Featured

It’s Time to Grow

By Darren Filed Under: Featured

I spent the day at church today going through some classes I needed to take. One of the things we talked about was the seasons and how to everything there is a season, you know, like the song.

This year is the “season” to grow…for all of us

It’s been 10 years now since the market shit the bed in 07-08’, and those of us who lived through it will always remember it. My business was just a few years old and I didn’t know if we were going to make it, but I was going to die trying.

We actually grew and expanded during that time. We added services, I added people to the team, it was a great time to expand. All the people who came on board back then are still with me, and I probably don’t thank them enough for all they do!

But this isn’t about me, it’s about you and your growth and your year and how we can help you

I don’t know about you, but I find myself thinking a lot more about my business this time of year. Maybe it goes along with the change of the season, maybe it’s looking for to change in general, but a lot of time is spent reflecting, and sooner or later, growth, or scaling, is going to pop into my head.

The trouble with scaling is that it is scary

Scaling or growing is when businesses make mistakes. A lot of contractors I know are fantastic at running one project at a time, but add another truck, another crew or another team, and all hell breaks loose.

I spend a lot of time talking to contractors and trying to help them scale. Scale their marketing, scale their businesses, scale their thinking, and the best way to sum it up is like this:

Growing isn’t an accident, it’s the result of last year’s labor bearing fruit today, and next year’s growth will be from what you do today.

Know that shit because it is true!

The act of growing or scaling is broken down into a few distinct components, or the 3 P’s;

1. Personnel

2. Processes

3. Punting

Let’s talk about the bodies first. Just adding people to your business doesn’t give you growth or scale, it just adds an expense. That’s why you have to be absolutely bursting at the seams before you add someone to your team. That way, you are taking some of the edge off of something that was already at capacity, not trying to fill someone’s day with something to do.

If are just now starting to realize that there’s been so much shit that’s fallen through the cracks that you just can’t go on like this anymore, good for you. Your life is actually about to get easier…and your business is about to get better.

Adding the right people to the team frees you up to do the things that will help you scale. Adding the wrong people will be a noose around your neck.

That’s why you have to be committed to growing and scaling. A few bad hires up front (and there are going to be bad hires) usually sends the faint of heart scrambling back to their comfort zone. While this may make you feel comfortable, over the long haul, things will fall through the cracks if they haven’t already.

Hire right, train right, get out of their way and let them do the job you hired them to do. Empowering your team means trusting them with your brand, your business, your name, and it is hard, but it is so worthwhile!

But before you have good people, you better have Number 2., Good Processes!

If you run your business from your head, you are fucked, you just don’t know it. You have no shot at growing or scaling if you don’t have any processes or systems in place.

I can already hear your question…But Darren, if it’s been just me, why do I need a process or a list when flying by the seat of my pants has worked so far?

I will answer you this way; by having processes in place as soon as possible, your job as a manager (even if you are managing just you) gets really easy. Here’s what I mean.

There’s a popular book that’s been around for a number of years now called The Checklist Manifesto, go get that shit right here. In it, the author describes the countless hours an airline pilot trains to become not just proficient at flying his aircraft, but a downright expert in his field.

Pilots train for every possible contingency imaginable and yet, what’s the first thing they do when they put their asses in their seats? They get a pre-flight checklist.

Why?

Because regardless how much training they’ve had, they could never be expected to remember EVERYTHING that is involved with making sure their aircraft is flight-worthy. That’s why they need a checklist.

Same thing for your business. A checklist is the first step to a process, and a process is a proper step you take when you want to scale your construction business.

Processes help the plumber go from one truck to two, systems help the remodeler go from one project at a time to multiple teams.

Instead of wasting time or blowing opportunities, apply simple systems you can manage and then monitor the outcomes, rinse and repeat until it all just works.

You will find the opportunity to add a checklist or a process or a system to almost everything you do, and doing so will give your new team the ability to scale and grow.

Finally, don’t just let people do whatever the fuck works for them. Give them the checklist or the guidelines or the template you want them to follow and make sure your business is functioning properly and the way you want it to, not someone else.

