Selling Remodeling in the Age of Tech

Technology has become an inseparable aspect of our daily lives. Many of us will even admit that technology has become so engraved in the modern society that we cannot live without it. From the countless applications that enable us to contact almost anyone in the world by clicking a few buttons or speedy access to the web, recent technological advancements have completely changed how we operate. Technological innovations have also become essential to productivity in all industries. To stay relevant, more and more companies are now integrating technology into their overall growth strategy. However, despite the numerous benefits associated with technology, the home improvement industry still lags behind when it comes to implementation of technology.

You are probably asking yourself; how can we say that the home improvement industry is trailing behind in technology when we have many growing home improvement sites such Houzz, Angie’s List, HGTV, and Home Advisor in this industry? Well, it’s true that these websites have revolutionized the remodeling industry. Some of them have even brought new concepts and ideas that have helped us overcome some of the challenges that we encounter in the remodeling industry. However, the truth is that when compared to other sectors, the remodeling sector is not doing enough when it comes to adopting home improvement technologies. How can we solve this problem? Well, the answer is simple; digital marketing! What is digital marketing? Why should remodeling professionals embrace it?

Digital marketing for remodelers refers to a marketing technique that promotes products and services through various forms of electronic channels, mainly based on the web. It involves the use of advanced tools that help business owners understand marketing situations so that they can analyze and come up with relevant strategies that will help them achieve competitive advantage. Why should remodeling professionals forget traditional marketing and go for digital marketing? Here are the key reasons.

• Leveling the playing field – If you are a remodeling professional and think that Houzz, Angie’s List, HGTV, Home Advisor, This Old House and other remodeling focused websites haven’t changed your business already, think again. For a host of reasons, these websites have disrupted the industry from an expectation perspective and have even put remodelers out of business. Homeowner expectations have been shaped by these sites and it has pulled control away from traditional remodeling companies, specifically during the sales process, as a result. Remodeling companies need to get very serious and focus on coming up with their own digital marketing strategies to level the field of any information that comes from remodeling websites. Adopting digital marketing into your overall business goals will not only help level that playing field, it will become required for remodeling professionals to stay in business.
• Cutting costs – Traditional marketing channels such as television, shows, and radio are simply becoming too risky to invest large sums of money in. Today, even tracking sales from those campaigns are insanely skewed. Digital channels are different. Not only is the overall cost per desired reach significantly lower, but the accuracy in conversion ratios make holding the investment accountable easier. You digital platform will also be the quickest way to immediately differentiate your business in a competitive market.
• Real-time insight – Unlike the traditional marketing, digital marketing helps you develop a real-time understanding of the market. The real-time data will help you know what is working and what is not working for your remodeling business in order to come up with a better strategy that will improve your sales. Once a print ad is printed, there’s no going back if it fails miserably. A poor performing digital ad can be changed the same day based on data eliminating wasteful spending.
• Creating exposure – Want to make your remodeling business a household local brand? There are digital campaigns for that. These platforms will give you the fastest, most comprehensive reach of your target audience for your business because it is not dependent on viewership/listeners/readership. You can literally reach an audience of thousands a day, repeatedly, and be confident in its reach on multiple platforms.
• 24/7 marketing – If you want your business to roll with the big boys, you need to be working while they’re sleeping. With digital lead generation for remodeling, you are not constrained by times or slots. Your brand’s voice will be available 24 hours a day. This, in turn, leads to more exposure and more opportunities for new customers to convert to loyal customers even in the middle of the night.
• Increasing trust and reputation – Let’s face it; for you to be successful in the home improvement industry, you need to have a good reputation. The internet is the leading source of customer research which makes use of testimonials, social proof, and social media signals created from real clients to build your online reputation. The more reliable and positive these testimonials are, the higher the trust rate they will generate for those who consider your services.
• Turning your clients into brand ambassadors – It takes a lot of resources to turn clients into brand ambassadors using traditional marketing methods. Digital marketing uses creative social media posts and videos to turn your clients into brand ambassadors. The more your people share your content, the more your reputation grows.
• Serving clients simultaneously – Today’s clients want their needs to be met immediately. Digital marketing will help you serve and engage thousands of people simultaneously. This approach is impressively efficient and can help those in the home improvement sector serve multiple clients without weakening the satisfaction of their customers.

