Authentic Content Is Winning for Contractors… Are You Missing the Train?

Full dis­clo­sure? I’m going to get a lit­tle pushy here, but only because this is SUCH a big deal, and it’s some­thing I believe in 100%. 

The world of mar­ket­ing isn’t a lev­el play­ing field, right? Big com­pa­nies with big bud­gets should have all the advan­tages… They’ve got the bill­boards, the glossy ads, maybe even a catchy jin­gle you hear over and over again on expen­sive radio spots.

But here’s the kick­er: social media is a great equal­iz­er, and small busi­ness­es are qui­et­ly, steadi­ly gain­ing ground, all thanks to one thing: mean­ing­ful, authen­tic content. 

If you aren’t stak­ing your claim in this prime real estate, the ​“lit­tle guys” in your indus­try could soon out­pace you, even if they have a tiny bud­get. In fact, they ARE out­pac­ing you. And the more of this type of con­tent they cre­ate, the more leads they get, the more fol­low­ers they gain, the more jobs they sell, and the more their social media plat­forms ​“reward” them with bet­ter trac­tion and ROI. 

So, what can you do? Get in the game.

What is ​“authen­tic con­tent” for contractors?

In today’s dig­i­tal-first world, peo­ple aren’t just hir­ing con­trac­tors — they’re hir­ing experts they trust. And trust can be earned and built one piece of con­tent at a time.

Here’s the mag­ic of con­tent mar­ket­ing: it doesn’t require a sev­en-fig­ure bud­get. What it does require is authen­tic­i­ty, con­sis­ten­cy, and a gen­uine focus on help­ing your audi­ence. When done right, even a one-per­son oper­a­tion can attract just as much atten­tion as a big-name competitor.

For exam­ple, let’s say you’re a small roof­ing con­trac­tor. Shar­ing a quick video on Face­book after a wind­storm about ​“How to spot storm dam­age in such-and-such town” can pro­vide real val­ue. And you don’t look like a storm chas­er by offer­ing a flash dis­count and knock­ing on doors. You’re just help­ing! No strings attached. 

Peo­ple feel informed and, more impor­tant­ly, they feel like you care. And that feel­ing of local con­nec­tion? It’s worth more than any bill­board, but it prob­a­bly only took you 5 min­utes to cre­ate the post from your phone.

Edu­ca­tion­al con­tent builds authority

Edu­ca­tion­al con­tent works because it posi­tions you as the expert — the per­son who knows the answer and is hap­py to share it. And that’s a rela­tion­ship cus­tomers remember.

Here are some real-world ways con­trac­tors can use edu­ca­tion­al con­tent effectively:

• Blog posts. Break down com­mon home­own­er con­cerns like ​“How to Choose the Right Exte­ri­or Paint for Your Spe­cif­ic House.”

• FAQs. Cre­ate a video or post answer­ing com­mon ques­tions, like ​“How often should I clean my gutters?”

• Main­te­nance tips. Share sea­son­al advice tai­lored to your audience’s needs.

• Show you’re local. Men­tion where you’re work­ing, prov­ing that you’re a real busi­ness pro­vid­ing real ser­vices right in the community. 

When you solve prob­lems before cus­tomers even hire you, you’re not just earn­ing clicks — you’re earn­ing trust and build­ing a reputation.

Video mar­ket­ing for contractors

Peo­ple don’t want to watch anoth­er com­mer­cial… Video con­tent on social media needs to be engag­ing, per­son­al, and brief. 

This should be good news! Is there val­ue in hir­ing a video­g­ra­ph­er for some anchor pieces of con­tent, or for your TV/OTT ads? YES. But do you need to rely on that for your dai­ly or week­ly posts? Absolute­ly not. In fact, it often doesn’t per­form as well on social media because it’s not real­ly what peo­ple click with (or on). 

Again, you don’t need pro­fes­sion­al-grade equip­ment or a Hol­ly­wood direc­tor to make it work. Your smart­phone and a will­ing­ness to be real are all it takes. 

Here’s what you can do:

1. Show your work. Record a before-and-after trans­for­ma­tion of a project.

2. Share quick tips. For instance, ​“3 Ways to Keep Your Deck Look­ing Fresh This Summer.”

3. Go behind the scenes. Let peo­ple see your team in action — bonus points for humor and personality.

Not com­fort­able with being on cam­era? Maybe start with a voiceover. Film your job site, then add audio later.

Start small but stay consistent

If this feels over­whelm­ing, just remem­ber: you don’t have to do it all at once. Start with one plat­form, one type of con­tent, and com­mit to show­ing up consistently.

For exam­ple:

• Write one help­ful blog per month and share it on your social media. Doable, right?

• Cre­ate a sin­gle video tip each week and post it on Insta­gram reels.

• Repur­pose your best-per­form­ing con­tent — turn a blog into a video, or break a video into small­er clips for social media.

It’s not about per­fec­tion. It’s about stay­ing top of mind for your audience. 

What’s your takeaway?

This is all eas­i­er than you think, but it’s also more impor­tant than you think. And, it’s not too late. 

So have some fun with it and do it all bet­ter than your com­pe­ti­tion is. Maybe they aren’t doing it at all, putting you in an even bet­ter posi­tion to stay far ahead.

This will be a top­ic for anoth­er time, but keep in mind that the videos and con­tent you cre­ate can also be repur­posed into pow­er­ful paid ad cam­paigns down the road, too. Why not pro­mote your best per­form­ing videos, get­ting every drop of val­ue from them?

Go ahead: stop read­ing and go film some­thing. You’ve got this.