PR for the Construction Industry

When I was appointed to manage the PR on behalf of Tate Consulting, a multi-million pound construction and engineering company, it was a first for me in this industry. Having worked across many different sectors from automotive, hospitality, eye health, software, cosmetic, oral hygiene and teeth whitening, through to logistics and packaging, I was excited about the challenge of getting some great results.

As with most accounts, the hard work is getting something worthy of writing about from your client. In PR this is the most common problem and often the reason it falls down. People are busy, usually too busy to find the time to do any thing other than their own job and see dealing with a PR consultant or agency as a bit of a pain. I totally get this, which is why my priority when taking on a new account is to reassure the people I’ll be dealing with that my role is not to make their jobs any harder or time consuming. Gathering information and getting the right images to go with the information does take up time, but my experience as a journalist often comes in to play by being able to source the correct information quickly myself without having to trouble my client for too much.

I’ve previously written fifteen hundred word articles about oral hygiene for the Dental Tribune, a highly regarded industry publication with zero information from my client, not even a quote! I’ve also written high-brow industry interviews for CEOs and award entries from just a few bullet points. But this is what is required by my clients and it can prove challenging when you know absolutely nothing about their industry or the topic!

How to achieve quick PR results for the construction industry

So where did I start with construction? There are some great online business news streams which are quite willing, most of the time, to take relevant and well written copy. They’re also a good platform for interviews and profile pieces. Researching and building up contacts within industry magazines and newspapers is crucial to try and tie-in with any forward features. Awards are also usually very important within this sector and a good use of your time because no one really relishes the idea of writing a one-thousand-word award entry. These are just a few quick wins you can undertake. On top of this, creating a good social media strategy, whether you manage it for them or not and writing blogs are an invaluable SEO tool.

All of these take time, and time saves the company’s resources. It’s also just a matter of a few months before your client starts to see the benefits of PR, helping to get their name out there, but most importantly helping them to bag that next big deal.

Here’s some results achieved for Tate Consulting within the first six months;