It’s crucial to have a home remodeler marketing strategy that meets your clients right where they are. These days, that’s usually online.
The days of clients using the yellow pages to find a remodeling business are long gone, and using the internet as a primary resource is here to stay. To stay in front of a maximum number of potential leads, you need a solid online marketing plan.
Consumers rely on reviews and word-of-mouth to make expensive buying decisions more than ever before. That’s why maintaining a strong relationship with your past and present clients is vital for your business. Not only is it more likely they will leave a positive review on websites like Yelp and Google, but they also will be more inclined to recommend you to friends and family.
New Ways to Engage Potential Clients
Instead of hiring a remodeling contractor to take care of the entire process from beginning to end, many homeowners now choose to take a more hands-on approach to the remodeling process. Blogs and websites like Pinterest make it easy to get ideas for the design of a new kitchen or bathroom.
The good news? There are more ways than ever to get your business in front of potential customers, and some of them are inexpensive or even free!
Here are some of the best home remodeler marketing strategies in 2020. Each and every one is easy to adapt to any remodeling business and will produce not only new leads but also strong client relationships.
Basic Marketing Strategy
A potential remodeling client typically goes through four stages as they decide to make a purchase—awareness, consideration, purchase, and the loyalty loop. Let’s see how you can guide your potential customers through each of those four stages by using marketing strategies.
As you figure out your strategy, you’ll want to follow these seven steps:
Set Specific Goals
Before making any decisions about budget, marketing channels, or anything else, clearly define your objectives and goals. Having a solid goal in mind makes it easier to make other choices since you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve.
A good goal is something specific. Simply saying, “I want to get more sales over the next six months” isn’t clear enough, but saying, “I want to increase our sales by 7% each month” is effective.
A clearly defined goal sets you up for success because it gives you the blueprint for turning marketing strategies into results. Instead of just trying things to see if they will work, you can put your time and money into taking specific actions to get closer to your goals. Without a clear goal to work toward, though, your marketing plan is likely to fail due to a lack of direction.
Stand Out from the Competition
As your potential customers use the internet to find a remodeling contractor, they’re bombarded with images and words from countless other businesses. It can all get overwhelming, especially when there seem to be no clear differences from one remodeler to another.
Make it easier for your potential clients and find a way to stand out from the competition. Maybe you specialize in remodels on a budget or luxury remodeling. Perhaps you use locally-sourced materials, or also offer interior design services.
Not only does a clearly-defined specialty make it easy for your potential customers to see at a glance what you’re all about, but it also inspires trust because they can see that you’ve done the work to excel in your niche. Whatever it is, make sure that people can easily see and understand your specialty on your website and any promotional materials.
Find Your Target Audience
Now that you know your specialty, it’s time to figure out your target audience. Who has the budget, taste, and interests that would lead them to choose your business? What demographic has historically created loyal customers?
After you’ve figured out your ideal client, figure out where they hang out online. Do some research to find out how they use popular resources like blogs, social media, and more and see how that overlaps with your ideal client’s demographic.
Wherever your ideal client spends a lot of their time is where your marketing strategy should focus. For example, if your ideal client is older homeowners, it would make more sense to focus on Listserv and online reviews rather than a younger-skewing platform like Pinterest.
Regardless of your target audience, you should use reliable tactics like a mailing list and a blog—we’ll talk more about those in a moment.
Create a Multi-Channel Strategy
You’ve pinpointed the online platforms your ideal customers are most likely to use. Now it’s time to take this knowledge and create a strategy. This is where you can get creative and use a variety of tactics to ensure that your message is reaching as many people as possible.
Make sure that this strategy engages potential customers at each of the four stages of a purchase—awareness, consideration, purchase, and the loyalty loop. We’ll discuss specific ways that different types of remodeling businesses can incorporate each of the four stages later in this guide.
Email, Facebook, Pinterest, and online reviews are some of the more popular choices, and for good reason, but consider thinking a little further outside the box.
