The A/E/C CMOs blog explores how marketing can help construction companies grow more strategically, compete more effectively, and build stronger businesses.
We write about positioning, brand, business development, client experience, recruiting, market expansion, marketing leadership, and the industry habits that deserve a second look. Expect practical ideas, informed opinions, and occasional challenges to the way AEC firms have always done things.
This is not a blog about what to post on social media next Tuesday. It is about using marketing to improve revenue, profitability, resilience, reputation, and long-term growth.
A friend recently texted me after reading one of the stories in my book, Choose Your Own Construction Marketing Journey. He wanted to know if it was really true. Unfortunately, it was. A business developer I knew had spent more than three years pursuing what would have been the largest project in his company’s history, […]
Most construction companies do not have a shortage of things to talk about. They have a system problem. Marketing publishes a project announcement on Monday, a safety photo on Wednesday, and realizes on Friday that nobody has posted to LinkedIn recently. Someone writes a blog article because SEO is on the annual plan. An executive […]
Construction leaders rarely question the ROI of a new estimator, project management platform, piece of equipment, or business development hire. Brand investment tends to face a different standard. What will we actually get from it? It is a fair question. A new logo does not guarantee new revenue. A prettier website does not improve margins […]
AI has made it easier than ever to create competent marketing. A contractor can generate website copy, social posts, recruiting content, emails, proposal language, and ad concepts in minutes. That convenience comes with a downside: it is also easier than ever to sound like everybody else. Give an AI tool a generic prompt to write […]
For years, search engine optimization followed a fairly familiar formula. A company identified the terms its prospective clients were searching for, created pages and articles around those terms, optimized the website, built links, and tried to move higher in Google’s rankings. That foundation has not disappeared, but the way people find and evaluate information is […]
Construction companies often reach a point where referrals, relationships, and occasional marketing projects are no longer enough to support where the business is going. The company may want to enter a new market, attract larger clients, improve its hit rate, strengthen recruiting, integrate an acquisition, or build a more recognizable brand. Leadership knows marketing needs […]
Construction companies know how to solve difficult problems. Their websites often fail to show that knowledge. A/E/C CMOs evaluated the websites of the 2026 ENR Top 400 Contractors [download ungated research report] to understand how effectively construction companies demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trust online. The average score was just 44.9 out of 100. Eighty-one […]
“How much should we budget for marketing?” It is one of the most common questions construction leaders ask me, and one of the hardest to answer with a simple percentage. There is no universal construction marketing budget that fits every contractor. The right investment depends on the company’s growth goals, markets, business model, existing team, […]
Construction leaders rarely question the ROI of a new crane, estimating platform, or project-management system. Those investments have visible costs and measurable outcomes. A rebrand can be harder to evaluate. The investment is easy to calculate, but the return may appear in several places: stronger recruiting, better clients, higher pursuit hit rates, improved margins, greater […]
Construction companies are not particularly consistent with marketing titles. At one firm, a Marketing Director may lead proposals, events, social media, and the annual marketing plan. At another, the Marketing Director sits beside the CEO and CFO in leadership meetings, advises on geographic expansion, evaluates acquisitions, influences growth strategy, and helps decide what the company […]
Construction companies should evaluate the ROI of a fractional CMO differently than most businesses. Search for “fractional CMO ROI,” and much of the advice comes from SaaS, ecommerce, and venture-backed technology companies. The conversation quickly turns to customer acquisition cost (CAC), MQLs, conversion funnels, paid acquisition, and go-to-market strategy. Those concepts are not necessarily wrong. […]
There is usually a point in a construction company’s growth when marketing stops being a collection of tasks and starts becoming a leadership issue. For many contractors, that tipping point appears somewhere between $25 million and $50 million in annual revenue. The exact number is less important than what is happening inside the business. The […]
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.
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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