Last but not least…Punting

When I say punting, you probably think football, but it also means to stop doing something, to give up, and I DON’T mean giving up your business.

For example, over at the agency, we are punting direct mail, and without going into all the reasons, I am perfectly fine with it.

You could punt a service or a product.

You could punt a person.

You could punt an expense.

Steve Jobs famously said he is prouder of the things he said no to than any of the things he said yes to. That fucking guy could punt!

By punting certain aspects of your business, you remove dead weight that makes it hard for you to scale. Lean businesses grow lean businesses scale. Business with lots of extra weight just keep adding weight.

Spend the next month or so evaluating what in your business is weighing you down. Is there a vendor who has been a pain in the ass that you’d like to replace? A sub who can’t get their act together? Maybe that Dodge pickup you thought would be a good idea last year is actually killing your budget…punt the fucking thing. Punt it all!

So that’s it…that’s my 3 keys to scaling. People, Process and Punting

You can’t make everyone happy, its your face you shave (or legs, ladies) in the mirror every day. You have to feel good in your own skin, you have to feel good in your own business. But you need to grow. It’s time to stop dicking around and just get by.

Make time for growth right now. Remember, the company you are next year is based on the decisions you make right now! What do you want to be next year? Still in business isn’t a good answer!

Don’t Spork Up Your Business!

By Darren Filed Under: Featured

You may build homes, remodel kitchens or snake drains, but you better know how your customers USE your service. That way, you can fix sporks before they get you into trouble. Don’t know what I am talking about? Watch the video.

How to Use Facebook Right Now to Generate Leads

By Darren Filed Under: Featured, Lead Generation

Life Events; we all have them. The events in our lives are what make us the people we are. Certain events, like a recent marriage or the birth of a child, are life-changing. Those types of events may also mean that we’re going to be buying or remodeling a home in the near future.

Do you see where I’m going with this now? I’m not so boring after all. Your Facebook Ads campaign has to take the life events of your target audience into consideration. Here are a few ideas for laser targeting your Facebook Ads audience based on what’s going on in their lives:

Birthday
Marriage
Anniversary
Pregnancy
New Family Member
New Pet
New Job

As you can see, people use social media to share their lives on a broad scale with their family and friends. That gives us the opportunity to market to them based on what’s really going on right now.

Let’s look at birthdays for example

People don’t stop celebrating their birthday when they hit adulthood. They simply begin wanting bigger and more expensive gifts; like a mudroom or a patio. Let’s say that you know that your local hardware store is going to have a big sale on washers and dryers next month based on the circular that was delivered this week.

Your Facebook Ads campaign can target homeowners with birthdays this month or next month. Convince them that they deserve a new mudroom for their birthday. People who were already considering buying a washer and dryer will be easily convinced.

Other Life Events

Someone just getting married may need to remodel the kitchen or bathroom whereas someone who announced a pregnancy may need to add a nursery. The owner of a new pet could be looking for creative ways to build a dog house, add a deck and pet door, or tuck a pet condo under the stairs. Someone who just landed a new job may need to add a home office. A homeowner whose child just graduated high school or college may be looking to turn the basement or garage loft into an apartment.

We never really know what someone is going through unless they share it on social media. Even then we only see a glimpse into their world. We see areas of their life and opportunities to help them improve their lives.

Facebook Ads Targeting isn’t Just about Clicking Boxes

Yes, choosing your audience based on their volunteered demographic information seems pretty simple, but the words and images you use play a big part in conversion as well. I mean, we are looking at nearly 3 million advertisers on Facebook alone. That’s a lot of competition for just a few ad slots on a single website. We can help you beat the competition and get more eyes on your ads than you can get on your own.

Besides, we know that you have more important things to do than reviewing ad campaign statistics and trying to decipher whether they’re performing well or failing miserably. Let us focus our attention on your Facebook Ads campaign so you can focus on your construction business and scheduling appointments with homeowners who want to hire you.

