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I was hired to be a marketing consultant for a roofing company... Now what?

by jose13
35 replies
Heey fellow Warriors: I need some advice... No! I actually NEED help...

Last week, I was convinced by a general manager and personal friend of mine of a roofing company -my current employer - that by using their old fashioned B2B sales approach techniques I can be successful at landing new clients and grow their company, he said: " I know you... you are the right person for the job"

Having a sales background it is relatively easy for me to speak face to face to people but I need to adopt a better strategy both: Online and Offline to land new clients and help grow this company. I cannot rely solely on B2B approach knowing that I can leverage myself better by using other online sources and put it to work more effectively for the company.

The company is trusting me to do a good job and help them grow. What do you fellow warriors suggest I should focus on: Offline or Online strategies and why?

I am looking forward to read suggestions from as many of YOU as possible. Thanks to you ALL
#company #consultant #hired #marketing #offline #roofing
  • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
    I would take the time to have a conversation with a online marketing consultant. To see if online is right for your company. I provided a few links do that you can familiarize yourself with the basics of marketing online for an online business.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...trategies.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ss-owners.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-discover.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-me-ulcer.html

    As for as offline marketing nothing beats direct response. Cold calling, face to face, letters and post cards. All designed to generate a certain response.

    I am particularly fond of letters for b2b.after all this time letters still have the highest response rate out of email, and post cards.

    regardless, take your time to develop a USP and define your ideal client

    http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...oposition.html

    To your success,

    - Jonathan Webb
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    "How to value a business or Website for purchase"
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by Jonwebb View Post

      I would take the time to have a conversation with a online marketing consultant. To see if online is right for your company. I provided a few links do that you can familiarize yourself with the basics of marketing online for an online business.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...trategies.html

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ss-owners.html

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-discover.html

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-me-ulcer.html

      As for as offline marketing nothing beats direct response. Cold calling, face to face, letters and post cards. All designed to generate a certain response.

      I am particularly fond of letters for b2b.after all this time letters still have the highest response rate out of email, and post cards.

      regardless, take your time to develop a USP and define your ideal client

      http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...oposition.html

      To your success,

      - Jonathan Webb
      The Top 10 local SEO strategies is a great source of information for a marketing strategy, thanks for the links provided.

      I agree that direct response is still a great way to get to potential customers and this is the way the company is still doing things but in a very limited way, face to face interaction.

      THanks for your advice and the links
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      • Profile picture of the author midasman09
        Banned
        The ONLY thing your roofing co is interested in is....LEADS!....MORE JOBS!

        How are you going to help them get what they WANT?

        When house & building owners, in Miami, want a roofing contractor what do they do? They sit down at their puter ....go to Google and type in;
        Miami Roofing - 1,000 searches/mo
        or
        Roofing Miami - 1,900 searches/mo

        Now....type in "Roofing Las Vegas". At the bottom of the 1st page is a Video (by fellow Warrior, Mark Helton) AND....if you type in a "less popular keyword" of "Las Vegas Roofing" you will see Mark's video on TOP of the 1st page listings.

        So....both Mark Helton and David Cisnero's have WSOs showing how to RANK Videos and....they both have "Roofing Videos" in their programs

        Get 1 of their videos....upload to YT and Rank it for "Miami Roofing" (the less competitive of the 2)...so it will Rank faster and easier and higher.

        You can use a "Re-Direct" phone service like Twilio or CallFire to be in-between the Lead Calls so you can keep track of how many calls are coming in.

        Don Alm.....wishing you well
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        • Profile picture of the author jose13
          Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

          The ONLY thing your roofing co is interested in is....LEADS!....MORE JOBS!

          How are you going to help them get what they WANT?

          When house & building owners, in Miami, want a roofing contractor what do they do? They sit down at their puter ....go to Google and type in;
          Miami Roofing - 1,000 searches/mo
          or
          Roofing Miami - 1,900 searches/mo

          Now....type in "Roofing Las Vegas". At the bottom of the 1st page is a Video (by fellow Warrior, Mark Helton) AND....if you type in a "less popular keyword" of "Las Vegas Roofing" you will see Mark's video on TOP of the 1st page listings.

