Archive for September, 2009

Operating a successful Remodeling & Home Improvement business relies on doing a lot of little things properly. In order to establish a consistent and repeatable success there is a need for a design. The design for a successful business is having the proper processes and systems in place.

Just like when you are working on a project, there are certain steps that need to be followed. When a Kitchen is being remodeled, the cabinets won’t be installed before the design is finalized. I am sure that if a client needs to be invoiced, there is a certain process you will follow. The actual construction process has certain steps that have to be followed and perfected to ensure a consistent and repeatable success. The same applies for effective Marketing.

Thats right, marketing is a system. …not an event. Most business owners fall prey to the “marketing idea of the week” and never seem to produce any significant marketing results with this chaotic approach to the most important facet of their business.Don’t spend another dime on wasted advertising until you develop and implement a strategy and a consistent approach to your marketing efforts.

Remodel Buddy has two experienced marketing coaches that implement Duct Tape Marketing Principles. Duct Tape Marketing® is the first small business marketing program that treats marketing as an integrated system. At the core of the system is a series of steps and strategies, in various stages, that any business, regardless of size, can use to finally produce stunning returns from a consistent marketing effort. That’s why Duct Tape Marketing has been called the World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing. Duct Tape, because it sticky. Every tool box needs Duct Tape. Remodel Buddy uses Duct Tape Marketing to focus results 100% on the remodeling industry.

Here is an example of the marketing process. This is a simplified version of how a hourglass would look.

 

As you can see the natural progression of the flow – know, like, trust… (flows to the right), the information to move the process forward is provided below each step. If you can identify your current process, current customers, many Remodeling and Home improvement companies will find big gaps in their processes of getting someone, who has a need, to know, like and trust you.

But, when you have an effective marketing system in place the process expands from – getting someone, who has a need, to know, like, trust you, to having someone try you, buy from you and refer you. This will benefit into a consistent and repeatable success- a System.

One purpose of the hourglass is to provide clarity to your customers & clients in your marketing process. This gives you the ability to walk a prospect through the process, understanding where they are at in the process. The secret to this is that you really forces you to layout your marketing process and is really the beginning of development of your marketing system that is effective in every area. It is a system that is about understanding and doing all the little things properly and better than everyone else

Would you like a simple way to see how your Remodeling business is listed at Google, Yahoo, and other top local search engines? Each of the search engines have their own “online yellow pages.” If you simply take the time to update your business profile – add information about your services, hours of operation, add a photo or video to your profile – you will improve your ranking and more folks will find you… Keep in mind:

New research shows that 77% of US adults use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services. ~ Kelsey Group

For a free and easy tool to see how your Remodeling business profiles are doing on the major search engines, go to: www.getlisted.org

I was recently on a forum thread at Remodel Crazy and really enjoy the topics they discuss over there and the sites creators Paul & Rory invest a good amount of time in the industry and I commend them for that. I wanted to post my comments on the topic, branding, because I think this is a discussion that should be taken to heart. This is in a members area that people must register for, so in order to participate in the forum and you are a contractor, please register. I could invest quite a bit of time talking about marketing-branding, but maybe if you would, just let me start with some decent info on branding and see if it is of interest. This is just to get some ideas out to you. What Does Your Company message say about you? This is a great benefit of Duct Tape Marketing from John Jantsch and something we implement consistently. Lots of remodeling/Hme Imp. owners are intimidated by the thought of marketing their businesses. The buzzwords and flash associated with “marketing” often make embarking on a do-it-yourself marketing effort seem daunting. But don’t let that fear distract you from the goal of educating your customers and potential customers about your business. In your day-to-day business, you focus on what your customers need and how you can provide them with that. That is what your marketing should focus on, too. Too many marketing messages focus on the company rather than the customer. So as you craft your marketing strategy and materials, keep the customer top of mind. Here are some ideas that will help you take that customer-driven attitude and translating it into marketing:

Today’s marketing requires lots of content, lots of education, and lots of trust-building via expertise sharing. The tri-fold brochure just doesn’t cut it anymore. Today’s smart marketers think in terms of information products more than marketing collateral — education over selling rules the day. The best way to tap this necessary marketing shift is to think in terms of kits or suites of information. The most practical approach for the typical small business is the creation of on-demand, flexible and personal marketing kits, press kits and new customer kits. These multiple page-documents, often housed in a pocket of a custom file folder, allow you to tell the entire story in a range of formats that take in the learning styles and personalities of a broad range of prospects.

A typical marketing kit might include the following pages: Your core differences: Use one page to outline 3 or 4 key ways that your remodeling business is different. Make these the most important value benefits and not sales mumbo jumbo. Your products/services: You do need to tell your potential client what it is you have to offer. Success stories: Profile a number of successful customer engagements and try to involve your customer as much as possible and share specific results if you can. FAQs: You know the kinds of questions that get asked or should get asked — list them for those readers that are looking for a specific bit of information. Processes and checklists: Show proof of how you get the work done in a professional manner by sharing your process maps and checklists as marketing documents. Your company story: Everyone loves a good story and everybody has one. Share your personal story, why you do what you do, and make a deeper connection with prospects. Testimonials: Let your customers sing your praises and let your prospects see this third-party validation. Articles: If you’ve published articles or received some great press, include copies of these in your kit. A new customer kit can include information on: Key contacts: List everyone that your customer might need to contact. How your process works: Set the expectation for what will happen next so that there are no surprises. What you need from the customer: If you need information from a customer or need to set a meeting, let them know what to do to get started. How your billing works: Let them know how your billing works, how you expect to be paid. This demonstrates your professionalism and can help avoid misunderstanding after the work is done. A basic press kit should include: Overview: This should be solid background information, not a sales pitch. Key staff bios: Let everyone know the key facts about people in your organization that they may need to interview ( with photos). Suggested questions: In some cases if you are noted expert- a unique process -you can aid journalists by listing important questions. Potential story ideas: You should be thinking of these at all times internally, but you may also want to develop some key story ideas that tie into themes and industry trends. Customer stories: Journalists love success stories, so profiling your customers and offering their success stories to journalists can be a win for all parties. The flexible nature of these kinds of information products make them easy to change, grow and personalize almost on a case by case basis. In addition, this is exactly the type of education-based content that should be going on your website in an effort to build visitor trust and search engine attention. So, I ask you. What are you doing to brand yourself?