Marketing Confusion:

Robin Jackson, Berry's Quality Services

Q: Biggest marketing challenge for us is what is the best way to market? We can’t seem to find one that is working right now so anything would help us and I definitely would mention your videos to friends and others in my field.

A: Hi Robin, as usual the ‘best’ way to market is tied to marketing ‘what? I presume your question is about which ‘media’, but that’s what KILLS contractor response. You saw in Video 1 and Video 2 that response is dramatically increased when: 1) Your ad Message is a “match” for the 2) Market. That combo – and not the media choice – is what rules response.

Steve Simmons, Total Comfort

Q: Biggest marketing challenge - determining which venue to use to reach my target market.  Newspaper, getting smaller every day.  Radio, which station? How often?  TV, too expensive.  Local Cable, which channels? Direct Mail, becoming less effective it seems. Internet/Web, older demographic (will they use it?) Current website seems unused by 99% of clients.

A: Steve, please read answer to Robin above as a “partial” answer to your query. Specific to YOUR question:

1. Newspaper – still read by educated consumers willing to pay for the product. Community newspapers are more focused in target group. Your competition is likely NOT in them, so you can ‘own’ the readership. As an advertiser, send Media Releases to them monthly. (You have these in your marketing programs from us.) Great buys for the money.
2. Radio – You tell your rep who YOUR target is; they tell you how many listeners they have in that group, at what time of day, how many days a week. Then you decide the MESSAGE to put to that market.
3. TV - it’s only ‘too expensive’ if it doesn’t pay a good ROI. A “free” ad is too expensive if you spent a bunch of brain cells to run it and no one called.
4. Direct Mail - Kicking bootie again, in a big way. Results shown in Videos 1, 2, and 3 "pro" direct mail. Not a fluke.
5. Website - Let me rephrase your comments, and pray you don't throw anything at me: Your website is currently unused by 99% of clients because YOU'RE NOT TELLING THEM about it. It's let "Lets plan a party but forget to send invitations and see what happens" approach. This is a CLASSIC web designer mistake. They "build it", charge you, walk away. (Remeber, "Build it and they will come" exposed as a total myth in Video 1?) What do they car id anyone sees it? That's YOUR job. Video 1 and Video 2 showed the "promo" that most sites - likely including youes - need to generate traffic and ROI.

You are ONE INCH from generating the results you want. You've already done the hard part; you just need the marketing fuel.

Brian Bullock, Collin Air

Q: Biggest marketing challenge is that nothing seems to work, direct mail, radio, Ad Pages, Money Mailer, Home shows, Sports team sponsorship, all perform poorly.

A: Brian, see answers above. Not the media. Those work fantastically IF you put the right message to the right market.

Personally, I hate MoneyMailer, and Team Sponsorship is NOT for Lead Generation (for Image and TOMA only) so don’t worry about that. You can turn it INTO lead gen, but you must add a step to it.

(EXAMPLE: Add sequence as shown in Vid 1 and 2, such as postcard to team parents; special offer to them with expiration; $10 per run/touchdown OFF next service call; one team member per game ‘wins’ $50 coupon per game (random, according to jersey #) that must be used before final game, etc, etc, etc. Out of room, but not of ways we handle this. Call or email a coach here.

Mike Welch, Welch Heating and Air

Q: Less than handful group of our local competitor in the HVAC industry use television and radio heavily.  It must be working for them or they would not keep using it.  However they have some of the worst consumer reputations as reflected by BBB reviews and unsolicited comments we receive.  Their web presence is not as strong as many other competitors.  Is this an indication that, if you can afford it, TV and radio are superior to any other form of advertising and that shoppers using that media are just suckers for a well delivered message?  Can this be countered with just the web?

A: From bottom up: “NO” this cannot be countered with just web since the audiences are different.

TV and Radio are highly “absorbed” media, and costly ONLY IF you waste your money on bad ads in the wrong market.

Their relative “cost per lead” in both can be high, so many advertisers choose Direct Response (“instant sales”) to extract ROI. Their offers often appeal to “Opportunity Seekers” (a specific class of behavioral consumer) who are sadly prone to manipulation and upselling, resulting is “slightly less than 5 Star behavior” on their AND vendors part.

