Competition for business in the building industry remains fierce to say the least. Traditional ways of getting new business do not seem to work as well as they historically have and many are discovering there IS a new type of market out there.
Avoid these common mistakes to make it more likely that those valuable customers ring your number and not your competitors.Ignore these at your peril, Here are the FIVE big ones, and if you dont address these, it can kill your lead generating potential this year.
- Ineffective targeting
Target the wrong people, using the scattergun approach that most businesses adopt, and you will get the obvious result of very few qualified leads that will be interested in buying from you and using your service. Simple!
The relatively common sense and yet commonly overlooked exercise of developing marketing messages for different parts of your business is vital. To neglect this can be hugely costly in terms of wasted time and effort as well as missing out on those who REALLY would benefit from your services or products.
2. Inadequate online infrastructure (your website etc)
We all, of course, employ methods in the hope of driving visitors to our sites. The problem is of course that only a VERY small proportion of those are ready to take action right now, and so filling in that contact form. You MUST find a way of capturing those who are not ready but interested.
There are two things which are vitally important:
- You must have a REAL point of difference (most don’t…tip: take 30 minutes put over a coffee to compare your website content and promises with your competitors… you will see how different or ‘no different at all’ you REALLY are)
- Have a way to capture people who are not ready through offering a ‘lead magnet’ (such as an eBook) as a reward for visitors giving you their personal information and get on a list that you can communicate with them directly going forward. This allows you to consistently communicate independently of social media
3. Infrequent connection
So how often should you connect? There does not appear to be standard MUST DO, and it is likely to differ industry to industry.
However, what is clear is that frequent, regular and consistently good content delivered weekly seems logical. Remember the aim of this is not only to grab new clients but to nurture you existing ones, to keep you front and centre and make sure you are the business they dial when they are ready.
Use a blog on your website and aim for a manageable 2 posts per month to start with at least. Posts should be shared with social media (to bring people back to your site) as well as updates as part of a planned social media strategy.
It is also worth reinforcing the idea that every post should not be another attempt to sell (you will have other infrastructure to serve that purpose). However, as a rough guide a 3:1 ratio of general content versus more direct “sales” content may be a reasonable yardstick to use as a guide. Google uses “updating” content on your site (e.g. through blogging) as one of the things that will help rankings too – yet another reason to get busy (or get someone to get busy for you).
4. Sledgehammer selling
Bottom line..it doesn’t work anymore. The unfortunate thing of course is that when some anxiety about cashflow occurs then it is always the “fall back” position for most businesses. Embrace this as a tactic and you will see two clear things occur:
- Increased rate of unsubscribes and a diminishing list of poeple who will listen to you
- Tarnished reputation amongst your list members which is likely to reduce their desire to open future communication
Nurture through adding value (you can do this by positign good content in your blog and social media), then again, once more and THEN invite to buy/take action.
5. Inappropriate planning
There is always a degree of “winging it” necessary with start-ups, as you are less aware of what may work and what may not. Irrespective of this, there is never an excuse for not having a clear plan of all marketing activities, including where and when you are to post, how this articulates with adding to your list, and of course having some measurable targets through which you can ascertain what level of success you are having and of course what is working and what is falling short of that which you had hoped.
Good planning is based on great knowledge, if you feel that you need some more learning to REALLY make things happen then, make this one of your key goals for the year.
And finally
Deadly these five may be but you are faced with a choice this year. Put any deficits right (and beware they can creep up insidiously) or see your competitors grabbing a piece of that sales pie that you should have.
AND one last thing…One of the marektign strategies that IS working even in a tougher economy is developing relationships with others who may have people they are working with that could be interested in you too. If this is you, then let’s have a chat about our “partners” programme.
