Archive for June, 2009

A great tool, as we know, is the internet and our website. As professional contractors it is easy to get caught up in the daily business and operations and easily neglect your marketing strategy or marketing plan. In this day and age, it is more important than ever to be in front of  YOUR customers, in front of your ideal clients. Think about it for a  minute… if homeowners are being more selective, it is even more important for them to know, like and trust you, before they will choose or buy from you. Here is a poll from NARI’s home page that I found. Only 331 people voted, but it is a good indicator of what is important for homeowners when hiring a contractor. 52% of the people that voted, find references most important. 52%! Honestly, I think it is even higher than that. But the bottom line for remodeling professionals, it is more important than ever to market yourself in a way that people get to know, like and trust you. Again, in this new era when someone mentions a company’s name for a product, people search for information on the internet. When talking with friends about a vacation spot, the chances are the vacation spot will be typed in the search engines for more info. Well, homeowners may hear about you as a reference, may see your job sign too, but they more than likely will still want to ” look you up online.” When they look you up online, what will they find? This is the perfect opportunity to earn that know, like and trust with a potential client. We talk about this quite a bit with our members, because it is a normal part of the buying cycle and one ignored too much. Customers want to know more about you in their own environment. When you can position yourself in your industry as an expert, clients will seek you. It used to be good just to have a website. The problem is that if you have a website that isn’t content optimized, your website could be like a house in the middle of the woods without windows, doors or a mailbox – no one knows it exists but you and it isn’t that fun to visit – Opportunity lost. So in the coming couple weeks, we’ll be adding blog posts that talk about how to use your website as a marketing tool that is content optimized and will position yourself within your industry as the expert. On the image below, you’ll see several of the areas we will discuss:

Please subscribe to our blog on the right hand side of this page so that your Remodeling & Home Improvement business won’t miss any of the effective and practical advice that we will be rolling out.

From a marketing standpoint, what we’re saying here is don’t try to be all things to all people. You really must find a target market. That may not sound like news or new information, but it is amazing how easy it is for Remodeling & Home Improvement owners to forget. In many cases, when we ask the business owners to describe their target market, it comes down to anybody they think will pay them. Unfortunately, the problem with that is it becomes so difficult to distinguish your business from another.

All customers want to believe that somebody can truly fill their needs. A good example is a customer looking for the right company for a Kitchen remodeling project. Will the customer choose a remodeling business that works with all homeowners or will they choose a Kitchen remodeling company who has a niche of specializing in new kitchen trends?

If I’m a couple or individual and need to have my kitchen updated, renovated and redesigned,whether his claim is true or not, I will be predetermined to believe that his new kitchen trends business is more suited to fill my needs than a general kitchen, addition and bathroom remodeling company who’s main focus isn’t kitchens. It doesn’t matter if it’s true. It doesn’t necessarily matter if that person who works with kitchen trends has any more special knowledge or experience than the general remodeling company. If you say you work with just anybody, a lot of times your prospects will look at that and say they want to work with the other person who says they work more specifically toward their needs. The problem really comes down to trust. One of your biggest challenges as a remodeling home improvement business is to overcome this lack of trust. They’ve never heard of you. Why should they trust what you have to say? For many people, if they believe you understand them, you serve their needs or if you’ve served somebody just like them, you are more suited to meet their needs. What we’re really asking you is to take a look at your ideal client. For those of you who have been in business for any amount of time, we want you to think in terms of what makes up your ideal client. For many people, it’s as simple as taking a really good hard look at current clientele and looking for common characteristics among their best clients.

For a lot of people that may not be the clients you do the most business with, perhaps. Sometimes it is. It’s great when it is. We want you to really take a good hard look at your existing clients and find some common characteristics with your best clients.

To us, the best clients are those who really trust what you do, who really value what you do and those who really look to your specific expertise in order to bring them the results they want.

We will be discussing this more in length soon….this is just the start of this conversation

In this era, transparency is essential. Your clients want to know, like and trust you. It is important to not only use some forms of traditional media, but also use the new rules of marketing and develop a web presence. A website without harnessing the internet is like a house in the middle of the woods without windows, doors and a mailbox. No one knows it exists but you… Some of the most successful remodelers and home improvement companies we work with are using podcasts, webinars and social media to bring excellent content to their potential clients. It is important to position yourself as an expert in the industry and be in front of them consistently. Finding your ideal client is very important. When you find your ideal client and narrow your focus, you can market yourself much more effectively.