You can – and are advised – to “balance” ALL DIRECT RESPONSE ADS (and I’m a Direct Response copywriter) with Image and TOMA or you can PLAN on the associated chink in your credibility. Why?

You can’t be having a “super last time ever sale” 52 weeks a year. But you can flat out do it 2-3 times per peak season and absolutely rip the cover off the sales ball. We do this regularly, and it’s why the PowerSuite has that mix of ads already in it.

Dan Weis, Weis Comfort

Q: Guess my greatest concern is having the courage of my convictions to make a change.  For example; My Angie's List marketing package was up for renewal and the price tripled for the same package.  Looking over the results from the previous year I did not feel it was worth the added investment and dropped it.  Of course they started the hard sell and told me I was not doing everything to make this campaign a success.  Here is the part that pissed me off....they said I was not promoting their site to our customers so my customers could join their company to post reviews.  I'm sorry, but I'm supposed to promote another company that I am paying to advertise on their site so my advertising is more effective?   What am I missing here?

A: New media comes with new rules. You used to hear, “See our ad in…” all the time. Same thing here with Angies, however…

The big, fat, unnervingly and potentially deceitful part is that you should NOT promote “them” if it invites consumers to see your competition (as it did in the Yellow Page days, which I thought was the dumbest ad line ever: “See our ad in the Yellow Pages! <along with those of 3,245 of our close competitors!>).

Angie’s is correct if you merely “hoped” your membership therein would send droves of customers and prospects. Sorry. Truth of ALL this is that if it was a negative ROI, for whatever reason, it is not viable to continue UNLESS you change your plan of attack.

The “change” would be to make a compelling REASON (via Direct Response marketing as advocated in all the Videos) for your customers and prospects to GO to your Angie’s listing and/or be seduced into choosing you regardless. It can be done.

Jack Andrews, Dallas Plumbing

Q: Most opportunities claim great results. Our challenge is to quantifiably select the best options, substantiate the claims with relevant results, and finding the best solutions.  It is time intensive. I would bet that is a common challenge.

A: Agreed. It is for us, for all businesses. That’s why selecting and a marketing or ad agency that has already proven/disproven relevant results is so helpful. Why reinvent the wheel? The videos show REAL results from real contractors. The Budget Calculator as mentioned elsewhere (plus the HVAC PowerPlan) shows you THE route to take, based on your budget, goals, desires. Get it.

Gordon Gauntlett, Gauntlett Services

Q: My biggest question right now is where do I spend my marketing dollars? I know not to go through yellow pages I know that it should be focused on line but how? Website, lead generators on line directories? I have been through all of these and the lead generators by far to date has the largest return but I also feel very limited!! I have a contact list with e mails ready to go for a constant contact list but haven’t pulled the trigger!! This is what I’m working with right now.

A: We offer a HVAC Marketing Budget Calculator in Video 3, no charge. Make sure you get that.

Yellow Page is still viable for THEIR demographic, (55 year olds +, readers, stable income, bias toward education, generally owe less as % of net worth, consider “presence” in YP as credibility indicator) but only worthy of about 16% of your total marketing budget.

If you are about to send your message to a PURCHASED EMAIL LIST, I would strongly advise you to NOT do this. Rife with danger, blacklisting, spam count over allowed %. If this is YOUR own ‘in house, opt in’ list, different story.

My answer is so oft repeated I’m starting to bore myself: Message to market match is THE indicator. Then you REPEAT that message in other media to dominate (as in Video 2.)

Don’t forget the HVAC Marketing Budget Calculator in Video 3. Easy to do, takes 20 minutes, can save you thousands, seriously. Call or email if you need more help on this.

Online Marketing and SEO:

Debbie Ryan, Calvert Comfort

Q: The biggest challenge I have with web marketing is - who's real and who isn't?  Everyone, it seems, is an SEO expert.  Everyone can build our traffic, get us great reviews, help us rake in revenue through social media. It's difficult to weed out and decide what to do.

A: I personally advocate that businesses are allowed to use truth serum and stun guns for all ad reps. This would certainly make choices easier!

TRAFFIC is window shoppers…. Until they come inside with solvent P&L and Visa card drawn. It’s just a number. And people will SELL you this number, make you pay for it, all while you don’t or can’t monetize it.

