How to Create Your Plan for Success in 2014

Unless you’re closing up shop for good on December 31, the end of the year is not an end of anything – except for a certain set of numbers that give you a picture of 2013. That picture can serve as a sound good guide for your vision for 2014, but only if you color in the details. Contractor marketing specialist Adams Hudson offers several insights that can help: 

“Contractors have notoriously based their marketing on responding to certain conditions,” Hudson said. “Like this: ‘It’s hot? Great, we get calls. It’s cold? Great, we get calls. It’s mild? Uh-oh. We better do something right now and get calls.’” 

 

In fact, instead of responding to conditions all year long, Hudson recommends that contractors look ahead and create their own conditions. “You do that by creating a marketing plan that can carry you through each season – capitalizing on the busy times, while employing fertile customer retention strategies that help you weather mild times.”

In order to be ready for the new year, Hudson says contractors should take these important steps:

• Define Goals – A goal is not “do the best we can.” It’s based on an assessment of opportunities, competition and potential pitfalls. Look reality and possibility in the face, and make the case for where you want to go. That also means…
• Make Goals Actionable – Reaching your market is done with tactics. Your goal guides the development of tactics that can be employed and ultimately measured, which means…   
• Make Goals Achievable – There’s nothing more discouraging (and less profitable) than creating an impossible scenario – and not reaching it. Seek a balance between reality and possibility.

To make this process easy, Hudson, Ink offers a tool for HVAC contractors that instantly creates a 12-month strategic marketing plan. You can find out more about the HVAC Marketing PowerPlan System at www.contractormarketingplan.com.

Contractors who buy this tool by the end of this month also get a free month’s membership in an exclusive Marketing Coaching Club for contractors.

“Responding to conditions is a type of ‘marketing conditioning’ that needs to end now,” Hudson said. “Take control of your business by taking control of your marketing plan. Create a plan that fits your message, your weather and your budget – for every media, every month – and you’ve taken a giant leap toward a successful year.” 

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A Good Headline Conveys Value

Headlines should be able to communicate one benefit at a glance: value. Whether your headline is for a Pay-Per-Click landing page, a print ad, a blog or an article, it’s got to draw customers in, and keep them there (at least long enough for them to get to the first paragraph). That’s done by demonstrating that there’s value ahead. 

So what does “value” look like, and will you know it when you see it? Yes, if you watch for these particular qualities…

4 attributes of value

Your headline is your compelling invitation – whether with subtlety, humor or hard sell – to read the next paragraph. With this headline comes an offer, or value proposition. Researchers say that the power of your value proposition can be measured based on four attributes, and these same attributes can be used to create your headlines:

Appeal – The appeal of your offer will be emphasized by showing the benefit it provides – not its features, product name or article summary. Appeal is also related to “relevance.” Is it relevant to your ideal customer? Timing is part of relevance. Furnaces don’t sell well in July (at least in this hemisphere), but they could have an appeal as the seasons change when the value of early action reaps a benefit.

Credibility  – Is your headline believable? An outlandish claim – “Save thousands on a new system” – could be greeted with skepticism. Is the equipment faulty? Is a scam in the works? If your claim is legitimate, but still seems too good to be true, support it with a subhead or other verifiable corroboration.

Exclusivity – Show how your offer is uniquely valuable – and that it can only come from you. The words of exclusivity sound like this:  most efficient, highest-rated, safest, strongest, newest, first-ever.

Clarity – Don’t use tech-speak, jargon or try to be so clever people don’t know what you’re talking about. Write a headline that readers understand, where topic and value are clear.

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