Why Construction Companies Should Care About Brand Reputation

Why & how building a brand reputation is crucial for construction business
Reading time: 5 minutes

How to Promote a Construction Business through Branding

In construction, reputation is everything. It can take years for a construction company to create a positive brand reputation. A business owner will understand that their brand’s image is earned, and that’s why it takes longer to build. Even a minor blow to your construction company can result in a loss of business as well as respect in the industry. This is why a construction company should care about its brand reputation.

Building a brand reputation should be a key element of any construction company’s branding strategy. Nowadays, with digital transformation in the construction industry, there are many opportunities to build, observe and protect your brand reputation by leveraging the internet. In this blog, we’ll discuss why and how building a good brand reputation is crucial for construction businesses.

What is a brand reputation?

If you go by the Merriam-Webster definition of the word reputation, it says, “The overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general.” So, reputation is based on individual opinions of a particular person’s (or brand’s) overall personality and character.

Just like a personal reputation, a brand reputation is also dependent on other’s perceptions of your brand. When you think of how you can promote your construction business, you probably do not think in terms of building your brand identity and maintaining your brand reputation.

For example, the Bertucci Contracting Company is a fifth-generation company that builds flood control and does coastal restoration along the Gulf Coast. Their president is very active in the Associated General Contractors (AGC) and regularly consults with the Corps of Engineers, along with speaking at coastal conferences. One shouldn’t be surprised that his company does nearly all of the restoration work along Louisiana’s coast. Not only has the Bertucci Contracting Company made an identity for consistently delivering, but their brand reputation is also being maintained by the president’s own knowledge and reputation. This is how branding a construction company and brand reputation works.

How is brand reputation different from brand promise or values

Brand reputation is not the same as brand promise or values. Yet many construction companies consider their brand reputation to be a part of their brand promise or values. But all three of these things are different.

Brand value is what your company stands for like ethical or environment-friendly; it is not something a customer perceives. On the other hand, brand promise is customer-centric. It is the virtues and aspects that a brand promises to its customers like value for money, reliability, relevance, and above all, trust. Now brand reputation is company-centered and rises from how successful a company is in delivering its promise and staying true to its values.

Also read: 21 Awesome Social Media Marketing Ideas for Contractors

What are the factors that decide the brand reputation for a construction company?

Your construction company’s brand reputation is dependent on its brand promises, values, and brand identity. Learn how to create a brand identity in this blog. After creating a brand identity, how do you build your brand reputation? Here are the factors you should consider for your brand reputation strategy or say brand management in general.

  • Consider your brand reputation as a personal reputation.
  • How would you like your clients/customers to perceive your brand?
  • What qualities and traits do your clients/customers link to your brand?
  • How do your clients/customers perceive the brand reputations of your competitors?
  • What would you like your clients/customers to say about your brand reputation?
  • Will your brand reputation get support from your employees, top management, vendors, investors and partners/stakeholders (if any)?
  • Above all, how close is your brand reputation to the promises, values, and the overall brand identity you have worked upon?

How to build a construction company’s brand reputation

After considering the above-mentioned factors, you are all set with your brand reputation’s needs and to-dos. Now you should know how to build your brand reputation. For companies that have been operating for years, brand reputation is not a major concern as it will be built up gradually. Companies that are old players in the construction industry will concentrate more on either reviving brand reputation or maintaining their existing reputation. Small businesses and new firms need to work a lot on building their brand reputation. Here are some effective ways to build a brand reputation that will aid the overall branding for construction companies:

1. Value customers, give them a good customer experience

Customers or clients (B2B business model), both need to be satisfied so that your brand reputation is not at stake. Customer/client experience depends on how much attention you give to their needs and queries. Whether someone contacts you through social media or customer support, you should be able to address their issues. Every action will lead to creating a perfect customer experience. These happy customers will then recommend you to others and rate you on Google and other business review sites.

2. Is your social media reflecting a positive brand image

With the advent of social media, maintaining a brand image and taking care of brand reputation has undoubtedly become easy. However, it can get tricky at times. Social media is all about connecting and staying up-to-date. So, monitor your connections as it will affect the reputation of your brand online. The construction industry is all about lasting relationships and reputations. You can piggyback on your clients or partner companies for exciting social media content. Most importantly, your marketing & branding team should be on the same page about your company’s message and tone on social media.

3. Take care of feedback and handle negative comments

With changing times, a customer has become aware and agile. So, taking care of their feedback, whether negative or positive is a must. For this step, first, make your customers comfortable. They should be encouraged to open up about your services and products. When you do this, the customers also sobers down the negative feedback before sharing it with you. A happy customer is not just content; he/she also will also help publicize your brand. When it comes to negative comments, responding respectfully should be your goal. You can follow these tips to earn brownie points from your customers:

  • Respond to negative comments immediately.

If you take too long to respond or don’t respond at all, your image will be further tainted. A quick response is what an unhappy or angry client/customer needs.

  • Be online, professionally

Be polite even if a comment is too brash or aggressive. If patience is a virtue, you will need lots of it to deal with unhappy customers.

  • Answer publicly

How you solved a particular client/customer problem or negative feedback can make a good positive story. So try to answer publicly. If the customer has written an unhappy email, then make sure that you answer that email.

4. Keep up to your promises and be transparent

Any brand that fails to keep up the promises they make to their customers will find it hard to re-build their brand reputation. When a brand consistently delivers according to their promises, it gives customers and clients a reason to choose them again.

Next would be transparency. As today’s customer is both knowledgeable and spoiled for choice, they don’t mince words when it comes to complaints. So, be transparent in your marketing and branding efforts.

Conclusion

The last point would be monitoring your brand in and out. What is happening on different social media platforms? What are your competitors doing? Customers now mostly write complaints on social media networks that their chances of getting heard are better and will be done fast. Also, pay attention to allegations based on incorrect information.

As the construction industry is vast and fragmented, reaching out to potential clients and customers is possible when you have a positive brand image. That’s why every construction company should care about their brand reputation.

At CMGurus, we understand the importance of brand building, and with our expertise, we have cracked how to build a brand online in record time. Contact us freely for construction marketing and branding services.