Taco ‘Bout Marketing! On Episode #7 of Taco ‘Bout It Season 2 Gogan is joined by Joseph Hughes, the owner and marketing director for Contractor Dynamics, a strategic digital marketing agency based in New Jersey. Born into a construction family, Joseph has a background in the industry and now uses his marketing expertise to help construction companies and manufacturers build bigger and better businesses.
Have you had bad experiences with marketing firms? Did you buy into a program that was supposed to get you X number of leads in just a few months, only to be left with mediocre results? Have you rushed to hire an “SEO Expert” without even knowing what that means in an attempt to grow your business? These are common stories of businesses attempting marketing without really having a complete understanding of how marketing works.
The Biggest Marketing Mistake Everyone Makes
If you think of marketing as a “magic wand” that will instantly create more sales, you’ll always be disappointed with the results that you get. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. If you don’t have a long-term marketing strategy in place, you can end up floundering.
One major reason for this is that consumer behaviors have shifted dramatically over the last two decades. Consumers are hit with thousands of ads per day, they’ve become used to ignoring and filtering out most of them. Additionally, if an ad manages to catch their attention, consumers today have all the resources they need to research the company and the product quickly to verify if it is reputable, quality, and if others have had a positive experience with it. There are more options than ever available to consumers. They no longer have only 3 brands of laundry detergent to choose from. They have a whole aisle at the grocery store, pages of Amazon results, and smaller, independent companies all vying for their attention and their money.
If you are familiar with the sales funnel, it catches a large group of people at the top with awareness of your brand, and whittles them down to actual buyers who make a decision to purchase your product at the bottom. There are a number of business that focus all of their marketing efforts at the very bottom of the funnel — searching for the people who are ready to make a buying decision that day. You’ll see numerous ads saying things like: “Buy Now” or “Get Yours Today”. The reality is that marketing is a numbers game and there is a very small percentage of people each day who are ready to make a purchase. There is a much larger group of people who need to know your brand name, and learn about your product and your company first.
You may have heard of a marketing guideline called the Rule of 7, it states that someone needs to see or interact with your brand and messaging at least 7 times before they are ready to make a buying decision. Is your brand putting messaging out there that doesn’t ask for anything, but just informs and educates? Are you building relationships over time with your marketing or just going straight for the close the first time that a consumer ever comes into contact with your brand? It’s just like dating, it is weird to propose the first time you meet.
A Better Way
Create a long-term marketing strategy. That strategy should be informed by your business plan and goals. Take a look at where you are as a business today and where you want to be in the next 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, and five years. Start building your marketing plan working backwards from the business results that you are hoping to achieve. Ask yourself questions about who is your ideal client? What does the perfect project look like for your company? All of those things will dictate your marketing and inform your messaging. Joseph Hughes says that “this 20% of work will give you 80% of the results for your business.”
Look for a reputable marketing partner that will take the time to understand your business. You could do this before creating your long-term strategy, as there are some quality marketing companies like Contractor Dynamics who can assist with the creation of your marketing strategy. To verify if a marketing company is reputable, read case studies of other businesses similar to yours, even ask for them for references. Make sure they have a proven track record of success, and not just marketing any company, but companies of similar size and industry to yours.
Marketing is a tool to help drive your business forward and help you achieve your business goals. If it isn’t something you are comfortable with doing a lot of, bring in a team of experts to help you scale. Understand that there is no “magic” to marketing and that long-term strategies often have better long-term results such as; an uptick in referrals, a shorter sales cycle, and a steady increase of revenue and sales over time. Have patience with a process and if you are a contractor looking for some marketing help — I know Joseph at Contractor Dynamics would love to talk about how to grow a bigger and better business.
Huge thanks to Joseph and Contractor Dynamics for joining us this week on Taco Bout It!
Stay tuned for more episodes and blogs next Tuesday.
