Despite common belief, construction branding is about far more than a pretty logo and a nice website. While those are two key ingredients that go in the mix, they aren’t the only thing your commercial construction company needs to focus on.
In fact, branding a construction company means taking into account every interaction with every customer or subcontractor along the way. To truly get the benefits of carefully crafting a solid brand identity, you’ll have to work to ensure the whole thing is both instantly recognizable and seamless.
Ready to get started? Here are our best tips on how to brand your commercial construction company.
Start with a Good Logo
When starting to craft a strong brand identity, it is pretty important that you start with a good logo. After all, this is the image that you’re going to tie to your company name and attempt to get everyone to recognize right away.
While we highly suggest working with a professional graphic design expert on this part, there are a few key tips to consider:
- Choose Logo Colors Based on Psychology: Don’t just go for a color palette that’s typically your favorite. Pick a hue that conveys a meaning, such as black for power and sophistication or blue for professionalism. Avoid colors like red and orange, as they evoke feelings of violence and stress.
- Select a Good Icon for Logo Design: Most construction logos generally depict a house or building, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow the crowd. Try to choose an image that matches your company’s mission, but still makes it easy to understand you’re in the commercial construction industry.
Narrow Down Your Target Customer
The next key step in building a brand identity for your commercial construction company is to really narrow down your target customer. Doing this now will make it far easier down the road to cater your message and digital marketing towards their needs.
Think about who you generally work with when it comes time to sign a contract. Is it real estate developers? Project managers for corporations? Small businesses? Either way, come up with a solid buyer persona that explains their motivations, needs, and desires. As you move forward with crafting your visual identity, keep this idea in mind.
Choose the Qualities You Want to Be Known For
Now, you’ll want to choose the qualities you want your construction business to be known for. Is it integrity? Innovation? Quality craftsmanship? Make a list and keep track of these elements as you continue to build your brand image.
This is important for a few different reasons. As your company starts to grow and you’re creating more marketing content, you’ll want to reflect back on these qualities and try to incorporate them in the message you’re sending.
Add Your Logo to Everything
Next, we suggest adding your logo to everything. Yes, we really mean everything. If you have a fleet of company trucks, make sure they’re updated with the new design. Add it to company letterhead, invoices, envelopes, and whatever else you can think of. Give staff members new shirts with the logo. And then find another twelve or so items to add them to.
While it might sound a little excessive, there’s a reason behind this. Visual branding can be very powerful if you take an all-in approach. In the end, you want both your target market and anyone in your regional area to see your logo and connect it with who you are and what you do. The only way to do this? Plaster it practically everywhere.
Have a Solid Social Media Strategy
As you move forward, make sure you update your social media pages with new branding and associated graphics. Then start to plan a solid digital marketing strategy around the new identity.
Marketing a commercial construction company is a little more difficult, but not totally impossible. Add photos of your team, talk about any charitable efforts you’ve helped within the community, or highlight special projects you’ve worked on. The goal here is to connect with the local public and get them to positively recognize your company, even if you’re in the commercial building niche.
Update Your Website to Reflect Your Branding
Of course, you don’t want to go through all the trouble in the prior steps to completely ignore your commercial construction business website. Make sure to have your digital marketing team update your website to reflect your new visual identity.
This includes adding the new logo, redesigning any layouts, or coordinating page colors. For some businesses, this could mean even undergoing an entire website overall to really drive home the core values of your organization.
Remember Print Materials and Swag Items
One common thing commercial construction companies do is that they go to all the trouble of rebranding, but then forget to update all of their print materials. Instead, start fresh with all the new items that include your brand colors, new logo, and more.
This is a great way to get that cohesive look that tells customers and vendors exactly who they are working with. If they’re trying to compare an old logo to a new logo on an invoice, it can get mighty confusing in a hurry. Also, if your commercial construction company keeps a swag closet with promotional items like coffee mugs and notepads, get them updated, too.
Ask for Testimonials from Past Clients
When it comes to creating a brand for your commercial construction company, a lot of people forget the power of using testimonials from past clients. Don’t forget to call them up and have a little chat about what they loved in working with you.
As you start to print out new brochures or update your website, use their quotes to help drive home that you’re the best pick for the commercial construction job. Kind words paired with solid results can go a really long way.
Highlight Your Team’s Experience
Most would agree that commercial construction is built on trust. In order to achieve this with your new business branding, you’ll want to highlight your team’s experience within your marketing materials.
Make sure to call out anyone who has successfully been with your organization for a long time or has any extensive amount of knowledge. Just like using testimonials, the experience factor combined with the appeal of your entire company can make a huge difference in closing new clients.
Use Your Brand to Leverage Your Lead Generation
Speaking of those new clients, make sure to use your new visual brand identity to leverage your lead generation. As you can probably tell by reading this far, creating a cohesive look is about far more than just a logo. You want potential customers to see your icon and get a feel for what your company is all about.
Make sure to use this to your advantage. Add the new logo plus any testimonials to your marketing materials. As your sales team steps out to try to bid for jobs or sign contracts, make sure they’re using this information to really drive home what your firm has that the competition does not.
Bring It All Together
Finally, make sure to bring it all together. The whole purpose of branding your commercial construction company is to make it easier for a target client to see your logo, recognize who you are, and immediately size up your reputation.
By adding your logo image to everything attached to your business, you can easily help convey the message that you’ve got what it takes to get the job done right.
Need a Winning Brand Strategy? Contact ER Marketing
Branding a commercial construction company is about unspoken language and the power to explain the core values and positive reputation of your firm, while still outshining the competition.
Do you need help coming up with a winning brand strategy for your construction business? Our team at ER Marketing is ready to help. Please get in touch with our experts today for more information.