          So....both Mark Helton and David Cisnero's have WSOs showing how to RANK Videos and....they both have "Roofing Videos" in their programs

          Get 1 of their videos....upload to YT and Rank it for "Miami Roofing" (the less competitive of the 2)...so it will Rank faster and easier and higher.

          You can use a "Re-Direct" phone service like Twilio or CallFire to be in-between the Lead Calls so you can keep track of how many calls are coming in.

          Don Alm.....wishing you well
          This is a great tip of advice to put a YT video a rank it high. I know it doesn't hurt to get exposed in the internet while building my list of offline clients. I will check that up, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Go through the standard questions

    1) Who is their target market, break them down into geo demographic sub sets for easier segmentation of future marketing campaigns

    2) where is each of these sections to be found hanging out either on or offline and what approaches do they most appreciate /respond to

    3) What is the most profitable service/product the company sell, get the numbers

    4) What is the 'best' seller ie most units sold , get the numbers

    5) Is there a way of marrying up 3 and 4 in some way AND making them highly relevant if not already to more sections of number 2

    6) What upselling/cross selling/even downselling opportunities are the company missing out on at each touch point with the customer and how can your ideas ensure this is reduced

    7) how can what you now understand about your customer/ prospect base from points 1-6 enhance your strategies and ideas to proceed.

    That'll keep you going for a while and impress your boss.

    Why do you mention B2B ,is that all they do?
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    Mike

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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by mjbmedia View Post

      Go through the standard questions

      1) Who is their target market, break them down into geo demographic sub sets for easier segmentation of future marketing campaigns

      2) where is each of these sections to be found hanging out either on or offline and what approaches do they most appreciate /respond to

      3) What is the most profitable service/product the company sell, get the numbers

      4) What is the 'best' seller ie most units sold , get the numbers

      5) Is there a way of marrying up 3 and 4 in some way AND making them highly relevant if not already to more sections of number 2

      6) What upselling/cross selling/even downselling opportunities are the company missing out on at each touch point with the customer and how can your ideas ensure this is reduced

      7) how can what you now understand about your customer/ prospect base from points 1-6 enhance your strategies and ideas to proceed.

      That'll keep you going for a while and impress your boss.

      Why do you mention B2B ,is that all they do?
      Currently, the only thing that they do is pull a data lead resource and target projects based on that list, attempt to get an appointment and then do a face to face meeting. There is nothing to measure when it comes for successful marketing strategies because they are barely starting with new roofing products, although the company has been in business for a long time.

      The questions, you suggest are an excellent way to understand where the company is now and start planning from there where we want to grow, marketing wise.

      Thanks for your tip
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  • Profile picture of the author hayfj2
    start with a marketing audit, and discover where they're at now.

    Ask lots of questions to get a "handle" on what they've done to date, what's worked, what hasn't. Don't be like everyone else and offer "prescriptive advice" you need to identify why their marketing isn't working, what their objectives are, how they will monitor, measure and record their marketing activities, what accountabilities and responsibilities you BOTH will have, and what RESOURCES (human technical and financial) they have and will make available to you.

    1. why > diagnostics, audit & situation analysis
    2. what > agree, create and resource the plan of action
    3. how > agree the focus of which tactics (online, offline & mobile) to implement

    As mike says above, by completing a prospect profile or client profile this will help u determine where they hang out and which tactics will be best to reach them

    Hope that helps
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by hayfj2 View Post

      start with a marketing audit, and discover where they're at now.

      Ask lots of questions to get a "handle" on what they've done to date, what's worked, what hasn't. Don't be like everyone else and offer "prescriptive advice" you need to identify why their marketing isn't working, what their objectives are, how they will monitor, measure and record their marketing activities, what accountabilities and responsibilities you BOTH will have, and what RESOURCES (human technical and financial) they have and will make available to you.