Maybe you could offer services at a reduced cost to a local blogger or vlogger in exchange for a blog post or video on their platform. Neighborhood groups like Nextdoor and Listserv are trusted sources of information for many older homeowners, so perhaps a simple ad campaign could be leveraged to your benefit.
Use SEO Effectively
As you put your marketing strategy into action, be sure that you are using Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, to your full advantage. The basic concept behind SEO is simple—it uses keywords laced throughout your web presence to increase your chances of appearing in search results.
SEO is not a quick fix, but it shows substantial results over time. Typically, it takes about three months after optimizing your website to see a noticeable difference in site traffic. Truly significant changes usually don’t happen for six to twelve months, but when they do, they tend to last.
Here are a few quick ways to improve SEO in your web presence:
- Check that keywords like “remodeling services,” and “best remodeling in [name of location]” appear throughout your website.
- Add a blog with well-written, keyword-rich articles about relevant topics that are released on a consistent schedule.
- Make sure your website has a secure connection—the address should say HTTP instead of HTTPS.
- Use social media such as Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram to link back to your website.
These simple steps are enough to get you started, but to get the best SEO results, you should hire an expert. Studies have shown that leads gained from SEO marketing typically have a 14.6% close rate, while the rate for print ads is only 1.7%. These numbers clearly show that investing in SEO is a worthwhile investment.
Make Your Website User-Friendly
As you optimize your website to get the best SEO results, ensure that it runs smoothly in every other area as well. You want to make the best possible first impression on any potential client who lands on your site, and you have about .5 seconds to make that happen.
First, your website needs a professional, modern design that is simple and efficient. It also needs to load quickly and smoothly, as the standard web page load time is less than three seconds. Any longer than that will have your prospective client clicking away in frustration.
Mobile Optimization
Your website also needs to be optimized for mobile, since in our fast-paced world, many homeowners will be accessing your site from their phone or other mobile devices. If you want them to stay, you’ll need to make sure the experience is pleasant.
To optimize your website for mobile, ensure that the text and buttons are big enough to see and tap easily, the design is aesthetically pleasing, and any essential features work smoothly. Google ranks mobile-optimized sites more favorably, and around 57% of web users won’t suggest a website without mobile features to their friends.
A good website is one of the most critical parts of your marketing strategy. Around 75% of people judge a business by its website, and if your site appears outdated or difficult to use, you’ll lose potential sales. Hiring a web designer might be a worthwhile investment, and you’ll also want to either outsource regular upkeep or learn to do it yourself.
Measure and Collect Data
As you put your marketing plan into practice, it’s important to make sure that it’s performing as effectively as possible. To do this, keep track of data such as open rates on emails, visits to your website, and new followers per week on social media.
Data collection and measurement are every bit as valuable as any other stage of your marketing strategy. If a particular plan isn’t producing good results, you’ll know immediately instead of wasting more time and money on something that won’t work. Additionally, you’ll be able to tweak the details of parts of your strategy that are effective and improve them even more.
Going Niche
Now that you have the basics of remodeler marketing, let’s get a little more specific—specifically by niche. Believe it or not, there are differences in a good marketing strategy between, say, kitchen remodelers, and bathroom remodelers even. Let’s take a look!
Home Remodeling Marketing
If you have a home remodeling business, you’re in the business of making things look good. Therefore, visuals should be a key part of your marketing strategy. This can take the form of photographs and videos and can be used across any platform you might choose to use.
Pictures Are Worth 1,00 Words
To show off your work to prospective clients, make sure to document remodeling projects with photographs whenever possible. Quick snapshots on your phone aren’t good enough to hold the attention of a prospective client or rank well on Google, however. If you have the skills, take your own pictures with a DSLR camera, or hire a freelancer or photography business to do the work for you.
Once you have stunning photographs that show off your abilities in their best light, it’s time to make them work for you. One excellent option is creating a blog post that tells the story of the remodeling process or a technique or product you used through words and pictures.
You could also do a “Before and After” blog series. Everyone loves a good transformation, and it’s a great way to help potential clients imagine how their remodeling project might turn out.
