Personalized and targeted marketing for roofing contractors in 2013

Let's say you get two emails today from companies soliciting a product or service you may in fact need or buy in the coming year.

The first is obviously a standard lead generation marketing email with a huge CONTACT US or CLICK TO BUY button that you can safely assume was already sent exactly the same way to hundreds if not thousands of other potential purchasing decision makers. You are likely also Bcc:'d (blind carbon-copied) as part of a mass distribution list. How inclined are you to respond to this email, call them or even visit their website?

NOTE: If you have ever done email marketing for your roofing company, this is likely the route you have taken and you probably saw a bit of a spike in website traffic, maybe got a handful of folks to email you back and a couple to even call you. It is quick, cheap and easy - especially on a large scale. But what about commercial roofing companies who deal with 1,000 or less building owners or property or facility managers?

The second email you receive today is sent directly to you (i.e., your email address is in the To: line). Your name is in the subject line and in the salutation. The body of the email references your company specifically as well as why the sender feels your particular company could benefit from doing business with him or her. And to top it off, to save you the time and hassle of reading through a bunch of boring literature, there is a link to a short video (addressed to you) that succinctly explains the product or service, its benefits, etc. How inclined are you to watch, then respond to this email?

EXAMPLE personalized roofing company introduction video:


It would appear the sender of the second email really wants the opportunity to earn not just whoever's business, but precisely your business. He or she has gone out of their way to identify you as an individual, assess the fit of their product or service to your company, and reach out personally to introduce themselves. This is not the typical approach by marketers because it seems like it would take time, would be expensive and is difficult.

Can I afford this?
Your question should really be "Can I afford not to do this?" Commercial roofing companies typically don't deal with tens of thousands of potential customers. In your service area, there are likely few enough potential customers that this personalized approach would not only be feasible financially, but could be done within a 12 month period. This may be simplest, most inexpensive way to differentiate yourself from all of your competitors (at least those who haven't read this blog post yet).

I have discovered a method for researching contacts and developing personalized introduction and overview videos for roofing contractors that really works, and would like to share with you the basics of how to do it.

NOTE: If instead you would like my help I charge $100 per lead (minimum 20 leads), which includes identifying the contacts, qualifying them, collecting all available contact information, and developing & posting the personalized videos to your YouTube channel. Please email RoofPal@gmail.com for more information.

How do I do this?
First, develop a short video about your roofing company, the services you offer, a particular type of roofing (like cool roofing systems, metal roofing, roof cleaning & maintenance, etc.), or any message you would like to get out.

Second, identify potential roofing customers (please click to read my previous blog post or watch the podcast episode on this topic).

Third, develop individual slides or frames for each of the contacts on your list. It is particularly effective to incorporate their picture from the company's website or their LinkedIn profile page. I use Microsoft PowerPoint and save each of the slides as a .png image file.

Fourth, compile a list of all of the unique first names on your list (for example, there may be 6 men named Jim, 8 women named Mary, 3 men named Tom, etc.) and record yourself offering a very short personalized greeting, using the first name. Repeat this for every unique name and save each as its own video file, as these can be reused for every person with that same first name.

Fifth, in the video editing software of your choice (I use Windows Live Movie Maker) import the video about your roofing company along with the first name greeting video associated with the person's first name, as well as the individual slide for that specific person. Burn it as one single video file and upload it to YouTube.

NOTE: I recommend uploading these videos to YouTube as Unlisted, which means only those with the link can view the video. Otherwise when someone visits your channel, does a Google search, or finishes watching the video you send them, they'll see all the other one's you have put together and the whole process won't feel as personalized as it originally did, basically killing your strategy.

Sixth, send an email directly to that contact using their name, title, company name, etc. in your introduction and include the link to the video on YouTube. The idea is to make this very personal (without being creepy) to convey to the recipient that you really would like to earn his or her business and are not simply doing a mass email blast.

Would you like help doing this?
Again, I charge $100 per lead to develop these videos (minimum 20 leads). This includes developing the company overview video, identifying potential customers, collecting all available contact information I can find online (including links to social media profiles, email address, phone number, mailing address, etc.), as well as developing and posting each personalized video to your YouTube channel. I would ask that you record the personalized greetings though to keep it authentic (I provide you with the list of names and a recommended script). If you would like to discuss more or get started, please email RoofPal@gmail.com.

