CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR MARKETING CASE STUDY

Realization

West Michigan Plumbing & Heating was a regional mechanical contractor that also served many national clients on high-profile construction projects, including luxury resorts, national hotel chains, earthquake-resistant structures in California, and the world’s largest linen facility for Disney. Despite the diversity and complexity of its experience and its historical construction marketing efforts, the company continued to be pigeonholed as a plumbing and heating contractor specializing in multi-unit residential/hospitality work.

Repositioning

Francis Marketing leveraged key insights gained from gained during its Communications Audit, which included staff, customer, and prospect interviews, and an assessment of the competitive landscape, to develop and successfully migrate to the construction firm’s position as a sophisticated mechanical contractor serving a wide range of complex needs. As part of the repositioning and rebranding process, Francis Marketing evaluated the brand gap between the company’s existing market position and its desired market position, identifying and recommending those initiatives most critical in successfully repositioning the company. Francis Marketing then developed the new identity of the firm, Contractors Mechanical. In addition, practices unique to Contractors Mechanical were identified and leveraged to create proprietary branded processes, which serve to differentiate and propel the new positioning in the marketplace. Francis Marketing also created the vehicles to convey and promote the positioning and to align the company’s staff members. Because little of the underlying fundamentals of the company needed to change to support the repositioning, the repositioning was largely accomplished through the strategic rebranding of the company.

Results

In the year following the corporate repositioning and rebranding—a year in which construction revenues were down in the geopgraphic region—the company landed its largest single contract for a multi-year commercial project and increased its revenues by more than 20 percent.