9 construction marketing ideas to recession proof your business.
When you decide to run your own Trade and Construction business, you know there is going to be ‘ups and downs’.
It’s part and parcel of the ‘privilege’ of becoming a business owner.
And oftentimes, the ‘ups and downs’ are a knock-on effect to factors outside of our control.
Changes in the law.
Changes in government.
Worldwide pandemics.
The Suez Canal.
Recessions.
If you want to run a successful Trade and Construction business, part of the gig is learning how to ride these waves.
And your brand and marketing (done right) can feel like your guardian angel when times get tough.
Helping you remain front of mind to people for those still willing and able to have construction works completed…
…And visible to those on the look-out and waiting for the right time to give go-ahead.
Never will your construction brand and marketing be more important to you than when the economy is going through changes or a tough old time.
So get it right.
Here's 9 Construction Marketing Ideas to help recession proof your business and ride those waves… 🌊
1. Be sure to stay visible on social media as part of your recession construction marketing ideas.
This is a big mistake I’ve seen many a Trade and Construction company make when the economy is bad.
We saw it during Covid.
The world stopped.
Work stopped.
It was a tough time.
Financially, mentally, emotionally.
Yet the Trades who did the best during this time and who came out the other side busier than ever, were those who remained visible on social media the entire time.
But how can I remain visible if there’s no work so I’m house/office bound?
There are some tricks we helped our clients with that you might find useful too.
Here's some construction marketing social media ideas that you can use (with photography or video that you already have) or can easily make off-site with posts around the following themes:
💡 Throw-back to your favourite construction job ever – show us photos and tell us why it was your favourite in the status (caption).
💡 Photos/videos that you’ve never posted before (even if you’ve shown us that job in the past) – many Trades make the mistake thinking they can only ever post about a specific job once.
TIP FOR FUTURE - Get as many photos/videos as you can before/during/after the job and drip feed them out over the course of days, weeks, months or even years!
💡 Introduce us to your team with friendly photos of everyone.
💡 Tell us how you got into the industry on video.
💡 Go live for a Q&A – e.g. write a list of the most asked questions customers ask you when it comes to wallpapering or re-wiring etc.
💡 Promote another Trade! You’re a plumber who works closely with an electrical business that you highly recommend. There’s zero conflict there. Why not create a post and go live promoting their services to your audience. They’ll likely be so chuffed they’ll do the same in return!
💡 Share a customer review. Read out a review that has been left for you (the importance of collecting them in the first place!) and then tell us more about what the job entailed and how/why you enjoyed working with this client.
💡 Talk us through some of your most favourite tools in the business and why they are important to you. E.g. One of our decorator clients went live and spoke about his dustless sander and the importance of using this in his clients home to remain clean and tidy but also as one of the young children had asthma and this tool ensured their safety and actually won them the job.
There are TONNES of ideas of how you can be creative with your social media posts that don’t involve you being on a site on any given day.
It's about showing up.
And in fact, even if work is slowing down slightly due to the economy so you have a bit more time to focus on this area, the chances are you’re going to be pushed to do things differently which will result in a difference outcome for you.
We start to get to know you and your business on a much deeper level!
🙌🏽
2. Embrace networking and partnerships as part of recession proofing your construction marketing.
This was a huge one during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Where everyone went through some kind of struggle at one point or another.
Let me explain.
2 years on from the initial outbreak when life slowly began to go back to what people remembered pre-2020, I spoke to a number of Trades.
Who told me that without the connections and support they had made in their networking groups they don’t know where (they or) their business would have been today.
Because being part of a networking group isn’t just about referrals and recommendations.
In the right group, it’s about
🙏🏽 Sharing challenges and not feeling alone.
🙏🏽 Surrounded by people who supply to your industry that can give helpful advice – on areas like construction marketing, financial or legal.
🙏🏽 Talking to others going through the exact same things as you – other construction industry professionals.
🙏🏽 Enhancing your own marketing by supporting each other’s social media and sharing posts.
