{"id":302,"date":"2019-03-15T07:24:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T11:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovatebuildingsolutions.com\/dealers\/?p=302"},"modified":"2019-08-29T14:09:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T18:09:53","slug":"digital-inbound-marketing-remodeling-contractors-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovatebuildingsolutions.com\/dealers\/2019\/03\/digital-inbound-marketing-remodeling-contractors-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons You Shouldn\u2019t Ignore \u2018Home- Grown\u2019 Digital Marketing for Your Remodeling Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you ever wish you could go back to the \u2018good old days\u2019 of lead generation for your remodeling and building business? You\u2019d do a home show and people would actually <\/em>be eager to sign up for a Free Estimate. You\u2019d run a promotion in your local TV guide (remember those coffee table books?) and your phones would ring off the hook. You\u2019d buy the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages and dominate your market.<\/p>

Oh, how times have changed.<\/p>

Your last home show resembled a ghost town \u2013 except for \u2018Senior Citizen\u2019 day. Those lovely Grandma\u2019s and Grandpa\u2019s only wanted your \u2018freebies,\u2019 and to check out the mobility devises in the aisle next to yours. However, at least the seniors gave you someone to talk to.<\/p>

Your local TV guide went out of publication years ago.<\/p>

Your Yellow Pages is getting thinner and thinner. As a matter of fact, your kids haven\u2019t even cracked one open in their lives (they say it\u2019s as modern as your AOL account and Xbox1).<\/p>

You know you need to get \u2018found on the Internet\u2019 (whatever that means), but those Google and Facebook paid ads aren\u2019t exactly blowing up your day with sales appointments.<\/p>

Since \u2018old school\u2019 marketing techniques (home shows, TV guides and Yellow Pages) have seen their better days and \u2018new school\u2019 techniques (buying Pay Per Click ads on Google, Bing and Facebook) haven\u2019t rocked your world, you may be wondering if there\u2019s a better way.<\/p>

I will argue \u2013 yes there is.<\/p>

This better way is what I call \u2018home-grown digital marketing.\u2019<\/p>

Not sure what home-grown digital marketing is. Ok \u2013 I\u2019ll explain.<\/p>

It\u2019s marketing which gets your prospects and customers calling you (without you spending money). It\u2019s marketing which gets your prospects and customers to know you, to love you, appreciate your expertise and remember you. As you know staying \u2018top-of-mind\u2019 isn\u2019t easy. After all you\u2019re in the \u2018project business.\u2019 It takes time for people to save up and\/or get financing to build a home or remodel a bathroom or kitchen\u2026and when they do you hope and pray, they call you.<\/p>

Home-grown digital marketing keeps you \u2018electronically\u2019 top-of-mind without breaking your bank. First, let me define \u2018home-grown digital marketing.\u2019<\/p>

Home-grown digital marketing <\/strong>is better known as inbound marketing. It\u2019s the methods to drive prospects and customers back to your<\/em><\/strong> digital assets<\/em><\/strong> (and \u2018your\u2019 is the key word here). Those \u2018digital assets\u2019 would be your web site, your blog, your podcast, your videos and last (but certainly not least) your email list.<\/p>

You may ask what\u2019s so special about \u2018home-grown\u2019 digital marketing than other forms of advertising?<\/p>

First<\/strong>, it\u2019s cost-effective. It involves more \u2018sweat equity\u2019 than it does forking over cash from your company checkbook. Less money for Google and Facebook, more profit for you.<\/p>

Second<\/strong>, it builds loyalty. It keeps you consistently in front of prospects \u2013 without being a pain in their butt.<\/p>

Third<\/strong>, it builds YOU up as the expert in your region, your field. YOU become \u2018da man or \u2018da woman others NEED to talk to when they\u2019re ready for a Free Estimate or Design Consultation. \u00a0<\/p>

In this article, I\u2019ll not only present 3 reasons you shouldn\u2019t ignore (this all too-often ignored) \u2018home grown digital marketing, but also specific ideas you can put into practice now. You\u2019ll get ideas to cost-effectively grow your leads and get prospects contacting you for an estimate\/design vs. you hounding them or spending big bucks to advertise to them.

