When your creative juices aren’t flowing and you are up against a deadline, turn to two unlikely sources for ad copy inspiration. Many of you can find one sitting right next to you on your wife’s bedside table. The other one you probably see everyday and don’t pay any attention to it, and it is right there in your checkout line at the grocery store.
Regardless of your industry, most contractors have a hard time generating new business. And to make matters worse, the methods they use are essentially copy cat variations of their competitors. Direct mail, door hangers and yard signs all scream “Hire me, I am great and I am cheap!”
However, imagine the following scenario. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, a promising heating and air conditioner contractor goes through a neighborhood knocking on doors. Instead of handing out fliers, he has a free report outlining the benefits of keeping the air conditioner system cleaned and maintained. He says thanks and leaves.
The next week the contractor mails out a postcard to the same people asking them to call a special 800 number to get answers to the top 5 most frequently asked questions regarding how to maintain their heating and cooling system.
Lastly, on the second week, the contractor sends off a bulky envelope to the people. Now this envelope has a refrigerator magnet shaped like a melting ice cube. Across the magnet reads “Keep your cool with XYZ Cooling and Heating Services!” The magnet has the company’s phone number, website, physical address, and email information. With this type of information offering, and consistent marketing approach, a lot of these people will be more likely to call the new contractor because he has provided value before asking for the business. What are you doing to market your business today…this week…this month?
After my week-long series on social media marketing for contractors I received an email from a painter out on the west coast who basically said that social media is bullshit. His business was built on referrals and he is making a good living from that.
To that I say good for you George. But for those of you out there who haven’t found the goose that lays the golden eggs you need to consider social media as another way to spread the word. And I mean spread the word because the days of “build it and they will come” have passed you by.
As someone who has meetings in boardrooms as well as over the hoods of work trucks, one of the most frequent questions I get is how to build a following online. There really is no one answer to that question except for this – no matter where you decide to plant your flag; Twitter, Facebook or YouTube, you need to remember that the days of set it and forget it are gone. In other words, throwing up a website and calling it a day isn’t going to cut it anymore. The best way for you to grow your audience and build a brand is by making yourself a valuable member of existing communities.
You need to find out where the conversations are taking place around your area of expertise and be there fielding questions and supporting that community any way you can for as much time as you possibly can. Because in 2010, the community doesn’t come to you, you have to go to them!