About Chad Prinkey
Chad Prinkey is the founder and CEO of Well Built Consulting, and the author of Well Built: How the Top 2% of Construction Contractors Create Superior Value, Profits, and Excellence.
Chad came to Zilker Media at a pivotal moment: a new book deal signed, a consulting practice built on niche expertise and ambitions to become the go-to voice for operational excellence in construction.
“I had just written a book and Zilker Media’s’s team helped me to amplify my message across a great set of highly targeted media outlets that put the book, and our brand, on the map. We’ve far surpassed our book sales goals and have more that doubled our client base since our engagement. Zilker Media’s efforts played a significant role in that story.”
Chad Prinkey
The Challenges
Serving Two Goals at Once — Without Sacrificing Either
Chad needed a PR strategy that could serve two goals simultaneously: driving warm inbound leads for his consulting business, and building the kind of broad-based authority that comes from being seen in the right rooms.
Construction consulting is a trust-dependent, relationship-driven business. A general contractor doesn’t hire a consultant after seeing one ad — they hire someone whose name they keep encountering in the places they respect. The challenge was not finding one big splashy moment, but manufacturing a compounding body of credibility — the kind that means when a construction executive googles “construction business consultant,” Chad Prinkey is who they find and trust.
The Solution
A Dual-Track Strategy: Industry Depth + Business Authority
Zilker Media deployed a dual-track strategy: deep penetration into construction industry micromedia — the trade publications, podcasts, and industry associations where Chad’s ideal clients actually spend their attention — alongside strategic pursuit of larger business media that would build Chad’s authority beyond the construction bubble.
Zilker ghostwrote bylined articles for key trade outlets, pitched Chad as an expert source to business journalists, and booked him on podcasts ranging from contractor-specific shows to nationally syndicated entrepreneur platforms. The Well Built book served as a connective thread throughout: a hook for podcast hosts, a reason for award submissions, and a proof of depth that no amount of press releases can replicate.
Services Provided
- Earned Media & PR Strategy
- Ghostwritten Bylined Articles
- Podcast Booking & Placement
- Expert Source Pitching to Business Journalists
- Book Amplification & Positioning
- Award Submissions
- Conference Speaker Applications
- LinkedIn Remarketing Strategy
The Execution
Hitting Both Verticals -- Simultaneously, Over Six Months
Zilker Media pursued construction trade media for lead flow and business media for authority at the same time. Trade placements proved Chad understands the contractor’s world from the inside. Business media placements — including a CNBC feature and a live TV segment — signaled that the broader business world takes him seriously, too.
Zilker also submitted Chad for conference speaker applications at major industry events and developed a strategy using personalized consideration videos to strengthen future applications. The Well Built book was submitted to industry awards, creating additional credibility touchpoints beyond press coverage. Chad Prinkey had more than a media list — he had a body of work that could be pointed to, shared, and built upon.
The Results
"Doubled our client base since our engagement."
What Zilker Media built for Chad Prinkey was not a media list — it was a reputation architecture. On one track, placements in Construction Executive, Modern Contractor Solutions, CONEXPO-CON/AGG’s newsletter, and AWCI put Chad’s expertise directly in front of the 40,000+ contractors, executives, and owners who are his actual clients. These weren’t vanity hits. They were bylined articles and reported features in the publications his buyers read every week.
On the other track, the CNBC feature changed what kind of authority Chad could claim. Being quoted in a national business news story on immigration reform and the U.S. construction labor market repositioned him — not just as a construction insider, but as someone whose perspective on industry economics carries weight at a national level. That’s a different conversation to walk into. The live Ticker News TV segment and the Valiant CEO and Authority Magazine features extended that credibility further into the business mainstream.
The podcast campaign ran both lanes in parallel. School for Startups reaches 160,000 listeners across 75 AM/FM stations. David Meltzer’s Office Hours draws from a 900K+ following. Those appearances sit alongside Construction Champions, Construction Disruption, and Blueprint Boost for Contractors — shows built specifically for the audience Chad is trying to reach. The combined effect is the same name appearing in very different rooms, reinforcing credibility from multiple directions at once.
The Well Built book earned a Best of Small Business Award win, giving the book a life beyond the launch moment and continued SEO and credibility surface area. Speaking applications at CONEXPO-CON/AGG, SEBC, and ACCA 2026 extend the campaign into live stages where Chad can own a room, not just a byline.
The through-line in all of it is trust built at scale. And the business results followed. Chad has more than doubled his client base since the engagement began, and Well Built surpassed its book sales goals — outcomes he credits directly to the campaign. In his own words: “Zilker Media’s team helped me to amplify my message across a great set of highly targeted media outlets that put the book, and our brand, on the map. Zilker Media’s efforts played a significant role in that story.”
When a construction executive encounters Chad Prinkey’s name in Construction Executive, then hears him on a podcast, then sees a CNBC mention on his website — that’s not luck. That’s a strategy working exactly as designed.