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What is marketing in a down economy? How About Marketing for any economy!
I have heard this term used a few too many times and am not sure what it really means. I think a better term to use is, Getting back to understanding what marketing really is by learning marketing in any economy, or Marketing effectively for consistent results makes more sense to me.
I like the phrase that describes marketing as, “Getting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you.” A future client needs to know, like and trust you, before they will ever buy from you, and ultimately refer you, and do repeat business with you.
Marketing in the remodeling and construction industry isn’t for the light hearted, as it takes a consistent, effective, a well planned system to get results. Most remodelers I talk with and work with are very busy in their business building, training employees and with production, so the marketing gets the last bit of energy…if any. This approach isn’t bringing results and the ones that have ignored marketing are feeling the effects. Negative effects. Just like anything that gets neglected, it definitely doesn’t do well…let alone thrive and bring positive results. This is what has changed…the need to pay attention to marketing. The growing companies, profitable ones and stable companies are making marketing as important as sales and production.
Also, I don’t think its todays economy has changed the look of marketing as much as just the way people are communicating and people’s expectations have changed. I don’t look at marketing as a newsletter and bam, my business is doing great now. Far from it.
I look at long time Remodel Buddy member, Paul Klassen of Pinnacle Renovations. He is changing his culture, becoming effective with every move and enhancing his customers experience in a very systematic and consistent way. He is focused on his ideal client. An ideal client is one that is profitable for one. A profitable project that you tell yourself,”if I had 5-10 more of these, life would be good.” The first element of an ideal client is they are profitable projects and the second is that they referred you. Identify these people and find more of them. Develop your core marketing message to reach out and connect with them.
Building an effective marketing plan is about doing many, many little things properly on top of a solid foundation. There isn’t one silver bullet that makes everything click, but there is one element that makes it all possible….an effective strategy with consistent effort. Neglecting marketing is a death spiral in the long run.
The difference between cost and value has narrowed in customers minds, so the need to establish yourself as the “go to company,” “the expert in the industry,” and a remarkable process for delivering the entire project from A-Z ……will be the difference. Educate everyone with your marketing. Marketing that is unique & powerful, plus the ability to differentiate yourself from everyone else is the foundation that is needed to market in any economy. The only thing this economy has taught businesses is the realization that marketing cannot be the part of the business that is neglected anymore.
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I was just working with a renovation firm in Calgary, Alberta named The Pinnacle Group. Paul Klassen is a smart individual and has developed one of Calgary’s premier Renovations businesses. His focus is on Building relationships with his clients and his team is dedicated to that vision. Our marketing efforts have been geared towards enhancing his clients experience, being unique at every turn and creating an advantage. We are tapping into the emotional aspect of his clients and how they make their buying decisions. Why this focus on the emotional aspect?
Many remodeling and home improvement business owners, or sales people, are pre programmed or wired to prove they can be trusted to the customer. Company’s consultants or representatives may expend too much work and time trying too hard to impress others, and in trying to earn the trust factor with their potential clients, that they miss the whole essence of building the relationship with the potential client. We have to remember that remodeling is still an emotional decision and in order in develop a solid relationship with your client, like Pinnacle Renovations, there needs to be a focus on your client.
How many remodeling businesses are showing the cost vs. value report?
Is this really the direction you want to go right now? Is it really? Should we be talking about the investment value or the real reason people are remodeling today…..because they want to make there house a little more like home! An emotional investment. Emotion usually wins every time!
A researched the 1929 stock market crash. Assistant professor Anna Scherbina found that a decade before the crash, there was a booming real estate market in New York city that she says resembles the housing bubble of the 1990’s and 2000’s. She extrapolates from the research that “owning a house is not necessarily a lucrative long-term investment based on its long-term exchange value.”
Nina commented;
I’ll grant her that. During our most recent boom, many people bought and sold houses with the sole purpose of making money. However, most of the public and the government realize that ownership goes beyond making a quick buck. Homeowners are invested in their neighborhoods and have a strong connection to the community. Buying a house also hits us on an emotional level. Some of it is scary–like the panic I felt right after my closing where I wondered “What did I just do?.” But along with the fear comes elation and pride. So researchers can review history and statistics all they want–the true value of buying a house is the enhanced quality of life. Successful remodelers understand that emotional value and use it to help clients create a place they love to call home.
Here is an excerpt from the grad school’s site about Scherbina’s research:
“In a recent radio interview, Scherbina discussed an index of home prices in Manhattan between 1920 and 1939 that she and Associate Professor Tom Nicholas of the Harvard Business School collected by hand from the Manhattan Public Library archives. This data set is informative because the housing market in Manhattan represented 5% to 10% of all the U.S. real estate wealth at that time.
According to Scherbina and Nicholas’ working paper, “Real Estate Prices during the Great Depression,” the prices for a typical Manhattan house increased 62% in a run up of the 1929 stock market crash and then lost 51% of that value by the end of 1933. By 1932 and 1937 the stock market showed signs of rebounding, but real estate did not, according to Scherbina.
A house purchased in 1920 would have lost 51% of its value (in inflation-adjusted terms) by the end of 1939. Scherbina and Nicholas report that it wasn’t until 1960 that housing prices recovered.The upshot for today, according to Scherbina, is that owning a house is not necessarily a lucrative long-term investment based on its long-term exchange value. She explains that given maintenance costs and fluctuations in the real estate market, it is difficult to profit financially.
Scherbina contends investors would do better investing in stocks and bonds because they can spread wealth across diverse investments and have the flexibility to sell some assets when necessary. Home owners, on the other hand, can’t sell some of their house when the economy shrinks, yet families do not value or think of their homes simply as a long-term investment.”
Should we focus on the emotion or cost vs. Value?
Nina Patel-
“So researchers can review history and statistics all they want–the true value of buying a house is the enhanced quality of life. Successful remodelers understand that emotional value and use it to help clients create a place they love to call home.”
My thoughts…
“Should we be talking about the investment value or the real reason people are remodeling today…..because they want to make there house a little more like home!”You decide……….
