ForConstructionPros.com

When Mike Musto was in college he knew he wanted to own his own business. He didn't know what type of business, but he did know one thing about it: It would be driven by marketing.

"We've always been a marketing-driven company," Musto, president of U.S. Seal-Coat/U.S. Paving, says. "I know the value of marketing and not only do I believe in marketing but I can justify our marketing efforts by pointing to our growth. The marketing we do sets us apart from the competition, and that's helped us get to where we are today."

Musto started U.S. Seal-Coat in 1985, when he bought himself a trailer-mounted sealcoating unit from Neal Mfg. and started doing driveways. The company subcontracted paving and striping work but eventually brought those services under their corporate umbrella when they became a full-service paving and pavement maintenance contractor in 1994. Today the company (U.S. Paving is a subsidiary of U.S. Seal-Coat) employs 120 people and offers paving, patching, sealcoating, crackfilling, and striping from three locations: Woburn, MA; Plymouth, MA; and Hartford, CT. Musto says 90% of the work is for commercial or industrial clients with 10% done for residential customers.

Throughout its existence U.S. Seal-Coat/U.S. Paving has relied on a vast array of marketing efforts, and today the $16 million operation continues to drive its growth by marketing its services -- using cold calling, direct-mail, billboards, radio and television advertising, and a slick web site, and a vanity phone number -- throughout New England.

He says that when U.S. Seal-Coat first opened its doors most contractors in the market didn't have a professional brochure, so U.S. Seal-Coat put one together.