Press & Media Attention For Contractors

Press is a very critical part of a successful marketing campaign. Most people don't realize how valuable these relationships can be. Once you build the relationships with reporters and editors they will continue to contact you for input which will get you and your company mentioned more and more. This is free advertising.

A two page article will have more impact than a 2 page ad and the two page ad will cost you a minimum of $10K between design and ad costs.

In construction every project we do should have something that is press worthy. Remember that just because we do something every day doesn't mean that other people do it every day.

What a heart surgeon considers routine the general public will watch numerous 1 hour specials about. You can put the same spin on construction projects.

Look through the trade magazines, newspapers and other outlets that your customers and your employees read. Think about all the ways you can promote your company.

• Do you sponsor a sports team? Lots of your customers and employees probably have similar interests. Keeping your name in front of them by getting press on the sports page will raise your profile and could attract potential employees that aren't reading the classifieds.
• What do you do for your employees that improves their lifestyle? Flexible work hours for mothers? Vacation for tradesmen? Financial planning? Education? There are all kinds of ways you can promote your company in the lifestyle section of your local paper which can help your recruiting efforts.
• What kinds of projects do you do? Are they tied to current events? Security? Economic rehabilitation of an area? Supporting the growth of another business? All these are press worthy.
• Charities are always a good source of press. Pick a few per year that you really believe in and put your efforts 100% behind them. The press will only help you achieve more with the charity.

There are many other reasons for a company to get press and with a little hard work and relationship development there is no reason to pay for media advertising. Save that budget for direct marketing and face-to-face sales.

Press Links - David

Below are a selection of articles about a couple of projects we have put together. We have developed some good strategies for dealing with press by partnering with vendors and other project contractors/personnel to share in costs and resources associated with building the relationships with reporters.  Small and medium sized construction companies have a lot of un-tapped press potential.

Project Corner - David Brown / Dexter+Chaney
http://www.dexterchaney.com/dc/110360271036.html

Pre-Planning Projects Means More Contractor Profits
http://www.electricsmarts.com/container.aspx? storyid=9367& tab=Another%20View&distid=19542&tid=

Pre-Planning - Great Possibilities Construction Directory
http://www.greatpossibilities.com/articles/publish/ dbrownmanagement.shtml

Construction Financial & Project Management - Filling The Gaps, ConstruTech Magazine, January 2005
http://www.constructech.com/print/ article.asp?article_id=675
(Registration To Site For Viewing Article Is Free)

BASE – Intelligent Transportation Systems International
http://www.drayvision.com/pdfs/ ITSinternational_FEB2003.pdf

BASE - Government Security Magazine
http://govtsecurity.com/mag/ juncture_design_technology/

BASE – Communication News
http://www.comnews.com/stories/ articles/c0303trends.htm
http://www.comnews.com/stories/ articles/c0803solution.htm

BASE – San Jose Mercury News
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/ mercurynews/news/local/5476179.htm

BASE – Security Sales
http://www.securitysales.com/ t_news_print.cfm?nid=927

BASE - ComputerWorld
http://www.computerworld.com/ mobiletopics/mobile/technology/ story/0,10801,76772,00.html

BASE – Broadband Wireless
http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com/ magazine/news.asp?news=1097

BASE – San Jose Business Journal
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/ sanjose/ stories/2002/12/23/story8.html

BASE – Federal Computing Week
http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/ 0120/web-bay-01-21-03.asp 

Port of Oakland – Design Build
http://www.designbuildmag.com/ press/press_033103a.asp