Marketing Trends for 2015

Remember your ABC’s? Well today, A is for app, B is for browser, C is for content, D is for default settings, E is for Egads, please just make it stop.

Unfortunately, this letter line-up reveals a problem many contractors are overlooking. The marketing plan that worked in the past is not the marketing plan that is working now. So if you don’t keep up, adjust, learn and apply, your marketing results will yield a big fat F.

Not kidding. Each day we get calls, emails and desperate pleas of “My marketing’s broken” only to find the contractor staunchly believes it’s still 2008. The world was different “way back then.” What worked okay for the two decades leading up to that fateful year, is not working today. 

So let’s look ahead to changes taking place, and how to proceed from here.

Budget – Had to start here since that keeps many of you up at night. We adjust the HVAC Media budgets a bit each year, but if you’re stuck using a budget, say more than 5 years old, some of those numbers have been halved. Some doubled. (Same overall budget, just vastly different percentages per media.) I don’t have room to discuss all 12 media, so ACCA members can get a 2015 Budget Calculator here. <PUT IN TINY URL OR HOW THEY CAN GET IT HERE>.

Marketing Integration – Listen for this term. Those who ignore this trend will continue scratching their heads at the “leads that once were.” Integration means focusing one message throughout several media. It is a simplification of messaging, which gets a loud hallelujah from me and weary, ad-blitzed consumers everywhere.

When you have one offer in the mail, another online, another from the manufacturer, another as a bill stuffer and a radio ad that hasn’t changed since 2010, that is NOT integration. You are forcing people to be confused, your message is muddied and no one has the brain space left to figure out your core cause. Get focused, get a message and intensify that message through the media.

GEICO? Apple? ESPN? You seeing 32 different messages from them? Nope. We’ve been pushing marketing integration for 3 years and the contractors who are crushing it are doing this –

1.      Secured their local listings, using a standardized set of messages, images, links.

2.      Created keyword-rich websites, filled with ‘baited’ content that drives SEO, encouraging customer reviews.

3.      They maintain social media profiles – while balancing these online opportunities with the consistency and target-ability of…

4.      Direct mail, which holds the same images and messages, but fortunately goes straight to the home with laser-like targetability. (Direct mail has made a huge comeback of late. Even vaunted Google has diverted “in the tens of millions” toward Direct Mail due to “online message saturation.” If it’s so for them, it is so for us.)  

5.      Electronic media with the ever-repetitive recollection of a great radio campaign and its more costly visual brother, television.

Integrated marketing requires consistency across all platforms. That means email headings look similar to your landing page. Your banner ads have the same look and feel as your vehicle wraps. The number of places where your image and your customers connect is exploding. So the impressions your company is making should be recognizable no matter where they’re seen. Force recall, don’t fragment it.

Social Media Missteps – Mark Zuckerberg has made billions, but maybe you’re lagging slightly behind from social media sales. That’s because (for you) social media isn’t the place for lead generation, but for building relationships. Do not miss that point. It’s a cocktail party, not a trade show.

Social media (plus reviews) are the new word of mouth. If your customer service is great and you have a Social media presence, you’ll get “likes” and praise. But if your service is lacking, you’ll likely get a smacking. (I may put that to music.)

Monitor social media channels. If a customer complains, respond positively and proactively. Those who ignore invite others to pile it on with ill-considered opinions, and this platform can devour an age-old reputation like a fasting piranha. When you address customer issues, you build relationships, which builds your image.

Better Lead Generation – Things are a-changin’ here too. What I’ve learned recently: Sales cycles now require more of an “acclimation” period. The one-call, one-hour sales call for contractors now has multiple steps and phases, and over 80% of your calls check you out online first. For this you need a clean updated, optimized website, fully optimized Local Listing and a strategy for customer reviews.

What’s more, consumers self-educate faster which means they’re no longer impressed with how well you speak your foreign technical language. More than ever, sales come from being an “advisor” instead of a “promoter.” 

Also as important, sales and marketing should work together toward a common goal of serving customers and increasing revenue. Companies that qualify leads, instead of sending them all to Sales, have a higher return on lead generation investment.

Be aware too, your target audience has grown up since the “graying of America” (those 55 years plus) and has 40% of the population but a staggering 80% of the wealth. Target these people with marketing that is sensitive to them (24% still use Yellow Pages by the way). You can depend on the Depends crowd… and that fact speaks to this trend:

Old School Media Comeback – Direct mail is – ironically – more viable the less people use it. Seriously, your mailbox is your least crowded inbox. Your mail gets noticed, has to be physically handled, stays on the kitchen counter longer – all useful for well-timed offers. You can’t get the same from an email that reaches an overwhelmed inbox – whose owner is trigger-happy with the delete key. The mailed sales letter still rocks. We expect this trend to continue.

Retention, Referrals and Reviews – You could sum those “R’s” up with a fourth R: relationships. The greater proliferation of marketing messages (we see thousands every day), the more we rely on relationships and word of mouth as the best way to make choices for our homes or anything else.

Customer Retention Marketing has grown up to include automated email “nurturing” pre- and post-sale. Having an “inventory” of push-button emails, texts, social posts is the #1 marketing trend for automating better business results. But also remember what others are posting…

Customer reviews greatly impact your SEO and your customer’s decision-making. How can you move this forward? One way: request customer reviews by asking, “Was our service today good enough to earn a positive review?”

Then hand them a certificate for $20 (or restaurant, movie coupon, whatever) with the URL of your listing plus short, sample, positive comments. The $20 certificate is a discount on their next service or they can pass it to a neighbor or friend. That doesn’t matter, but a great review DOES matter because now they will appear and direct traffic to you… or away from you.

If you see a negative review, don’t panic, and definitely DO NOT get defensive.  Be polite, responsive and resourceful. Admit any mistakes, correct inaccuracies, make good on your guarantees and move the conversation offline.

Plan Now – Before you get carried away with new trends, remember this old truth: fail to plan; plan to fail. The best way to make 2015 successful is to make a plan. Specifically, get your marketing plan in place to guide you through your seasons of opportunity and challenge. Follow it, monitor it, and as the months ensue, be ready to respond to any reality that shows shifts in the trends.