If you run a trades or construction business, you’ve probably felt the tension: you know marketing matters, but you don’t have the time to “figure it out”, and you definitely don’t want to waste money on random tactics that don’t translate into trust, leads, and real opportunities.
In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen., I spoke with Laura Zahariou, founder of Growth Lane Marketing. Laura’s work centres on helping small and medium businesses get senior marketing leadership without the cost (or commitment) of a full-time Head of Marketing. We unpacked what that looks like in practice, especially for construction businesses dealing with competition, tight margins, and constantly shifting priorities.
Fractional marketing beats a junior hire when you need outcomes, not babysitting
A common move is hiring a junior marketer because it feels affordable. The issue is not the person; it’s the expectation. If you’re relying on a junior to create strategy, execute campaigns, align the message, and report outcomes, you’re setting everyone up for frustration.
Laura’s point was simple: fractional marketing gives you senior leadership for a fraction of the cost. You’re not paying for someone to learn on your dime, and you’re not carrying the mentoring load on top of an already busy week. You get a capable operator who can move faster because they’ve done it before.
The trade-off is time: it’s fractional support, not a full-time person sitting in the office. But if what you really need is direction, prioritisation, and execution that’s grounded in experience, fractional can be a far cleaner path.
Stop competing on price: sell the value you deliver
Construction competition is fierce, and when that pressure hits, businesses often default to price. That’s the fast road to shrinking margins and painful projects where one surprise wipes out your profit.
Laura pushed a better approach: reposition around value. What problem do you solve? What outcome do you create? Why should a customer choose you over the next option?
This is not fluffy branding. It’s commercial positioning. When you get clear on value, you have more control over margin because you’re no longer trying to win a race to the bottom.
Clarity over complexity: align marketing to business strategy, then align the whole team
One of my favourite lines from Laura was the idea that strategy doesn’t have to be a 50-page document. In fact, it usually shouldn’t be. A clear, simple strategy that everyone understands will beat a complicated one that nobody follows.
The order matters:
- Understand the customer and the customer journey.
- Clarify your value proposition and positioning.
- Make sure every function in the business tells the same story; marketing, sales, and customer service.
That last part is where trust is built. If marketing claims one thing and the sales conversation says something else, customers feel the disconnect immediately. Consistency across the business is what turns “nice messaging” into credibility.
Use a 30-90 day reset to audit, clarify, and build a workable 12-month plan
Laura’s practical sequence is gold for trades and construction businesses that feel stuck:
- Start by understanding the business: what you offer, who you serve, and how the customer journey works (and in construction, that journey can be long and multi-step).
- Audit what’s already in place: current marketing, brand, messages, and gaps.
- Clarify positioning and key messages.
- Then build a 12-month marketing strategy aligned to business objectives, with metrics tied to leads, conversion, and revenue.
The point here is direction. Without a plan, you’re reacting and it’s almost impossible to prioritise channels, content, and effort when you’re reacting.
Plan content in 1-3 month horizons, because construction priorities change fast
Even if your strategy is 12 months, Laura prefers content plans in shorter windows, typically one to three months. In construction, things move: projects complete, case studies become available, compliance topics shift, and market focus changes.
Shorter content horizons keep you adaptable. You can still work from the bigger plan, but you’re not trapped in a rigid calendar when something important pops up that should be shared now.
Consistency builds trust, even when you feel bored repeating yourself
Laura shared a powerful example from her construction experience: taking a product from zero awareness to a recognised brand through consistent messaging, delivered across channels, over time with the whole team aligned.
The interesting bit was what happens internally: marketing teams get bored of repeating the same message. They assume the market is bored too.
Usually the market isn’t bored, it’s just finally starting to remember you.
This is a key lesson for trades and construction businesses: you don’t build trust through constant reinvention. You build trust through repetition, clarity, and delivering the same promise consistently.
Next step
If you want better marketing outcomes, don’t start with more tactics. Start with clarity: who you serve, what you solve, and what you want the next 12 months to look like. Then align the business around a message you can repeat long enough for the market to actually absorb it.
Laura Zahariou is the founder of Growth Lane Marketing, helping SMEs access outsourced/fractional marketing leadership that’s simple, strategic, and results-driven. She’s worked across construction and other B2B industries, bringing big-brand experience into practical plans for growing businesses.
https://www.growthlanemarketing.com.au/
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