For commercial construction and specialty trades
Senior marketing leadership for contractors who have outgrown word of mouth.
Reveal is a fractional CMO practice for commercial construction and specialty trade firms with $10M to $50M in revenue. Reveal provides senior marketing leadership without the cost of a full-time hire. When it works, the firm wins more of the right jobs at better margins, and owners can focus on running the business instead of chasing the next bid.
The first step is the Keystone Diagnostic. In three to four weeks it tells you what's bringing in jobs, what isn't, and what to do first. You get a written report and 90-day plan, yours to keep whether or not we work together again. From there, the Blueprint builds the positioning and plan, and an embedded engagement puts senior leadership beside your team for as long as it's needed. The Diagnostic starts at $7,500, about one month of what many firms already spend on marketing.
Book a Free 30-Minute Call Take the Foundation CheckNo pitch. Just a straight read on whether Reveal is the right fit, even if the answer is no.
Where does marketing stall at a construction firm?
Usually in four places. Your reputation is strong with the people who already know you. Growth means winning work from people who don't.
Strangers can't see the difference
Owners, GCs, and architects who have never worked with you compare three similar proposals. When nothing separates them, the lowest number wins.
Lead sources reach the wrong buyer
Search and directory spend, open bid lists, and plan rooms bring in people shopping for the lowest number. The buyers who pay for craft and track record are looking somewhere else.
The marketing person is capable and under-supported
Someone good owns marketing, sometimes on top of another job. Leadership hasn't fully bought in, and no one outside the firm is there to help set priorities, review the work, or say what to stop doing.
The agency reports activity
Clicks, impressions, and cost per lead trend the right way. Nobody has tied any of it to the jobs you actually won.
The call usually follows a trigger. Backlog is thinning. A key GC or owner relationship went away. Ownership is changing hands. A new estimator or business developer can't find the pipeline. Or an agency report looks good and nobody can connect it to the jobs you won.
What does the Diagnostic look at for a contractor?
Five questions, in this order. Each one is answered from your own records, not from assumptions.
Where did closed work actually come from? Repeat clients, GC invitations, plan-room bids, referrals, paid leads. Close rate by source tells you which of these deserve more of your attention and which are absorbing money.
Who are your best-margin buyers, and where do they look? The clients you would clone if you could. What they have in common and how they find a contractor.
Do your proposals and website make the case before the interview? If a buyer can't say why you are different before you walk in the room, price fills the gap.
What do the agency and the ad spend produce? Measured against jobs won, not activity.
What does your internal marketing person need? Direction, backing from leadership, a clear brief to hand vendors, and a way to measure their own work.
You receive an 8 to 12 page Keystone Report that names the real problem in priority order, plus a 90-day action plan your team can start on the day after we finish.
What does the Diagnostic involve, and how much of my time does it take?
Three to four weeks, in three steps. Most of the work happens without you. Your own time adds up to about three to four hours, roughly half a day.
Weeks 1 and 2: Intake. A two to three hour conversation with you about the business, marketing, pipeline, agency relationship, and team. Then an hour each with your sales or business development lead and your marketing lead. No homework beforehand.
Weeks 2 and 3: Independent work. I audit your channels, spend, agency reports, and positioning. Where possible, I also talk with two to four of your clients, such as GCs or owners, about why they chose you, which shows how you actually win work. Your time during this phase is close to zero.
Weeks 3 and 4: Findings. A one-hour session walks through the report section by section, in priority order, along with the 90-day plan. You leave with the report that day. If a next phase makes sense, I'll outline it, and whether to continue is your decision.
What does a diagnostic actually find?
Two patterns from past client work, before the Diagnostic had a name. Details are generalized, and each is labeled for what it was.
Specialty contractor
A contractor serving high-value and architecturally significant properties was competing on price. Its paid search reached buyers shopping for the lowest bid. Its best-margin buyers, who cared about craftsmanship and permanence, were researching in other places, and the spend wasn't following them.
Transportation
A national truck sales company had built its marketing to attract price-focused buyers, and many of its owner-operator customers defaulted within 18 months. It repositioned toward mid-sized fleet operators, and within six months most new accounts were fleet buyers. The same question applies to any contractor whose leads skew toward the lowest bid.
Neither fix was a bigger budget or a new agency. Each started with finding who the buyer actually was.
What does it look like when this is working?
Not a promise of a number. A firm that runs on a clearer picture, better decisions, and a team that knows what to do next.
You know where your jobs really come from. Repeat clients, GC invitations, plan rooms, referrals, and paid leads stop blending into one total. Close rate by source is on the page, in your own numbers.
You worry less about what comes after the current jobs. Business development has a plan and a rhythm, so the pipeline doesn't depend on a hot streak or a single relationship.
Your best-margin buyers become the target. Instead of answering every bid, you build toward the clients you would clone, and you know where they look for a contractor. Less time goes to bids that were always going to the lowest number.
Proposals and your website make the case before the interview. A buyer who has never worked with you can say why you're different, so price carries less of the decision.
The agency answers to jobs won. The brief gets rewritten around pipeline instead of clicks and impressions. It's often the same agency with a different result.
Your marketing lead works from a plan leadership backed. Priorities hold for more than a month, vendors get a clear brief, and the work is measured against something the leadership team agreed on.
The point is less time spent chasing bids and worrying about the pipeline, and more time on the jobs and clients you would choose, in a business that is easier to grow and more profitable. How fast that shows up depends on your market and how quickly your team acts on the plan.
