Digital Marketing for Contractors: Here’s How to Catch Up

Feeling left behind in the digital marketing age?
Well, it’s not that hard to catch up, as we find out in the latest episode of The Dirt.
Brian Hess, founder of Top Contractor School and president and CEO of the Pavement Group, is our guest and shares his insights on what contractors can do to improve their marketing, not only for new business but also for attracting employees.
Amid an uncertain economy, the need for digital marketing becomes more necessary to keep ahead of the competition. “It’s not going away,” Hess says of digital marketing, “and it’s moving faster than it ever has.”
The old website displaying equipment isn’t going to cut it anymore. He recommends creating an online and social media culture that showcases your people and what they do. He’s also found that contractors with a strong digital presence don’t have much trouble attracting talent, and their hires tend to stay.
So if you’re ready to make the change in your digital marketing, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
00:00 - How Contractors Can Be Better at Marketing
00:41 - Why Do Contractors Need to Change Their Digital Marketing Approach?
03:34 - What Are Some Digital Marketing Best Practices for Contractors?
07:37 - How Good Marketing Can Build Trust in Your Company
10:00 - How Good Marketing Can Help Attract the Right Employees
14:35 - How You Can Start Improving Your Company’s Marketing Now
16:30 - Why Spend More Money on Marketing When a Recession Is Near?
17:49 - Final Thoughts

Video Transcript:
Bryan Furnace:
Today we're here to talk about marketing for your business. While it seems really straightforward and we're all pretty familiar with some general marketing, I think we can all do better. Our industry is not really one to be hip with technology, and we're not always at the forefront of new marketing techniques, especially in the digital age. But Brian Hess is here to talk with us about why we might need to be a little more on top of things, and especially going into a slow time, now more than ever is the time to do some additional marketing. So without further ado, here's my interview with Brian.
So speaking as a contractor in the industry, when I also speak to a lot of contractors in the industry, one of the biggest things that I hear is things I've been doing in the past have always worked for me. Why do I need to go in and change anything? So as the digital era really comes into play in the construction space, why do contractors need to change what they're doing from a marketing perspective?
Brian Hess :
Our industry has been one that has always been slow to catch up to some degree, but the digital evolution of what's happening, man, it's happening faster than it ever has. The introduction to AI is really moving that forward a hundred times faster …
Bryan Furnace:
That's scary.
Brian Hess:
… than it ever has before. And it absolutely is scary. Everybody is going to be forced into this at some point. And if you're one that has been late to the game, at some point you're either going to be eliminated as a business or you're going to have to get with the program. So what I always tell the folks that I interact with is better to do it now than to be forced into it later. And you'll be ahead of the game. They say the best time to plant at the tree was 10 years ago. The second-best time is today.
Bryan Furnace:
Yeah.
Brian Hess:
So when it comes to the digital evolution, I think it has passed a lot of people by, at least for a period of time, but it's pretty quick to be able to catch up. And I think, for our industry, it looks scary to people. It looks a lot more scary than it actually is. If they just take the time to dig in, their business will move forward. And a lot of these ... I just did a podcast episode on this morning. A lot of these companies who have been at the forefront of it, inside and outside of our industry, have had 50% of their revenue end up coming from some sort of online something, a digital version of whatever marketing they're doing. So I think it is, without a doubt, not going away, that's for sure. And it's moving faster than it ever has. So the faster people can adapt, the better.
Bryan Furnace:
I think you hit on two really critical points for people to hear. The first one is just how fast things are changing. This is one of those things where it's not like business in the past where, okay, you still got the yellow book ad out there, you've got that cheap little website that some kid made for you back in '96 and people have been able to find you. It's now we're in an age where you are falling behind at an exponential rate because of the rate at which things...