🙏🏽 Having meet ups (online during Covid) where friendships are made that go a huge way to adding relief to difficult periods.
🙏🏽 Offering other construction based work to each other when times get particularly hard.
🙏🏽 Business training and support workshops that can be an add on to the organisation.
🙏🏽 … and THEN there is of course the referrals and introductions.
Joining a Networking group can be pivotal in recession proofing your construction business for all of these reasons.
By joining a group that meets regularly, building great relationships where everyone tries to help one another in the way they may need – be it financial, mindset or otherwise – can be the difference in how you feel supported in your construction business during a recession.
One powerful tip I always give to my Trade and Construction clients who network is to ‘ask for introducers’ when you are promoting your business each week during the presentation section.
Instead of saying…
‘I’m Nicola and I add thousands to the sale of people’s homes in Finchley with our bespoke loft and extensions… I’m looking for introductions to homeowners in Finchley looking to expand…’
You might say…
‘I’m Nicola and I add thousands to the sale of people’s homes in Finchley with our bespoke loft and extensions… I’m looking for introductions to ABC Estate Agents in Finchley who help homebuyers purchase their forever home. I can help ABC by being the go-to construction company for new sale renovations…’
Why?
Because by asking for an introducer you are speaking to someone who can offer you on-going work again and again to your ideal clients – rather than the end user who may use you once.
Networking groups are incredible at ‘marrying’ people up – so to speak.
You never know who knows who in this game.
So when you do join (or if you are a member already)…
1. Ask for the specific introducers that can game-change your business.
2. Take time and BUILD those relationships with those people.
Meet in person regularly, offer to come and meet their clients on a visit (for example), send thank you cards/gifts for introductions made.
These relationships are another crucial part in helping recession proof your business as you are creating a hub of people outside your business that are looking for work for you (that may easily fall into their lap on most days).
It's going to be another marketing idea to help you.
3. Get involved with community efforts as part of recession proofing your construction business.
This one is about visibility too.
Get involved with the local community.
Sponsor a local football team.
Help out at a school fete.
Volunteer your time to deliver meals to families in need.
Donate to amazing local causes.
Let the local community see the humans behind the construction business.
If we get to know you on a personal level where you are being selfless and giving back, what does this say about the kind of people and businesses we are letting into our homes and businesses?
4. Re-engage with past happy customers as part of your construction marketing ideas.
‘80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers’.
Known as The Paleto Principle.
Or the 80/20 rule.
I’m sure you’ve heard of it.
So if this is true – which would make absolute sense if someone has been happy with the work we’ve done in the past to continue feeding us their business – doesn’t it mean that we should be doing what we can to keep past and current customers front of mind?
I also found this for you.
Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer for your Trade and Construction business. Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-95%. The success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is 5-20%.
Pretty gripping stuff.
Big lesson here.
Don’t neglect past, happy customers.
Look at ways you can start re-engaging with them to spark new conversations that may very well lead to new work or introductions to someone fruitful for your business.
Sending thank you cards and/or gifts is a great way to start.
Perhaps a client recommended you some time ago to their family member or colleague.
Maybe you’ve just completed the works (could be months or even years later) and you reach out to show your gratitude.
Read all about how thank you cards and gifts can take your Trade and Construction brand to a new level here.
Newsletters are a great way to keep past clients engaged with what you’re up to.
This one takes a fair bit of leg work (and there’s some legals to adding folk to your email list) but work with a construction marketing company to help you get it right and start showing up in the inbox of past client’s to remain front of mind.
🎄 And Christmas.
Use seasonal times of year to get back in touch with clients form the past.
Sending Christmas cards every year – without fail – to every client you’ve ever worked is a really easy way to show gratitude, remind and be considered for work in the New Year.
Take a look at all the reasons Christmas Card designs for your construction marketing ideas can help kick-start your best year ever in business.
5. Look at ways you can improve the customer experience to help recession proof your construction business.
This one should be never ending.
But especially when a recession is looming.
And it’s often in the small details.
