Today’s consumer is harder to reach than ever before, from a marketing perspective. But now there is finally a solution.

Your prospect is a moving target. People are no longer anchored to their desktop computers, they are on the move. Your prospect is now mobile, using a number of different devices to access information and entertainment, and build relationships with people. Gone are the days where you can use singular channels of marketing to get more customers, increase your conversion from prospects to buyers, and increase your profits using simple marketing systems. Well, at least, until recently those days were gone. Now, there is a huge opportunity. It’s called cross-channel marketing.

Watch this video (to your right) about the upcoming webinar, and then sign up below for a double dose of marketing strategy for your business. Observe the follow-up process when you register for the webinar, and imagine how a similar system could help your business increase profits. Then, watch the webinar for some specific and powerful tactics for getting new prospects through some brand new and extremely powerful high-ROI methods. Sign up now:

To Sign Up:

Text your name, email, website to (615) 547-2726

OR Scan this QR code with your smart phone, right from the screen.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing, Contractor Marketing

1. What kind of return on investment can I expect with your services?

2. Will you charge me per click, per call, per lead, or on some other basis?

3. As an Adwords account matures, if managed properly, the account should get a better and better Quality Score, and thus cheaper and cheaper clicks relative to the competition, right? So, with your service, who owns the Adwords account? If we part ways down the road, who gets control of the Adwords account? Do you pass the cost benefit of a high quality score on down to us, or does that only benefit your company?

4. Do you offer phone call tracking? If we part ways, who gets the phone number used for the Adwords campaign?

5. What about landing page quality? Do you set up a new website for us and handle all issues with landing page quality? If not, will you guide us on whatever changes might need to be made to our website to help our Adwords campaign convert as well as possible?

6. If you set up a new website for us, who gets control of that website if we part ways? If you keep it, can you guarantee you will pull it off line? Or will it keep getting leads down the road that do not come to our business?

7. What else do we need to know in order to ensure the highest possible return on investment?

8. Do you have any specific success stories of businesses like ours getting a measurable return on investment?

9. How much do we need to spend per week to meet our revenue goals? How will we measure this a month from now after we’ve got the campaign going, and into the future from that point on? Because the only thing that matters to us is return on investment, so we need to discuss campaign accountability and tracking that will occur once we’ve signed on the dotted line, so we may as well determine this now, right?

10. What is a reasonable Click Thru Rate (CTR) to expect for a campaign like ours?

11. What is a reasonable average cost per click to expect for a campaign like ours?

12. How many clicks will that likely generate for us?

13. What is a reasonable conversion rate for that number of clicks? (Meaning, how many new clients is that likely to generate for us?)

14. If those numbers don’t pan out after a month or two when we can clearly see the results of our campaign, what will happen then?

15. Is our campaign likely to provide us with a measurable ROI right off the bat, or will it take a certain amount of time to show a return? How long?

That should give you a pretty good start.

Technorati Tags: Construction Marketing, Contractor Marketing

If you’re looking to grow your business in this less-than-ideal economy, then pull up a chair and get ready to buckle down for the next 5 minutes, because your answer is in this article.

In the next few minutes, we’re going to look at three crucial elements that you must consider before you attempt to overhaul your marketing efforts. First, we’re going to make sure your business isn’t currently shooting itself in the foot. Next, we’re going to make sure that your marketing and sales systems are up to snuff. Finally, we’re going to go over the details of the 3 ways for exponential growth in a small business.

An ounce of prevention….

First, let’s start with preventing your business from sabotaging itself.

The #1 biggest missed opportunity I see is when a business doesn’t place the highest value on it’s current and incoming customers (or clients.) When your business interacts with each customer, whether it’s on the phone, online, or in person, ask yourself this question: Are your customers and prospects being treated like the lifeblood of your business? Because that’s exactly what they are.

Did you know that after 2 rings, you lose 30% of your incoming callers? Now, how much is your average lifetime value of a customer? (If you don’t know this number, call your accountant and find out.) Take that number, write it on a post it note, and stick it on the handset. That is the amount of money you just passed up when you didn’t have your staff drop everything to answer that phone call. The solution? Make incoming calls top priority, and train your staff to do the same.