What experience sits behind this?
I'm Rob Higley. Twenty years in B2B marketing, based in Indianapolis, with regular time in Tampa Bay.
Most of my construction-side work has been with the people who build and maintain: commercial builders, custom home builders, electrical contractors, a painting company serving both commercial and residential clients, a landscape design and build firm, and property management and maintenance firms. Most of it came before the Keystone Diagnostic had a name.
I also spent two years building the U.S. marketing for a construction software and services company, whose services arm put professional schedulers on large construction projects. That work earned the company coverage in Engineering News-Record and Construction Business Owner. I manage renovation projects on my own properties, working with local trades and architects in Tampa Bay, so I know how a job runs from permits to punch list.
Reveal works with construction firms in Indianapolis and Tampa Bay.
What happens to the person already doing your marketing?
The company doesn't need to replace them. It needs to stop leaving them alone.
At many firms your size, someone already owns marketing. Sometimes they're early in their career and working without a map. Sometimes they've run marketing for fifteen years or more, know the work cold, and still don't have full backing from the leadership team. I don't replace either one. For the newer marketer, I set priorities, review work before it goes out, and show how marketing connects to the jobs you win. For the experienced one, I bring structure, a fresh set of eyes, and an outside voice that carries weight with the C-suite, so their judgment gets heard.
When the engagement ends, you have a stronger internal operator with leadership behind them, not an empty chair and a stack of documents. For a newer marketer, it can be the first step from doing the tasks to owning the strategy.
What does it cost, and how does it work?
Three phases. Each stands alone, and you can stop after any of them.
| Phase | What you get | Investment | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Keystone Diagnostic | 8 to 12 page Keystone Report and 90-day action plan. Yours to keep. | $7,500 to $12,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| 2. Keystone Blueprint | Positioning, messaging, channel strategy, campaign calendar, team structure. | $15,000 to $22,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| 3. Fractional CMO engagement | Ongoing embedded senior marketing leadership: monthly direction, agency oversight, dashboard with written commentary, team mentorship. | $7,500 to $12,000 per month | 6 to 18 months |
For comparison, a director-level marketing hire runs $120,000 to $180,000 a year plus benefits, and the strategic questions are still yours to answer. The Diagnostic costs about one month of what many firms already spend on marketing, and it answers those questions first.
The engagement ends when your team can run the system without me, not on a fixed date. I don't produce content or run your ads. Executive fees shouldn't pay for production, so I work with your agency or help you find one.
Is Reveal a fit for your firm?
A good fit is a commercial construction or specialty trade firm with roughly $10M to $50M in revenue, a CEO who is personally frustrated with marketing results, and some marketing spend already in place, whether an agency, an internal marketer, or both.
Probably not a fit if you are early stage, if the CEO isn't part of the marketing conversation, or if you want someone to produce content and run ads at scale. If that's the case, I'll say so on the first call and point you somewhere useful.
Questions contractors ask
What does a fractional CMO cost for a construction or specialty trade firm?
The Keystone Diagnostic costs $7,500 to $12,000 and takes three to four weeks. The Keystone Blueprint costs $15,000 to $22,000 and takes four to six weeks. An ongoing embedded engagement costs $7,500 to $12,000 per month for six to eighteen months. Each phase stands alone.
Is the first call free?
Yes. The first call is a free 30-minute conversation. Rob Higley asks about your situation and gives you a straight read on whether Reveal is a fit. It is not the start of a paid engagement, and there is no obligation.
What does the Diagnostic look at for a contractor?
Where closed work came from, who your best-margin buyers are and where they look, whether your proposals and website make the case before the interview, what your agency and ad spend produce, and what your internal marketing person needs. You get an 8 to 12 page written report and a 90-day action plan.
How much of my time does the Diagnostic take?
The Diagnostic takes three to four weeks, and most of the work happens without you. The owner or CEO spends about three to four hours in total, roughly half a day: an intake conversation of two to three hours and a one-hour findings session. The sales or business development lead and the marketing lead each spend about an hour. Where possible, Rob also speaks with two to four of your clients about why they chose you.
Do you replace our marketing person?
No. Reveal gives early-career marketers senior direction and review. For experienced marketing leaders, Reveal adds structure, a fresh set of eyes, and an outside voice with the leadership team. The company keeps a stronger internal person when the engagement ends.
Do you handle the execution, like ads and content?
No. Reveal sets direction, rewrites the agency brief, holds vendors accountable to pipeline results, and mentors your internal team. Executive fees shouldn't pay for production work, so Reveal works with your current agency or helps you choose one.
What size construction firm is a fit?
Commercial construction and specialty trade firms with roughly $10M to $50M in revenue, a CEO who is personally frustrated with marketing results, and some marketing spend already in place.
Do you work with contractors in Indianapolis and Tampa Bay?
Yes. Reveal is based in Indianapolis, with a regular presence in Tampa Bay, and Rob Higley meets with clients in person in both markets.
If something here sounded familiar, it's worth a conversation.
The first call is free and takes 30 minutes. No pitch deck. I'll ask about your situation and give you a straight read on whether Reveal is the right fit. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too.
Not sure you're ready for a call? Start with the Foundation Check. It's eleven questions about your marketing that take about five minutes. You see your score out of 24 right away, and you can print the results or email them to yourself. No email is required.
Book a Free 30-Minute Call Take the Foundation Check