Captivating Videos
To make these ideas even more dynamic, try recording a brief video on one of the aforementioned topics or a client testimonial. Again, since your goal is eye-catching visuals, this is a task that might be worth outsourcing to a freelance videographer or other professional.
If you have the budget and would like to appeal to an upscale or younger audience, a YouTube channel could be a good way to tell your story to prospective clients in an unforgettable way. To get the most out of your videos, publish an SEO written version on your blog for increased search engine traffic. Make sure to embed the video in the article!
Increased Reach Through Emails and Social Media
To maximize the potential of your photos, videos, and articles, make sure that you’re sharing them through social media and linking back to your website. Pinterest is a great choice for this because it has a wide reach and appeals to people who want a hands-on approach to remodeling and designing their homes.
For example, you could share a photo of your latest home remodel on Pinterest, add a keyword-rich caption, and link it back to the original article on your website. Now a prospective client browsing home design ideas on Pinterest can find your pin, follow the link to your website, and contact you for more information. Additionally, it helps establish your credibility as a business with an excellent eye for design.
You can also share your latest articles through your email list. Since the people who sign up for your mailing list are most likely to convert into actual sales, it’s important to nurture that relationship.
Appearances Matter
As a home remodeler, you want to let your potential clients know that your business takes visuals seriously. This includes your logo and branding! They should be consistent across your web presence, business cards, marketing materials, and anything else that might be seen by prospective customers.
Good branding captures the essence of your business and doesn’t just stop at the actual logo’s design. It also includes colors, aesthetics, and even the style of your photography and videos. You can include aspects of your branding everywhere, such as the colors of the pins you select for your interest boards.
With this in mind, if you choose to run print ads or make yard signs, make sure they match your logo and branding in color and aesthetics. A poorly-designed ad or sign can damage your business’s reputation, especially when you specialize in a visual field.
Kitchen Remodeling Marketing
If you have a kitchen remodeling business, you’ll have a few specific concerns to address when it comes to your marketing strategy. Not only are you selling visually pleasing kitchen interiors, but you’ll also need to market less exciting things like cabinets and appliances effectively.
Create a Visual Showroom
As our world becomes more and more digital, people appreciate the convenience of online planning. A great way to facilitate this is by creating a virtual showroom.
Videos showing 360-views of sample kitchen plans can be uploaded to your website. Be sure to show off exciting and convenient features like built-in storage or innovative appliances.
Every time you receive new products, update the virtual showroom, and send out an email notification to your mailing list. Be sure to locally SEO-optimize the virtual showroom’s page on your website to zero in on potential clients who live in your area.
Use Local SEO
Since you’re marketing your kitchen remodeling business to homeowners in a specific geographic area, local SEO is vital. As the name suggests, local SEO ensures that your website shows up in search results for your town, city, or region.
Your goal is to end up high in the local pack, which is the business listing that appears below paid ads and above regular search results. The local pack also features a convenient map that shows the location of your business.
To improve your local SEO results, claim and optimize your Google My Business page. Here are a few ways to do this:
- Include a business description that is keyword rich and 2 – 3 words long
- Add links to your website and social media presence.
- Make sure all your contact information is accurate.
- Upload high-quality photos of your business and work.
Spread the Word
To increase the reach of your marketing efforts, try encouraging clients to leave positive reviews on websites like Yelp and Google. Reading honest opinions from satisfied customers rather than carefully selected testimonials on your website can be a deciding factor for a potential customer who is on the fence.
Additionally, joining forces with someone who has a larger audience could be a good strategy. If there are bloggers in your area who specialize in home decor, interior design, or food, see if they would be interested in a partnership.
One possible arrangement is offering them a free consultation or a kitchen remodel at a reduced cost in exchange for them blogging about the experience. Now, in addition to good reviews on Google and Yelp, you have a positive review from someone who already has an audience that trusts them.
Bathroom Remodeling Marketing
Remodeling a bathroom might not seem as exciting as a kitchen or full house remodel, so it’s up to you to help your prospective clients see it differently. Although bathrooms are functional rooms, use marketing tactics to remind homeowners that it can become their personal spa.
