Focused, frequent, high-value content placed on high-traffic Internet content aggregation sites will give you your best opportunities to boost your company’s revenue and profit, a nationally known branding expert told remodelers today.
“The right kind of content develops the right kind of relationship that creates incredibly deep revenue,” Andrew Davis told participants at the Remodeling Leadership Conference just outside Washington. “… It’s not a ton of content. It’s the right amount of content, at the right time, on the right subject.”
To succeed, pick a specialty within remodeling, much as one travel advisory service focused solely on serving people who want to take their dogs on vacation with them, Davis urged. Make that niche something specific, like doing a particular type of remodeling, rather than geographic, such as saying you serve a particular territory, he added. And then feed relevant content to it regularly, such as by posting new photos every day or every week.
Davis—a one-time child actor who was chief strategy officer at Tippingpoint Labs and is author of the book Brandscaping—also urged remodelers to stop marketing under the assumption that their website should be the center of the custom’s universe. The truth is that search engines like Google and Bing are at the center, with “branded content aggregators” like Houzz, Pinterest, Yelp!, recipe sites, big news agencies, etc., orbiting most closely around the search sites. Most likely, your website is a star far, far away, Davis said, so if you want to get people to notice you, focus on search and the branded content aggregators.
“Do you ever care if people come to your website?” he asked. “No. But if they see you on Houzz and call you, then your marketing is really effective.”
Underlying all your marketing should be a clear vision of WHY you’re in the business and, as a result, what you do to carry out that goal. The why usually comes out quickly when you’re talking to a customer, Davis said, but it’s not as easily perceived when you use social media—particularly when you muddle your message by posting fluff like pictures of your dogs (unless you specialize in dog-friendly remodeling).
When purchasing, the consumer goes through a process, he said. It starts with a trigger, like a pay raise or retirement. Then comes the “initial consideration set”—beginning research, like asking friends. Then comes active evaluation, such as using search engines to find sites, looking at Houzz, and checking out magazines. Finally comes the moment of purchase.
“The closer you get to that (moment), the bigger the need to differentiate,” he said, because that’s when the consumer sorts through the options and finds the one that comes closest to his or her needs and desires. “You’ve got to get out of the commodity game,” he declared.
