Landing Pages: Power Tools for Builders

I was talking to a colleague at an MBA event the other night and I asked him how business was going. He reported that after a long run of steady projects he was noticing his pipeline ahead starting to dry out. He had activated his “biz-dev” mode, setting up a small Google Adword campaign and hitting the phone to reach out to his network of colleagues. 

Even though I silently doubted that idea would actually yield any real results, I asked what his plan was to close the deal if he actually got a bite. He shrugged and told me he would follow up with an email inviting the prospect to “visit his website” and then hope for the best.

The problem is, your website isn’t made to close deals. It serves its role as a passive overview of your entire company. Without any urgent motivators or calls to action, your prospects will just casually browse, bounce and instantly forget about you.

The power of landing pages

A landing page, on the other hand, is structured to sell. It speaks directly to your prospects' needs, generates instant interest and provides a clear incentive to take action.

If you do any online shopping, you’ve probably found yourself on a landing page. You may have been reviewing a special hunting knife or thinking about getting your gutters cleaned. Although you had plenty of options, one online experience stood out and hooked you. It was so clean and simple it galvanized your trust enough to cut out all the alternatives and begin the purchasing process.

A landing page can be a powerful marketing tool to close a new-biz conversation quickly and efficiently. It's a compact, standalone page that focuses on “converting” a casual browser to performing a distinct action, whether it's placing an order or reaching out to begin a business relationship.
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How can landing pages benefit builders?

Although they‘re known to dominate the online retail space, there are many ways a landing page can give you a huge advantage in the business development process, even if you’re a builder, fabricator or materials supplier in a B2B environment.

They’re bite sized

Ancient armies didn’t take over a castle by trying to breach every wall at the same time. They’d find one vulnerable point and then pound on it until they were in. 

Similarly, the more features and benefits you try to stuff into your new-biz pitch, the less you’re going to stick in your potential clients’ brains. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, a basic landing page allows you to target a specific audience, focusing on an individual need or frequently asked question they usually have. 

This is an ADHD world and a landing page gives you way more mileage by directing attention to one unique selling point at a time. It gets the point across quickly and efficiently, and does a much better job of planting a strong seed to keep you in mind for the next opportunity that pops up.

They showcase your expertise

Prospective customers are much more likely to engage with brief, straightforward content like case studies, process demos, tutorials, or updates on industry trends that impact them. Share your expertise and show how your product or service can address their challenges and simplify their lives.

These concise insights create a sense of direct communication, offering a clear understanding of your capabilities. They also showcase how partnering with an industry expert like you can lead to a successful and beneficial business relationship.

They’re quick and cheap

Instead of pouring time and money into a complete website overhaul or corporate brochure, creating a landing page can be up and running with minimal investment. You can even repurpose an existing “news” page into a landing page, as long as you include a clear call-to-action at the end.

Remember, studies show that audiences typically don’t take notice of your outreach until they’ve seen it around seven times. Instead of putting all your effort into a grueling marketing campaign and giving up after one try, you can create multiple pages with concise, focused topics. Then, send out email links regularly until your prospects start engaging with your content.

They increase visibility

Landing pages are quick and easy to create, making them an effective way to boost your website's appeal to search engines. You may have noticed competitors with many separate pages, each spotlighting a different service in every neighborhood they serve. By building multiple targeted pages, you can increase the number of relevant keywords and phrases on your site, which can help you rank higher in search results.

They’re actionable

Landing pages are usually a key part of a digital advertising campaign because, with the help of Google Analytics or other online tools, the results are easy to measure in real time. Are visitors making it all the way to the call-to-action? Are they abandoning your page before the second paragraph? Do more prefer case studies or a direct-sales promotion? You can test ideas, optimize and adjust your approach based on the data that comes back. The more you monitor and refine, the better your results over time.

Best of all, very few of your competitors are using them

Landing pages are a highly effective yet underutilized tool in the building industry. Builders, manufacturers, and fabricators can use them to showcase niche services, promote completed projects, capture leads, and streamline their sales processes. 

Here’s a little insider tip: Despite our best efforts to highlight their value, only a few clients actually have taken us up on adopting landing pages into their marketing strategies. However, those who do have seen significant benefits—expanded reach, increased brand visibility, and a much easier flow of new business opportunities.

Written by Rusty George, with no help from Artificial Intelligence.

Rusty George leads a branding, website design and marketing agency serving Seattle and Tacoma area construction companies, subcontractors, engineering and architecture firms, material fabricators and suppliers. His goal is to help the building industry become more attractive to the skilled workforce of the future. Reach out to us at any time, and we can discuss how landing pages can contribute to an overall plan to increase your business opportunities.