Sell the Spa Experience
Showcase any luxurious products or details you offer. Perhaps you install rain showers, or maybe you provide heated flooring for a cozy tactile experience. Even if none of your services are clearly luxurious, find ways to describe basic products like wall materials or shower options as creating a calming, serene environment.
Your website is the perfect place to show your customers exactly how their bathroom can be transformed into their personal retreat. Provide an immersive experience through photography and videos so they can easily visualize it in their own home.
If you offer any unique features, a virtual showroom could be a good option so that you can show prospective customers exactly how they work. With a virtual showroom, customers can brainstorm ideas right in the comfort and safety of their own homes.
Showcase Your Skills
Although homeowners may get excited about a spa-like bathroom remodel, they also want to know that they’re paying for quality work and materials. Since bathroom remodels involve specialized skills like plumbing, it’s vital to show that you have the expertise they can trust.
Reinforce your reputation through reviews, word of mouth recommendations, and neighborhood sites like Listserv and Nextdoor. Providing high-quality, efficient service is the best way to ensure good reviews, but you could also try incentivizing the process by offering something like a coupon for future services.
You can also use your website to remind potential clients of your skills and qualifications. If you or any of your team members have certifications from nationally-recognized organizations, be sure to mention this in a prominent place.
In addition to including information about your team’s qualifications, add brief biographies and a history of your business to your website. Small details like these give a human touch to what can otherwise appear to be a purely functional service.
Provide Extra Value to Your Clients
Anyone who has a bathroom knows that small issues like leaks and clogs are going to happen eventually. Although some of these require the help of an expert, others make great do-it-yourself projects. Provide value to your current and future clients by introducing a how-to series on your website’s blog.
If you’re stumped for ideas, type in a question like “How to unclog a drain” on Google and check the “People Also Ask” and “Searches Related To” sections to get an idea of the questions people might ask. You can also convert your existing blog posts into infographics to help your more visually oriented customers!
By utilizing SEO best practices, you can ensure that your articles will rank highly on Google. That way, not only are you providing your audience with informative content, but it will also help drive traffic to your website.
Roofing Marketing
Roofing is a little less flashy than home remodeling, but people expect their roofs and roofing contractor to be reliable. When marketing your roofing business, emphasize that you deliver high-quality work that your clients can count on.
Show Your Worth
Customer’s expectations for excellent work standards are the reason focusing on reviews is one effective marketing tactic for roofing businesses. You want to prove the quality of your work, and what better way to accomplish that than by letting your impressed clients speak for themselves?
About 84% of consumers trust online reviews just as much as they would trust a personal recommendation. Rather than listening to the handpicked testimonials on a business’s website, buyers will go to the reviews on sites like Yelp for honest opinions. As positive reviews are basically free advertising, this phenomenon can work in favor of your business!
Another way to demonstrate your expertise is by sharing your knowledge through eBooks. Create books on topics like routine roof maintenance, selecting the right roofing material for your needs, and other relevant subjects, so you can answer your client’s questions before they even ask.
Think Local
Local SEO strategies are essential for roofing businesses since your client base is made up entirely of people who live in your geographic area. Showing up first in Google searches makes it easy for potential clients to find you when they need you.
In addition to optimizing your Google My Business page, use relevant keywords throughout your website like “roofers near me,” “best roofing services,” and the name of your location. Phrases like these will also help your site show up in searches performed by people in your area who are actively looking for services like yours.
Although most businesses now prefer to do the majority of their marketing online, a highly localized service like roofing can benefit from a few well-done print advertisements. You should have yard signs to market your business while working on clients’ homes and consider making pamphlets and flyers to share at home trade shows or to mail to potential clients.
Still Need Help?
If all this seems a bit overwhelming, we’re here to help. At IMPROMO, we specialize in helping remodeling businesses of all types expand and maximize the effectiveness of their online presence. When it comes to remodeler marketing, you won’t find insight like ours anywhere else. Get in touch with our team to get started.