Building Materials Marketing: 5 Digital Strategies to Bring in Business

The construction industry is in the midst of an unprecedented boom with no end in sight. It may seem intuitive to believe that building materials will sell themselves indefinitely.

However, with increased demand comes increased competition. For materials manufacturers to stay relevant even in a hot market, they have to keep an eye on winning their next client.

With this in mind, the following are five strategies for marketing your building materials company and boosting profitability. 

Build An Optimized Website That Serves As Your Digital Storefront

More than many other types of businesses, building material companies need to find ways to educate customers on their products, demonstrate how they perform in action, and compare why they are superior to the alternatives.

A state-of-the-art website is an ideal platform for accomplishing this.

Among the features of a highly optimized building material website are:

• A robust photo selection – websites with quality photos get more views than those without good images. This is especially critical for building material companies that need to showcase all of their different color and design options.
• Elite store locator software – this helps put leads in contact with the nearest local vendor of your products. It also provides your company with actionable data for which vendors perform the strongest and which marketing material generates the most leads.
• Webinars and video tutorials – create high-quality video content that helps contractors see how to properly install your materials and give end users an idea of what the material will look like as part of the final construction product.

Leverage the Power of Local SEO

More and more research is focused on the power of localized SEO for driving business profitability.

Therefore, even though a highly optimized website is a great starting point for generating organic internet leads and your building materials business can theoretically reach clients from all over the world, you should make sure that the content you post on your website is created for your local client base.

Some ways that your business can come to the top of local searches include:

• Creating authoritative blog posts with local tags. Instead of posting an article about “the benefits of fiber cement siding” make the article more location-specific, such as “the benefits of fiber cement siding in Phoenix.”
• Use photographs containing prominent local landmarks. If there is a known building, point of interest, or landform near one of your projects or business locations, mention how your materials stand out with these landmarks as a backdrop.
• Obtain guest interviews, mentions, or links from local construction authorities or media personalities. It is also a great idea to try and get local influencers to either post about or endorse your materials on their platforms.
• Create pages for each of your store locations. Follow multi-location website design best practices to easily manage and get the most out of your website’s location pages.

Focus on Keeping Email Lists Current

In an era when people’s email inboxes are filled with thousands of unread messages and the spam folder catches dozens of flagged emails each hour, it may seem like reaching a lead via email is like finding a specific grain of sand at the beach.

However, despite the glut, email marketing remains arguably the most profitable form of marketing in 2022, with a return of $36 for every $1 spent (source: Constant Contact).

There is no other form of marketing that can match email’s ability to reach an unlimited amount of customers for free instantaneously.

The reason that so many email campaigns fail is due to poor execution. Businesses pay for email lists containing many low-quality leads or stuff their subject lines with too many spammy indicators. 

To ensure that your emails are being read by high-interest leads, focus on sending follow-up emails to customers who have bought from you in the past, prospects who have voluntarily furnished their information at one of your physical branches or trade shows, or who have filled out online surveys for more information.

Don’t Be Afraid of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

If you have a new and innovative building material that you truly believe can improve the quality of construction projects while earning you a handsome profit, then PPC building materials advertising should be a part of your marketing strategy.

In a PPC campaign, you pay search engines a small fee each time someone clicks a link in your advertisement. But if you pay $3 for a click and it leads to a sale of $3,000 worth of roofing tiles, then the investment is well worth the cost.

While you can achieve clicks organically through your SEO efforts, think of PPC as paying for a boost. Search engines have an incentive to rank posts through which they will make a commission.

However, that does not mean that all of the other best practices for digital marketing go out the door. Search engines rank PPC ads based not only on the bid but on the quality score of the content. Therefore, it is equally, if not more important, to carefully select the right long-tail keywords and create high-quality ads, even when using a PPC model. 

Build Customer Relationships Through Social Media Marketing

Social proof is king in 2022.

Customers are far more likely to choose suppliers based on positive online reviews from other clients like them than they are based on a celebrity endorsement.

One of the best ways to build this all-important social credibility is through your business’ social media accounts. 

Keep your accounts up-to-date and active. Use them as a vehicle for highlighting product offerings and giving demonstrations. Tag your business in the community; solicit likes, comments, and shares from satisfied clients; and grow your credibility by commenting and participating on other accounts in the building materials industry.

Invest in These Digital Marketing Strategies and Watch You Building Material Company Grow

Despite the unprecedented boom in construction spending this decade, building material companies cannot assume that their products will sell themselves indefinitely. Strategic marketing initiatives must be used to stand out from the competition.

With this in mind, building a website with SEO in mind, leveraging the power of local SEO, keeping up-to-date email lists, investing in PPC advertising, and building customer relationships through social media are five effective strategies that can help material manufacturers see an increase in profits.