Fractional CMO leadership for construction companies
Constructing
Magnetic Brands
A/E/C CMOs combines original construction-industry research, proprietary benchmarks, Marketing Intelligence, and experienced fractional CMO leadership to help contractors build stronger brands and make better marketing decisions.
Better Work. Better Talent. Better Margins.
The Beige Builder Problem
Construction has a sameness problem.
The industry is full of excellent contractors that are surprisingly difficult to tell apart.
Quality. Safety. Integrity. Experience. Relationships. Great people. These things matter, but they are also the same qualities nearly every good construction company claims.
That creates what we call the Beige Builder problem. A company can deliver exceptional work while presenting itself to clients and employees in much the same way as its competitors. When buyers cannot see a meaningful difference, relationships, familiarity, and price carry more of the burden.
A Magnetic Brand gives the market a clearer reason to choose you. It becomes known for something meaningful, demonstrates expertise before the pursuit begins, attracts people who fit the company, and creates enough clarity that the wrong opportunities are easier to leave behind.
ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION MARKETING RESEARCH
We don’t just have opinions about construction marketing. We research it.
Construction marketing has historically relied heavily on experience, anecdotes, personal preferences, and broad marketing best practices developed for other industries.
Experience matters. We have more than two decades of it. But experience becomes more valuable when it can be compared against evidence.
A/E/C CMOs conducts primary research to better understand how construction companies position themselves, communicate expertise, establish authority, build trust, and differentiate their brands.
Brand Distinction Research
Our Beige Builder Index evaluates the websites of the ENR Top 400 Contractors to determine how distinctly they present themselves to the market.
It asks a simple question: If the logo disappeared, would you still know whose company you were looking at?
The research examines the visual brand, positioning, voice, audience clarity, company story, employer brand, project presentation, and broader brand ecosystem.
Explore the Brand Distinction Research
Authority Research
Construction companies possess enormous technical knowledge, but expertise does not create a marketing advantage when the market cannot see it.
Our E-E-A-T Authority research examines how the ENR Top 400 demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness through their public digital presence.
The research identifies which contractors are simply publishing information and which are turning institutional knowledge into visible industry authority.
MARKETING INTELLIGENCE
Research becomes Marketing Intelligence.
Research is useful because it improves the quality of the decisions that follow.
For our clients, those findings become part of a broader Marketing Intelligence function: understanding what is happening in the market, how competitors are positioning themselves, what clients value, where the brand is strong or weak, which investments are producing results, and where the company has an opportunity to become meaningfully different.
That intelligence can include proprietary A/E/C CMOs research, competitive analysis, client and prospect feedback, CRM and pursuit data, website and search performance, market trends, recruiting data, and win-loss information.
The objective is not to collect more data. It is to make better decisions with it.
MARKETING JUDGMENT
Experienced CMO judgment turns intelligence into action.
PROPRIETARY BENCHMARKING
The Magnetic Brand Score brings the pieces together.
Our research helps us understand what is happening across the construction industry. The Magnetic Brand Score helps us evaluate what is happening inside your company.
Our proprietary scoring system looks beyond visual branding to assess the factors that influence whether your company can attract the right clients and talent, demonstrate authority, support business development, strengthen client relationships, and build a meaningful reputation.
It gives leadership a practical benchmark for where the brand is strong, where it is blending in, and where better marketing decisions could create the greatest business impact.
How magnetic is your construction brand?
You already have a brand. The more useful question is whether it helps the company attract the clients and talent it wants, demonstrate the expertise it already has, and support where leadership wants the business to go next.
EXPERIENCE + EVIDENCE
Experience gives us context. Research gives us evidence.
A/E/C CMOs’ point of view comes from decades spent working inside the architecture, engineering, construction, and construction-technology industries.
That experience matters because construction is not a simple buying environment. Pursuits can take months. Relationships can last decades. A single project can transform a year’s revenue. Capacity affects growth. Reputation travels quickly. Clients become referral sources, employees influence the brand, and competitors sometimes become partners.
Primary research adds another dimension to that experience. Instead of relying solely on what we have seen throughout our careers, we can test our assumptions against hundreds of construction companies and continually improve the intelligence we bring to clients.
Experience provides context. Research provides evidence. Marketing Intelligence organizes what we know. CMO judgment determines what to do about it.
Perryn Olson, FSMPS, CPSM, CCMP
President, Fractional Chief Marketing Officer
Construction marketer. Researcher. Author. Educator.
Perryn Olson has spent more than two decades helping A/E/C companies strengthen their marketing, positioning, and growth strategies.
His career has included senior marketing leadership, consulting, research, writing, publishing, speaking, and helping A/E/C companies rethink how marketing contributes to growth.
Across those roles, he kept encountering the same question: What does good construction marketing actually look like?
A/E/C CMOs is helping answer it with data instead of opinion, and then putting that knowledge to work inside growing construction companies.
Built on decades inside the A/E/C industry.
We didn’t develop our point of view from the sidelines. A/E/C CMOs brings experience working with contractors, engineers, architects, construction technology companies, and the businesses that support them across markets, company sizes, and stages of growth.
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
Better Work. Better Talent. Better Margins.
RESEARCH + EDUCATION
Ideas for construction leaders who want an unfair knowledge advantage.
Original studies and benchmarks exploring construction brand distinction, authority, marketing maturity, trust, and what makes companies easier to choose.
Practical thinking for construction leaders who want marketing to contribute more meaningfully to their company’s growth.
Construction marketing strategy, brand, business development, client experience, recruiting, leadership, and growth, without recycled advice written for every industry.
As Seen On
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How magnetic is your construction brand?
You already have a brand. The question is whether it is helping you attract the clients and people your business needs next. Start by measuring it.
Address
- (504) 233-4027
- build@aeccmos.com
- New Orleans, LA, USA
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About A/E/C CMOs
A/E/C CMOs provides fractional CMO leadership and integrated marketing support to help growing construction companies build magnetic brands and drive revenue.
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