With all these benefits, we can all agree that remodeling professionals should adjust their marketing strategy to accommodate digital marketing. How can they achieve this? We compiled a list of strategies remodeling professionals can use to harness the power of internet marketing.

Here are a few other tips to get started with that are relatively cheap.

Make Your Website Look Good

This is simple and missing far too much. Everyone has a website now. Crappy looking ones getting crappy looking results in most cases. Yes, there are some gurus who can show you a terribly designed website and show results from it, but its not common. Period. We have seen over 400 website projects completed and they always see an increase in business when designed well. Digital marketing is all about driving traffic to your site. We still see too many house remodeling sites that are not created with responsive features, meaning they look old and are difficult to navigate on mobile devices. Approximately 42% of all clients visit a website using a mobile device, and these numbers are expected to increase in future. It is, therefore, important to ensure your website looks good and easy to use on mobile devices.

Implement SEO

We have noticed that there are articles and blog posts that say SEO is a waste of time. Don’t let them mislead you. SEO is still valid and will help you propel your remodeling business to the next level. SEO will help you attract targeted traffic, exhibit professionalism, achieve competitive advantage, and transform new clients to loyal clients.

Take Advantage Of Social Media Marketing

Social media has become one of the most powerful tools to grow an audience, engage clients, and drive sales. In the ever competitive home improvement market, renovation professionals should invest more on social media marketing to stand out from their rivals. Social media marketing will help you:

• Build customer trust,
• Attract millennials and renters,
• Increase brand loyalty,
• Reach targeted audience,
• Boost SEO.

Social media marketing also enables you to use social media influencers who can help you create a responsive online client base and also help you cheat ad-blocking technologies.

Implement Email Marketing

A recent study shows that more than 2.5 billion people use email. This makes email marketing an important tool that you should never ignore when marketing your services. Email marketing will enable you to reach your clients with more informative, accurate, and deliverable marketing campaigns.

When using email marketing, avoid blasting your clients with the same message. This never works! If you don’t want them to be left to rot in the spam folder, make sure you use email marketing wisely and end personalized messages to your clients. This will increase brand loyalty and help you lure new clients.

Use Videos And Quality Pictures

Pictures and videos marketing attract more people than other marketing tools because people on the internet love to click on high-quality pictures and videos. For this reason, there is no better way of harnessing the power of digital marketing than employing the use of pictures and videos. After all, you are in the home improvement industry and people need to see your work before they hire you.

How To Come Up With A Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

Understand how technology affects your remodeling business and clients- The first thing you should do is to understand how technological developments affect your remodeling business. Conduct a thorough research online and off-line and make sure you involve your employees and clients. More importantly, be ready to ask the hard questions. Ensure the question you choose help you get a proper understand of how technology organically flows in your remodeling business.

1. Set your goals – The first question we ask people who want to embrace digital marketing is; what are your goals? Ensure you know what you want to achieve when implementing online marketing plans. Conduct an in-depth research to come up with realistic goals.
2. Know your targeted audience – Take your time to figure out who your clients are and their demographics. What makes them happy? What do they look for when hiring remodeling experts? How do they consume information? Knowing your clients will ensure you reach more of them through digital marketing.
3. Choose the right digital marketing platforms – After identifying the audience, now it’s time to figure out which marketing platform will help you reach them effectively. We cannot stress this enough but ensure you choose a tool that suits your targeted audience.
4. Hire a digital marketing expert – Yes, you heard it right. Why should you hire a digital marketing expert? Well, because it involves intricate processes and requires an experienced professional to do it for you. Go for a digital marketing expert who is gifted and understands your sector.

Whether you are a seasoned remodeling expert or not, digital marketing technology can help you become an indomitable force in the home improvement industry. It has come a long way and should not be overlooked. Embrace it!