Our goal is always to be the most helpful metal roofing manufacturer we can be and part of that commitment is to share information that is relevant to our customers - contractors like you. In these uncertain times finding and retaining customers is a prime concern for everyone.
So let’s start at the beginning and define some terms.
Marketing is defined as the process of interesting potential customers in your products and/or services. Successful marketing attracts potential customers and educates them which generates interest.
The most important part of this marketing definition is the idea that marketing is a process.
Marketing involves research, consideration, sales, delivery, and ensuring the customer’s success with your products or services. Successful companies build a marketing strategy that covers all of these different stages that buyers go through.
Marketing strategy consists of all of the plans, goals, and objectives combined into a focused effort to interest, engage, and ultimately convert target prospects into customers.
Marketing strategies fall under one of three main types: owned, earned, or paid marketing.
Owned marketing occurs on platforms or places you directly control and include:
Earned marketing, or free marketing, refers to media or publicity gained by promotional efforts that are not paid for directly but are shared by others, including:
Paid marketing is placed on sites, platforms, and locations that you buy directly:
Integrated marketing strategies create momentum in all three areas The goal of paid marketing, for example, is to drive prospects to your owned media (like your website) where they can learn more about their problems and how you can help them. As well as provide various avenues to connect with you - phone, contact form on your website, chat, etc.
Earned media builds credibility for your company because it is generated by other people and carries more authenticity than your owned media in many cases. Think of how important local reviews and ratings are to your business.
Paid media is a good way to promote your content (another word for your helpful ideas and educational offerings) in order to generate more awareness and ultimately drive traffic to your owned media, typically your website
Strong owned media puts your company in front of prospects who already know what they want and are looking for the best option to move forward with into the purchase consideration stage. If your website is optimized for local search terms that relate to your business, terms like “metal roofing contractor”, then you will attract people who are specifically interested.
You can check this by Google searching relevant terms and seeing if your website shows up on the first page of results. If you show up your website link gets clicked. If you don't appear on the first page of results then your chances of getting a click to your site from the searcher are very low.
If your website is well built, then those that find it will call or reach out to you at a much higher rate. We will discuss the key elements of a well built website in a post in the near future but a few key elements are:
An integrated marketing strategy includes all three types of marketing. Successful contractors think of all three types of marketing and develop specific plans to consistently invest in them.
Our plan is to continue this series with posts digging into specific detail about the various types of marketing options for contractors.