Winter Marketing Ideas

Last week we hosted several group teleconferences focused on “What’s Working” in marketing. On the calls, we used a “Mastermind” format to maximize group discussion. What came out of the calls were some great ideas and reminders for effective marketing.  Here are some significant highlights:

• Trucks and Signs. We call this “Seen You Around” marketing. It is still the number one source of leads.
• Community and Networking.  Working with charitable organizations continues to offer great rewards – especially for community branding. “Do well by doing good,” is the strategy. The most popular networking groups to join include the Chamber of Commerce, BNI, and Rotary.
• Painter For A Day (PFAD).  This idea has worked well across the board. Effective uses include donating to charity and auction events, and as a ‘thank you’ for referrals.
• Angie’s List.  This website continues to improve and be a great source for contractors. They also continue to offer new and effective ways to market to members. However, its success does seem to be dependent upon location, as some companies are seeing better results than others.
• Direct Mail.  Several companies around the county are seeing new success here. Mailboxes are not as full as they were 3 years ago. Thought this is still not as successful as it used to be, some regions reported great success.
• Search Engine Optimization and Website Updates.  Every year, more and more leads are coming from internet sources. Increasing the organization’s website ranking using SEO has had a very positive effect on members. Suggestions for successful implementation include blogging, online customer reviews, and website coding optimization.
• Referral marketing.  Word of mouth continues to provide great business for companies.  There were lots of interesting suggestions for promoting and rewarding referrals. The bottom line is…be creative and experiments to find out what works.
• Marketing to past customers.  You’ve got raving fans…go after them!  Successful programs include “Call-a-Thons” to past customers, special discounts and promotions, and referral ‘thank you’ gifts.  Email blasts and e-newsletters have also been very effective.
• Selling Winter Work Now.  By and large, companies are willing to lower their price during the slower months in order to survive. At every opportunity, start scheduling work now for winter. Email blasts to past customers have been very effective at filling the winter schedule.

Without a doubt, if this winter is going to be great, you must start planning and implementing now! Hopefully, the ideas above will give you a great start.

For more details about these and other effective marketing programs, call us today about joining Summit!

info@summitservicesinc.com

Have a great week!

Bryan Evans