Building Momentum

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson explore why construction companies struggle with fragmented marketing and how the lack of strategic marketing leadership causes SEO, PPC, social media, AI, content marketing, and recruiting efforts to operate in silos rather than work toward common business goals. The conversation examines one of the biggest challenges facing construction companies tod...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson explore the importance of consistent brand touchpoints and why every interaction people have with your company contributes to your overall reputation and brand value. The conversation examines how many construction companies mistakenly view branding as logos, colors, and marketing materials when, in reality, a brand is built through hundreds of daily i...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson explore what they call the "Brand Paradox" in construction: Why do construction leaders believe in the power of brands when making purchasing decisions, yet often hesitate to invest in building their own company's brand? The conversation examines how contractors, business owners, and executives routinely pay more for trusted brands like C...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson tackle a question more construction leaders are asking every year: Why are construction CEOs hiring Fractional CMOs? The conversation explores the growing gap between the marketing expertise construction companies need and the marketing resources they typically hire. Ryan and Perryn discuss how many contractors rely on marketing coordinators, proposal...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson dive into one of the most important yet overlooked growth strategies in construction and professional services: defining your Ideal Client Profile (ICP). The conversation explores why many companies struggle with growth, sales efficiency, employee retention, and profitability when they pursue a “we can make it work” customer profile rather than a true...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down a major shift happening across digital platforms: 100% AI-generated content is no longer enough. As Google, LinkedIn, and other platforms evolve their AI-driven algorithms, they’re rewarding true topical authority and penalizing generic, mass-produced “AI slop”. The conversation explores why simply copying and pasting from AI tools is becomi...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down a rapidly evolving issue in the AI marketing world: New York’s new AI transparency law requiring advertisers to disclose the use of AI-generated “synthetic performers” in advertising. The conversation explores what this means for marketers, business leaders, construction companies, and content creators who are increasingly relying on AI-gene...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down a major shift happening across digital platforms: AI-generated content is no longer enough. As Google, LinkedIn, and other platforms evolve their AI-driven algorithms, they’re rewarding true topical authority and penalizing generic, mass-produced AI “slop.” The conversation explores why simply copying and pasting from AI tools is becoming a...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down a growing trend reshaping the construction industry: the rise of fractional leadership. What was once rare is now becoming increasingly common, with companies bringing in fractional CMOs, CFOs, CTOs, and other executives to lead critical functions without the cost and commitment of full-time hires. The conversation explores why this shift is...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson explore a major shift happening in construction and professional services: clients are no longer just using AI to discover companies; they’re now also using it to actively shortlist who they want to work with. The conversation dives into how decision-makers are moving beyond traditional Google searches and using AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and G...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson continue their “1 Thing” series with a focused conversation on digital marketing, specifically websites, social media, and content strategy for construction companies. As always, the goal is to deliver quick, practical insights you can apply to your business right away. They start by answering a deceptively simple question: what’s the most important pa...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson continue their “1 Thing” series, breaking down several of the most common challenges construction companies face as they try to grow and scale. This conversation covers multiple critical areas, including niche market strategy, sales and marketing alignment, missed revenue opportunities, and brand positioning. They start by tackling an important strateg...

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson continue their “1 Thing” series, breaking down the most common issues they see across construction companies. In this conversation, they focus on a critical but often overlooked problem: the lack of a structured approach to hiring, retention, and long-term company value. Most companies believe their hiring challenges come from a shortage of candidates....

In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson introduce a new format called “1 Thing,” where they break down the most common issues they see across nearly every client engagement. And in this first part, they tackle a foundational problem that holds most companies back: positioning and messaging. Almost every company they work with has marketing activity in place (websites, content, campaigns), bu...

When business slows down, most companies point to the same reason: the market is down. But what if the real issue isn’t the economy at all? In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson challenge one of the most common mindsets in construction and B2B industries. Instead of blaming external conditions, they break down why downturns often expose deeper problems in positioning, marketing, and busine...

AI is no longer a future trend. It is actively shaping how buyers make decisions today. In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down a major new statistic from SEMrush: 50% of buyers now use AI in their research before making a purchase. Even more impactful, nearly 70% expect AI to play a bigger role moving forward. This isn’t a slow shift like the early days of SEO or mobile traffic....

Most construction companies approach marketing reactively. A storm hits, a major project gets announced, or a conference begins, and only then do contractors start thinking about how to promote themselves. By that time, the opportunity had already started to pass. In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson discuss a different mindset: building proactive marketing campaigns that are ready before...

Many construction companies start the same way: one rainmaker founder whose relationships, reputation, and hustle bring in all the work. But what happens when that founder steps away? In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson unpack one of the biggest challenges in construction businesses today: transitioning from founder-led sales to a scalable team-driven system built on sales processes, mar...

“What should our marketing budget be?” It’s one of the most common questions construction leaders ask, and one of the hardest to answer. In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down real benchmarks from the AEC industry and explain why percentages alone don’t tell the full story. From 5–6% of net service revenue for typical AEC firms to 7–10% for high-growth companies, the numbers vary...

You might be wasting 30–50% of your Google Ads budget and not even know it. In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down two of the most overlooked and most expensive gaps in paid search: negative keywords and click fraud protection. Too many PPC campaigns are set up once and left alone. Budgets get maxed out every month. Click numbers look strong. But when you dig deeper, a large perc...

Website traffic is down. Revenue is up. How does that make sense? In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson unpack a major shift happening in digital marketing: why less traffic can actually mean better results. With AI summaries reducing clicks and search behavior evolving, many companies are panicking over declining website visits. But as they explain, traffic alone is a vanity metric. What...

Most construction companies treat their career page like a digital job board: list the openings, paste a generic job description, and hope someone applies. That approach is outdated. In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson break down what it actually takes to build a career page that converts, not just collects resumes. Coming off their presentation at the SMPS Southern Regional Conference i...

AI has flipped the script on recruiting in construction and the skilled trades. Candidates are now using tools like ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, and others as "super Google" to run hyper-targeted, sniper-style job searches-factoring in relocation, company size, revenue, specialization (e.g., data centers), and more-often bypassing job boards entirely. Meanwhile, forward-thinking employers are...

Hiring in construction and the skilled trades is no longer just an HR challenge; marketing should help HR recruit your future employees. In this episode, Ryan Kovach and Perryn Olson dive deep into how digital marketing strategies can attract, nurture, and retain top talent in the construction and trades industry. From geofencing job sites and competitor locations to building long-term candidate p...

The construction industry is in a critical phase, where attracting and retaining skilled talent is the largest challenge for a construction company’s long-term growth. With a large portion of the workforce approaching retirement and younger generations choosing different career paths, contractors must rethink how they position themselves as employers. In this episode, we explore how construction c...