Transitioning your Old School Business to The Next Generation of Consumers
We’ve discussed in the past why the word of mouth business model isn’t cutting it anymore when it comes to plumbing, heating or HVAC businesses. This is a marketing tool that has been used for generations from our father’s and grandfather’s businesses alike. Although some people may still be stuck in the past, this will only bring them so far. A way for your business to stand out and produce more leads than your competitors is to begin transitioning your business model to new ages of marketing. An online presence for your business will stabilize this transition.
Work on New Messaging or Branding
Old school marketing used to be sending flyers in the mail with “one-way” marketing such as, “Buy Today!” or “Call Now!” tactics. Today, it is important for customers to feel like they can build a trusting relationship with your business. Consumers want to be able to ask questions, receive honest answers, and feel comfortable when making a decision to hire your company. This allows for interactive, two-way messaging and responsiveness being very important.
Target Audience
In the past, businesses didn’t seem to care who they sold what too, they just tried to market to everyone under the sun. This has been found to actually exhaust your marketing efforts, by not establishing a target audience you can be spending too much time and money on marketing. Today, it is important to focus on customizable, relatable and personal messaging to the specific demographic you are targeting. A great example of this is using ads for your business during a time of day, a certain geographical area, or target keywords your customer may search for.
Cost of Marketing
Your business’s old way of marketing used to be so expensive… remember billboards, flyers, television, radio, all of these things really begin to add up. Not only was your business paying for a graphic designer, ink and paper, printing costs, and just waiting for it to be your turn for your ad to be run. Today, a steady online presence for your plumbing, heating or HVAC business can be essentially completely free. There are hundreds of free tools across the internet at your businesses disposal while getting your messaging out there quickly and at a more affordable rate.
Conclusion
Establishing an online presence will surely help your old school business begin to pick up efficiently and effectively. Developing an online presence will be extremely important to begin the transition of your business to have the opportunity to stay in business. Regardless of how well your business has done in the past, the younger generation of homeowners relies on the internet to find their trustworthy future contractors. Get ahead of the curve, begin establishing your online presence now, and establish a lead against your competitors.
