How to cut the fat & waste from your marketing budget and at the same time increase your sales by up to 30% in 90 days.

The business owners I talk to on a day-to-day basis are usually in one of three categories:

• Their business is OK but they want to do better.

• Their business is stagnant, flat-lined, no growth in sight.

• Their business is declining.

Where is your business today?

Here are some of the most effective local marketing techniques for service businesses:

1. How is the business handling existing traffic? Are people getting a warm friendly welcome and excellent follow-through? This is a VERY common problem. Everyone is so obsessed with Google traffic but then they have a site that won’t convert for squat, no clear compelling offer, and terrible phone answering infrastructure. A friendly voice goes a LONG way.

2. DATABASE: Does the business have automated follow-up to it’s database of customers? A fun, entertaining, engaging newsletter is cheap, extremely effective, and can foster referrals quickly. This can be automated. If I had a database of 100 clients as a builder and could only do one marketing effort, it would be this.

3. Sales training for all staff (or the business owner). More balls are dropped in this phase than anywhere else. Everybody thinks they are just naturally good at sales, but having a sales system is paramount.

4. Asking existing clients for referrals. Don’t offer anything in return, but then thank them and maybe send a little gift if they refer people. The single most effective thing a builder could do right now is just sit down in front of the phone and start calling past clients with the intent to get into friendly appreciative conversations and then ask for 3 names. You will call their friends and offer to come inspect their home for XYZ important preventative whatever. Or you could offer an educational lunch-and-learn on a topic of “How to Increase Curb Appeal” or “How to Maintain Your Home to Prevent Lost Home Value” or “Easy DIY Green Home Makeover” or something compelling. Have them come to your local library or Whole Foods or something and talk to them for an hour about your topic and then answer questions, and leave them with a nice newsletter or guide or book.

The above can be sold to cold prospects using a very similar script to the one on page 67 of Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes.

5. Differentiate or die: Create a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Sounds cliche, but it is a MUST. Integrate USP with all Marketing material. Integrate with all staff, vendors, customers, etc… Add USP to business cards, invoices, letterhead, trucks, uniforms, etc…

“Marketing and innovation make money. Everything else is a cost.” -Peter Drucker

6. THEN you think about your website. MUST HAVE a lead capture and compelling offer as the PRIMARY FOCUS on the website. Model after this guy: http://www.vamedmal.com/

7. The money is in the list. Set up e-mail responder. Capture e-mails on website. Create auto responders. Professionally written e-mails. E-mails can be forever, unlike a home address. Implement drip campaign.

8. Off-site online marketing: Press releases are AWESOME for SEO. Video marketing and distribution (Traffic Geyser or Tubemogul), podcasts on Apple.com and blog talk radio interviews, publish a book on Amazon.com (VERY easy to do…only has to be 28 pages long), big-budget PPC on all three major search engines, banner ads, build links.

9. Joint Ventures can be the fastest way to huge opportunities. What organization has a large list of your dream clients? Find ways to add value and serve their members or clients, and they will promote you to their list. This is a HUGE opportunity.

10. Direct Mail: use the Dunning mailer method (see this video, skip to 1:00:51 to get right to it) to your dream neighborhoods. Most people try direct mail ONCE and then quit. Direct mail works like crazy used as a CAMPAIGN, rather than a one shot deal. The keys are, mail to your dream neighborhood, have great copy, and sequence the mailer properly. It’s a campaign, not a single promotion. Most businesses aren’t serious enough about how they approach direct mail, so they fail.

Anyway, those are some of the best things a business can do to get results. If you want to have a conversation with me about how you can do this for your own business, talking is always free. Fill out my contact form here, and we can schedule a phone call.

Technorati Tags: Contractor Marketing, HVAC Marketing, Plumber Marketing

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

Offering, free of charge, both a Consumer Awareness Guide and a Fast Start Remodeling Planner, AtDesignRemodel provides real value up front, with no strings attached.

This is a perfet example of how to create trust and establish your company as a trusted advisor all at the same time.

