It’s 2022 – time to upgrade your marketing tactics from 1998. While the roofing industry has traditionally lagged in technology and innovation, the top roofing companies are approaching marketing in the same way a Fortune 500 company does – analyzing data, segmenting customers, A/B testing ads and messages, etc. Larger businesses may even have marketing departments or teams made up of staff that have advanced degrees in marketing, communication, or business. But what can a small roofing business do to revamp their marketing efforts, especially if they do not have the resources to hire dedicated marketing professionals?
1. Brand / Company Messaging / Differentiation
Decisions on branding, company message and differentiation should be intentional and work towards your overall business plan or goals. Calling your company “AA Roofing” to clinch the 1st listing in the yellow pages is not enough these days. Your brand should help tell the story about your company and WHY it exists. Your messaging should reinforce your WHY and help with targeting the type of customers you want. For example, if you are focusing mainly on high-end, high net worth clientele, your messaging should include elements consistent with a luxury brand, like superior craftsmanship, heritage, and aesthetic content.
Differentiation allows you to leverage core strengths and attributes to set your company apart from the competition. For example, if your company has been family-owned since 1925, you may want to adjust the messaging to focus on elements of trust and nostalgia.
New companies may want to highlight owner / founder attributes as differentiation, such as veteran-owned, woman-owned, minority-owned, employee-owned, etc. When all of these elements are combined, they not only help target and inform the customers you are looking for, but they also play an important role in defining company culture as well.
2. Tracking Lead Types
How did you hear about us? You should be asking this question on any online lead capture form and training your reps to collect this information with any lead. Capturing Lead Type data allows you to understand what’s driving sales, what’s working and what’s not. There are many additional layers of insight that can be gleaned from this one simple metric. It can help establish ROI on specific marketing activities and help you evolve your strategy over time. It can help determine conversion rates by marketing channel and even identify gaps in training for individual sales reps. Once you have a good understanding of lead types, you can perform A/B testing where you experiment with different versions of marketing materials or ads to optimize messaging, keywords, imagery, etc.
3. Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is the process of splitting up a company’s potential buyers into smaller groups based on common characteristics in order to tailor marketing messages that best suit their needs. The most common categories of customer segmentation are:
- Geographic
- Demographic
- Pyschographic
- Behavioral
Segmentation can be used to qualify leads as well as optimize marketing efforts throughout the sales process. In practice, once the segments are identified, a company should use specific ads, materials, and channels for specific individual groups of potential customers. When done correctly, segmentation can result in increased conversion rates and higher levels of overall customer satisfaction.
For a more in depth look on how to apply some of these advanced marketing techniques to your roofing business, check out our new online course, Marketing & Canvassing for Your Roofing Business.