If you do put some of these together, I'd like to see an example and hear how it worked for you. If you have any other ideas, comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below. Best of luck!

Roofing Article and Video Special Offer!

If you are a roofing contractor looking for dynamic, reusable, custom content to promote your company in 2013 I have a special offer for you. For a limited time I am offering a 1-page article with an associated video on the topic of your choice for just $750 (this is 25% off the normal $1,000 price).

The article and associated video version can be about your company, a type of roofing system you install, a specific service such as storm damage restoration, etc. - any topic you desire. Provided you make yourself available for feedback on drafts through completion, these can be completed within just 2 weeks.

Your article can be posted to your website, shared on social media, submitted to local and national publications, emailed as a .pdf to prospective customers, and more. Your video will be uploaded to YouTube where you can share it on social media, embed it on your website, send it to prospective customers, have potential customers launch it on their smart phones via a QR Code from your brochures or business cards, and so much more.

For examples of videos, please visit YouTube.com/RoofPal or email RoofPal@gmail.com to get started or to request additional information, examples of videos and articles, or references. Payment in full is due upfront.

How to find potential roofing customer contact information online (Part 2)

When you reach out via email to a potential new commercial roofing customer such as a property or facility manager and get an Out of Office AutoReply email message response from them... EUREKA! - you may have just struck customer contact information prospecting gold!

 

Why Out of Office AutoReplies are so valuable

When someone is on vacation or out of the office for an extended period of time, they often leave one or more alternate names in the company (with contact information) who are supporting their customers during that time to people who email them during their absence.

 

Those alternate contacts often have a similar or supporting role (i.e., they manage other commercial properties or are otherwise involved in the process) and are likely another person worth reaching out and introducing your roofing company to.

 

If you are interested in building a list of potential roofing customers and gathering contact information so you can create awareness of your roofing company and request to be contacted for opportunities to bid roofing work, please also see: How to find potential roofing customer contact information online (Part 1).

 

If you have any questions about finding potential roofing customers in your service area online or would like assistance doing so, please contact RoofPal any time.

Are people hiding your roofing company's Facebook posts?

Most roofing companies focus on how many people 'Like' or are friends with their Facebook page instead of focusing on what is important like what they post, how often they post, and actually engaging with those they are already connected to. Now they are paying the price: people are blocking or hiding their posts.

 
4 types of negative feedback on Facebook
Outside of bad reviews or comments, there are four types of negative feedback your roofing company's page can receive on Facebook:

1. Hiding a single post from their newsfeed
2. Hiding all of your posts from their newsfeed (also called “unsubscribing”)
3. Unliking or unfriending your page
4. Reporting your post as spam

If any of this has ever happened with your roofing company's Facebook page, it doesn’t mean what you are posting is bad - it could just mean you are posting to the wrong audience or maybe you are posting too frequently (overwhelming your connections).

PageLever is a Facebook analytics tool that measures more than 1 billion Facebook fans across thousands of fan pages. They have found that approximately 2% of post views (1 out of 50) generate some form of negative feedback.

Your connections are most likely to hide or block ALL of your posts when they take a negative feedback action (60 times more likely than unliking or unfriending your page), which means that just because your roofing company has a lot of connections doesn’t mean they are all seeing what you post. Also, they are more likely to report one of your posts as spam than they are to unlike or unfriend your page.

Why are some people hiding or blocking your posts?
It is most likely because you aren't engaging and interacting with them, or they find out after connecting with you that they don't like what you are posting.

What can you do?
The best advice I can give you is to both ensure what you post is relevant and on topic with your service offerings, and that you post at a reasonable frequency (and at an optimal time of the day and days of the week).

Don't be afraid to ask some of your connections what they would be interested in seeing posted by your roofing company. Track your page metrics to see which posts get the most engagement and the most organic virality.

Periodically try new content and new formats of content like text only, pictures of your work or team members, videos of your work or roofing video brochures, links to roofing articles or pages on your website, polls/questions, etc. Try new things and measure the results so you can make quick adjustments when necessary.