Target Your Facebook Audience by Using their Life Events

Every Facebook user can document major life events on their timeline, including the birth of a child, a new job, anniversaries, birthdays, relationships, and a new residence. As a business owner and Facebook advertiser, you can use that information to your advantage.

The life events features work best if you combine them with the information that you receive through your Facebook insights page. That page is where you can see who is interacting on your page, based on their age, location, and even their language.

By utilizing the information from your Facebook insights page and adding the life events of the people you are targeting, you can customize your ad so that the appropriate people sees it. This will ensure that you are not spending money that you shouldn’t be, while also guaranteeing that you will have the most conversion rates.

In addition to the life events, you can also choose to target specific interests and behaviors. That means that if you are looking for first-time parents-to-be who are interested in natural and organic products, you can customize your Facebook ad accordingly. The same goes for a business who is looking to target people in their 40s and 50s who are trying to care for their aging parents or people in their 20s who love hiking, nature, the beach, and animals.

The possibilities of choices for narrowing down your target audience is endless, and while it can be good, it can also be bad as you can eliminate almost everyone. You will want to keep your options broad enough, so that you are targeting enough people, especially in the beginning when you are figuring this Facebook ad thing out.

There are numerous ways to choose your target audience on Facebook, but the life events are one of the best features, because it is what a person has either done in the past or is doing in the present. Those life events will guarantee that you are spending your advertising dollars wisely, and hopefully you will begin to see results almost immediately. If not, you can always tweak your Facebook ads, so that you are able to reach your goals as quickly as possible.

Using Facebook’s Business Manager for Life Events

While it would be nice if you could just pop onto your Facebook page and type a few words or insert a video and have your ad go viral, that isn’t the way it works. Instead, there are a few simple steps that you need to take before you are ready to post your marketing ad. Of course, those steps include all the boring and mundane information pages that have your name, address, business name, time zone, and the ever so important billing information. Yes, Facebook does want their money!

You will have an option to add multiple payments, which I highly recommend, in case one of your cards expires, reaches its limit, or some other unexpected event occurs. If you only have one card listed, and your payment doesn’t go through, you are not going to be happy when your advertising is being paused and no new customers are being targeted.

You won’t need to worry about being billed every single day or every single week with Facebook, as they will only charge your card at the end of every month or when your threshold has been reached. Your threshold will be low in the beginning but will increase as you continue to advertise.

Now, I know that this is when many of you are going to begin to panic and fuss and throw a fit. You are going to say that there is no way that you can do Facebook marketing because you will have no clue how much you will be spending each month. At least with a newspaper ad or mailer, you get an up-front fee.

And this is when I tell you that you need to listen and hear all the facts, plus man up and put on your big boy pants. After all, running a business is a gamble and you need to spend a little money to make some money.

When you use Facebook marketing, you can set a spending limit each month. That means that you can control how much you spend on your marketing campaign. So, you will not go over your limit, nor will you lose out on new customers.

Once your business manager account is all set through Facebook, you will be able to add multiple employee users as well as different marketing ad accounts. Each employee can be assigned to specific accounts, while you oversee them all. You will have numerous choices available, yet you will also have the final say on everything that is done for your Facebook marketing ads.

The entire process is easy with step by step instructions, and before you know it, you will have your first marketing ad being seen by your target audience.

Promote Your Blog Posts with Facebook Ads to Reach a New Audience

One of the easiest ways to increase the traffic to your blog is to utilize social media. Everyone has at least one social media account, and they can spend hours perusing what is posted by others. While there is a plethora of social media platforms, one of the most popular platforms is Facebook, and that is why you should be using it to grow your website.

5 Things that Will Help You Create Phenomenal Facebook Ads

Creating a Facebook ad is a little like playing in a sandbox. You never quite know what is going to happen until you have finished the entire creative process. In the sandbox, it is a beautiful sandcastle. With a Facebook ad, it is a marketing campaign that is going to attract thousands or even millions of customers to your business.

Here are 5 items that will help you create phenomenal Facebook ads:

Write an Attention-Grabbing Headline
Your headline should be short, yet clear and to the point. It should also include action words like get and try, and emphasize the benefits of your services or products.

