When it comes to marketing, there are different rules for contractors to help them cut through the noise. Here are 7 highly specific tips for contractors to market their services in the most impactful way.
1. Have a highly convertible professional site
The best time is now to get serious about your web presence. More and more of your clients are turning to the internet for information on their next construction project. Don’t lose them to your (inferior) competitors with better websites. And if you already have a website, make sure it’s mobile-friendly to meet the demand for mobile marketing.
2. Use a CRM
Marketing and automation, contact, and project management are the bread-and-butter features of CRM. It helps you streamline customer interaction and entails tools geared explicitly towards increasing conversions.
3. Once you have your CRM, set up email marketing automation for leads
That means when somebody becomes a lead, you can send them automated campaigns addressing their unique needs. This leaves a memorable impact and separates you from your competition.
4. Next up is…Email marketing for customers
Just because a lead has become a customer, doesn’t mean the work is done. The next task is to send them automatic emails about aftercare or request a review and follow-up. This can then be used as marketing to convert even more leads to customers.
5. Reputation Management
Invest in your online reputation. This is essentially PR for contractors. Think about it, when you look for a business online and they have anything less than 4 or 5-star reviews, you’re less likely to trust in their expertise. You want to ensure you get those good reviews and market them for prospective clients to see!
6. Get Listed & Optimize Local Listings & Directories
Though it’s safe to say that most people use Google to search for contractors, there are a range of local listing sites and directories that you should take advantage of, because a sizeable proportion of prospective clients view local listings to compare and choose contractors. Houzz is just one example.
7. Get on 1st page of Google for your top keywords (SEO, Maps, Paid Search)
It’s not enough to just create a website – you need a website that shows up on the first page of a Google search for contractors. Let’s be honest, do you ever click as far as the 3rd or 4th page? I personally rarely even click on the second one. When you focus on your SEO (search engine optimization) you can manipulate known keywords to get your website to rank on the first search page.