6 Ways That a Strong Brand Will Drive Sales For Your Construction Business

Homes and buildings always need to be built, repaired, or maintained.

Global Construction Press reports that the construction market will grow to $8 trillion globally by 2030.

Competition is fierce, so growing your construction business requires a strong marketing and branding strategy.

Whether your construction company is nestled in a rural town or a large city, you must proactively brand your business to participate in that growth.

In our comprehensive guide to building a strong brand identity, we share actionable insights, tips, best practices, and expertise we’ve developed after helping over one hundred thousand of the world’s most successful brands.

In this article, we want to focus on how you can build a strong brand for your construction business.

Here are 6 ways that a strong brand will drive sales for your construction business:

1. A strong brand tells your company story.
2. A strong brand increases client awareness.
3. A strong brand builds trust and credibility.
4. A strong brand taps into the power of psychology.
5. A strong brand sets you apart from the competition.
6. A strong brand inspires employees.

Let’s look at each of these in detail.

1. A strong brand tells your company story

Brand identity and brand are distinct concepts.

A brand is the total of your customers’ and customer prospects’ experience with your company or organization. Originally, the term ‘brand’ referred to the mark cattle ranchers put (‘branded’) on their cattle. But the concept of ‘brand’ has evolved to include much more than a single visual element.

Brand identity is the brand’s visible elements, including color, design, and logo. It’s what you, customers, and prospective customers can see.

As we emphasized in our comprehensive guide on how to start a business, a strong brand is more important today than ever.

Your company’s visual identity must highlight the best attributes of your business. Be deliberate in creating your identity and leave nothing to chance.

One way to build a strong brand is by telling a compelling story.

Every company has a story to tell. Invite your customers and clients into yours. Otherwise, it’ll be impossible for them to differentiate your construction company from competitors.

The company story you portray will help connect your audience to your brand. Your story should be interesting, relatable, promising, and successful. Your story should be painted with good design and solid language consistent with what you represent. It should reflect your brand.

When developing your story and brand strategy, consider the following:

1. What is the origin of your company? Often you will see ‘constructing since’ this or that year as part of branding. This provides reassurance to clients that you are well-established and trustworthy.
2. What do you do? What specific services are you offering?  Do you have a construction niche? What kind of products or services should clients approach you about? Are you an expert in a special area? These topics are important in your business plan and parts of the brand story you tell prospective customers.
3. What are your values? Where does your company take a stand? Consider a powerful tagline representing your brand (for example, Built To Last). Establish a brand mission statement that incorporates your values – then act according to those values.
4. How do you operate? How do you operate your business? Do you have a track record for completing projects on time? And, if a project is delayed, how do you handle the situation? How is your customer service?

Your identity starts with you – what your company represents and the story you tell.

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2. A strong brand increases client awareness

A good identity gets you noticed. Great identity gets you remembered.

Humans are visual creatures. And your business logo is the most important element of your brand.

Your logo is the face of your company. A dynamic, professional logo will draw prospective clients’ attention and be recognized by clients for years.

So, what makes a good logo? As we explained in The Small Business Guide to Creating a Perfect Logo:

At its most basic, a logo is a small, symbolic piece of artwork that represents a business… When you set aside all the design trends and fancy fonts, at its core, a logo must:

1- Embody your brand.

2- Be instantly recognizable.

3- Be versatile.

4- Be timeless.

Everything else is optional.

In fact, I’ll go one step further. Every design choice in your logo should exist only to serve and strengthen the four items listed above. And, if you meet these four requirements, many other commonly cited logo must-haves, like simplicity and memorability, naturally follow.

3. A strong brand builds trust and credibility

No business will succeed without trust and credibility. And building that trust doesn’t happen overnight.

In our comprehensive guide on how to start a cleaning business, we stressed that:

Cleaning professionals, especially residential cleaners, are invited into the most sacred place in a consumer’s world – their home.

Ensure your brand embodies trustworthiness in addition to quality to gain a client’s trust. And, be committed to that message.

It is important that you not underestimate the importance of brand authenticity.

Trust and credibility are even more important for a construction business. People want to feel safe at home. It’s their sacred place. They will want to know that their builder is capable, professional, trustworthy, and knowledgeable.

And if you run several sub-brands (such as a general contractor business, electrical contractor business, etc.), consider developing a cohesive brand architecture that connects those brands and sub-brands.

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Consider these essential elements to building trust with your brand:

1. Be accessible. The construction business is entirely offline. But your brand needs to be well-represented online. The fact is your prospects are researching online. Invest in a compelling website design and market on the social media platforms your clients and prospects use.
2. Have a solid product. Good marketing can attract a customer to make an emotional purchase, but great products are what will keep the customer for life.
3. Be consistent. To build a strong brand, your product or service must perform consistently, as does your overall identity. Your message of who you are and what you represent, your visual branding, and your online (and offline) presence must be consistent across the board.