What can you do in your Trade and Construction business that elevates your brand, makes you memorable for all the right reasons and makes customers want to recommend you to everybody they know?
💡 Maybe when you re-confirm the job by email a day or so before you send over a photo of the team member who will be showing up?
💡 What about your own branded door mats so when you are going in and out of a property you are not wearing down the client’s?
💡 Do you offer an end of build clean as standard as part of the construction work you are offering?
💡 For big renovation works do you buy the client a gift at the end of the project that’s bespoke to them and matching their new interior?
💡 For smaller jobs (where you visit multiple sites a day perhaps) does every customer receive a personally signed, branded thank you card popped in the letterbox or left on the side table?
💡 Do you send your client a WELCOME BOX the week before your project starts with some teabags and biscuits, colour cards and paint swatches ?
The list is endless.
And the ideas will vary depending on your Trade.
But the point remains the same.
Be creative.
Think outside the box.
What can you do OUTSIDE of the skilled work you are completing (the plumbing, the decorating, the plastering etc) that helps build a better, memorable relationship with your client?
6. Avoid ‘cost-cutting’ and ‘discount’ marketing for your construction business.
It's tempting.
During times that business is especially hard.
To start promoting cost-cutting and discounts in your Trade and Construction marketing.
Plastering ‘50% off’ all over your social media and the likes.
But let me share with you why this is dangerous.
➡️ We wonder, is business going badly?
➡️ If I have you in to do my job are you at risk of administration mid-job and will leave me high and dry?
➡️ Is there something wrong with your products or services?
➡️ Sets a precedence - cost-cutting exercises so people wait to see if you do this again in the future or won’t buy.
➡️ You devalue your products, quality of service and expertise.
➡️ When you raise your prices again, clients feel the services aren’t worth the full price.
➡️ You can lose high end clients – who feel they will be receiving lower expected returns.
➡️ Too many discounts can prove unprofitable for your Trade and Construction business!
Quite the list, right?
There is an art to discounting campaigns.
A pretty complex one.
That needs to be managed and monitored.
If you work hard on proving your value and what you leave your customers with, you will never have to offer discounts in your Trade and Construction business.
Fact.
Instead of jumping to this kind of strategy, work on these instead…
✅ Increasing reviews in your business.
✅ Build partnerships with reputable companies who can pass you multiple customers – Estate Agents, Interior Designers etc.
✅ Work on making your customer experience better (as per previous point).
✅ Create a professional, approachable, trustworthy presence online by showing us the humans behind the business more.
✅ Work out your Ideal Client and start focusing all your marketing around how you have the solutions for their problems and become the ‘go-to’ experts for them.
👌🏽
7. Be sure your terms and conditions are watertight as part of recession proofing your construction business.
The whole point in having Terms & Conditions for your Trade and Construction business is for future cover.
Should something go wrong, both you and the client know where they stand.
I am not a lawyer.
But I will say this.
If you are serious about succeeding in growing a construction business, sit down with a lawyer and get your terms and conditions nailed.
Here's a list of things to NOT do:
❌ Don’t jump on Google and take snippets of other people’s terms and conditions.
🧐 Why?
Because you have no idea if these terms are law-abiding or enforceable in your jurisdiction (i.e. could be terms from another country).
Plus…
You are using someone else’s intellectual property without their permission.
That alone can land you in some serious hot water.
❌ Don’t copy a mate’s terms and conditions.
🧐 Why?
If your mate has written them without legal help, how do you know that anything on there will stand up in a court of law… which is the whole point of terms and conditions?
If your mate has received legal help writing them, then you are still using their lawyers intellectual property without their permission.
Do you really want to end up in court against a team of lawyers?
Didn’t think so.
❌ Beware the online templates.
🧐 Why?
For all the same reasons above.
This may seem like a bit of a curve-ball in a blog all about construction marketing ideas.
Why are we talking legal, I hear you say?
Because during a recession – when business might be quieter than usual – can be the most dangerous time for a construction business to go under.
One job gone wrong could be all it takes.