One other thing I would recommend is to focus more on quality connections than quantity of connections. Define your ideal customer and target people who match that profile.

Want to discuss or need some help?
If you would like to discuss this in more detail or would like assistance developing a Facebook content or engagement strategy, please email RoofPal@gmail.com any time.

Choose your roofing customers - outbound vs. inbound marketing

Regardless if you install residential or commercial roofing systems, creating the opportunity to choose your customers instead of hoping the phone rings or getting an email from your website's "Contact Us" form will ultimately lead to greater financial success and much fewer headaches.

Too often we practically beg for work - any work, as long as it helps to keep our crews busy and pay the bills. But over time that leads to diluted service offerings and a splintered work force. Your marketing efforts suffer as well, as it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Choosing Your Customers
This can mean several things, including differentiating potential customers based on personality, geography, credit worthiness, financial solvency, existing roof size, existing roof system, existing roof age, their reason for needing roofing work, their preferred roof system, their level of environmental consciousness, and more.

Disqualifying certain potential roofing customers helps to streamline your operations, materials purchasing and your advertising, which ultimately improves your profit margins or enables you to compete more aggressively with low-bid contractors. It also enables your company to focus, to truly become an expert, and to develop a strong reputation as "the company" for the specific work you bid.

'Spray and Pray' vs. 'Ready, Aim, Fire!'
Inbound marketing in essence is the reliance that people will find you and contact you when they need work. It is the "spray and pray" approach. Outbound marketing is the opposite - it is the aggressive pursuit of work, and can more easily be targeted to a defined customer profile. It is the "ready, aim, fire!" approach.

With the right marketing, content development and search engine optimization over time, inbound marketing can have a similar eventual outcome. But by clearly articulating your "perfect customer" (e.g., government buildings, new construction, manufacturing facilities with asphalt roofs looking to reduce energy consumption, residential homes after a hail storm, etc.), you can laser-focus your advertising, sales pitch, inspection and bidding processes, materials acquisition, installation methods, and more.

How Do I Target Customers?
Researching customer contact information online is easier than ever. Once you have profiled your target customer you can get specific names, titles, email addresses, mailing addresses, social media profiles, and so much more with a few clicks using resources such as Google, LinkedIn, Spokeo, and others.

Creating a simple Excel spreadsheet with all of this information arms your sales and marketing team to aggressively pursue work that fits your company's expertise.

The bottom line is that it is better to define your customer and aggressively pursue him or her than to wait for someone to contact you and do the best you can with what they need.

Want to Discuss or Need Some Help?
If you would like to discuss this in more detail or would like assistance implementing an outbound marketing strategy so you can better pick your roofing company's customers, please email RoofPal@gmail.com any time.

Viral marketing for roofing companies

In 2006, New York City artist Scott LoBaido traveled nationwide to paint Old Glory on roofs in all 50 states. But four years later (2010), he accepted his biggest challenge ever: painting a Texas-sized waving American flag on the 150,000 square foot metal roof of Lamons Gasket Co. in Houston, Texas, using only 9-inch rollers to apply approximately 900 gallons of paint. Ironically, it took him from Flag Day (June 14th) until the 4th of July to complete the project.

Although the project cost nearly $50,000, the free publicity LoBaido and Lamons Gasket get every year I'm sure is well worth the original investment. Three years later, images of the roof still go viral around every patriotic holiday including Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Patriot Day (September 11th), Veterans Day, and others.

Similarly, in June 2011 the tile roofing crew of Istueta Roofing in Miami, Florida luckily had been video taping a residential tear-off when they came upon a very strange discovery: thousands of bats that had infested a home!

Here is the original full-length video:



Amazingly, this is not prominently featured on their website. Truly a lost opportunity to capitalize on a viral video.

The bottom line is that viral marketing isn't just about making a funny video to upload to YouTube. It can also be about discovering something unusual or doing something big, cool or even patriotic and making sure you document it well with pictures, video, testimonials, and interviews, and then getting the word out through articles, blogging, video blogs, social media, local news stations, and more. It doesn't always happen overnight, but in the end it can really pay off.