If your brand successfully builds trust, your customers will feel confident that you know what you’re doing and that they’re spending their money wisely when they hire you.

4. A strong brand taps into the power of psychology

In a single day, the average consumer is exposed to between 3,000 and 10,000 brands.

Yet somehow, some brands can cut through the noise and grab their attention. Those brands leverage powerful marketing psychology principles.

Well-recognized brands produce strong activity in parts of the brain that are associated with a positive response. Unknown brands do the opposite, activating brain parts associated with negative emotions.

Psychology plays a large role in marketing and branding. After all, design influences consumer behavior, and many psychological factors go into consumer decision-making.

Look for big and small opportunities to translate these factors into your branding.

For example, be sure that your business name is unique. “Alan’s Construction Company” might reflect your name, but you won’t be able to differentiate if other businesses in your geographic area have the same name. You’ll confuse your clients and prospective clients.

5. A strong brand differentiates you from competitors

Whether rolling out a new brand, promoting an existing one, or rebranding, it’s important to stand out from your competition.

You can do this with a unique visual identity featuring a stand-out color palette, brand-appropriate graphics, and a memorable business logo. You can differentiate with a unique brand message and personality.

And, you can stand out with a unique selling proposition (or “USP”).

Ultimately, a USP is what your business stands for.

For example, you could say that Apple’s USP is found in “user experience”: everything they do is meant to have the user at its core.

Google’s USP might be in the way they connect people with information, whereas Amazon’s might be providing whatever product you need quickly, efficiently, and at as low a cost as possible.

Figuring out what your USP is can take time, but it’s a crucial piece of your brand. Knowing what it is can help you sell better to your existing customers, and more importantly possible customers.

Whatever your unique selling proposition is… make sure you take the time to figure it out, share it with your customers, and then deliver it every time.

Set your brand apart from the competition by:

1. Delivering a stellar customer experience. Customers who have positive experiences are more likely to return. So, every action should lead to creating the ideal customer experience. The happier your customers, the more they’ll sing your praises to others.
2. Creating a consistent visual brand across all customer touchpoints. Your website should feature the same colors, typography, and graphic style as your logo. Company vehicles should mimic the same in a bold, easy-to-recognize fashion. All promotional materials, signage, business cards, and letterhead should maintain this visual continuity. Tight visual brand management will reinforce your identity and help your brand stand out.
3. Being present on social media. Most of your clients and prospects are on social media. It’s become a go-to source of information when researching, contacting, and rating businesses. You can set your business apart by responding promptly and courteously to all customer inquiries.
4. Prioritizing feedback. The construction industry is all about lasting relationships and positive reputations. Client feedback offers priceless insight into how your business is doing, the customer experience, and critical improvement areas. Don’t just gather client feedback. Internalize it and act on it. Businesses that listen to their customers get noticed.
5. Saying what you do and doing what you say. Consistently delivering on your brand promises gives clients a reason to choose your business repeatedly. Happy repeat customers become brand advocates who deliver valuable word-of-mouth marketing.

Competition in the construction industry is fierce. Staying brand consistent and focusing on the customer first will help you blow your competitors out of the water.

Remember that most states require you to register your business if the trade name under which you operate your business differs from your business’s legal name. This is especially important if you have different construction brands for commercial and residential markets.

For example, if your registered company is an LLC named Three Brothers, LLC, you cannot operate that business lawfully in most states if you’re selling products under the trade name Three Tigers Residential Construction. That’s because the registered name, and your trade name, are different.

Fortunately, this is not a difficult problem to overcome. You can register your actual trade name with your state (and or local government) by filing a “doing business as” (DBA) certificate. DBAs are also commonly called “assumed name,” “fictitious business name,” or “trade name.” Here’s a terrific resource that explains what a DBA is, the DBA state requirements, and how to file a DBA for your business in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

6. A strong brand inspires your employees

For construction employees, it’s never just a job. The construction field is anchored by hard work, quality craftsmanship, and consistency.

Employees who understand their employer’s mission are more likely to be motivated to work toward common goals.

Inspire current employees

A strong brand is one that employees can get behind and rally around.

This is important for two reasons.

First, a recent study found that employee satisfaction correlates positively with higher productivity and profitability.

Second, according to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, regular employees are regarded as more credible than CEOs, entrepreneurs, and board members. Those employees can provide some of your best word-of-mouth marketing, with 98% of employees being active on at least one personal social media account and 50% posting about their company.

Attract future employees

Your company brand identity will impact your ability to attract future employees. You want the best people on your team. But how do you find them?

A strong brand eliminates the need to hunt for quality employees; They will come to you. 84% of job seekers indicate that a company’s reputation is important and a factor in choosing to apply.

Don’t leave your brand to chance.

Create a strong brand to drive sales in your construction business.