Written by Perryn Olson, President & COO of Brand Constructors

Many people in construction think their brand should be managed by the lowest bid. They send out RFPs for the company's logo, website, newsletter, tradeshow, and all of their printing to ensure they're spending the least amount possible. It might be counter-intuitive, but doing this means you're shooting yourself in the foot. 

I discuss the cost of an inconsistent brand in my book, Construction Executive’s Guide to Brand Marketing. Here are two main reasons you don't want to use different, lowest bidders for each of your marketing materials:

1. Constantly Reinventing the Wheel – When all of your marketing materials are done by different marketing and design firms (or freelancers), it means you’re putting extra work on your marketing and design team for no reason. The first marketing piece developed (website, a large brochure, or proposal) should create the vast majority, probably 80%, of your brand's look-and-feel. After that, everything should flow quickly because your brand’s look, colors, tone, and messaging is in place. Each marketing piece just needs to be reformatted for size, audience, and usage. 
   Also, if each of your locations has different brochures and business cards because each location prints them locally, then you are paying a premium for that design and printing. You should print everything with different addresses at one time with one printer. We’ve seen superintendents pay over $1,000 for a sign with the wrong company logo because they paid for someone to create a logo for it instead of getting the company’s official logo and paying less than $100 for that same size sign – inconsistency costs time, money, and exposure.
2. Confuse Your Prospects – Your inconsistency means you’re making your prospects and clients think you are multiple companies, not just one. This inconsistency not only makes your company look smaller, it unintentionally adds competition to the market. It may also make prospects and clients think something is wrong if you're constantly changing your name – think about how many times banks change their name; it is confusing. If you think about all those changes, you’ve probably doubted your relationship with that bank already, and when talking about that bank, you probably used the wrong name more than once. That happens with your clients and prospects too if you change your name, or even your look, too often.

I am not saying never to rebrand your construction company. Rebrands are important because your brand image needs to reflect your company’s personality or the personality you want your company to grow into in the near future. A disconnect between your brand image and your brand personality is even costlier because it attracts the wrong clients, employees, and subcontractors.

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Perryn Olson, president and COO of ABC member, Brand Constructors, holds the designation of Certified Construction Marketing Professional (CCMP) from the Construction Marketing Association and the Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) from the Society of Marketing Professional Services). He currently serves on the board of SMPS Southeast Louisiana and is the past president of Executive Connections, a business networking organization in New Orleans.