
Favorite Marketing Tools: Home Expert Awards 10/30/12
At the end of the day, all business is about marketing, convincing a customer that they want your product enough to pay for it. The strategies used by businesses to initiate those conversations and make that argument have changed dramatically over the last century, the last decade, even the last year. From bright signs next to highways to catchy jingles on commercials to complex digital marketing strategies, though the goal stays the same, the tools have become incredibly diverse.
The problem for many business owners is that new tools are being added faster than old ones are getting outdated. With limited budgets, coming up with an effective strategy means deciding which marketing outlets are best for your business and which won’t be effective. Finding out what tools are best for you is a combination of research and good old fashioned luck. To find out what marketing tools are working in the home improvement business, we turned to our team of home improvement experts.
Below, we’ve awarded the comments we found most valuable. Check back later in the week to see what other advice we have for finding the best marketing
tools, new and old!
What are Your Favorite Marketing Tools?
Are you most reliant on the trusty phone book?
How do you value having your own websites and social media pages?
What about flyers and printed advertisements in your neighborhood?
Are there some marketing techniques that you refuse to use?
Are there some that you don’t agree with?
Are you quick to adopt new marketing technologies, like Twitter and LinkedIn?
Most Creative
"I find that PR (magazine features, quotes on blogs, speaking engagements, writing articles, etc.) is the best way to demonstrate my knowledge and experience to potential clients and get referrals. PR also boosts your overall online presence so you’re more likely to get found when people are searching for your services, and builds your credibility, which often leads to other PR opportunities." read more
Most Insightful
"LinkedIn is something I also value a great deal for the social element of networking. Linked in is the most appropriate social network to further develop professional relationships. To any team looking to connect on new projects or common interests LinkedIn is the business holy grail." read more
Most Articulate
"Since 2010, however, we’ve focused much more heavily on promoting our products and services on-line. We’ve invested resources in some SEO tactics, and begun to use PR as a primary tool for spreading the word about our business in the virtual market space. Sites like helpareporter.com (HARO) have been instrumental in assisting us to connect with the right blog and on-line news channels for features, back-links, and other critical measures of marketing success on-line." read more
Most Informative
"Find ways to tie your website and social projects together so work that’s done in one place populates to others. When a post on your blog automatically flows to Twitter and your Facebook fan page, you save time while improving your Google ranking. Include different media, including video, and consider hosting your own YouTube channel and posting video blogs of each new project.
Great photos of great designs get more attention from people shopping online for ideas, so I’m getting involved with the highly visual Pinterest and Houzz communities that are favorites of my target audience." read more
Most Inspiring
"As a gal who spends a fair amount of time on TV, I probably have a very different approach to marketing my design services than most. I kinda let me television appearances do most of my outreach. Sure I tweet, I FB and even offer up my services to charities for free, but the #1 way I get business is via mouth-to-mouth referral." read more
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