What ideas do you have to virally market a roofing business?

Grow your roofing business with video blogs and video brochures

Let's face it, attention spans are shorter than ever. No one wants to read pages of information on your website or in your brochures or proposals about the roof system you are proposing or about the qualifications of your roofing company. So how do you make sure the customer is fully informed?

A short, scripted, edited, professionally produced video can provide enough information in just the amount of the time you are actually going to get from most prospective customers. A win-win for everyone!

Video blogs can serve multiple purposes for your roofing company:

They enable you to more effectively, efficiently and consistently communicate information to your customers.

In just 3-5 minutes you can communicate all of the benefits of a particular roof system you are bidding.

You can highlight the qualifications and accomplishments of your roofing company that otherwise get lost in your proposals or website.

With the proper title, description and tags, potential customers in your service area have a better chance of finding your company online when performing a Google search, since videos (especially those uploaded to YouTube) are now ranking higher than many older, established web pages and online documents.

Your proposals, bids and presentations can be enhanced to help you get all the pertinent information across and help you stand out from the competition.

Print marketing such as postcards, brochures, business cards, door hangers, service vehicles, yard signs, billboards, and more come to life simply by incorporating a simple QR Code that launches your video blog.

They are ideal for sharing on social media and expanding on messages in email newsletters without the addition of pages of unwanted text.

You can play them on a loop from a DVD in your reception area or at trade shows.

They bring your blog posts and articles to life - further explaining the topic you are writing about, or the script itself can become its own blog post or article.

And the best part is that customers can watch them anywhere, any time at their convenience.

Video blogs can be a huge time saver for your sales staff:

For example, if you have 5 salespeople who bid 100 jobs per year and each time they have to spend even 15 minutes explaining the roof system you are proposing, that comes out to 125 total hours per year explaining the same roof systems over-and-over.

At $20 per hour, that totals $2,500 in productivity time lost. But more importantly, that is 125 hours every year they are not out selling more roofing jobs.

Due to the conversational nature of the sales process, it likely takes more than 15 minutes to sell the customer on the roof system, and there is no guarantee your sales staff is explaining the systems as effectively and consistently as you would like them to.

By incorporating video blogs into your content and sales strategies, you streamline the most basic component of your communications processes, instantly have compelling content for marketing and social media sharing, and improve your search engine optimization all in one shot.

RoofPal produces video blogs on a variety of topics such as the benefits of elastomeric roof coatings, historical preservation of slate roof tiles, metal roof restoration, storm damage restoration, and so much more that can be completely personalized for your roofing company.

We can also develop custom video blogs on any roof system you need, for a large bid you are preparing, or a short video brochure or commercial for your roofing company.

If you have any questions about creating or putting video blogs to work for your roofing company, please feel free to contact RoofPal any time.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by The Contractors Alliance. Expand your roofing business by integrating Conklin reflective cool roof coatings, foam, single-ply and other systems. For more information please contact Stan Volkman at (612) 750-6639, via email at Info@TheContractorsAlliance.com, or by visiting them online at TheContractorsAlliance.com.

Stop selling! Social media is for creating awareness and developing relationships

Social media marketing is very different than traditional marketing. You shouldn't login with the intent to sell your roofing services. Instead, look to create relationships. If people feel you are part of their community they will support you and recommend your company to their colleagues, family and friends.

Here are 5 tips for getting started on creating relationships with existing and potential roofing customers using social media:

Dedicate Resources
Building relationships in social media requires both time AND people. At least one person needs to be responsible for communicating with those you are connected to, including reading status updates, Tweets, and blog posts; writing comments, joining groups, uploading photos and videos, participating in discussion forums, writing and sharing blog posts, responding to questions, etc.

Be Real
Building relationships in social media is predicated on trust and familiarity. Be yourself, and let your employees be themselves as representatives of your roofing company. Creating a stale, robotic profile and only posting sales messages and links to your website or blog are pointless activities, and honestly a complete waste of time. You want to discover a suitable mix of personality and professionalism.

