Think about where you received leads over the past twelve months. Some of your business may have come from friends and family, others from referrals. Still, others came from direct mail campaigns, radio ads, and email marketing efforts. Once you start tracking the sources your customers come from, you can immediately see the value of building brand awareness and spreading the word about your promotional deals through multiple channels.
Businesses that use at least three marketing channels in their campaigns see nearly five times as many orders as businesses that use just a single channel. This multi-pronged approach is even more vital for siding and window businesses, where each order has a high dollar value. Shoppers tend to do more online research before choosing a contractor than with other, cheaper purchases. In this quick guide to digital marketing for home services, we'll discuss the most critical channels.
Building a Multichannel Marketing Strategy
A multi-channel marketing strategy isn't as complicated as it sounds. Instead, it rests on the single core idea of using multiple different types of advertising to spread the same underlying message to as many potential customers as possible. Some of your future buyers are looking at beautiful windows on Instagram, while others are scrolling through Yelp to find local businesses. Others are using Google to figure out why their double-pane windows are starting to get foggy. With a multi-channel marketing strategy, you're there waiting with the answers, images, and five-star reviews they're looking for.
Use these five approaches for marketing ideas for home improvement companies.
Jumpstart Your Online Presence with Pay-Per-Click Ads
Pay-Per-Click ads, or PPC ads, can immediately fuel your marketing efforts by appearing wherever your customers go online. These are the banner, square, and rectangular ads on websites ranging from news sites to YouTube; they also appear at the top of search engine results pages. This can bring immediate results, even if you don't have a large organic audience. Depending on the type of PPC ad campaign you choose, your ads can appear:
This means you don't have to wait for shoppers to find your business organically.
Reach Your Local Market with Social Media
Develop your online presence on the social media channels that most align with your visitors; pick two or three, such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok or Pinterest. Each of these channels resonates with different audiences who have different shopping behaviors:
Organic posts are the bread and butter of good social media marketing, but you can also use paid social ads. Like PPC ads, these are a great way to jumpstart your efforts and make more sales.
Don't Underestimate the Power of Radio
Radio reaches a broad spectrum of homeowners and rental property owners as they drive, shop in stores, and go to the gym. Radio listeners remain loyal to their favorite radio stations and hosts (who are an excellent choice for influential sponsorships). Demographics that listen to streaming radio and podcasts are just as loyal and easy to reach; you just need to find their favorite podcasts, streaming apps, and music platforms.
With radio ads, prioritize just one message at a time. For example, one ad can explain a promotion; different ads should detail your services. Stick to one message and call to action per ad.
Take Part in Event Marketing
Sign up to participate in industrial and community trade shows. You can grow your network with other home improvement services and reach out to community members browsing a showroom floor. These are great places to mingle and let potential buyers physically touch your windows and siding products. (That's a rare opportunity for homeowners, and it can drastically increase their understanding of your products' unique features).
You can also sponsor or participate in non-profit events, spreading brand awareness and increasing positive regard for your brand.
Stay Top of Mind with Email Marketing
Create a newsletter or send regular maintenance tips, promotional details, and other helpful emails to everyone in your contact database. By staying in touch and providing value, shoppers will remember you when they need to replace their windows and siding. They're also more likely to refer you to friends and family.
Build out your email marketing efforts with a series of communications for:
Stay on Top of Your Channel Strategies with a Local Media Partner
At Mid-West Family, our team of experts can help you select the right channels for your window and siding company marketing strategies. Contact us today for all these services and more, or reach out to start organizing your marketing efforts into a unified multi-channel approach.