Marketing is often thought of as a huge expense and a “necessary evil” required to get more customers. I think differently about marketing: I believe it’s an investment into growing your business. This mindset change has unlocked the power and opportunity of effective marketing.
To help you master your marketing, here are 6 ways to create more effective plumber marketing. I’ll cover them briefly here but I go into greater detail in my book.
Define your customer:
Who is your customer? (Hint: If you said “everyone” or “anyone” then you’re throwing your marketing money away in the trash because marketing to “everyone” or “anyone” is the most expensive, least effective type of marketing there is). Define your ideal customer precisely by building something that marketers call an “avatar”. In my book, The Secrets of Business Mastery, I give you the questions you need to answer to construct a profile of your ideal customer – and you’ll instantly discover that your marketing improves as a result.
Brand your business for better marketing:
When one marketing piece looks vastly different from another, your prospective customer might not realize they’re both from you. But when you have a clear brand prominently placed on all marketing (bonus: it should match with your trucks and your uniforms and your website) then it raises the level of your marketing.
Create “stackable marketing”
that zooms in on a highly targeted audience and repeats your message over and over again. This type of marketing costs less and is far more effective than the spread-yourself-too-thin type of marketing that most service business owners do.
Stop thinking of marketing as advertising… think of it as serving.
Your marketing is your very first opportunity to serve customers. Demonstrate your availability to help more customers by using information and attractive offers.
Good marketing should be formulaic, predictable, and profitable.
By that I mean: you should send out a marketing initiative (whether it’s a postcard or an email or a voiceblast or any other number of strategies) and you should be able to expect a certain percentage of response. However, this formula is something you have to work toward figuring out in your market area because it’s different for everyone. But once you know it, you can build marketing programs that deliver a predictable number of calls (and ultimately a predictable amount of income) every time.
Use checklists to keep you on track.
Marketing is often thought of as an art or mysterious magic but it’s really a science and a system, which means you can use a checklist to help you create the best, most effective marketing. In Chapter 7 of my book I share with you the checklist that I use in my business.
Marketing is not an expense or hassle – it’s an investment and an opportunity. Want to connect the dots between where you are now and where you want your business to be? It’s marketing mastery.