Bonus phone tip: If the person who answers your phones is rude or has a bad attitude, do you think that will transfer well to your prospective customers? How about your current clients? Think you should reconsider having a rude person as the face of your company? Of course you should.

Do you have a system?

Next, let’s talk about your marketing and sales system.

Do you have a comprehensive sales and marketing plan in place in your business? Do you know the proper strategy to implement to attract traffic to your website and then convert that traffic into sales? Do you know the proper social media strategy for busy entrepreneurs? Do you know how to use media, direct mail, and PR for the highest return on investment? And have you considered how you can do all this without wasting precious man-hours? These are elements that are not too difficult to implement if you have an expert marketing consultant in your corner.

3 Ways for exponential growth

Finally, here is a list of the 3 ways for exponential growth in any small business:

1. Get more prospects.

2. Increase your conversion rate of prospects to customers.

3. Increase the average ticket size (or frequency.)

It’s that simple. Can you think of one tactic you can implement to improve your business in each of these 3 areas? A 33% increase in each of these areas is often quite feasible. And that can add up to doubling your business in 90 days or less, if you build your business using a sound marketing blueprint.

So, check out how you handle incoming phone calls and customer inquiries. Make improvements where there are issues. Next, think about bringing in a consultant to give your marketing systems a comprehensive audit. Often a fresh eye can help you see things you can’t see in your daily grind. And last, focus on the 3 ways for exponential growth. Make improvements in all 3 areas, and you will be on the path for growth, even in a flat economy.

You can learn more about these and other marketing systems, tactics, and strategies in the Marketing Manual for Contractors.

About the Author – Seth Holdren is the author of Your Marketing Blueprint and Founder of the Local Business Development Education Association, the only governing body certifying LBDEA Certified Education Professionals. (LBDEA is an association dedicated to helping business owners increase profits.) After years of helping businesses grow, Holdren observed an epidemic of missed opportunities for growth in the arena of local marketing for small business. So he set out to cure this epidemic, by performing marketing audits and teaching workshops focused on effective and practical marketing tactics that provide ROI above all else.

Technorati Tags: Contractor Marketing

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

My favorite one is “We’ll go ahead and pay for this this time, but just show us how you made it, so we can do it again in-house, from now on.”

In the construction industry–especially lately–it’s a common occurance to get low-balled and otherwise manipulated by vendors, contractors, and subs. This video shows us how ridiculous these situations can be to construction companies and, really, all business owners.

More favorites:

1. We didn’t budget for this.

2. I mean, lunch at the taco stand was about $12. Sir, this is not the taco stand. Well, it was, I had beef… Sir, you had the filet. Yeah…cow.

3. I’m not making any money on this either.

4. We can do this. This is not a challenge. This is an opportunity.

5. Well I can cover your hard costs, but that’s really as far as I’m willing to go.

6. We’re gonna make it up on the next one.

Heard any of these before? How do you deal with these “opportunities” in your business?

(This video was brought to my attention by the awesome folks over at CenterNetworks.)

Technorati Tags: Contractor Marketing, Vendor Bullshit

Overwhelmingly, my time is spent answering questions about how to create an online lead generation campaign that gets results in the construction industry.

For most contractors, builders and remodelers, this goal can be achieved with either a minimum of effort, or a minimum of expense. But you usually have to choose one or the other.

You can pay someone to do it for you, or you can do it yourself. Assuming you have a bare minimum level of tech savvy, you can create your own lead generation website system.  This is true as long as you have some serious time on your hands. (If you’re already to the point where you can’t sleep at night from the stress of economic uncertainty, this might be the best way for you to spend those early morning hours.)

Conversely, you can find someone to do it for you. This can cost anywhere from $0.00 all the way up to $10,000+. And, to a point, you get what you pay for.

If you are thinking about trying to dominate your local market on the internet, here are some free resources to help you determine either how to spend your time, or how to get your money’s worth:

1. Report: How to Dominate the Internet Marketplace in Your Industry

2. SEO Book Video – The Web is a Social Activity

3.


Construction Marketing Website Awesomeness.

So, take a look at these resources and see if you can’t come up with a way to create your own lead generation website that works for your business, your budget, and your lifestyle.

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 Online, Contractor Marketing, contractor website

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