      1. why > diagnostics, audit & situation analysis
      2. what > agree, create and resource the plan of action
      3. how > agree the focus of which tactics (online, offline & mobile) to implement

      As mike says above, by completing a prospect profile or client profile this will help u determine where they hang out and which tactics will be best to reach them

      Hope that helps
      The market, specially here in Florida, has fluctuated a lot and they seem to start gaining some trust in investing and selling some roofing products out there. There is nothing at the moment to measure success because the new general manager was brought from Mexico to get this branch moving, working and growing.

      I am the local guy that understands the market and have a solid sales background. But the reality is that we have to create and make things happen. Specially, in my case. I am going to be the one talking to people, presenting the product and closing deals. It's a good challenge and your perspective is a good standard when it comes to understand where we are and how we want to project ourselves in short, middle and long term goals for company growth.

      Thanks for your advice
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  • Profile picture of the author Victor Edson
    A combination of offline and online techniques, definitely.

    Find out what they're doing now that's working, and improve it.

    Then work out a budget and determine what they're capable of investing in their marketing. From there you'll know what to focus on first. Things like creating a Youtube video and getting it ranked for local terms is cheap and easy. But getting a website up and operational is also key to online and direct response promotions too.

    Having sold roofs before.. nothing beats a good storm!

    If they don't have a 'road team' maybe they'd be interested in putting together a group to hit the road in rake in the millions from storm damage. There's a BOAT LOAD of easy roofing jobs out there.. especially right now in hurricane season.
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by Victor Edson View Post

      A combination of offline and online techniques, definitely.

      Find out what they're doing now that's working, and improve it.

      Then work out a budget and determine what they're capable of investing in their marketing. From there you'll know what to focus on first. Things like creating a Youtube video and getting it ranked for local terms is cheap and easy. But getting a website up and operational is also key to online and direct response promotions too.

      Having sold roofs before.. nothing beats a good storm!

      If they don't have a 'road team' maybe they'd be interested in putting together a group to hit the road in rake in the millions from storm damage. There's a BOAT LOAD of easy roofing jobs out there.. especially right now in hurricane season.
      I totally agree, "Nothing beats a good storm, specially in hurricane season" but in the meantime, first the offline approach seems to be the standard way to grow business and then the online, which by the way there is a LOT of improvement needed in that department.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    First considering what you are now doing sounds a lot like my job at the dealership over the years I think I know where you are coming from. So let me ask you a few questions to see how to make you shine. Remember it doesn't matter what you do for them if it isn't what they want you to do.

    1. Do they want you mainly selling or driving in leads for other sales people. You make it sound like more sales. These are two different things and I have had my job's focus change from 100% sales 5 years ago to 95% marketing today. Depending on what they want now we may have to do a similar plan for you.

    2. How will you be paid. Even if they want you marketing if they pay you like a sales person we need to focus on you getting paid. So is it commission? Bonus? And based on what. I need to get a better picture of the whole picture and this along with number 1 will help me do that.

    3. Can you give a short overview of how the company's sales process function. Also a bit of the staff configuration.

    4. Can you give a short overview of what they are doing currently for marketing.

    5. Would you rather sell or have a desk job marketing?

    Once I get a better picture of the situation I will give you a basic plan of attack that will benefit you now and in the future. We want to maximize your pay. We want to maximize your impact on their business. And finally we want to build this position into your dream job. Building your dream job may mean a little less of the other two. But in the long run it will make you happier.
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    Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

      First considering what you are now doing sounds a lot like my job at the dealership over the years I think I know where you are coming from. So let me ask you a few questions to see how to make you shine. Remember it doesn't matter what you do for them if it isn't what they want you to do.

      1. Do they want you mainly selling or driving in leads for other sales people. You make it sound like more sales. These are two different things and I have had my job's focus change from 100% sales 5 years ago to 95% marketing today. Depending on what they want now we may have to do a similar plan for you.

      2. How will you be paid. Even if they want you marketing if they pay you like a sales person we need to focus on you getting paid. So is it commission? Bonus? And based on what. I need to get a better picture of the whole picture and this along with number 1 will help me do that.

