In 2025, the marketing landscape for AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) businesses is rapidly evolving. Contractors are faced with new challenges as they navigate the digital world—often without the expertise or resources to drive results. At Company 119, we understand the unique challenges of AEC businesses, especially commercial contractors, and we’re here to help you overcome them. From resolving fragmented marketing to redesigning outdated websites, we’ve got the solutions you need to break through and thrive.
Let’s dive into the most common challenges contractors face in their marketing efforts—and how you can tackle them head-on to grow your business.
In many AEC organizations, marketing responsibilities are fragmented and divided across various team members or departments. Larger organizations may have a marketing manager or director juggling proposal writing, website management, event planning, and employee relations—while smaller companies often have leadership or administrative staff handling marketing as an afterthought. This fragmentation can lead to marketing efforts being pushed aside: For example, if you’re a longstanding company, you may think, “Our reputation is solid, we’ve been around for decades—marketing just isn’t a priority right now.” While this attitude may have worked in the past, it’s increasingly limiting in today’s digital-first world.
How to Solve It: Streamlining your marketing responsibilities is key to staying competitive. With a clear strategy and the right resources, you can optimize your marketing operations to better allocate your time and efforts. If marketing is new or overwhelming, consider partnering with an experienced digital marketing agency that can take the lead on your strategy, content, and execution—so your internal team can focus on what they do best.
AEC businesses are constantly preparing proposals for RFPs (Requests for Proposals). This means they need up-to-date case studies, project profiles, and other assets to include in every proposal. However, without a streamlined content management system, the content used in proposals can become inconsistent with what’s on the company website. Manually updating both assets takes time and is prone to errors.
How to Solve It: Investing in a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system, like OpenAsset, and integrating it with your website can help ensure that your content is always up to date. By centralizing all your assets in one place, you’ll save time and maintain consistency across your marketing materials—whether they’re online or in proposals.
For many contractors, especially those who haven’t yet embraced digital marketing, the confusion about where to start can be overwhelming. When digital marketing isn’t a familiar part of your business strategy, it’s difficult to prioritize what’s most needed. Should you focus on lead generation? SEO? Social media?
How to Solve It: Starting with a comprehensive digital marketing audit can help you identify the key areas that need attention. By evaluating your website, content strategy, and digital tools, you can create a roadmap that aligns with your business goals. This approach will not only help you get started, but also give you clarity on how to prioritize your marketing efforts for maximum ROI. If you’re feeling stuck, partnering with an experienced marketing team in the commercial contracting space—like Company 119—can provide the guidance you need to launch a results-driven strategy.
For many AEC businesses, an outdated website isn’t just an aesthetic issue—it’s a deeper problem tied to back-end website limitations, slow performance, and lack of control. Many contractors wear too many hats, and managing a website often falls to the bottom of the priority list. Even worse, some are stuck with sites that are heavily reliant on the agency that built them, making even small updates a costly or time-consuming hassle.
How to Solve It:
Work with a digital agency who doesn’t just build websites, but trains and empowers your team to manage them efficiently. At Company 119, our approach ensures that you’re never locked into a system you can’t control, giving you the flexibility to keep your digital presence as sharp as the work you do in the field.
Introducing new services—such as building automation, energy services, or virtual design—can be challenging in the AEC space, especially when your customers may not be familiar with these technologies. They may be reluctant to embrace something new, resulting in missed opportunities to grow your service offerings. Or maybe your customers are eager for these new technologies, but they aren’t seeing anything about them on your website or marketing channels.
How to Solve It: Marketing new services requires clear, targeted messaging that educates your audience. Consider creating content—like blog posts, videos, and case studies—that explains the value of these new services in terms they can relate to. Use storytelling to demonstrate the tangible benefits, and don’t forget to incorporate testimonials from clients who’ve seen success with these solutions.
We know there are many more challenges we didn’t list above. But it’s clear that, in 2025, the AEC industry is moving rapidly towards digital transformation. Commercial contractors who embrace these changes and address common pain points—such as fragmented marketing, outdated websites, and confusion about where to start—will have a competitive advantage.
If you’re ready to get started or need help navigating that marketing maze, we’re here to help.
