Personal Branding Can Work its Mojo for your Construction Business. Know how!
In construction, a brand and its reputation are what matters the most. Years go by in building and nurturing brand identity. One minor fault can bring things to a halt because construction is a serious business, and there is no place for shoddy work. In this article, we will talk about personal branding. Many construction firms are pushing their talented contractors to be their brand ambassadors. These valuable contractors are getting photoshoots done, sharing their family life, and their life’s mantra on various social media platforms helping in branding construction companies. The same publicity effort can work its mojo for independent contractors and subcontractors as well. Let’s discuss how personal branding can make you a successful contractor.
Before putting your efforts towards doing personal branding, it is essential to understand the concept behind personal branding and why it can be a game-changer for a contractor as well as for a construction company.
What is Personal Branding for Business?
The process or practice of creating a brand around a person rather than a business is called personal branding or even self-branding. In this process, a single person or a team is used for branding by virtue of their knowledge and expertise. The method of self-branding establishes them as an expert in the respective field.
So, how do you build a brand online? These days CEOs and MDs pay a lot of attention to personal branding, and digitally they achieve it through LinkedIn, where they have a network of followers to connect with. Personal branding comes with a lot of perks, and the most significant advantage is that it helps in building personal connections, bringing in goodwill and trust.
One shouldn’t forget that a brand is what you are, what you believe in, and what you love to pursue. Your personal branding is always at the forefront and has more to do about your business aspirations and intentions because the sole purpose behind it is to attract opportunities. Personal branding has had been a quintessential part of brand management in the construction industry too. Before you promote your construction business you should start with individual branding.
Know more: How to make your Construction Company a Brand Online?
Why is Personal Branding Important?
The importance of brand building starts with the realization of how a business owner would want to portray his/her company to the world. If you go by history, almost every renowned brand has made the owner a brand name as well, like the well known food chain company KFC. For some companies, the brand name is synonymous with the brand owner and also the family. For example, the hi-end fashion brand Salvatore Ferragamo is still in business thanks to the name and fame of the Spanish shoemaker.
In construction, too, there are big names that benefit from personal branding. Take for instance, the celebrated Betchel Corporation – leaders in construction development and project management. The company is celebrating more than 120 glorious years and has seen five generations of Bechtels. The website of Bechtel Corp has a dedicated section to the history of the construction brand elaborating on how a family business turned to America’s most trusted brand.
When the question is about how to create a brand identity, personal branding again is very crucial. Through the examples mentioned above, it must be clear now that business branding for construction businesses can be done effectively with the help of self-branding.
How to do Personal Branding Yourself As a Contractor
Before starting with the how-to-do personal branding, a contractor should understand the benefits of personal branding. Here are ten points on why you should use personal branding and have a sure shot to success:
- Gives your brand credibility
- Increases the trust in your brand
- Brings value to you what your company does
- Positive vibes will surround your business
- Employees will believe in you
- Motivates the company people
- Clients believe in you without much effort
- No need for publicity
- Damage control is easier because of the trust factor in your name
- Establishes you as a leader
Ways to Achieve Personal Branding in Construction
There is no simple mantra or perfect guide on how to do personal branding. It would be cliché as everywhere people with little or no knowledge are trying to do personal branding as social media platforms have given them wings. But you are not going to be a regular influencer. You are into a serious business and that is construction. Your target audience is certainly not the millennials making TikTok videos. So, you have to plan your personal branding in a way that is different, believable and most importantly, reliable. That’s why there are ways to achieve personal branding for you, and it will take time. One step at a time, mind you.
Don’t miss this: How to Build Your Construction Brand and Increase Sales
1. Know your worth, your value
Your value is not what you do, or what your position is, or in which renowned company you are in, or how many projects you have accomplished till now. Your value is what you can give to the people who will or are already looking at your business. When it comes to business, it’s all about finding the right client, placing the correct bid, getting the right set of subcontractors and others to work with you. So, these are the people who are your target audience, and these are also the people whom you can help and enjoy working with too.