      3. Can you give a short overview of how the company's sales process function. Also a bit of the staff configuration.

      4. Can you give a short overview of what they are doing currently for marketing.

      5. Would you rather sell or have a desk job marketing?

      Once I get a better picture of the situation I will give you a basic plan of attack that will benefit you now and in the future. We want to maximize your pay. We want to maximize your impact on their business. And finally we want to build this position into your dream job. Building your dream job may mean a little less of the other two. But in the long run it will make you happier.
      Heey Aaron:

      You are totally right about that! They are expecting me to go out there and make a sell. Pretty much that sums it all. We have a lead provider that I have at my disposal so there are some leads to work with.

      First of all, I am planning to go with the flow. That is the most convenient and easy way to do things. I don't want to reinvent the wheel or propose nothing yet until I PROVE myself.

      1. Yes, they want me to SELL, SELL, SELL as my main priority. Marketing can and eventually will come in the near future as we progress.

      2. I was able to negotiate a good base salary plus commissions based on sales. I have a 6 month plan that will be reevaluated as soon as the year ends. Sealants will drive me a 4% on gross, and multilayer roofing products a 1% on gross as well. There are few products to start with, but essentially those are the ones to start with.

      3. The sales process is rather simple. I get a lead provider -already in place- I phone them, make appointments and perform the product presentation. We go to their place of business and do our presentation plus a sample of the multilayer Italian roofing piece. Once everything is said and done, we initiate a business relationship to trigger future repeat sales.

      There are only 4 people in our branch. The secretary, our administrative assistant, the general manager and myself-the sales rep-

      4. For marketing they are not doing ANYTHING because barely the roof product was recently approved by the city. Except the lead provider that they pay for monthly leads.

      5. I don't have a problem with sales, but I rather have a sales team and be a desk manager which is what I can eventually be doing -already discussed this with the GM- if I am successful at bringing in new clients and help them grow their business. Obviously that will increase my pay more.

      Yes, Aaron, I can literally build a dream job here where I can have a good perks, great salary, nice work hours, and make more by doing "less" so I am interested in doing a great job!

      Thanks for your awesome advise!
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  • Profile picture of the author TeamBringIt
    Originally Posted by jose13 View Post

    Heey fellow Warriors: I need some advice... No! I actually NEED help...

    Last week, I was convinced by a general manager and personal friend of mine of a roofing company -my current employer - that by using their old fashioned B2B sales approach techniques I can be successful at landing new clients and grow their company, he said: " I know you... you are the right person for the job"

    Having a sales background it is relatively easy for me to speak face to face to people but I need to adopt a better strategy both: Online and Offline to land new clients and help grow this company. I cannot rely solely on B2B approach knowing that I can leverage myself better by using other online sources and put it to work more effectively for the company.

    The company is trusting me to do a good job and help them grow. What do you fellow warriors suggest I should focus on: Offline or Online strategies and why?

    I am looking forward to read suggestions from as many of YOU as possible. Thanks to you ALL
    Figure out what type of marketing, they are currently using. See what works, what doesn't. See the budget they have and what they are willing to spend. See what type of service, is the most popular. If this is a roofing business, then their services are not too cheap.

    Marketing wise, you can use both offline/online. I'd use online to build better relationships, with customers. I'd use offline/direct mail to get new customers.
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by TeamBringIt View Post

      Figure out what type of marketing, they are currently using. See what works, what doesn't. See the budget they have and what they are willing to spend. See what type of service, is the most popular. If this is a roofing business, then their services are not too cheap.

