Civil engineering businesses create the infrastructure of entire towns and cities along with roads, bridges, buildings, and canals. It’s challenging work and anyone who starts their own firm has the right to feel proud.
However, just launching a civil engineering firm doesn’t guarantee that it will attract any clients. That requires a marketing strategy that typically looks vastly different from that of other businesses. Below are some actionable tips on marketing for civil engineering firms.
Determine Who to Target
One thing that civil engineering has in common with other businesses is that creating a buyer persona is a must before undertaking any marketing activities. The involves identifying its market segmentation, which is the broad categories of clients it would like to attract such as construction or real estate. Next, break that down into more specific types of clients such as government workers or real estate agents.
From there, the team should list highly specific traits such as the preferred client’s annual revenue, other types of projects the client has contracted for, and preferred timeline for completing projects. The purpose is to create a clear picture of where to target marketing efforts.
Create a User-Friendly Website
No business can survive for long without a high-quality website. This is where most potential clients go first before ever requesting information or speaking to someone from the civil engineering firm. The website will need to include rich content that demonstrates understanding of the reader’s pain points and provides prompt solutions to resolve them. It should also contain dynamic graphics that engage the reader.
Civil engineers are excellent at building roads and other infrastructure but not necessarily designing a website. It’s better to outsource this job to ensure professional quality than risk coming across as amateurish to potential clients.
Understand the Competition
Succeeding in civil engineering means offering services other firms don’t offer and performing a higher quality of work in less time. That’s a lot to live up to, but it’s the reality in most other fields as well. Before starting a formal marketing campaign, the management team should research the closest competition.
It’s also a good idea to research firms that might not be in the immediate area but still provide services to the same core group of potential clients. The Small Business Administration website is an excellent place to gain insights for the entire industry. After uncovering details about the competition, the management team should distinguish the most important ways in which the firm is different from the competition and focus primarily on that in advertising efforts.
Use a Combination of Online and Offline Marketing Strategies
After identifying the preferred customer and determining what makes the firm unique, it’s time to start an official advertising campaign. A targeted email campaign that engages readers with the firm’s engineering specialty is a good place to start. Getting active on all the major social media platforms and publishing a regular blog are essential as well.
Building strong relationships in the community by giving public presentations and patronizing local business helps to earn referrals for the new civil engineering firm. Networking with employees of construction companies can give civil engineers an automatic in when the time comes to start a new project. Most importantly, marketing managers need to continually monitor and adjust campaigns based on performance. They will eventually find what works best in this unique industry.
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