Well, That Didn’t Work

I wrote an article recently about price positioning for contractors that was featured in The ACHR News. If you’d like to check it out, you’re more than welcome to use this link, but just getting additional readers is not the reason I’m sharing it with you here. I bring it up because I also shared this article with some contractors right after it was published… and I got torn to shreds. I mean, it was brutal.

I’m a member of several large contractor groups on Facebook and I learn so much from the open forum. Some of these groups have 40,000+ members and it’s awesome to learn what you are dealing with in homes, hear the frustrations, pick up some of the trade lingo, and answer some marketing questions when I can. In order to be respectful and adhere to the group rules I never openly solicit Hudson,Ink there, but I do try to be a resource on marketing problems and let members know I’m there to help. But this time I shared my article, with my own stand-alone post, and it seemed to strike a not so pleasant chord.

Immediately the comments started pouring in and it quickly became a vicious dog pile on “the marketing guy.” Many in the group had an axe to grind, and after answering some of the questions and negative remarks, I found that many of them hadn’t taken the time to read the article at all. The gripes weren’t specifically about my article or me or Hudson,Ink personally, they simply saw the word “marketing” and felt it was time to air out all complaints about contractor marketing in general. Most of the conversation can be summed up like this, “You guys are all the same. I tried a <fill in the blank with new website, mailing, Google Ad, or any other number of other marketing-y things> and it didn’t work. I feel like I was lied to.”

Have no fear, I don’t wear my emotions on my sleeve, or I would have been out of this profession long ago. There were positive comments also, and the article seems to be well received on the whole, but it honestly grieves me how many contractors have those marketing “horror stories.”

The root cause of contention I find in almost every marketing disaster story is unmet expectations, or at least an unclear goal. The best thing I know to recommend when working on any project is to make sure you and your marketing company of choice (hopefully that’s us!) are clear on all 5 M’s of developing a successful marketing plan:

1. Market: “Who is my audience?”

It’s absolutely vital for success to decide beforehand who you are hoping responds to your advertising. You can’t just say, “I’ll take anyone, anywhere” because customers are expecting their correspondence to be much more targeted today. Likewise, if you treat your existing customers just like a stranger who’s never done business with you, it’ll turn them away.

Are you wanting to expand your reach with new leads from homes you’ve never been to before? This involves purchased lists and cold contacts, and you should expect lower initial response rates. Are you looking to get more activity and cross-sells from your existing customer base? That involves a whole different strategy.  

Be clear from the onset exactly what your goal is so that you can advertise to the right group of people. 

2. Message: “What do I want to say?”

This one is dependent completely on the intentions with your market above. If your goal is more leads in a relatively quick timeframe, a billboard with your logo and phone number probably isn’t the best investment. You need a pointed direct response piece with an enticing offer. Same with the opposite side, if you’re looking to build a closer relationship with your customer base, an educational and friendly “soft-touch” is the way to go without being too “salesy”. Both of these, however, bring vastly different results, so make sure your messaging matches your mission or you’re headed for disappointment.

3. Media: “Where should I be seen?”

Most of this depends largely on the marketer to make expert recommendations and manage, but you as the contractor need to keep them on track. Be assertive and ask questions about why they are doing certain things. Does this media meet my overall goal, message, and market I want to impact? If it doesn’t, stop them now for reevaluation.

4. Month: “What’s the best timeframe for this action?”

Timing is everything when dealing with a seasonally driven business. Some marketing initiatives are established and run year-round, but others, like hard push lead generators, need to be ready to fire out as soon as your busy season starts to wane. A huge point of contention between marketers and contractors is when projects are started too late to be effective.

Marketing projects are impossible to just turn on like a light switch, so make those phone calls to a consultant a few weeks, or even months ahead to get a game plan. Unfortunately, an urgent call for a marketing solution three weeks after leads have stopped is rarely going to produce the quick fix you need. Have those conversations in advance so the timing can be spot on.       

5. Money: “What am I comfortable spending?”

And lastly, let’s talk money. This is a big one and probably the top reason one side or the other feels they were taken advantage of. Have an honest, up front conversation about what you expect to spend and what you expect in return, so that if either the contractor or the marketer feel it’s out of kilter things can be addressed and adjusted before ANYTHING is spent. Many contractors are expecting filet mignon results from a potted meat investment, and the world just doesn’t work that way.

Good, experienced marketers can get you much more bang for your buck, but don’t blame your marketer when your competition is spending $30K a month and you’re expecting to steal massive market share by spending $100 a month. Make smart investments and start small if you’re tentative. Hopefully, the results will give you confidence in investing further.

At Hudson,Ink we are devoted to helping our contractors succeed. Many of you have had bad experiences and wasted money through bad marketing, but I want the chance to prove to you what a true, mutually beneficial marketing partnership looks like.

If you’d like Hudson,Ink to do a marketing audit of your company and offer some simple suggestions on places you could save money or do things a little more effectively, send an email to [email protected].