      Marketing wise, you can use both offline/online. I'd use online to build better relationships, with customers. I'd use offline/direct mail to get new customers.
      Hello Teambright:

      I have to agree with you on the fact that using offline is my initial approach in getting new relationship with customers and then following up via Internet -autoresponders- Good point!
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      • Profile picture of the author JustinDT
        Banned
        I'd say start offline for the time being. Developing relationships is an essential for any brick and mortar business.
        You have to think about what will bring higher quality business off the back and chances are it will be developing offline relationships.
        of course I'm not saying to forget online, just focus on that aspect later
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        • Profile picture of the author jose13
          Originally Posted by JustinDT View Post

          I'd say start offline for the time being. Developing relationships is an essential for any brick and mortar business.
          You have to think about what will bring higher quality business off the back and chances are it will be developing offline relationships.
          of course I'm not saying to forget online, just focus on that aspect later
          I totally agree with you on that!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    Originally Posted by jose13 View Post

    Last week, I was convinced by a general manager and personal friend of mine of a roofing company -my current employer - that by using their old fashioned B2B sales approach techniques I can be successful at landing new clients and grow their company, he said: " I know you... you are the right person for the job"
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but they hired you to do the job using their old fashioned approach...because they think it works, and that you are able to utilize it well. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?

    Are they struggling and want to be revamped? Are they just wanting to pass it over to someone who will be good at continuing on with what they are used to doing?

    What makes you feel like their way of doing it won't work? If they are paying you...then do it their way, see if it works with you doing it (you may save yourself tons of time if it works the way they do it already). IF it doesn't work, then they may fire you because they know it works, or you may be able to introduce them to the "new" ideas you have after having actual feedback on what they were doing that doesn't work.

    IMO - you don't need to go crazy trying to figure out new things, it's not what they hired you to do. You're making it harder on yourself trying to revamp it.
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by Mwind076 View Post

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but they hired you to do the job using their old fashioned approach...because they think it works, and that you are able to utilize it well. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?

      Are they struggling and want to be revamped? Are they just wanting to pass it over to someone who will be good at continuing on with what they are used to doing?

      What makes you feel like their way of doing it won't work? If they are paying you...then do it their way, see if it works with you doing it (you may save yourself tons of time if it works the way they do it already). IF it doesn't work, then they may fire you because they know it works, or you may be able to introduce them to the "new" ideas you have after having actual feedback on what they were doing that doesn't work.

      IMO - you don't need to go crazy trying to figure out new things, it's not what they hired you to do. You're making it harder on yourself trying to revamp it.
      "Wake up and smell the coffee" More or less what you are trying to say here! You are right in your observation. I appreciate that! I just wanted to have an alternative marketing approach and not just only have one way of doing things.

      My take on yours and other warriors input is to do exactly what they want me to do, prove myself first and then expand my marketing efforts -scale up - my sells.

      they are not struggling or passing on anything as they are barely starting over with new roofing products and just taking and old school approach in sales and marketing that, I guess, has worked in the past for them. Simply being in tune with today's technology and have more than one alternative sounds better than just hoping that ONE approach is the answer to their prayers.

      Your observation is very practical and realistic, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author serryjw
    If they want commercial roofing jobs...spend the time to get on the bid lists for these projects...Here is one..I'm sure there are more.
    https://www.bidclerk.com/index.html?...FZBcMgoduzgADg
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  • Profile picture of the author Hopwood04
    If I was in your shoes, I would be contacting contractors to get referrals from them. I would also look at getting some window stickers to put in the back window of your company trucks to help spread the message.
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  • Profile picture of the author eClicker
    I like the idea of an audit on the whole company. Online and offline. What are their keywords online? How does the company rank? Does the website have a capture form? Do they have a Google places? Is it optimized Who are their ideal customer? Facebook? Twitter? Also makes no sense to get the phones ringing if nobody answers of the sales process is crippled or brought to a slow crawl by the people answering the phone. Are they trained staff or sales people?
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by eClicker View Post

      I like the idea of an audit on the whole company. Online and offline. What are their keywords online? How does the company rank? Does the website have a capture form? Do they have a Google places? Is it optimized Who are their ideal customer? Facebook? Twitter? Also makes no sense to get the phones ringing if nobody answers of the sales process is crippled or brought to a slow crawl by the people answering the phone. Are they trained staff or sales people?
      This is an area where the company is in real need of help. Although I am not going to mess around with their website yet, but is definitely a place that will help maintain new accounts relationships and for phase 2 of my marketing plan. I am going to stick with offline until I generate some results first.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    I think more along the lines of Mwind076.

