An inexpensive approach to online construction marketing

This posting from CF Construction on a Contractortalk.com forum thread Advertising for General Contractors is worthy of repeating here for its simple and elegant insights. I've only modified the grammar slightly (it isn't perfect), but if good writing is about clarity of message, these remarks are brilliant.

What we're doing, since we've decided to put off our magazine ads for perhaps the next quarter is simply e-mailing prospects. Since our demographic are individuals whom for the most part aren't being affected directly due to the recession (at least not struggling to pay the bills, or put food on their table).

I've purchased various magazines that lists countless of businesses down here in South Florida (i.e. luxury hotels, restaurants, spas, corporate offices, medical offices). I send a very brief e-mail "introducing" those prospects to our company. I invite them to visit our website so they can familiarize themselves with what we've done in the past and what we're capable of doing. Surprisingly, this approach has worked very well. Out of 10 e-mails, I perhaps average about 5-6 e-mails replying back to me. Which in return has resulted in a couple of jobs over the $100,000 tag to be completed within a month or so. Thus, giving us a very nice profit at the end.

If you have a website, you definitely want to make that very "search friendly". This site and some of its members have provided very useful tools to the point that we're getting many calls due to the website. In some instances, we're listed in the "local business" portion of Google searches, which are the ones way up top. It's just a matter of being dedicated, patient, and optimistic.

There are many other ways and approaches I've taken to ensure that we don't find ourselves waiting in the office for the next phone call to see if it's the one that finally gets us busy again, but this is pretty much the easiest one I've done so far and by far the cheapest. All you have to do is invest your time and a well written "introduction" and people will call.

CF is Claudio Fernandez, owner of CF Construction and Remodeling, Inc in Miami. His website is http://www.generalcontractorinmiami.com/