Now more than ever is it so important to get your legals in order.
If you haven’t already.
Presenting professional terms and conditions (to be signed) at the start of a project to a client before any deposit is paid says so much about your Trade and Construction business.
That you are organised, professional, transparent, have integrity, have sought legal advice to ensure your business operates in a way that leaves a client feeling safe.
This helps your reputation.
This sets you apart from the cowboys.
This elevates your brand.
And in the event something does go wrong on site, you want to be in the position that your terms can all be upheld.
Not thrown out in court because Dave helped you whip them up over a drink and some nuts in the pub one Friday night…
8. Look at how you can niche your clients and services as part of your construction marketing ideas.
Let’s start with what does ‘niche’ mean?
‘A specialized segment of the market.’
Many of us make this very easy mistake when we start our business.
We feel we need to appeal to everyone.
However.
The most successful businesses out there – including the Trades we’ve worked with – are the ones who specialise in helping a certain type of client or solving a specific type of problem.
For example.
We have a decorator client who specialises in serving high end commercial clients in South and Central London.
We have another decorator client who specialises only in spraying kitchens for the mid-high end market.
We have another decorator client who specialise in spraying UPVC windows and doors.
We have another decorator client who specialises in mid-high end homes with traditional decorating processes – wallpapering and painting.
4 decorator clients.
None of them really competitors.
Some have niched down their decorating services.
Others have niched down the kind of clients they decorate for e.g. High end only.
By niching down, it means that all their marketing efforts – be in on a website, social media, brochures etc – can be tailor made and super specific to the audience they want to target.
Not include lots of other things that those people won’t be interested in and yet they would have to sift through.
Their marketing speaks directly to their ideal clients only.
Which means…
🏆 They spend less time puling everything together.
🏆 Waste less money on marketing efforts that don’t appeal to those kind of clients
🏆 Win more of their ideal work because all their marketing positions them as the go-to experts for that specific job type or customer.
Niching can really help you streamline your business.
And this can be especially effective in preparing for a recession.
Working out your Ideal Client can be the game-changer you were looking for…
9. Don’t wait! Get going with these construction marketing ideas NOW.
Whether we officially enter a recession or not…
Don’t wait to start implementing these construction marketing ideas.
Like improving your fitness, to see results you need consistency over time.
To start taking an effect.
It's never too late to start.
But why wait?
⭐️ When you can start building a memorable brand and growing an audience on social media now…
⭐️ Building new relationships and partnerships through meeting the right people at the right networking events…
⭐️ Having your Trade and Construction business known in the community for what you give back…
⭐️ Constantly improving your systems and customer experience and capturing raving reviews for more people to see…
⭐️ Protecting your business NOW with water-tight terms and conditions that go a long way in how clients perceive you and help you win work…
⭐️ Narrowing down your offerings and focusing on your ideal clients to position yourself at the go-to experts for their problems…
Why would you wait to do any of the above?
When, starting NOW, means not only will you help recession proof your construction business but kick-start your efforts and take your business to the next level.
⬇️ 9 Construction Marketing Ideas To Recession Proof Your Business Rundown:
1. Stay visible on social media for your construction marketing.
2. Embrace networking and partnerships.
3. Get involved with community efforts.
4. Re-engage with past happy clients.
5. Look at ways you can improve the customer experience.
6. Avoid ‘cost-cutting’ and ‘discount’ marketing.
7. Be sure your terms and conditions are watertight.
8. Look at how you can niche down your clients and services.
9. Don’t wait! Get going with these construction marketing ideas NOW.
🛠 Need a little more help nailing your Trades and Construction Marketing Ideas?
Course you do.
First. Let’s work out where you are with all things Marketing.
Got 3 minutes?
Take our Trades Quiz to discover how you score with all things ‘Off The Tools’.
We have heaps of tips, tricks, and hacks for your Trade and Construction business in our cheat sheets, videos and ideas waiting for you on the other side… i.e., your results page.
So, you can improve your score. And NAIL your Trade and Construction business.
Nice.