Communicate Early & Often
It doesn't matter if you send email newsletters, write blog posts, update your status, send Tweets, or post to a group discussion - just be sure you are actively communicating. Get a jump start on topics that are hot in the industry and respond to them earlier than your competitors. Communicating often helps to build relationships with your audience so they can trust you will be there and will inform them of the valuable information they need or are looking for.

Get Involved
Engage your connections with questions and provide relevant context to what you post. People will start to ignore you if what you post isn't a two-way conversation. Get involved - if people are looking for assistance, point them in the right direction when you can or introduce them to someone who can. If someone posts something funny, interesting or personal, "Like" it, comment on it, re-Tweet it, etc. Show them you are interested in what they have to say as well.

Remember to Listen
Building a relationship requires that you listen more and talk less. As much as you want to spend time promoting your roofing services, that is actually the last thing you should do on social media. It is amazing what you can learn just by listening to what your customers are saying. Take the time to read their posts, the comments they leave on your blog, their Tweets, what they say in reviews, etc. This will help you understand their needs, concerns and interests.

If you have any questions about creating relationships with roofing customers on social media or would like help coming up with a social media strategy for your roofing company, please feel free to contact RoofPal any time.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by The Contractors Alliance. Diversify your service offerings by integrating Conklin reflective cool roof coatings, foam, single-ply and other systems into your roofing business. For more information please contact Stan Volkman at (612) 750-6639, via email at Info@TheContractorsAlliance.com, or by visiting them online at TheContractorsAlliance.com.

How to find potential roofing customer contact information online (Part 1)

When developing contact lists for commercial roofing companies, the first thing I do is create a spreadsheet with columns for Name, Title, Company, Phone, Fax, Email, Mailing Address, and website URL. You can add more columns for information such as links to their various social media profile URL's upfront, or just add them later as additional information becomes available.

Next, I do a Google search for "commercial property management" plus each city name in their service area. I copy and paste the company name, website URL, address, and general phone and fax number into the spreadsheet as I find them. Sometimes you can also find aggregation sites or directories that have many of these companies listed in one document or page.

Once I am satisfied with my company search, I start at the top of the list, insert a dozen or so rows under the first entry, and visit their website. Most companies will list all of their property managers, brokers, agents, etc. somewhere on their site. I then copy each name, direct phone number or extension, cell phone number, email address, and any other pertinent information into the spreadsheet. Repeat this for each company on the list.

For companies who do not list any or all of their property managers, you can copy the company's website domain and do a Google search for the word 'email' and the company's domain. That usually results in more contacts, especially for managers of specific properties such as onsite managers of multi-housing or apartment communities. To find more information on those people whose email address you found, one at a time do a Google search using quotes around the email address.

I target property management companies first because many commercial buildings are professionally managed, which includes filling vacancies, managing contracts, collecting lease payments, and (most importantly for your roofing company), dispatching repair work and managing capital improvements.

You now have enough direct contact information to execute an extremely targeted cold call and/or direct mail campaign.

The information you have is also helpful for planning an outdoor media campaign. By creating a heat map of the physical addresses of each property management company, you can geo-target the best areas to put up billboards, bus stop signs and more around the most populated property management buildings in the city.

You also have enough information, such as their name, location, the company they work for, their email address, etc. to begin searching for these property managers and brokers on social media and requesting to connect with them.

In future podcast episodes (and blog posts) I'll go in to more detail about finding facilities managers, building owners and even homeowners online, as well as planning outdoor advertising campaigns and connecting with potential roofing customers on various social media sites.

If you have any questions about finding potential roofing customers in your service area online or would like assistance doing so, please contact RoofPal any time.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Hail-Track. Hail-Track combines real-time storm maps with geo- and time-stamped pictures and videos online as well as several other powerful tools to help hyper-target your advertising after a big storm anywhere in your service area. Learn more by visiting Hail-Track.com.

Why you should share pictures and videos of roofing jobs on social media in real-time

There is so much great content a roofing company can share on social media beyond direct sales messages or links to their website, blog posts, manufacturer product information, or 
miscellaneous industry-related articles.

One of the best ways to demonstrate your quality workmanship and scope of service offerings is to show potential customers the actual work you are doing, indirectly advertising your  services by sharing pictures and short video clips of jobs you are working on.