    You are now an employee of this company and have to prove yourself first and fit in.
    And, you have to learn their system and industry.

    After earning respect, then you can get into analyzing and improving.

    |Give it about six months.
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

      I think more along the lines of Mwind076.

      You are now an employee of this company and have to prove yourself first and fit in.
      And, you have to learn their system and industry.

      After earning respect, then you can get into analyzing and improving.

      |Give it about six months.
      That is exactly the amount of time I have negotiated with the GM to structure something and put in it to practice. Yes, first things first!
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    be nice if the OP came back and answered some of the questions we've raised today perhaps.
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    Mike

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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by mjbmedia View Post

      be nice if the OP came back and answered some of the questions we've raised today perhaps.
      Yes, MJB, I just did!
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  • Profile picture of the author mert
    The first thing you'd want to do is identify your target market. if you want to be effective in selling your product within your locality then i suggest you use the offline method. One effective offline method is presenting your products to business that need your product. You may want to talk to hardaware shops and state the advantages of your product. while you're at it, I suggest you ask for their email ads so that you can check on them every once in while.
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by mert View Post

      The first thing you'd want to do is identify your target market. if you want to be effective in selling your product within your locality then i suggest you use the offline method. One effective offline method is presenting your products to business that need your product. You may want to talk to hardaware shops and state the advantages of your product. while you're at it, I suggest you ask for their email ads so that you can check on them every once in while.
      Hardware shops and email ads, good suggestion, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author cheddarben
    I know that there is plenty of advice here, but if I were in the situation, this would be my first thoughts:

    1. What do they already have? Do they have a website? Do they have a FB page? Twitter? How do they advertise now?

    2. Can you get any metrics on what they already do? This will give you a basis of where they have started.

    3. Where can you improve?
    a. Is the website decent or is it crap? Is it easily manageable? Is there analytics? Does it have an easy to find "Request a Free Quote" form? If so, what is the response time on that?
    b. Social media? Do they utilize it or is it junk? Are you posting regularly and posting useful information.
    c. Craigslist. Use it.

    4. I would look at some paid advertising. In this case, I would consider FB, as you can target locations and ages real easily and cheap. Once you get these people to like your page, you can advertise to them whenever you want and engage them when you see fit. Hailstorm happens.... send out a message.

    Finally, MEASURE as much as you can so you can show the improvement.

    Good luck!
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    Ben
    http://www.pricingresearchonline.com/

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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by cheddarben View Post

      I know that there is plenty of advice here, but if I were in the situation, this would be my first thoughts:

      1. What do they already have? Do they have a website? Do they have a FB page? Twitter? How do they advertise now?

      2. Can you get any metrics on what they already do? This will give you a basis of where they have started.

      3. Where can you improve?
      a. Is the website decent or is it crap? Is it easily manageable? Is there analytics? Does it have an easy to find "Request a Free Quote" form? If so, what is the response time on that?
      b. Social media? Do they utilize it or is it junk? Are you posting regularly and posting useful information.
      c. Craigslist. Use it.

      4. I would look at some paid advertising. In this case, I would consider FB, as you can target locations and ages real easily and cheap. Once you get these people to like your page, you can advertise to them whenever you want and engage them when you see fit. Hailstorm happens.... send out a message.

      Finally, MEASURE as much as you can so you can show the improvement.

      Good luck!
      Their online presence is very poor. They don't believe much in it. As I grow and show myself offline first, I believe everything that you have mentioned can and it will be important to follow up and apply, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author jose13
    Originally Posted by amcg View Post

    You should come up with a strategy for marketing the business. It starts with market and competitors analysis, defining targets and then selecting marketing channels.

    As others have said, leveraging online resources like Econsultancy and Moz is a good place to start.
    I appreciate the input and the links, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author jose13
    Originally Posted by BrianNori View Post

    I found this discussion to be a bit painful to read. (no offense to anyone that just posted) but without knowing your exact business model and target market it's nearly impossible to give you accurate advice to push forward into a solid business marketing model.