You want me to build you some traffic, by 3 pm tomorrow? Here you go: Let me run a PPC ad that says, “Obama Now Dating Mylie Cyrus!” Okay, that’ll be 3 grand please. See? Traffic by itself makes no sense.

Now the “get great reviews” is another topic, and one you DO want and SHOULD promote fervently.

Social media is – to me – awash in people who’ve turned “off” their buying ears except for food and entertainment. So unless you’re serving hot chicken wings while dancing Gangman style, probably not the lead gen you want.

Do what was advised in Video 2; post humor, photo, advice or all 3, then link to your site. Drives SEO and leads. Take that SEO charlatans! We have all these posts, ads, ready to run of course.

Randy Kelly, On Time Heat and Air

Q: My biggest challenge is understanding how the pay per click campaigns really work as well as SEO.

A: Much confusion here. You’re not alone. PPC can contribute to your SEO because GOOGLE “favors” PPC in search results. If you’ll read between the lines, the “free love and hugs on the internet” has become a traditional advertising model meaning: “Pay to Play or Go Away.”

So…

Pay Per Click sends people to your site. Activity results. Your ‘relevance’ and thus, ‘rank’ goes up, resulting in a mock SEO. See? The lines blur.

I GREATLY prefer “organic” SEO, which is more legit, less costly, and can be don’t rather stealthily in ways I obviously can’t divulge here. Give us a call ((800)489-9099).

Bob Zahm, Huntington Heating & Cooling, Inc.

Q: My biggest marketing challenge concerning web based stuff is getting Facebook and/or email to respond to an offer. What trips their trigger?

A: They are largely “anti offer”. Social is the key word, NOT media. Ever get “sold” by a highly irritating Life Insurance person at a social outing? Remember how great you thought it was… NOT? Same thing here.

What ‘trips their trigger’ is 70/30 rule mentioned in Video 1. Be concise, funny, interesting, add photo, then SEND to your site if you plan on “advising” or selling them something.

Bob, since you’re a great long-time customer and follower of our “brand” of marketing, this’ll be easy for you.

Post 1-2 times a day. That’s it. They’re at a party, and it ain’t a Tupperware party. Play by the rules as shown in the Videos. Do you have our PowerSuite? THOSE posts get read, and generate traffic, that you THEN convert.

Shawn Dougherty, Dirks Heating & Cooling, Inc.

Q: Question: Who are the top 5-10 HVAC Companies you can send a link to for “Best Practices” on utilizing the web, web layouts, ez to navigate and best bloggers etc.

A: Shawn, I’m sorry. Must be behind on coffee because I don’t fully understand the question. If I’m reading it correctly (with an 84.3% chance I’m NOT) then if you’re seeking the best web practices from the Top 5-10 HVAC companies, my presumption is that work is being hired out to web specialists, since a near certainty it’s not being done in-house. If I missed the question, simply re-word and send to coaches@hudsonink.com.

Marketing Planning:

Jessica Crosby, Lifestyle Comfort Solutions

Q: I think our BIGGEST marketing challenge is narrowing our efforts into manageable bits. We can become very overwhelmed with this and that. We are currently working on a marketing plan so we know what direction we are headed in.

A: Like any journey: Pick the destination FIRST. Then the route.

We have the seriously important foundations of a marketing plan that we’re GIVING you in Video 3. Then the answers to THAT go into what we call a “MAP” (Marketing Assessment Plan) of which we have performed hundreds, possibly thousands.

Maintenance Agreements:

Peter Zarovsky, Temperature Zone, Inc.

Q: I always worked from the world of mouth referrals. Now, I would like to expand my service maintenance contracts. So, I would like to learn the best strategy, will work most efficient. Hope you will teach me!!!!

A: This’ll be short and sweet: For every service or replacement call you get for the rest of your life, offer it! Do the “With and Without” price close. Follow up with a CSR. Then a letter. Then a newsletter 4x per year. With an email ‘bump’ 12 times per year.

And in case I need to repeat my repeat my repeat myself: Do this on every service or replacement call for the rest of your life. It can ALL be automated. You WILL see Agreements go up.