5 Elements That Make Your Marketing Resilient

What mar­ket­ing plat­forms are draw­ing the most leads for paint­ing con­trac­tors right now? That’s a ques­tion we get a lot. It makes sense. Noth­ing feels bet­ter than strik­ing gold — that is, find­ing that sin­gle plat­form that yields a steady stream of paint­ing jobs. 

And while we don’t want to spoil the par­ty, we also know that bet­ting too much on a plat­form that per­forms well today can wreak hav­oc on your busi­ness tomor­row. Don’t get me wrong, when you hap­pen upon a plat­form that per­forms well, you’d bet­ter make hay while the sun shines. How­ev­er, the mis­take is when that’s the ONLY mar­ket­ing you do. 

Let’s look at a quick exam­ple. Google Local Ser­vice Ads (GLSAs) have been per­form­ing well for many con­trac­tors. It’s a good mar­ket­ing tac­tic. How­ev­er, you still need a good mar­ket­ing strategy. 

The prob­lem with ONLY rely­ing on GLSAs is that you remain reliant on their brand equi­ty instead of build­ing your own. These leads didn’t find you because you’ve done a great job of telling the sto­ry of your qual­i­ty prod­uct and great cus­tomer ser­vice. They didn’t find you because you are well-known and trust­ed in your com­mu­ni­ty. They found you because they trust Google to show them paint­ing con­trac­tors, and today, you end­ed up on the top of the heap. But, what hap­pens when the algo­rithm changes? When the com­pe­ti­tion changes? When the ad costs go up? Chances are, you are stuck watch­ing that lead stream dry up. 

That’s why we encour­age paint­ing con­trac­tors to think about mar­ket­ing as some­thing you build, not some­thing you try. A sol­id mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy allows you to devel­op assets that cre­ate long-term val­ue and diver­si­fy where your leads come from, decreas­ing your over­all risk. 

So how do you build a suc­cess­ful mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy that ensures your paint­ing busi­ness sur­vives the fick­le storms of mar­ket­ing plat­forms? Here are five strate­gic com­po­nents to pay spe­cial atten­tion to.

Brand Posi­tion­ing

This one is dif­fi­cult, but it’s impor­tant. It requires you to step back and fig­ure out your strengths, weak­ness­es, and val­ues. It also forces you to decide who you choose to serve and artic­u­late why they should choose you. 

This all begins with a strong vision and research about the cus­tomers you want. Answer these ques­tions: Who is your tar­get mar­ket? What do they need? What are their chal­lenges? What is their price point? What do they val­ue? Where/​how do they shop for paint­ing contractors?

Brand posi­tion­ing ensures that all your efforts work togeth­er to cap­ture your tar­get market’s atten­tion, set your­self apart from the com­pe­ti­tion, and become the mem­o­rable choice for paint­ing services. 

The ROI on brand posi­tion­ing is a bit dif­fer­ent than a lot of dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing tac­tics. Instead of a num­ber on a dash­board, ROI for your brand strat­e­gy is more like­ly to show up as esti­ma­tors clos­ing high­er-end jobs faster and eas­i­er, a lighter bur­den dur­ing tumul­tuous eco­nom­ic events, and even top paint­ing tal­ent vying to work for your well-respect­ed company. 

Author­i­ty Building

Once you tru­ly under­stand your cus­tomers, it’s eas­i­er to craft sto­ries that speak direct­ly to their chal­lenges and needs. Using case stud­ies, videos, pho­tos, tes­ti­mo­ni­als, and blogs, you can demon­strate your exper­tise, crafts­man­ship, and cus­tomer expe­ri­ence. All of this builds trust, mak­ing the road from prospect to cus­tomer much smoother. 

The ROI for your con­tent is some­thing that can show up in dash­boards by way of increased traf­fic from organ­ic search and bet­ter con­ver­sions from web forms. But that’s not all, be on the look­out for oth­er indi­ca­tors that your rev­enue increas­es are due to the invis­i­ble hand of author­i­ty. Things like bet­ter leads, high­er close ratios, and less need to nego­ti­ate price all sig­nal that your author­i­ty efforts are pay­ing off. 

Lead Gen­er­a­tion

Now that you have a brand that peo­ple can’t help but notice and sto­ries that demon­strate your exper­tise and pro­fes­sion­al­ism, it’s time to show them off! 

As we dis­cussed ear­li­er, you want to bet on plat­forms that deliv­er but also plan to diver­si­fy. Some tac­tics, like GLSAs, can deliv­er cold, hard leads fast. Oth­ers, like direct mail, might take longer to pay off, but they have the added ben­e­fit of shelf life and rein­forc­ing your brand and authority. 

Know how to test, track, and adjust. And even more impor­tant, plan to be patient and give each plat­form its due. A lot of mar­ket­ing tac­tics require you to work out some kinks, but it’s worth the time and effort. 

Com­mu­ni­ty Involvement

I’m tak­ing it back to the old school because I’m so cool … and also because it’s so impor­tant. Nev­er ever under­es­ti­mate the val­ue of being a fix­ture in your com­mu­ni­ty. Buy an ad in the local high school foot­ball pro­gram. Spon­sor a Lit­tle League team. Do a char­i­ty project. 

The beau­ty of being a paint­ing con­trac­tor is that you are local. These are your neigh­bors, your friends, your com­mu­ni­ty. Not only is it good for your busi­ness to get involved, but it’s also good for your soul. 

Reten­tion & Life­time Val­ue

Final­ly, cre­ate a plan to keep your cus­tomers com­ing back. Return­ing cus­tomers close faster and deliv­er a high­er prof­it mar­gin. They are also much more like­ly to leave good reviews and refer you to friends and family. 

Start by cre­at­ing a mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence with great cus­tomer ser­vice and a great fin­ish. Then make a plan for keep­ing your com­pa­ny front of mind. Get a CRM, build a list, and be dili­gent about your data prac­tices. Send out Christ­mas cards, send a month­ly newslet­ter, offer main­te­nance plans, and offer some­thing spe­cial for refer­rals. Just remain vis­i­ble to this very impor­tant audience. 

With these five ele­ments in place, you can enjoy all the ben­e­fits of hot tech when it’s deliv­er­ing strong­ly, but you won’t be anchored to them when things go south. Be sure to enjoy the process and have fun!

Feel­ing over­whelmed? At DC Mar­ket­ing Group, we spe­cial­ize in mar­ket­ing for painters. Our vast expe­ri­ence and insights can stream­line your mar­ket­ing process­es and get your com­mer­cial com­mu­ni­ca­tions up and run­ning faster. Sched­ule Your Free Con­sul­ta­tion Call today!