All Posts by Mauricio Cardenal

How To Make A Digital Transformation In 2019

By Mauricio Cardenal | online marketing

Do you want your roofing business to start making money online?

If the answer is yes, keep reading.

The internet has been around for decades, but despite this, the vast majority of roofing companies have yet to embrace digital marketing.

In terms of digital marketing, construction as a whole lags far behind other industries. The reality is, of the small businesses that do venture online, most fail to see a positive return on investment. There are several reasons for this:

• They see digital marketing as too complex, and as a result are afraid to dive in too deep.
• They fail to invest enough capital in digital marketing.
• They don’t know how to close a sale.
• They don’t answer the phone (No follow up strategy in place for leads.)
• They are not tracking their results.
• Their videos are boring and unengaging.

If you want to make a real digital transformation and get the most out of marketing online, you first must make a mental shift in your business. You have to be willing to invest resources in understanding the digital marketplace as it will exist in 2019.

I’m not just talking about pouring thousands of dollars into a online marketing campaign. I’m talking about investing BOTH your time in learning how this works, and investing your money strategically into online marketing campaigns to generate maximum ROI.

So now that we understand that it takes a financial and mental commitment to succeed in online marketing, here 10 strategies that will help you achieve this objective.

1. Your Website is Your Online Foundation

First, let’s get three important points out of the way:

Your website alone will not make your business any money.

A website without traffic is just an empty store front.

No traffic means no leads, and certainly no sales.

Your website is really the foundation of your online presence. Everything starts with, and extends from, the website.

Think of your website as a business card. It should contain general information about you and your business, however it won’t generate more business unless you get traffic – people arriving on your site looking for the information you provide.

I recommend that you use the WordPress platform to build your site. WordPress is relatively easy to setup and use, freeing up time to focus on your business. The easiest way to design a great website is to look at what your competitors are doing – those who you think are doing a great job – and model their layout.

2. Online Reviews are More Important Than Ever

The internet has changed the relationship between consumers and businesses forever. Most significantly, it’s made interactions more transparent.

With nearly endless options for any product or service simply a few clicks away, people want to know who they’re doing business with. One of the most popular ways for customers to decide who they should do business with is through online reviews. Surveys have shown that over 88% of customers trust online reviews – making a good review a very valuable commodity.

Your online reputation is everything, and a few bad reviews can significantly hurt your business.

Where can I get online reviews?

The easiest way to generate online reviews is through automation software such as Podium. Podium integrates with 25 different online review sites including Google My Business and Facebook pages, so that no matter where customers are talking about you, you can collect those great reviews and display them on your site.

3. The Costs Keep Increasing

The cost of advertising online is getting more expensive all the time. Google Ads were extremely cheap 10 years ago. Back then, Facebook ads were about .25 cents per 1000 impressions, now it’s between $6-$10.

Advertising is the lifeblood of your business, and its success often depends on how much you’re willing to invest. The longer you wait, the more expensive it will be. As more and more businesses advertise online, the ones that will succeed are the ones willing to invest fully in the process.

4. Dallas Will be the Future

Dallas, Texas is known as the most competitive market in the United States. As an unlicensed state and a magnet for hail storms, it’s attracted over 8,000 roofing companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

This sea of competition has made the Dallas market the most expensive one to enter online.

Most of the companies that are advertising online in Dallas are more advanced than in other markets. I believe that Dallas will serve as glimpse of what future competition will look for every market in the country. Companies hoping to succeed will have to adapt by either outspending their competition or by being more creative with their advertising.

What this means for you is that it will take a larger investment to see results with your online marketing campaigns. Even relatively inexpensive platforms like Facebook has increased in pricing significantly the last five years. The next five will be no different

5. More People Will Demand to See Your Face

Gone are the days of the faceless company. More and more, your face has become your personal brand. Businesses without videos or pictures of their teams online are missing a huge opportunity to differentiate from other similar companies.

Transparency is everything today. The work no longer speaks for itself – you must be able to speak for it as well.

In the end, people connect with people, not with products. That personal connection will help your business stand out in an increasingly crowded and competitive market. As mentioned earlier, customers looking for a product or service have an unprecedented amount of choice within the space of a mouse-click. Every advantage will be needed to ensure they choose you over someone else.

6. Google and Facebook Dominate

The truth can’t be denied: Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising today.

According to Ad Exchanger, “The global digital advertising market grew 21% to $88 billion in 2017. Facebook and Google account for 90% of that growth”

Google is the most powerful company in history and Facebook is not that far behind. Whatever your beliefs about this power, you must understand that your customers use these companies products every single day. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to promote your services where your customers are.

Google is like a shopping mall.

When company dominates the first page of Google, it’s like having the biggest store in a shopping mall. That store usually gets the most foot traffic, which means more people likely to buy their products.

With Google, landing on that first page means increasing the possible traffic to your website, which results in more leads, which in turn results in more opportunities for sales.

Facebook is like a party

People who are outgoing at parties are usually better at getting (and keeping) people’s attention. This is generally because they have a lot interesting and engaging stories to tell.

Facebook’s “party” works much the same way. You have to get people’s attention and communicate your message in an entertaining and engaging way which can lead to increased leads and, of course, sales.

7. Make Videos That Sell

There is no single strategy as effective as creating videos that sell. Video salesmanship is an extremely powerful strategy that allows you to sell your products/services to many people at once.

Creating videos that sell can be boiled down to two deceptively simple ideas:

• Get people’s attention.
• Connect with that audience by telling a story.

Facebook Ads guru Billy Gene warns that when it comes to making sales videos in today’s iPhone-addicted world, you can’t afford to be boring.

He believes that the three core strategies to any successful video are: Educate, Entertain and Execute.

