Welcome to the ultimate small business marketing resources website. If you’re a small business owner… you’re in the right place. Grab a cup of coffee, relax, and take a look around.

There is a whole vault of resources here to help you improve your marketing skills.

• Free report: Marketing Overview.
• Guide to internet marketing.
• The Marketing Manual for Today’s Information Age.
• Educational videos.
• Audio tutorials.
• Hundreds of informative blog posts on marketing for small business.

So feel free to take a look around and see if you can find that one valuable tip you can use today to land that next project!

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing

Where They’re Still Building Strong in the US.

In this recent article from BusinessWeek, we get the inside scoop on America’s 20 Strongest Building Markets.

Some are due to recent storms, some because of an influx of population; and yet others are due to factors such as recovery funds and even *GASP* a strong economy.

Builders: If you’re miserable where you are and your market is in the tank for the foreseeable future…do you ever think about picking up and moving to where the action is?

Those of you who live in these areas are cursing me right now. But, well, sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands and take some action, right?

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Builder Marketing, Construction Jobs, Construction Marketing

If you are trying to master your marketing because you want to grow your construction business, you’ve come to the right place.

This blog is a vault of resources that you can use to get your marketing plan humming along nicely, so you can spend your time focusing on your actual business, and what’s important in life. (Imagine that, right?)

Rather than pulling your hair out trying to find that next project, you can put a marketing system in place to help “automate the process” and get a steady stream of new targeted leads flowing in.

There are some great FREE resources available in the blog posts below. But don’t just take my word for it…read for yourself and decide. The goal here is to give you at least one marketing idea you can apply RIGHT NOW to your business to help you bring in new projects.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing Resources

I keep getting a kick out of how so many people keep talking about Twitter, Facebook and social media (et al.) like they are ridiculous time-wasters, unable to be comprehended by a reasonable, practical, effective person.

Are you one of “those people?”

I got the headline for this post from an article in Wired Magazine, talking about the difference between Jimmy Fallon interviewing a Twitter guru, compared to Charlie Rose doing the same. Rose’s interview is referred to as seeming like an episode of “Grandpa Learns of the Magic Computer Box.” Jimmy Fallon, on the other hand, is doing his best to stay current and understand these modern social tools.

Which camp do you fall in? Social media hater, or social media participant?

The Case Against Social Media

For those of you pessimists, you can read this article about how Facebook may risk the effects of “infantilizing the human brain.”

Quote from the audio in the above article:

“Every generation is phobic about the effect of new technology on the morals of the next.”

She goes on to discount the application of this phenomenon concerning social media, and why this time it’s different.

So, you can find good information in both camps.

My point, relative to Construction Marketing, is this:

You can either grump around, refusing to understand or participate in the new social media trends, and fall behind. OR, you can experiment and try to find cool new ninja ways to use this stuff to expand your relationship base and perhaps even grow your business.

It’s your choice. If you want to remain a grinch about it, I totally get it.

But the truth is, this social media stuff is all just a new, very powerful way of communicating with the world. And it’s trending like a juggernaut.

So ask yourself: Do you want to waste time throwing a futile tantrum about how you think it sucks, and you want to go back to the “good old days” of wasteful, one-sided shotgun marketing?

Personally, I’m going to keep my eyes on the horizon, and scoop up what I can along the way.

Now go follow me on Twitter.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing, Social Media

Merlin Mann of 43Folders.com and InboxZero.com talks about the book he is writing on productivity, in your inbox and in your life.

I’m Writing a Book. from Merlin Mann on Vimeo.

For those of you contractors and construction marketing enthusiasts who are trying to get good at using online video to market your blog and/or your business, there’s more: Pay attention to how to be compelling with just yourself, the wall behind you, and whatever food you have on your desk.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing, Productivity

There are some great insights in this book. It’s a book about networking…sort of.

The general principle is that by cultivating just three key relationships in your life, you can turbocharge your success, overcome all obstacles, and reach your highest dreams and aspirations.

The key is to first find three people who you think have the potential to see your life in the “big picture” and provide honest, forthright insights in a safe, non-critical environment. He calls these relationships “Lifeline Relationships.”

