The Ultimate Guide for Construction Company and Home Renovation Marketing
Two years ago, after years of watching HGTV, my wife and I got tired of Loving It and decided to List It. Let me rephrase. After years of House Hunting, my wife and I decided to buy a Fixer Upper. And though we’re still in the Fixer Upper phase, we look forward to a future of House Hunters International, and if my numbers won My Lottery Dream Home.
Over that time, we have gone through a litany of contractors and have become inundated with the marketing efforts of the home renovation industry. My house was built in 1960, which is characteristic of the neighborhood, and needed significant renovations before we could move in. Since 2014, we have replaced the plumbing, foundation, and are in process of switching out the roof. In addition, we have renovated the flooring, all the bathrooms, and kitchen. Most homes we are surrounded by are having similar work performed. I have talked with contractors, providing an array of services, and these are some of my thoughts on 19 Easy Wins to Expand a Home Construction Business, roughly ranked in terms of impact, that a contractor can use to expand their business.
By the way, I may use a few marketing terms that may not be easily recognized. I’ll try to explain and contextualize them with familiar examples.
Social Proof (Word of Mouth) = Social proof is the concept that people will look to the actions of others to determine the correct course of action.
- Angie’s List (Directory Services) – Angie’s List has 5.1 million members, and from their Investor Relations, they’ve grown their membership by 55% in the last year. Translation? They’re already big and they’re growing. If you’re not managing your presence on Angie’s List, or don’t have one, then you’re making a mistake. Angie’s List, along with Houzz, and other directory services are the answer to a populace struggling with too much information. Invite customers that have had positive interactions to review your experience, it’ll make a difference.
- Google Reviews – Consider this, 55% of Millenials use search engines to learn about products, and are twice as likely to turn to others in their social networks to get advice. All of this to say, initiating and being proactive about soliciting positive reviews will be a huge benefit to your company. Everyone enjoys nice things being said about them, great marketers will go the extra mile to make sure they capture those wins.
- Website Testimonials – Studies show that 70% of consumers say they look at product reviews before making a purchase. It’s fairly obvious that when spending thousands of dollars, customers will look for a variety of ways to research the decision before moving forward. A different study shows that 63% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a site if it has reviews. The data is conclusive, reviews or testimonials work, and your website needs to have them.
Branding = The process of creating a visual presence, name, and imaging, for a product or service to establish a unique presence in the marketplace.
- Business Cards – Here are four helpful statistics on business cards. Sales increased by 2.5% for every 2000 cards passed out, and 88% of business cards get thrown out in a week. 63% of cards get thrown away because the service isn’t needed, and people tend to keep colored card ten times as long as a white one. Just a few things to keep in mind during the design of the card. Here’s what I know, a bad business card, flimsy or poorly designed, is worse than not having one at all. If you’re going to do it, do it right.
- Canvas the Neighborhood – When a job is being done in a neighborhood, you can bet there are existing relationships between those homeowners and others. Better yet, you know you have noisy neighbors, why not leverage that trait? Get permission from your homeowner, but take the opportunity to knock on doors and leave fliers in the surrounding neighborhood. If interested neighbors have to ask the homeowner who did the job then you haven’t done your marketing job, perform the work in a way that they know.
- Car Magnets – Here’s a statistic on car magnets, a parked car with car magnets can be seen by 1,200 potential customers per hour during high traffic. For comparison, those impressions make it a cheaper way to get exposure than billboards, television, magazines or radio. When you’re getting gas, you could be selling services to fellow homeowners looking for window services. Anecdotally, fellow business owners swear by it, and I believe it’s a smart move.
- Flyers (Case Studies) – Flyers are another way to showcase your work, a demonstration that you’ve performed this work before. Here’s a tip though, try to be more than simply descriptive of your services, the goal should be to differentiate your product. The flyer should be adding value by describing attributes that may not be appreciated by the customer, and helping you to not compete on price.
- Slogan or Tagline – A slogan doesn’t seem hard. But it kinda is. I have one, but I feel hokey saying it, which means it needs work. Here’s the thing, I actually enjoy when contractors tell me why they’re special. That’s why a slogan is great. When someone tells me that they’re honest, or fast, or responsive, or provide the most value, it gives you a differentiating quality and a great product attribute. By the way, avoid short three-word slogans and go long, but memorable and descriptive.
