More than half the world’s population now use the internet, making it the most prominent marketing channel for businesses and contractors alike. As a contractor, you get your earnings from the services rendered. It can be hard to prove how good you are unless you’ve got evidence from past customers of ‘a job well done’. Thanks to technology, you can now showcase your best pieces of work online.
Whether you’re new to digital marketing or want to improve your marketing campaigns to grow your customer base, check out these tips that can help you attract more clients and generate greater revenue:
- Plan your campaigns to the last detail
Crafting a digital marketing strategy takes careful planning. There are many things to consider before you start. Indeed, digital marketing itself can be complex, as it can cover a broad range of activities that generate and convey valuable offers and messages to customers about your products, services and brand.
If your company operates within the field service industry like landscaping for instance, it helps to utilize business management software that can integrate your marketing activity into the same place where you conduct all your other functional operations. Jobber is one such example of this, allowing you to conduct seamless marketing campaigns in the same place you organize your job scheduling, communications, invoicing and payments. (1)
Planning an effective campaign includes the following elements:
- Set clear goals: Identify the business problems you want to solve or targets you want to set. No matter what they are, make them smart, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART).
- Identify buyer personas: Knowing who you’re creating the campaign for makes it’s easier to craft compelling and engaging messages.
- Deliver clear messaging: After identifying your target audience, make sure to convey clear communication strategies to different groups. Appealing to your audiences’ hearts and minds is a good strategy.
- Find out which channels your audiences are present in: Contractors can choose which channels they choose to appear in, based on where their customers are.
(2)
- Create or strengthen online presence
Knowing how and where clients can find your business in the digital space is crucial. The first step is to create a website that services your target audience. Conduct market research such as sending out surveys to customers. Ask questions that are specific enough to help you draw actionable conclusions. (3)
Once you’ve created your own space in the digital realm, work on driving traffic to your site and making it more visible for the keywords that you are targeting – this is known as search engine optimization (SEO). There are specific techniques contractors can adopt for SEO best practice such as understanding the key terms to optimize for, having the right content on your site to benefit your users, using the right tags and labels, white hat link building, and registering with local listings. Doing SEO right is vital for your organization in growing brand awareness and engaging with more clients. (4)
Considering the complexity and importance of digital marketing for contractors, hiring a digital marketing expert can be a strategic move. These professionals can provide valuable insights, implement effective strategies, and monitor campaigns to ensure maximum visibility and engagement. By entrusting your digital marketing efforts to experts, you can focus on what you do best – delivering top-notch services to your clients.
- Use visual content generously
Contractors don’t have physical products they can showcase to prospects. Hence, you have to work harder to showcase the quality of your work. As such, ‘before and after galleries’ can be an effective vehicle to showcase your past projects, along with testimonials from past or existing customers. (3)
Using videos to present your brand and services can also be highly effective in marketing. In a survey, up to 87% of marketers claimed that using video as a marketing tool generates a return on investment (ROI). The same survey discovered that 84% of these professionals consider video effective in generating leads, while eight out of ten said the tool positively impacts sales. (5)
Besides creating videos of your staff at work, the ability to include interactive videos on your website is a great idea. Do note that before taking photos and videos of your projects, you must ask your client for prior approval to avoid allegations of privacy breaches. Contractors can also integrate ‘how-to’ or tutorial videos which are great for engaging with customers and establishing brand authority and trust. (3)
- Create compelling and evergreen content
An effective SEO campaign can be complemented by content marketing, which involves sharing online valuable materials, such as video, blogs, white paper, newsletters, etc., aimed at your audience in some way. This activity is considered in the wider part of the sales funnel where you are building your brand presence and authority. While considered a form of marketing, this strategy doesn’t involve direct selling. Instead, a contractor is providing something of value to their audience for free.
To help you decide which topics to create content on, research common problems or questions your audience is asking and look to answer them. You can always include a compelling call-to-action to increase conversion as part of this. (3)
- Include testimonials and positive reviews
Contractors can use positive reviews and testimonials to their advantage. Online recommendations from past of existing clients can heavily influence a buyer’s decision to transact with a particular company. (3)
The majority of internet users read online reviews when researching the products and services they wish to avail of. And while others take these with a grain of salt, 84% of users accept these recommendations, with 68% deciding after reading up to six online reviews. (6)
Bottom Line
Digital marketing involves a complex set of activities and tools that work harmoniously to highlight your brand and services like no other. Besides using multiple digital marketing tools, contractors must learn not to focus on the company too much by letting their works and clients speak for themselves.
Learning to use these tools smartly is key to increasing brand awareness, conversion, and eventually, your revenues as a contractor.
References:
- “What Is Digital Marketing? A Beginner’s Guide To Digital Marketing,” Source: https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/blog/what-is-digital-marketing/
- “Digital Marketing Guide,” Source: https://sbtdc.org/pdf/digitalmarketingguide.pdf
- ““Digital Marketing for Contractors: 7 Top Contractor Marketing Tips,”” Source: https://www.webfx.com/industries/home-repair/contractor/
- “10 Marketing Tips For Contractors,” Source: https://business.nextdoor.com/local/resources/10-marketing-tips-for-contractors
- “What Video Marketers should Know in 2021, According to Wyzowl Research,” Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-video-marketing-new-data
- “84 Percent of People Trust Online Reviews As Much As Friends. Here’s How to Manage What They See,” Source: https://www.inc.com/craig-bloem/84-percent-of-people-trust-online-reviews-as-much-.html