Create a Valuable Offer
People are always going to want what you have if there is something extra in it for them. So, I always say that you should throw in an extended trial period, or a limited time discount offer, or a freebie. No sane person is going to turn down any of that!

Show Proof
No one is going to believe what you have to say. After all, would you believe a stranger that you don’t know?? I know that I wouldn’t! Therefore, you are going to want to show proof. I recommend including testimonials from clients, and descriptions of how many people have benefited from your products or services.

Use Colorful Ads
Now before you start thinking that any colorful ads are good, you should know that certain ads stand out more than others. High-contrast images with strong colors, and light ad images with an almost white background are the two types of ads that stand out the most. All the rest seem to blend into the background and get missed.

Use Carousel Ads
Carousel ads get viewed more than any other type of Facebook ad, and they are perfect because they share more of the story of your business. You can share up to ten images, videos, links, or a combination of them all, so a person can get a better feel for your company. The one recommendation that I have is making sure that your first slide is amazing, so that people want to stick around for the rest of them. Then keep the story consistent, instead of jumping around, and make sure that there is a call of action in each one.

You are going to need to create a few different Facebook ads and test them out to see which one will work best for your business. Thankfully, there are numerous options available with Facebook, and it is easy to switch things up and make changes until you find the ad that reaches the target audience that you want with the conversion rates you need.

So there you have it. A great way to use custom audiences and how to market to them. If you are trying to establish a lead generation campaign to fill in other types of marketing, then using Facebook for leads is a great way to do it. If you’ve tried it and you just aren’t hitting the mark, let’s talk and we can look at the areas of your campaign where you can use some improvement. If you’d rather not be bothered, we can care for your lead generation with custom, exclusive campaigns that are build just for you.

Being on Time Isn’t a Feature, It’s The Ante!

By Darren Filed Under: Featured

Marketing is about fitting a product or service to a need or want. Have a headache? Take an Advil. That’s a need. Thirsty from a full day of swinging a hammer? Have a Bud Light. That’s a want.

Marketing and advertising usually put those two together to create a purchase.

Now, marketing, for the most part, isn’t cheap, especially when you are talking about TV, which is why I am totally gobsmacked by a company in my area who has run spots on morning TV for the last few weeks promoting time.

Being on Time!

Here is how the ad goes;

“Call ABC Heating, we’ll be on time.”

That’s all the spot promotes. Not their great service, not their great craftsmanship, just that their service people will be on time. The work may suck and they may blow their noses on your curtains, but they will be on time.

Being on time isn’t even a courtesy, its fucking expected. The fact that it is the cornerstone of a TV spot blows my friggin mind and pisses me off.

Why?

Because that is the level of expectation John Q. Public has for the home services category, that just showing is a positive experience.

Man…and I thought the bar was set low in the construction marketing sector.

Write About Anything, Someone IS Interested

By Darren Filed Under: Featured

I had a client not that long ago who was in the concrete business and needed new content for their site. That’s when I found myself in a predicament that I am sure a lot of you find yourselves if you have an active blog or newsletter; what to write about.

As a company, we write over 5 million words a year for clients, yes, 5 million, so being short on topics isn’t something we run into often.

But I was writing about fucking concrete!

How impossibly pedestrian could it get?

But…you have to think like your reader, and when you do that, their interests become yours. For example, there’s a concrete that dries fast and a concrete that dries with holes in it and another concrete that looks like a brick.

Point is, there is a shitload to know about concrete, and someone out there is interested in it!

And that’s why you should write about anything. Because somewhere, somehow, someone will want to know about it.

You can write about why you should use screws instead of nails on a deck, you can write how humid it can before paint doesn’t apply properly, or, you can write about writing like I’m doing, and then ask your audience if there is anything specific they need to know or need help with.

Writing for your readers is about helping. You don’t have to be Shakespeare, you are a utility, help people, teach people, even writing about the most mundane things will over time, build an audience, I promise.