The pictures you upload to your website are usually just the select few you are most proud of, and some may be a few years old. Most contractors don't prominently feature everyday 20-square shingle installations, routine maintenance work on a grocery store, or leak repairs at a warehouse.

For a roofing company, social media is great for updating the people you are connected to about what you are currently doing (as opposed to just sharing the best of what did in the past). It is a perfect forum to post a few pictures and even a 30-60 second video clip or two of the work you did earlier that day, or better yet - the work your company is doing right that moment.

The first step is develop a habit of taking pictures and videos of the work you are doing. This can done easily with most modern digital cameras and cell phones.

The second step is to determine which social media platform or platforms you will post them to, how often you'll do it, and how many pictures and videos you feel is appropriate to post per day.

The third step is to decide who will post them - whether allowing someone on the crew to post on the company's behalf from a smartphone, or to have them email the pictures back to the office for review, selection, editing (if needed), and sharing online.

Regardless of who posts the pictures and videos, make sure to include brief descriptions written in a way that would make sense to potential customers.

Also, don't forget to ask permission to tag the homeowner or company in the post. This is an excellent opportunity for virtual word-of-mouth advertising, as everyone they are connected to can see the quality work you are doing for someone they know.

Taking pictures and video clips also provides you with great content to share with the customer offline, giving them a first-hand look at what exactly was wrong, how you went about fixing it, and the quality of your finished work.

One other benefit to developing a habit of documenting the work you do with photos and short video clips is that, over time, you develop an extensive database of content to use for your website, blog posts, video blogs, sales presentations, brochures, and other marketing materials.

Something I often recommend is to watermark pictures with your company logo so other companies don't use them as their own. If you aren't sure how to do this, please feel free to contact me - I would be happy to show you how.

If you have any questions about real-time social sharing or would like assistance setting up a structured, repeatable process for your roofing company, please contact RoofPal any time.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Hail-Track. Hail-Track combines real-time storm maps with geo- and time-stamped pictures and videos online as well as several other powerful tools to help hyper-target your advertising after a big storm anywhere in your service area. Learn more by visiting Hail-Track.com.

Internal links improve SEO for roofing websites and blogs [+ video]

An internal link is a hyperlink in an online document, web page or blog post that, when clicked, takes the visitor to another section of that same document, page or post, or to an entirely different document, web page or blog post within the same domain.

Here are four reasons why effective use of internal links in your roofing company's website and blog is absolutely critical for search engine optimization:

1. Internal linking tells search engines that you think the document, web page or blog post you are linking to contains valuable content. Basically, if you aren't endorsing your own content, why should anyone else think it's important?
2. Internal linking enhances the visitor's experience. Leading potential customers to other related content within your website or blog will give them more of the valuable information they need to decide whether or not they should contact your company for roofing jobs.
3. Internal linking reduces your bounce rates. When someone views a web page or blog post, giving them additional related pages to link to will reduce the amount of times they visit just one page and then leave your site. Low bounce rates help your web pages and blog posts rank higher with search engines.
4. Internal linking improves indexing. Helping search engines easily travel from one web page or blog post to the next enables indexing to happen faster than normal. Indexing web pages and online documents is a huge part of what allows search engines to display results for a search query so quickly. The better and faster they can index your website or blog, the higher your individual pages and posts will rank when people search for roofing services in your area.

I recommend incorporating internal links into new web pages and blog posts to similar content throughout your website and blog as you create them. And as soon as you publish a page or post, your next step should be to go create at least two internal links coming in to that new web page or blog post from other existing pages or posts (where it makes sense).

Can you have too many internal links? Well, too much of anything is bad. Having no internal links is obviously not good, and having too many isn't good either, so you need to strike a balance.

I recommend using 1 to 5 internal links for every 500 words you type. For example, if you have a 1,500 word blog post you should have between 3 and 15 links.

I don't normally recommend linking more than one word or word groupings to the exact same destination page, post or document, but sometimes it is helpful if what you are linking to has multiple extremely relevant keywords.

If you have any questions about internal linking or search engine optimization, or would like help with creating content for your roofing company's website or blog, please feel free to contact RoofPal any time.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Dataforma. With their best-in-class web-based business management services, Dataforma can help you to run a more profitable roofing business. For more information, please call (866) 764-9992 or visit them online at www.Dataforma.com.

