From the classifieds in the local paper to letter box drops, tradies have been marketing their businesses often without any real direction or strategy.
To many in the construction industry, marketing and promotion are simply ways to tell people about their services. However, like the massive changes in the construction industry, the marketing world has also evolved.
Simply leaving a fridge magnet in a letter box, which has your business name, logo and phone number, and hoping to receive business is no longer enough.
So how can builders brush up on their marketing? We outline a few simple ways to inject new life into your marketing strategy, so you can attract new customers and take your business to the next level:
Marketing today is about enriching the lives of your target customers. Businesses don’t just speak to their potential customers anymore, they speak with them. They offer genuine value to their target market, and they do so for free.
Content, in the form of online articles, guides and how-to’s, shows audiences that your business knows what they’re talking about, and builds trust in the hope of earning business.
Modern marketing is all about the customer.
The best way for businesses to speak with their audience and build trust and brand affinity with their target customers is online. Your potential customers will search for answers to their problems on search engines like Google, and your business will be there to answer them.
So for a building business that is serious about their modern marketing strategy, they need to focus their attention online. An effective and easy-to-use website is essential. It should clearly communicate your brand difference and make it easy for customers to engage with your business.
If you’re a plumber, you may say your target market is anyone with a plumbing problem. While this is essentially true, a broad marketing strategy like this isn’t sustainable or effective.
Think about who currently uses your services and why, and think about who you’d like to use your services and why they currently do not. Jot down a few barriers in their way, like time concerns, location, trust and price. Decide how your business can alleviate these, and communicate your solutions to their specific problems.
Focusing on your current and potential customers is the best way to ensure your building business sticks to its marketing strategy and stands out in a competitive market.
Communicating the value of your business has changed massively in the past 10 years. Savvy consumers don’t appreciate or engage with sales-y advertising like they used to. Remember, modern marketing is all about the customer, not your product.
Deciding what your business excels at, and communicating this honestly and with humility is essential.
Think about your business, and decide what makes it different from your competitors. Perhaps you have the most down-to-earth and understanding labourers in the area, or perhaps they’re the most highly-skilled in a certain discipline.
Or, maybe you offer quality and price that are better than the rest. Or, more realistically, you run a good quality business that is like many others. Even so, speak to your strengths and communicate these clearly.
In our tech-driven world, the best way to do so is online.
Your website doesn’t need to be at the cutting edge of digital technology for it to effectively attract and close new customers.
It should, however, make life easy for your web visitors. It should be easy to navigate, include a resources section where you can flaunt your industry expertise (without directly flaunting your product) and have a clear direction your potential customers can follow.
The Housing Industry Australia has a good bank of simple marketing resources online, which you can use to apply these learnings to your building business.
For more marketing tips for builders, check out our Building a Better Trade Business eCourse today.
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