One of the easiest ways to differentiate buzzword-using people who declare themselves “experts” from actual marketing experts is to find proof of their experience in actually getting the work done. Expert status is earned and given to you by your clients, not because you say it.
Construction Marketing
Money follows attention
There never was, and never will be such thing as being overexposed. You remember the line your mom told you about that too much of anything is bad, right? Not when it comes to promoting your business. When the market goes bad we think about cutting back. Cutting back on marketing, cutting back on people, you know the drill. But the truth is that money follows attention. So why scale things back? PUSH ON!
What’s that look like?
Keep marketing, keep pumping out postcards or ads or podcasts or videos or whatever it is you are doing. Don’t think you are overexposing yourself, that’s not your problem. Your problem is obscurity.
Run towards attention. Every chance you can get to be in the spotlight, take it. Social media, traditional media, Youtube, whatever it takes. Say yes to everything. The more attention you get, the more people know your name. And the more people know your name, the more chance they have to buy more of whatever it is that you’re selling.
New Construction Marketing Ideas
Let me start off by saying there are no new construction marketing ideas. The way to win the game is to iterate and improve upon what is already out there. Its the fastest, cheapest way to market. But…
You have to know your numbers
Big company, little company, it doesn’t matter. You have to know where your new business is coming from. Only then can we start a deep dive into how to make that channel work better for you, or improve on it.
If you don’t know or need a hand, we should talk. Get a free, 30-minute call with me and let’s get you marketing a bit better.
The Case for Just One Thing
I am a firm believer in offering just one service…if you can. A lot of contractors want to do everything because they are afraid of missing out. My contrarian point of view (which has been shown to succeed) is to specialize. If you can be the best basement finishing company in your area, do it.
If you like doing bathrooms because you like the cool feel of tile, then go for it.
The benefit of specialization is you become known as the defacto expert in that market for that job type. You get pricing breaks on supplies since you will buy less of everything, but more of some things.
Finally, being the expert in your market will protect you from the deeper-pocketed competition when it comes…and it always does.
Contractor’s Guide to SnapChat
Future Snapchat plans…None!
Only 9% of marketers plan on increasing their Snapchat organic activities over the next 12 months, down from 16% in 2018. A significant 76% of marketers have no plans to use Snapchat, up from 72% in 2018.
This platform is useless, I don’t care what the market tells you.
Source: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IndustryReport2019.pdf
The “Before it’s Too Late” Reality Check
Most contractors I talk to these days are doing well. So, if you aren’t, something is wrong, and it is probably one of these 3 things;
- People
- Product
- Process
You are too close to the situation. You need to find an honest 3rd party who knows what they are doing who can be your voice of reason. Some of the best advice you are going to get will come from someone who isn’t knee-deep in it. Someone who is ‘zoomed out’ is going to help you much more than someone internally who is ‘zoomed in’ on the situation.
Manage the Outcome For Better Customer Service
If, from day one, you don’t manage your customer’s expectations, at some point in the process, you are going to live to regret it, even if it’s something small.
You have all the control over customer expectations, you just give it away as the sales process moves forward.
Remember, no matter what, there IS ALWAYS a sale, either you sell them on buying, or they sell you on NOT buying.
Why You Should Pay Attention to SEO, Just Don’t Die By It!
SEO is something you do to your website. It isn’t a marketing plan. Companies that live off of SEO optimization for lead generation are living on borrowed time.
At some point…and it always does, the search engines will take away whatever favor they’ve shown your site and you will then be faced with the dilemma of building traffic to your site again.
Use SEO, make it part of your site structure, just don’t count on it as a business driver.