Google Ads for Construction Businesses
11 October 2018
11 October 2018
Want to find out how a Google Ads campaign could help generate more leads or revenue for your construction business?
Where do your customers go when they want construction work done? As with any industry, users will go online to browse, research, compare and educate themselves before making their final purchase decision. Whether your business is construction, manufacturing or engineering; digital advertising offers unparalleled opportunities to connect with both commercial and consumer audiences in a personalised and engaging way.
One key advantage of Google Ads is the ability to target relevant audiences throughout the entire conversion journey - from the early stages of their research process right through to when they are ready to buy. The real time data available within Google Ads also allows us to make faster and more informed decisions based on the best performing campaigns, and therefore boost the performance based on actual website engagement, quotes, enquiries and phone calls.
So what Google Ads strategies should construction companies consider?
Google Search
In a recent survey of construction professionals, 64.5%, reported that they performed a Google search to find out more about a product or service rather than going directly to a supplier website (Equipment World Reader Profile 2017). 60% of those surveyed also identified as owners, directors and senior management, so it is imperative for any construction business to be visible to these decision makers when they perform an online Search. Google Search Ads allow us to show text ads to users based on selected keywords (example below).
Ultimately, the priority is to be there when somebody is actively searching for highly relevant terms related to your construction product or service. Search campaigns are ideal for the construction industry as many services and products are niche and specific. Niche searches often means lower volume of traffic, but this traffic is long-tail and high quality and, due to the nature of construction products and services, the conversion value of these searches is extremely high.
Google Display
The scale of services and products within the construction industry is vast, and as such the customer journey from research to conversion, in most cases, will be lengthy. The Google Display network offers a choice of different targeting strategies to target users at every touchpoint in the digital journey using visual image ads.
For example, In-Market Audiences are a great way to engage with those who have been actively researching similar products online. Whilst they may not be aware of your business, they are generally in the research phase and may be interested in learning more about your products or services. These audiences are pre-defined by Google based on users' 30 day browsing behaviours, and include construction-related audiences such as:
As well as reaching new audiences via Google Display Ads, it is important to consider the users who have already showed an interest in your website, and haven't yet got in touch. Working with a company in the concrete products sector, we see a significant time lag of 12+ days between the first visit and submitting an enquiry. This is where Remarketing is highly effective: Due to the time lag between first website visit and enquiry, retargeting an audience who are already brand aware, interested in your services and close to conversion is key.
YouTube
Whilst the growth of mobile has been the biggest influence of change in digital marketing in the recent years, video is the next huge area which construction businesses need to embrace to future-proof their online strategy. As younger generations enter the professional world, your audience and how they consume information is changing. YouTube is a powerful tool that construction companies can harness to engage with visually-motivated construction professionals such architects, builders and developers.
With YouTube, you only pay when someone watches at least 30 seconds of your video ad, and Cost Per Views (CPV) are extremely low (generally between 2-4p for our clients). As well as being extremely cost-effective, YouTube advertising benefits from powerful targeting methods to engage with your perfect customer. For example, new Custom Intent audiences allows us to create a tailored audience targeting users who have been actively searching on Google for relevant keywords in the last 7 days, indicating they are high-intent and are close to conversion.
Ready to start using Google Ads?
Whether you choose to use Google Ads or other forms of digital advertising, it is important to; test out what you feel suits your business; give the campaigns enough time to prove their worth; and let the data inform the campaign strategy, rather than basing it on what you perceive your audience to be. It is well known that the ‘we've always done it this way' attitude can be harmful and that past success doesn't guarantee the future, especially when the only constant is change.
If you would like to find out how a Google Ads campaign could help generate more leads or revenue for your construction business, get in touch with us today.