Step one here is acknowledging your value. For example, what kind of work you do or what you enjoy as a contractor. What knowledge can you impart to others who are beginning their career in construction? So, you will have something unique to give to your folks.
After understanding that “extra” you can do to help others create a value proposition – a value proposition that speaks to people about what you do and how you can help. This is the beginning of how personal branding can make you a successful contractor.
2. Flaunt it to make it
It’s not just enough to know your worth. You have to show it. There are a lot of ways to flaunt your specialty and expertise. Start with social media first. Use your social media account as it has a lot to offer. As discussed, you have to be of help to others. So, how are you going to flaunt it? Post pictures of your workplace, of your people, of what you do. For example, be a safety expert. In construction, there is nothing more important than safety. Being a contractor yourself, you can be a safety expert. And can give tips to be safe and sound while working in a project.
Walk the extra mile by putting your thoughts on blogs or write anecdotes to post on Instagram and let people relate to you. Talk about their problems like they are your own. Stand in their shoes to be a person that is more than just a contractor. A perfect example of this is Gary Vaynerchuk, whose social profile says that he is an investor in Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Uber. The Belarusian-American entrepreneur is also New York Times best selling author, a speaker, and a sensational internet personality. For him, the journey started when he posted videos on the internet in the year 2006. Now, he has millions of followers because of his unapologetic originality and quirky posts.
3. Stay consistent with your personal branding
You are on your journey of becoming a brand, and a brand means something. So be persistent and consistent with whatever you are doing. Maintain a similar tone and don’t think it’s monotonous. Yes, there will be some advisors who will come and tell you there is no variety on your social media, or that your blogs keep speaking about one thing. But, maintaining what you are delivering is setting the tone of your brand’s identity.
If you are building your brand as a safety expert, then you have to maintain it. Don’t start posting videos of you playing guitar and singing a song. Your audience look to you to learn helpful safety tips, not to learn about music. If your hands are full, it is suggestible to be patient with your pursuit and to have a dedicated team of construction branding experts to channel your inner self into making a brand.
4. Don’t be afraid of changes
For social media influencers who are dealing with topics like fashion, make-up, lifestyle, music, coaching, etc, there is no shortage of ideas, but for a general contractor, ideas may seem to dry out. Here’s a trick! You can always bring a change. Well, it’s against the point we just mentioned, and that is staying consistent. Well, you are consistent with your topic and that is construction. And within that topic, there’s a lot one can do.
If you are a safety expert, just rolling out safety tips will not help you in branding yourself. You can talk about people who were saved because they followed safety rules or exciting ideas on how to celebrate safety day. Reviving your value proposition also makes you a real expert in the subject matter.
Read : 21 Awesome Social Media Marketing Ideas for Contractors
5. Use social media networks, be social
You will be able to bear the fruit of your personal branding when your networking efforts fall into place. A brand is difficult to make without any interaction happening. Be there on social media with the right information, get involved in an interaction with other peeps, and gradually followers will follow. Along with that, networking with the who’s who of the industry is essential. If it’s LinkedIn, you can send direct connection requests to people in your industry. On Facebook, you can join groups and participate in discussions. Twitter also comes up with suggestions about the same industry people and has a straightforward process to share posts and tagging.
Don’t for a second think that socializing is time-consuming. Divide your time between creating quality content and responding to your followers to get the most out of your time and hard work.
If you are wondering how to grow your construction business, personal branding is a step you must take. It can not only be about one person or an expert but also about a team. Remember, how clients and customers are always eager to talk to the experts, the one who knows it all and helps them with making decisions. The best is to get construction marketing services from specialists who understand that branding is not just about throwing your name out there, but who understand the true value of it.
Take that step towards your construction company’s growth and let your personality shine through with personal branding. Now, you know the ways that personal branding can make you a successful contractor but business branding ideas take time.