Here are Ferrazzi’s four key mindsets that one needs to learn and practice in order to to cultivate lifeline relationships:

1. Generosity

2. Vulnerability

3. Candor

4. Accountability

It all starts with generosity. When you give away value with no expectation of return, you build trust and gain many benefits from the “transaction.”

So, you start by being very giving and generous.

Next comes Vulnerability. The principle here is that when you open yourself up and let down your barriers to a person, they tend to react in-kind by doing the same. You establish mutual understanding.

Candor is third. In order for the lifeline relationship to see it’s full effects, you must both be willing and able to have complete candor. Constructive candor. Truth and acccuracy about the over-arching restraints, limitations, and shortcomings of one another, with a mind toward true achievement and improvement.

Finally, there’s Accountability. This one may seem obvious to some. It’s based on the same principles of recovery groups and many other programs based on improving lives or dealing with obstacles. No one can do it alone, in other words. We need core peer groups to help hold us accountable.

Now, if you’re anything like me and you have serious tendancies to lean toward independence and individualism, some of this might make your hackles go up. Believe me, I feel the same way. I would much rather go it alone, and take my chances, thank-you-very-much.

But I see the benefits of this type of thing. I can see how, in my life, there are huge opportunities for me if I incorporate some of these ideas and put them into practice.

How does this relate to business and life as a contractor, builder, or construction company?

Well, I can see some real practicality here. For example, as a contractor, could you imagine a situation where it would benefit you to have someone who can tell you where you might be dropping the ball with how your present yourself to clients? Or could you see how it might be helpful to get an outsider’s perspective about your company’s image to the general local population, and how that might be improved with only a few minor changes?

Wow, I sure can imagine some ways this could help me in my business.

How about you? Do you have your lifeline relationships humming along? Does anyone have your back?

“Honest selling: Two words not often found in the same sentence, much less in the same breath. Maybe it’s time for a breath of fresh air — and the intake starts with you.”

Starting off with a bang! I am loving it.

She goes on to give some specific rules and guidelines we should all use in our day-to-day sales and marketing activities.

Here’s more great stuff from Stanley’s article:

“Tell the truth on the sales call.

“In tough times, character is tested. It can be tempting to sell something you know isn’t of highest value for the client, particularly if the prospect doesn’t know what he doesn’t know….”

“….She didn’t close a sale that day. But she did close a relationship, and now is regarded as a trusted adviser.”

This is a “direct hit” for many in the construction industry.

As a contractor, the biggest monkey you will ever have on your back is the Trust Monkey. If you don’t establish trust, you don’t sell squat.

More than that, if you don’t retain trust the majority of the time with your clients, you will ultimately end up in the tank.

Establishing yourself as a trusted adviser is something I talk about a lot. If you pay attention, you will find this “trusted adviser” approach recommended by many respected leaders in the marketing and sales world.

How do you establish yourself as a trusted adviser? This would be a good start:

1. Focus 100% of your attention on the best interest of the client.

Literally go into sales situations like you don’t have anything at all invested in the situation. You will do what’s best for this potential client. After you listen, build trust, and find out the root truth about what this person really needs and wants, you are literally ready to refer him to your own worst nemesis…if that ends up being the best thing for his situation.

Actually follow through with this step. You will be amazed at the level of trust you can establish.

2. Give, give, and give some more.

What, as far as knowledge or expertise goes, is the single most valuable thing you have access to that would help this client the most in the shortest amount of time?

Find that, and give it away to him as fast as you possibly can.

When you provide awesome value up front, with no strings attached, people will buy from you.

You become a resource, an indispensible ally, a trusted advisor.

Don’t take my word for it. Just give it a go one time, and see what happens. What do you have to lose?

Technorati Tags: Construction Sales and Marketing

This week’s theme is “Networking.”

There are also a few other really effective tips I have used to skyrocket my marketing effectiveness in the past few weeks.

Have a listen by clicking below:

Credits and huge thanks go out to:

1. Keith Ferrazzi, my new hero and trusted guru.

2. My dog Amos for listening patiently while I recorded this.

3. Moo Shu Chicken, for fueling this event, and generally being a great new friend to me.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing Podcast