How your roofing company can have a more successful direct mail and email marketing campaign

Direct mail has the potential to reach people that are difficult to or simply cannot be reached online, but it costs money and the response rates are typically low. Email marketing is immediate and inexpensive, but open and click-through rates are often low and if done poorly can flag your domain as spam to internet service providers.

If your roofing company has experienced failure in direct mail or email marketing campaigns, it is likely a result of a combination of factors:

You might be targeting the wrong prospects
The most critical factor for successful email and direct mail marketing is targeting people who match the profiles of your best customers. Marketing to people who don't have a strong interest in what you have to offer (or don't have the authority to purchase) is a waste of time and money.

Your message might not stand out
When potential customers are sorting their mail, size definitely matters. Small postcards are cheap to print and send, but they are also more likely to be dwarfed by the larger pieces of mail. To make sure your direct mail isn't thrown away without being looked at, think big. Oversized postcards are more expensive to print and send, but they are more likely to get noticed.

Your message might be all about you
If everything you present is all about you and how great your company is, people will tune out. Instead, try focusing on benefits for the customer, what's in it for them and why they should care about your offer.

You may have misspelled or incorrect names
If the recipient's name is listed incorrectly, it will immediately be deleted or go into the shredder. Personalization is a great way to make messages more effective, but make sure you have the names correct.

Your message may be boring
Being interactive isn't just for digital media. Direct mail pieces can slide, unfold and open to create an experience for the recipient. The ability to share content via social media, weigh in on a poll question, or watch an embedded video featuring bonus content in an email or via QR Code on print is rarely used but extremely effective. Interaction gives the recipient a reason to engage with your marketing piece.

Your timing might be bad
Often, timing can be everything. Receiving your marketing piece just as there is a need can significantly impact their purchasing decision. Since you can't always predict when that is, frequency (within reason) is your best bet to keep you top-of-mind and stimulate action. If you send an email or postcard about emergency roof leak repairs two months before a storm hits, there is no urgency. If you have your campaign ready to go out two days before a massive rainstorm, monsoon, hail storm, or hurricane is forecasted, they will receive your message exactly when they have a need.

You may be taking the "shotgun" approach
Smart marketers know how to target who exactly gets their emails and direct mail pieces by more than just geography or location. Develop and then use real analytics with your mailing list. Everything you know about your current and potential customers should go into a searchable database that you can use to segment your list based on the message you are about to send.

You might not be contacting them frequently enough
It takes more than one email or postcard for your company to get noticed. Try sending out different messages with unique offers in different formats to become memorable and non-repetitive.

Your message may have no sense of urgency
Try putting an expiration on your offer four to six weeks after they receive it in order to create a sense of urgency.

You may be trying to say too much
Don't write a novel or make the reader work to figure out exactly what your message or "ask" is. Going through the mail and reading unsolicited emails is not the highlight of anyone's day. You have an extremely limited amount of time to get someone's attention, so get to the point.

If you have sent out unsuccessful direct mail or email campaigns before, here is the order of importance to figure out what went wrong and correct your mistake(s) the next time:

1. Improve your list. Make sure you are targeting the right people and that names are correct (and spelled correctly).
2. Improve your content. Get to the point with a well-written, easy to read, relevant, compelling, time-sensitive offer that the reader quickly understands what the value is to them.
3. Improve the physical look. Make sure your email or direct mail piece looks professional, is appropriate for what you are communicating, and is well designed.

If you have any questions about direct mail or email marketing, would like feedback on a campaign you are about to launch (or have recently launched) or would like assistance planning your next campaign, please contact RoofPal any time. We can help you build and improve your mailing list, actually write the content or even design and coordinate printing of the physical piece for you. For more, please visit www.RoofPal.com.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by GMD Graphics - your one-stop solution for everything from brochures to yard signs, apparel, vehicle wraps and more. GMD Graphics designs, prints and ships directly to you anywhere nationwide. For a free quote please call (602) 774-3600, email Info@GMDGraphics.com or visit them online at www.GMDGraphics.com.