Throughout these free resources, AtDesignRemodel’s John Clark shows his remodeling chops and gives away some of his valuable experience and industry wisdom for free. And this, my friends, is the new model of marketing. You cannot give too much value up front.

Some companies are reluctant to give away their knowledge and expertise up front because they fear they are “giving up their secrets.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. Customers do not buy your secrets, your experience, or your wisdom. They buy your services because they trust you, and they feel they get more just because they enjoy the experience of dealing with you.

So, by giving away some valuable information for free (Clark doesn’t even require an email address for his resources) you build instant trust and authority in your customer’s mind. And this is truly the single most important part of marketing; the battleground inside the customer’s head.

Technorati Tags: Addition, Bath Remodel, Builders, Cape Cod Remodeling, Cotractor, Kitchen

Hi, I’m Seth. Good to meet you. Look around, everything on this website is yours for free! Oh, and let me know if I can help you and your business in any way.

Overwhelmingly, people have been coming to me for online marketing advice more than any other construction marketing topic these days.

It’s an exciting time for online marketing. Our changing economic landscape combined with all the crazy, fun new changes in the way the internet works add up to some interesting opportunities.

There’s all this new stuff like social media, “new media” link building, and online video marketing.

I talked to one established construction marketing expert the other day who mentioned that “social media” has been killing him lately. And I know some folks who are real newbies, but have cracked the social media nut and are achieving huge results.

Also, I’ve found there are rafts of old, outdated information floating around in our sea of knowledge. Watch out for them, because if you jump on one of those rafts, you might go adrift towards the marketing “Bermuda Triangle.”

Marketing has changed. BIG time.

Has “relationship building” changed? No. Do we have new ways to establish relationships now? YES.

Have referrals dried up? No. Are there exciting new ways to maximize referrals? YES.

Is advertising obsolete? Yes. Ha ha. Sorry, I mean “No.” But do the old established advertising methods work for contractors? Not really. Not anymore.

Overall, adding real value for free, and making real personal connections will get you far.

1. Be helpful with no expectation of gaining anything in return. You will gain instant trust.

2. Help others make connections and grow their businesses every chance you get. Watch them reciprocate with referrals.

3. Answer questions and give your best information away for free. Become a trusted advisor (and make the sale.)

This new wave of online marketing and the viral spreading of ideas might be foreign to you. That’s OK. You don’t have to become a social media expert to run a construction business.

But you can take a look into the future of ALL small business marketing by taking note of the principles that the online community has adopted.

People buy from people they like. That’s a timeless principle.

Why is today’s marketing landscape different from the past?

Because now we have access to tools that allow us to connect exponentially faster than before.

Add value to the conversation, and make personal connections. Do this by shaking hands, one at a time. OR, inject these principles into your online presence, and do it everywhere, all at once, even while you sleep.

That’s the opportunity we have today.

Pass it along: If you know someone who could use help with website promotion and online marketing, feel free to send them a link to this page, or link to it on your own website.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing, Contractor Marketing

Check out this superb free ebook full of practical Social Media Marketing tips written by John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing.

This creation of this ebook was sponsored by Microsoft Office Live Small Business (but don’t write it off just because it’s trendy to rip on Microsoft right now.)

In this ebook, Jantsch breaks down social media into bite sized chunks that any contractor can swallow, regardless of your level of online expertise.

There are a couple of case studies in there too. The one about the guy who uses social media to market his business selling fishing lures really grabbed my attention. There’s proof that a business that’s about as “offline” as it gets can use social media to grow and prosper.

So check it out, and start strapping up your marketing system right now with some extra handy duct tape marketing.

Technorati Tags: duct tape, marketing

So, how does a small business establish a brand? Let’s start by talking about trust.

What is the foundation of trust? Trust means confidence. Distrust means suspicion.

As Steven R. Covey says in his book The Speed of Trust:

“The difference between a high and a low trust relationship is palpable. Relationships of all kinds are built on and sustained by trust. They can also be broken and destoyed by lack of trust. Try to imagine any meanful relationship without trust.”

Branding is the act of establishing instantly recognized trust with your prospect. Easy to say, right? But how do you create a brand of trust as a general contractor?

