5 Marketing Musts in a Tightening Market

All home improvement companies should consider including some of the below strategies, a mix of modern approaches and traditional techniques, into their plans to earn a bigger share of a tighter market in 2023.

1. Increase search engine marketing budget.

I started with a new pay-per-click company and wanted to give them a strong financial foundation from the beginning. So I provided a bigger budget and we implemented a different strategy.

Rather than target small pockets around each of our two locations, we’re now targeting our entire service area. We’re not reaching our budget during our slow season, but we predict that in our busiest months of March, April, and May, we’ll hit our planned spend.

If the intent isn’t there and the search volume is lower than anticipated, we’ll spend less on digital and apply those dollars to other lead generation efforts.

2. Bring back direct mail marketing.

We’re going to return to more traditional marketing methods like direct mail, both in coupon mailers and with standalone mailers. We’ve always had success sending direct mail postcards around the radius of jobsites.

Coupon mailers have been off and on for us, but we need to implement those regularly so we can be in mailboxes when homeowners are ready to start a project.

3. Emphasize lead generation over branding your business.

The number one purpose of marketing is to get the phones to ring, so we’re going to get back to using tried and true direct response techniques to generate leads, like promoting deals and discounts, bold calls-to-action, and strong expiration dates.

I thought I was differentiating us by promoting the benefits and features of our products and our company, but these are things that consumers actually want from their contractors, they aren’t reasons to call us now.

We can still accomplish branding with direct-response advertising. We’ll include copy on why customers should choose us and how we do business differently, but we’re moving the promotional offers and reasons to call now to the forefront of our ads for more lead-gen impact.

4. Approach social media marketing differently than competitors.

I consistently see before and after photos or beauty shots on social media feeds. I’m going to include those things, but also position my company in a different way by showing customers what live jobsites look like. It’ll be more of a behind-the-scenes peek at the entire installation process on Facebook and Instagram.

Social media platforms are the places to show customers who you are, how you do business, and that you’re posting relevant content regularly.

5. Send a brand ambassador to every jobsite to increase referrals.

Brand ambassadors are sent to every jobsite and deliver a bottle of wine to each customer, then ask questions about how the installation went and if there’s anything we could’ve done differently. The only role this person has is to visit clients and get them to verbalize that they’re happy with our company. I call this soft marketing. We’re planting seeds for good reviews, referrals, and repeat business down the road.

Tara Dawn is the co-owner and marketing manager of Opal Enterprises, a replacement contractor that has served Chicagoland for two decades.