\"\"<\/a><\/p>

Let\u2019s dig in.<\/p>

Reason #1 you shouldn\u2019t ignore \u2018home-grown\u2019 digital marketing \u2013 People aren\u2019t usually ready to buy when you\u2019re ready to sell, recognizing the need for content and an email list. <\/strong><\/h2>

Think how many times you\u2019ve kicked the \u2018digital tires.\u2019 You\u2019ve clicked into a web site researching a product or service you thought was cool, yet ultimately moved on to other things (and sites).<\/p>

Think how many times you went to a home show and didn\u2019t sign up for a Free Estimate (especially for an expensive project) because you knew you weren\u2019t ready to plunk down the dough for it at this time.<\/p>

This doesn\u2019t mean you have ZERO interest in these products or services. What it does mean is you\u2019re in the research stage. You\u2019re ready to be taught, you\u2019re not ready to be sold. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Most building companies \u2013 without even realizing it \u2013 treat the prospect who\u2019s in the research phase as useless. It\u2019s because their web site (or home show) is ONLY about getting Free Design Consultations right now.<\/p>

If you\u2019re confused, here\u2019s what I mean.<\/p>

There is no \u2018mechanism\u2019 on your web site (or in your marketing approach) to encourage your prospect (who\u2019s in the research phase) to continue to learn from you so they\u2019ll remember you when they\u2019re ready to buy. I\u2019ll tell you there is a super-effective way to do this on your web site which is CHEAP (the magic word here).<\/p>

That \u2018home-grown\u2019 marketing technique is to add a \u2018lead magnet.\u2019 What\u2019s a lead magnet, you may ask? A lead magnet can be a button on your web site (or a pop-up) which encourages a site visitor to click for Free information (or samples) in exchange for their email address. It could be something like, \u201cGet 9 Little Known Tips for a Successful Bathroom\u201d or \u201c5 Mistakes with Shower Wall Panels<\/a> You Don\u2019t Want to Make.\u201d

\"Lead<\/p>

When your customer clicks your lead magnet something magical happens for you. They give you their email address and agree to let you market exclusively to them. When you email to them your incremental cost of influencing and educating this prospect is the lovely number of \u2026.<\/p>

ZERO<\/strong><\/h3>

You can take this email approach and set up an automated process to send them 3 more emails about the same subject (say bathroom remodeling or grout free shower wall panels<\/a>). You can also email them the articles you write (more about this in reason #2).<\/p>

From these emails you know what\u2019s going to happen?<\/p>

They\u2019re going to see you (not your competitor, no matter how much money they overspend on advertising) as \u2018da man or \u2018da woman. You\u2019re the expert.<\/p>

Then \u2013 who do you think they\u2019re going to call when they\u2019re ready for a free estimate? It\u2019s not going to be Ghostbusters. <\/em>I\u2019ll take a wild guess and say it\u2019s going to be YOU!<\/p>

Reason #2 you shouldn\u2019t ignore the \u2018home-grown\u2019 digital marketing approach of blogging \u2013 Because it\u2019s harder than ever to stand out from the crowd <\/strong><\/h2>

Would it be more profitable if\u2026<\/p>A) Your prospects came to you because they read your articles and believe you\u2019re the authority in the remodeling or home building business?

or<\/p>

B) You forked over big bucks to advertise a \u2018Super-Blow-Out Sale\u2019 in every local Coupon Magazine to get your phones ringing.<\/p>

If you guessed \u2018A,\u2019 I\u2019m with you. Dropping your prices (I\u2019m assuming you\u2019re actually doing a legit sale) to get more leads can be dangerous because you\u2019re cutting your value and margins. You\u2019ve got to sell more to make the same (assuming you\u2019ve got the people in the field to even get the work done).<\/p>

On the other hand, if you\u2019re seen as the expect, people will pay more for you. After all \u2013 you\u2019re more knowledgeable (you have more \u2018street cred\u2019) than your competitors.<\/p>

How do you get expert status? Consider these ideas<\/p>