- T-Shirts, Hats – When you and your staff are working, if at all possible, they should be dressed in uniform. The best person to represent your business is you. However, make sure that t-shirts and hats describe the service and have contact information. This is also why it’s important to have a slogan or tagline, you never know who is reading your t-shirt and looking for an honest repairman while in Subway. It helps to initiate conversation, pulling people to you instead of you pushing your services.
- Yard Signage – Here are a few statistics about signage, so you can appreciate the opportunity. The one that I found most powerful is that signage attracts half of a start-up business’ new customers. Again, here’s a chance to leverage the power of nosy neighbors and a job well done, post a yard sign in front of a parked truck. Doing so can provide free exposure and a chance to multiply a business win.
Brand Ambassadorship = The process of an organization utilizing a person to reflect a brand positively and working to increase brand awareness and sales.
- Discounts, Promotions for Referrals – The power of referrals is not new. Most of the best contractors I encountered relied on them, not really utilizing other marketing techniques to acquire new customers. Here are two very incredibly powerful statistics that I think illustrates that. The first is that only 29% of consumers offer a referral after a positive experience, but 83% were willing. The second is that people are four times more likely to buy when referred by friends. It makes sense that referrals are influential, but smart businesses don’t just wait for referrals to happen, they encourage it. How many promotions have you got from AT&T or Comcast offering $200 off a bill for recommending a new customer? You can do that too, or rather should be doing it because it works.
- Social Media – For a lot of Baby Boomers, the power of social media has crept up on them. Here’s something that should give you pause if you’re not using it, 78% of small businesses attract new customers through social media. Regarding loyalty and social media, 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media have increased loyalty to those brands. When considering your use of social media understand that there are many ways to blast your business. Beyond the fairly common, but still successful, way of businesses showcasing their own work, a smart business also utilizes testimonials. Users can showcase your work by tagging them, and encourage engagement with the product or service online.
- Customer gift, Product merchandise – Product merchandise is a way to extend a successful customer interaction. A gift of a branded coffee mug, cooler, or coaster takes an experience that may have lasted for a few hours or day, and potentially extends it for years. In fact, a study says just that, 47% of people keep promotional products for more than a year. Beyond that, promotional merchandise offers up the power of reciprocity. Studies show that whether or not you asked for a gift, receiving one increases a sense of obligation. Providing product merchandise gives sticky advertising, with long-lasting impressions, and offers a chance for customers to remember you favorably.
Marketing Concepts = My definition of Marketing is the process of creating value for products or services.
- Before/After Pictures – Trust is one of the key ingredients to marketing. One of the principal objectives of marketing is to create trust, to demonstrate to customers that you can solve their problems. When contractors don’t have pictures to illustrate their capabilities, it also illustrates a lack of professionalism. It’s one thing to hear or read about how good a contractor is, it’s better when you can see it.
- Email Marketing – Email marketing can be enormously complex or fairly simple. What isn’t hard is to take customers that you may have provided services or quotes to in the past, and remind them of new promotions and product offerings. Embrace emails, it’s so much better to deal with people in the future that have given you permission to contact them in the past.
- Loss Leader – The idea is one you’re familiar with, and it’s the reason why people browse websites looking for flash deals on Angie’s List and Groupon. The basic premise is to gain market share on a low margin product, then transition them to higher margin offerings. Practically this idea looks like an A/C technician creating a month-long campaign to inspect units at the beginning of the summer at near cost. Opportunities abound, but the implementation is the key.
- Residual Income + Upselling – Residual income is the holy grail of all businesses. Everybody wants it, not many know how to get it. The secret is with warranties, maintenance agreements, auxiliary services and add-on products. It looks like a flooring contractor partnering to offer annual steam cleaning services. Another idea is a roofing contractor selling skylights, or offering an extended leak guarantee contingent upon a maintenance agreement.
- Specialty – Contractors shouldn’t be afraid to operate under different brand names. Specifically, there is a trend, and one that I find myself attracted to, is avoiding the general contractor and hiring subcontractors myself. To that end, there exist opportunities for contractors to brand themselves to like-minded homeowners. My experience is that contractors seem drawn to becoming a general contractor, while also building houses. That transition is easy to understand, the promise of fewer and more profitable projects is tempting, but I have also seen very successful contractors doing specialized low margin work in volume. It’s an option that has to be considered.
- Website – Here’s the thing about a website. People know you need a website, but sometimes they don’t know why. For contractors, it’s more than just having available contact information. A good website demonstrates capability, details offerings and differentiates from the competition. When products and services are directly comparable, they compete on price, a website helps introduce other attributes to add value.