Frank Sinatra wasn’t talking about your construction firm’s public relations practice when he sang “Start Spreading the News,” but his words apply nonetheless. You need to create a steady flow of company news to build your reputation, generate leads, and support business development. The Company News Vacuum Most construction firms operate in a vacuum when [Read More]
Public Relations
The Infinite Value of Online Publicity
Gone are the days when you showed up in the print edition of a construction magazine and your reach was limited to total circulation, shelf-life, and pass-along sharing. Those that get published in the trade media or on influential blogs will feel the positive effects for many years to come thanks to the internet. The [Read More]
Low-Bid Contractors Don’t Need Marketing…Or Do They?
(Originally published in Construction Business Owner Magazine) Do construction contractors that win 100 percent of their business through the low-bid process need marketing? If you are this type of contractor, you will likely insist wholeheartedly that you don’t. After all, as a low-bid construction business owner, your fate lies strictly in the ability of a [Read More]
The Social Media Aftermath of the Florida Bridge Collapse
On March 15, 2018, a pedestrian bridge collapsed on the campus of Florida International University (FIU), killing and injuring several people. It took only minutes for social media trolls to begin feasting on Munilla Construction Management (MCM). The accident was a painful reminder of the new risk social media can present for contractors in the [Read More]
15 Press Release Ideas for Your Construction Company
When is the last time your construction firm issued a press release? It may seem like small potatoes, but being featured in the right trade magazines on a regular basis can build up your brand and even lead to new business. Perhaps you’re interested in getting publicity, but not sure what qualifies as newsworthy. Read [Read More]
5 Marketing Lessons You Can Learn from Amazon
(Originally published in Construction Business Owner Magazine) Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos spent his summers doing gritty work on a remote ranch with his grandfather, according to Brad Stone in his biography, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. Together, they repaired windmills, graded dirt roads and even built a crane to move [Read More]
Will Print Construction Magazines Become Extinct?
Lee Publications, publisher of Hard Hat News, Waste Handling Equipment News, and North American Quarry News, recently transitioned these well-known construction magazines from print to a digital format and website under the new identity of Rock Road Recycle. It’s part of a much bigger trend in which digital is displacing print. Is the construction industry [Read More]
Hauling Dirty Heavy Equipment is Hazardous to Your Reputation
The job is wrapping up and your driver is picking up a dozer to haul back to the yard. The tracks are caked with dried mud and stones following grading after an extended period of rain. It’s a Friday afternoon and he’s barreling down the streets of a high rent district to get the machine [Read More]
How to Protect Your Construction Brand When a Jobsite Accident Hits the Internet: Part II
Before smartphones became an appendage, a construction firm could implement safety best practices, secure the jobsite perimeter to prevent trespassing, and maintain a low profile. Your construction brand was was easier to protect. Those days are gone. Firms must be proactive in preventing and responding to the damage caused by mobile phone-wielding amateur videographers that [Read More]
Marketing: Just as Important for the Construction Industry
(Originally published in Pile Buck Magazine) Introduction ALEX: Brian and I have gotten to know each other over the years. As the managing editor of Pile Buck I’ve worked with him and his architectural, engineering, construction (AEC) focused marketing communications firm on multiple occasions. We’re often scratching our heads, discussing the lack of marketing emphasis [Read More]
How to Energize Public Relations like Elon Musk
Elon Musk has achieved cult hero status in the media, primarily because of his audacious goals to change the world and a bold entrepreneurial style. With deep roots in the Silicon Valley, his current ventures involve his mission to mainstream electric cars with Tesla and colonize Mars through SpaceX. Musk’s compelling story was told for [Read More]
How AEC Firms Can Improve Perception & Workload
The design and construction industry, like the rest of the world, has changed drastically over the past two decades. The marketplace has become increasingly sophisticated and competitive, which is driving the need for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) firms to increase their focus on improving client perception to generate business. Too many firms, especially contractors, [Read More]
How an Unusual Sponsorship Achieved a Branding Victory
I attended an event recently where a commercial building contractor took an unconventional yet powerful approach to representing his company, which had paid to sponsor a networking event. He appeared at the podium in front of a room packed with architects, engineers, and contractors and proceeded to discuss his passion for the construction industry and [Read More]
How Construction Firms Can Avoid a Public Relations Disaster
It was a typical Friday night and I had settled in with a book to wind down before bedtime. My wife and kids were asleep. At about 11:15, I heard a boom that sent a vibration through the frame of the home. It was similar to the sound my son makes when he jumps out [Read More]
Bipolar Marketing: Digital, Print, or Both?
The announcement just showed up (in my inbox ironically) that the Mid-Atlantic Builders Exchange, a Harrisburg, Pa.-based trade association providing information to the construction industry, is shutting its doors. They used to print a heavy-duty annual construction buyers guide among other things. The press release cited “rapidly changing economic and market conditions that have continued [Read More]