    Here are my suggestions as an online marketing specialist. I would first take a look at your target market. Ask yourself:

    Can your business model be scaled? (can it expand nationally, state-wide, global..etc) Where is my target market geo-located?

    Next find the successful online competitors you wish to be like within your geo-location or a similar business in another location (look at big city industry leaders as they often face a higher competitive market). One way to do this is to find your ideal keyword via "Google Keywords". Put in a general search term ex: Roofing Company, and make note of the most popular keyword that would suit your business (make sure it is relevant - using common sense). Ex: Roofing Nails is not a relevant keyword as you are a roofing servicing company and you do not produce or sell roofing nails for distribution.

    Next: Go to Google and search for that keyword along with a geo location of your choice. (you will not need to put the geolocation in for local searches as Google is usually intuitive enough) The businesses that come up locally should be your main competitors. You will notice your paid advertising competition in yellow and below that your organic competition in the natural search area.

    Take note of these top competitors. Now that you know who the top dogs are, you can start your research to see where they are advertising. There is a quick tool I like to use - Spyfu.com Place their domain name in their search query and see what type of campaign your competition is running. If they have an escalating budget through time there is a great chance they are running a profitable CPC campaign. Now sign up to SpyFu (because this site gives you the details on their entire campaign and keywords)

    Click their link to see where the customer is landing. 9/10 it is a landing page made to extract the customers lead information. Replicate a similar landing page for yourself. If they don't have one and the link lands on their homepage, that will work but a standardized landing page is best as you can easily re-market the consumer once the lead is acquired.

    (There is a whole art form to this which would take a lot of explaining but be very vigilant to where your consumers are landing and what incentives are given for the traffic to give you their information. Offer great value at the price of their information ie: valuable free report, free quote, we'll call you, etc.. ) You can find more information on this at my website Brian Nori | Homepage

    Next replicate the successful business model in adwords. Make note that you can start on a low budget and scale as you see conversions happening. Make sure to set your website up with google analytics, monitor your conversions through setting goals and if you want to get really good, look at setting up a re-targeting pixel when the user hits your site. This way your consumer will be cyber stalked across the internet with your banner ads. (evil laugh)

    So yes there's a lot to this as you can see. But my advice in summary is mimic success within your industry. CPC is one way of multiple ways to advertise. You have options to do media buys, social media marketing, SEO, etc...but you have to make sure you are sticking your hand into the pool of the right demographics. This is why CPC is so powerful. Find the industry leaders that line up to your vision and start to research them and you'll do fine.

    One Last Bonus Tip of Advice: Focus on List Building from the start! The size of your lead list will directly determine how much you will be able to make within your industry. If you can find a side market where you can qualify buyers and offer them something of value in exchange for their information, you could run a social media, CPC or media buy campaign to this offer and acquire a list a mile long with the right offer. **Make sure to see my website for more information on list building and attracting customers. Brian Nori | Homepage
    This is an awesome online strategy where you just have to duplicate successful online campaigns from companies already generating results. I will definitively extract this formula not only for this industry but for any online marketing product or service. Thanks for the stand alone piece of advice!
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  • Profile picture of the author alrealestate
    Yard signs and Craigslist and Angieslist
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    • Profile picture of the author jose13
      Originally Posted by alrealestate View Post

      Yard signs and Craigslist and Angieslist
      I have used ugly signs for Real Estate in the past with fair success. How do you think yard signs is going to help bring in new customers for a specific construction product like a thermo-acustic roof or other products? I am curious...
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      • Profile picture of the author Mach1Marketing
        First thing I would do is Optimize their Google Places page and do a few Youtube videos. I use Animoto. For Video - City and Keyword in title twice. Link, City and keyword in first sentence. Sprinkle City and keyword throughout and then throw a few backlinks at it at say freebacklinks.com or Fiverr. That should be enough to get you First page of Google for local and make you look good while you learn more.
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