2016 vs 2026: What’s changed in construction PR?

1) Influencers 

Back in 2016, it was relatively unheard of to work with ‘influencers’ in construction. Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun and brands were leveraging relationships with influential partners to reach their target audiences, but it didn’t resemble influencer marketing as we know it today.  

It wasn’t until a couple years later that construction brands – mostly targeting the trades – started tapping into a new wave of B2B content creators. For example, in 2018 at Tangerine we worked with plumbing influencers to launch a beer for the trade for push-fit plumbing brand Hep2O and have continued to deliver influencer campaigns for various built environment brands ever since. 

Fast forward and it’s become the trending tactic in construction marketing. In fact, in the past year alone, Google searches for ‘construction influencers’ have increased by more than 1,000%. More and more companies are waking up to the power of influencers – be they celebrities, personalities in the trade, industry experts, or even trade bodies – in helping them achieve their business objectives. And this trajectory is only expected to continue. What’s more, as we’re often working in quite niche professional communities, influencer work doesn’t have to cost the earth – indeed it’s often advantageous to work with micro- or nano-influencers who have a smaller yet highly engaged audience.

2) AI 

No surprises here. I won’t bore you with the debates you’re well aware of, but it can’t be ignored that AI has shaken up construction PR in recent years – especially in the past three years with the advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot. Now, 76% of PR professionals report using generative AI as part of their work. Research, content creation, media relations, measurement, crisis management – just about every PR workflow has been impacted by AI, for better or for worse. 

But I wanted to focus on one shift that will underpin earned activity in 2026 and beyond. SEO has been usurped by GEO, Generative Engine Optimisation – the practice of crafting digital content so that generative AI tools can access, understand, summarize and cite it when generating responses to user queries in the tools themselves or in search engines. AI summaries now dominate the first pages of search engine results, with web page results now further down the pecking order, so you want your brand’s content to be included. 

How do you do this? Generative AI systems choose what to cite based on clarity, authority, structure and credibility. So, there’s a greater need than ever to publish content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) and to do so through earned mentions in reputable media. Encouraging for those construction marketing professionals who already have a solid thought leadership programmes; a warning for those who don’t. 

 3) Multimedia 

In 2016, multimedia was still viewed somewhat as a nice-to-have – something that might bolster a story for media, but not a must. Now, it’s an essential component of PR and digital communications. Visual and interactive formats – video, audio, infographics, animations – are critical for capturing attention on owned, earned and paid channels.  

In the context of construction, many target audiences are consuming and searching for content on mobile, from architects scouring industry round-ups on their commute, to tradespeople catching up on social forums in the van between jobs, and everyone in between. Just because they’re not at work, doesn’t mean their attention isn’t there to be won.  

Speaking of social: the rise of social as a primary communication channel has made competition fierce in the fight for attention on congested feeds. Social algorithms actively reward visual formats, especially video, and particularly those that are hyper-relevant to the target audience and whose storytelling keeps the viewer engaged. To stay ahead, construction brands must innovate and design their content in such a way that will stop the scroll, hold the viewer’s attention, and cut through all the noise. 

 4) Construction on purpose  

Gone are the days when you could simply market your product or service and expect the leads to come. Over the past decade, it’s become ever more important for audiences to feel an affinity with a brand’s purpose if they’re to tip over to becoming a customer. Sustainability, community, innovation, safety, wellbeing – whatever the core drivers of your brand, you must stand for something and do so with clarity and consistency.  

And this isn’t just PR fluff. It has a measurable impact on sales. 59% of B2B buyers say brand thought leadership influences who they do business with; audiences are 84% more likely to act if brand-level content precedes product ads; and customers who have an emotional connection with a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value and will recommend the company at a rate of 71%, compared to the average of 45%.  

It sounds obvious – you’re more likely to be persuaded to purchase if you’re already familiar with a brand and what it’s all about – but far too many companies are still focusing only on sales and lead-gen campaigns, without the brand-level activity to warm those audiences up. B2B buyers are only in market 5% of the time, so it’s what you do for the 95% that counts. 

 5) Measurement  

PR has historically been seen as a bit of a ‘cloak and dagger’ domain – we knew it worked, but could we properly prove it? In 2016, perhaps not. Despite already being largely disparaged, many were still using advertising value equivalents (AVEs) to measure the value of their media coverage. And it wasn’t always clear to stakeholders how results on social media or at events, for example, were really making a difference commercially. 

We’ve come a long way in the past decade. Now, PR measurement frameworks are more sophisticated than ever. We’ve never been so well equipped to prove that PR strategies are business-critical have a demonstrable impact on the bottom line. And with budgets being increasingly scrutinized in a challenging economy, any comms activity must be laser focused on business goals and achieve significant ROI. These advances are helping the construction marketing community to show just how imperative our discipline is. Plus, with AI making data gathering and analysis more efficient, we can focus even more on evaluating said data and using these insights to deliver even greater impact.