial real estate developers who are early adopters of technology, use marketing strategies and tactics like search engine marketing, mobile marketing and social media marketing to promote your company. Describe each of the tactics you will use to market your construction company, and a timeline or implementation schedule. Make sure you include a budget for the strategies and how much you plan to spend on each one.
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