Simple yet effective strategy for getting quality roofing leads

MARKETING QUICK TIP

Nothing is more powerful than the recommendation of someone you know and trust, right? Does your roofing company proactively ask for testimonials and referrals? This is a simple yet effective strategy for developing quality leads for roofing jobs.

How to do this

After every job you do, ask the customer for a brief testimonial (hand written or typed, via email, on social media, write down what they say over the phone, - whatever works for them).

On your website or blog, include the customer's testimonial along with a brief description of the work you did and one "before", one "during" and one "after" picture of the job. Email them a link and ask them to share it with their friends, family and co-workers (via social media or even email).

Take it a step further
Post the link to the web page or blog post to your social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.). Ask the customer if it OK to tag them in the post before doing so.

Questions?
If you have any questions about creative things to do with testimonials or referrals to get higher quality leads on roofing jobs, please email RoofPal@gmail.com.

How roofing contractors can use QR Codes to advertise and sell more jobs

A hot trend in mobile technology is QR, or "Quick Response" Codes, which are two-dimensional bar codes that can be scanned by cameras on a web-enabled device like a smartphone or tablet to automatically pull up websites, forms, documents, photos, videos, audio, and more. QR Codes can also add calendar events, contact information and digital business cards to another person’s address book, as well as initiate phone calls and text & SMS messages.

They were originally created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994 to track vehicle parts in manufacturing, but the practical uses today are nearly endless. Now, there are other similar types of codes such as Microsoft Tags and JAGTAG, but this post will focus specifically on QR Codes.

How to create and scan QR Codes
Perform a Google search for the term “QR Code generator” or "create QR code" and you'll find hundreds of websites to create QR Codes. I recommend Kaywa because it is quick, easy and free to use. iCandy is a bit more robust, helping you track scans and perform advanced analytics – but it's more involved and probably not great for those just starting out. Several QR Code reader apps can be downloaded for free to any smart phone or tablet. Search for "QR Code" or "barcode scanner" in the application store of your phone or tablet and you'll find several of them. I use RedLaser and Google Goggles and they both work great.

How can a roofing contractor use QR Codes?

• You could include a QR Code on your brochures, door hangers, yard signs, or even on your service vehicles that, when scanned, launches a 30-second commercial, a customer's video or audio testimonial, or even an online form to request a roof inspection or repair work.
• You can put QR Codes on printed proposals, in articles, or on trade show materials that launch a video blog explaining the benefits of a certain product or roof system, how warranties work, or the importance of roof cleaning and maintenance to help communicate more effectively than you could in print. Please visit YouTube.com/RoofPal for examples of video blogs.
• A QR Code could be printed on a sticker that you place on a roof hatch so the building's maintenance professional contacts you directly when there is a leak, when the roof requires cleaning or maintenance, when it might be time to evaluate re-roofing, or even so they can access basic information about the roof warranty. The same can be done with refrigerator or garage door magnets for residential roofs.
• Try putting a QR Code on your business cards to make it easy for people to upload your contact information into their phone.
• At trade shows or networking events, you could put one on your name tag that takes them directly to your LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ or Twitter profile to make it really simple to connect online right there while you are talking to them.

I do NOT recommend creating QR Codes that simply take someone to the home page of your website. And in most cases, don't post them online either - that's what hyperlinks are for. If the person is already online, don't make them pull out a smartphone to scan their computer screen.

The bottom line is that QR Codes are still new enough that not everyone is using them... yet. If you begin integrating them now to engage with customers and make contacting and dealing with your roofing company easier, you will be ahead of the curve and will have the opportunity to generate additional revenue in a very inexpensive - if not completely free way.

If you have any questions about using QR Codes in the roofing industry, or would like help developing and implementing a QR Code strategy, please contact me any time at RoofPal@gmail.com.


The RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by GMD Graphics - your one-stop solution for graphic design, business cards, brochures, door hangers, yard signs, apparel, vehicle wraps, promotional items, and more. GMD Graphics can design, print and ship directly to you anywhere nationwide. For a free quote on your advertising needs, please call (602) 774-3600, email Info@GMDGraphics.com or visit them online at www.GMDGraphics.com.