Often the quickest and easiest way to do this is by incorporating your personality into your brand.

For most construction companies, your brand is you!

You must answer the question in your prospect’s mind, “Who is behind this business, and what are they all about?” You can do this by injecting your face, your voice, and your “handshake” into your marketing system.

Reach out and touch people through your website, your advertisements, your networking activities, and your mailers. Be the brand of your company, commit to spreading your personality and integrity, and your brand will get a huge boost.

For larger companies, or for contractors who hope to sell the business someday, don’t worry. You can’t do much harm by injecting yourself into your business. For example, look at Bill Gates. He has left his position running Microsoft, but he is still injecting his image and his personality into Microsoft’s brand in those infamous PC commercials. We trust Bill Gates, and that is Microsoft’s best branding strategy.

So, put your name and face behind your business. You are your brand, and your brand is you.

Don’t forget to share: If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with a friend who might not see it otherwise. Or you can always just click on your favorite social bookmarking site in the tab below.

Technorati Tags: Branding

Check out this list of 193 Creative Marketing Ideas written by Sam Decker of Decker Marketing.

Overall I found item after item on the list that could be straight out of my own bag of tricks. You will be hard pressed to read through the whole list and not find some construction marketing techniques you can use tomorrow morning.

Now, some of the ideas are a little “campy”, and others are just for fun. However, I highly recommend reading the list as a “marketing jump start” type excercise.

You will never complain about a lack of good marketing ideas after reading this list.

Here are some of the unique ideas you can use to market and represent your business:

35. Guarantee Your Service in Unique Terms

37. Make Your Bathroom a Pleasant Experience

       Worth noting! If you have an office with a bathroom your clients and subcontractors will use, it will make an unforgettable impression if your bathroom is remarkably pleasant. Take it a step further and use the same technique on the bathrooms of your jobsites. Have jobsite bathrooms cleaned daily and add “a woman’s touch” like candles or other frilly crap. Seriously though. I have seen this principal garner fierce customer loyalty for builders. It’s worth the effort in customer satisfaction. Hire a cleaning service to do it if you have to.

40. Put Up Yes Signs (like “Yes we accept personal checks”. All customers will appreciate your positive, as opposed to negative, business attitude.)

68. Add “Lift Letters” to Your Direct Mail Campaign

72. Hand Address Your Direct Mail Envelopes

79. Come Early and Stay Late for Meetings, Seminars, and Classes.

84. Celebrate Your Business’s Birthday

95. For an Event, Party, or Grand Opening You Can Subpoena Your Guests to Come

123. Capture the Email Addresses of Your Customers

There are a LOT more good ideas in this list. Go check it out.

Don’t forget to share: If you enjoyed this post, please show it to your friends who might not see it otherwise. Or you can always just click on your favorite social bookmarking site in the tab below.

Technorati Tags: Marketing tips

Sometimes search engines give you exactly what you’re looking for. Other times, not so much.

Check this one out.

Take the category “Construction Blog“, for instance. Now, I have found a thick list of excellent blogs relevent to the construction industry in my own online research. But what do we find at the top today? A spammy-looking directory site called Blogflux.

It’s one of those sites that requires participants to register and even pay to get listed. Which is a shame. Because when you take a look at the list of blogs it’s completely irrelevant to the term “construction blog.”

Now, I know that Google does a good job in some instances of weeding out this type of site. But sometimes they can’t. I hope someday they figure it out for the sake of knowledge and progress.

OK, let’s check out the #2 listing. It’s the good old Construction Jobs Blog. This site actually has some interesting posts. Still, the value of this site is somewhat up in the air.

Finally, at number three we find the Construction Contractors Digest at contractorsblog.com put up by Stevens Construction Institute (a consulting firm). Now this one actually has some really good stuff on it. I just wish they would post more often.

Alright, that’s enough search engine fun for today. Let’s hope in the future more guys like Mark Buckshon make their way to the top of Google for construction related keywords. You know, guys (or ladies, you too) who actually have something to say!

Don’t forget to share: Please show this post to your friends, who might not see it otherwise.

Technorati Tags: Construction Blog