Videos that don’t engage a viewer will be skipped over, and all your hard work will be for nothing.

8. Watch Out for Youtube Ads

YouTube is the second largest website in the world. It’s even ahead of Facebook. Their ad platform has matured and gotten gotten much more sophisticated and more effective over the last few years. Considering the effectiveness of video salesmanship, YouTube is becoming a powerful option for marketing.

For the moment, YouTube ads are relatively cheap, but, like Facebook Ads, it will increase in price as more and more businesses take advantage of this platform.

9. The Best Companies Will Combine the Best of Both Worlds

Online marketing is powerful and a crucial tool now and in the future, but the most successful roofing companies wil, combine both the online and offline worlds into a single marketing strategy. This means combining traditional door-knocking with the digital world to dominate a neighborhood.

Our most successful clients understand that a lot of internet leads open the doors to gated communities. For example, if you have an appointment in a gated community you can door-knock the rest of the neighborhood after the appointment. This allows you maximize your results by combining both online and offline strategies.

You can blitz entire neighborhoods with mailers, Facebook Ads, and door knocking to be omnipresent.

10. Digitize Your Salesmanship

Many of the roofing companies I work with have strong sales teams. One thing that can help you make a digital transformation is to transfer that salesmanship online.

Start building relationships with your prospects by building rapport and providing valuable information through online platforms such as Facebook. These relationships build trust, and quite often will blossom into future work.

When the time comes to replace or repair a roof, where will people go? To a stranger? Or to a company who has provided valuable information over time?

Make 2019 the year you decide to make a digital transformation for your roofing business. With the right strategies and investment, it can help you increase leads and sales, allowing you to stand out and dominate your local market.

How Can A Roofing Company Use Instagram To Grow Business?

By Mauricio Cardenal | Instagram

How Can A Roofing Company Use Instagram To Grow Business?

Think Instagram is irrelevant to you as a roofing company? Think again. Just because you work in a home-improvement industry doesn’t mean this platform doesn’t have value for you. There are over a billion users active on the network each month, more than half of which log on every day says Instagram. With numbers like that, you have to admit your target audience is likely using the network, too.

So, how will prospects on Instagram find you when they’re searching for local roofers? What business could you be losing because you’re not promoting your brand as you could?

If you want to grow your roofing business, it only makes sense to incorporate Instagram. The key is knowing how to do it effectively. With that in mind, here’s a look at how you as a roofing company can tap into the influencing power of the popular photo-sharing app.

1. Set up an account. Here’s one of the biggest reasons your roofing company can’t afford to ignore Instagram: Simply setting up a strategic account is significant. That’s because, when it comes to the roofing industry, Instagram offers a much less competitive playing field than traditional search engines. Think about it: When someone Googles “[your city] roofing company”, how many results appear? And, in those results, where do you rank? Search the same terms on Instagram, however, and you’re going to find a smaller pool of possibilities. This makes it much easier to get noticed. Setting up a business account for your roofing company is a fast, simple way to make yourself findable by people who need roofers in your area.
2. Brand your account strategically. To maximize the power of your Instagram profile, there are a few best practices you’ll want to keep in mind. Set up the free business account, which allows you to add an email link and a location map to your profile, as well as to view analytics about your account. Use your company logo as your avatar. Write a short bio that tells users what makes your business stand out. Link to either your roofing website or a landing page that you specifically build to address those who find you on Instagram.
3. Plan your posts. Rather than posting willy-nilly whenever the urge strikes, think strategically about your Instagram account. What will you post and when? As a roofing brand, you offer followers value by showing examples of work you’ve done, as well as information relevant to home or business ownership. Become a resource for followers to make them want to stick around. Likewise, make your feed attractive and interesting by theming it in a certain color scheme (perhaps your brand colors), alternating photos with well-designed quotes and/or always using the same filters on your images. It can help to think of your profile as a curated gallery of images relevant to your brand.
4. Use Instagram Stories to show behind-the-scenes info. One great way to connect with your followers is through Instagram Stories. This is where you can post more off-the-cuff, on-the-job content. Take followers on a journey with you. Let them see what your day-to-day operations are like. This can build trust that encourages them to contact you about projects.
5. Engage with followers. Last but not least, keep in mind that Instagram is called social media for a reason. Respond to comments from followers. Run polls in your Stories to prompt engagement. Use Instagram to connect. When you engage with your followers, you build relationships — and that’s always good for business.

The beauty of creative marketing platforms such as Instagram is that there are lots of ways to make a splash. You don’t have to be anyone else; you just have to be authentic to your brand. So, post quality images, and keep posting on a schedule you can maintain week after week — and see what happens! Instagram may be the perfect opportunity for you to make your business grow.

Author bio: Shanna Mallon is a senior copywriter for Straight North, a top HVAC SEO agency in Chicago. She’s been a freelance writer since 2007.

What The Future Will Look Like For Roofing Companies Online

By Mauricio Cardenal | online marketing

Dallas Is The Future For Roofing Marketing Online

Over the last few years, the costs to advertise on Google & Facebook have substantially increased.

It used to cost .25 to reach 1000 people on Facebook. Now, that number is which is 50 times the price.

Facebook is running out of space on its Newsfeed and Google only has 3-5 spots per location. This means the costs will keep on increasing without any signs of slowing down.

In today’s world, it’s harder than ever before to get people’s attention.

People are more skeptical than ever.

For a new company, one of the biggest challenges it faces is overcoming this skepticism. A new company has to overcome this skepticism by getting people’s attention first and then providing proof of their claims.

Claims without proof are BS.

Roofing companies have it easy now.

The competition is low because most roofing companies are terrible marketers.

However, this is not the case in Dallas.

If you want to look at what the competition will look like for roofing companies in the next 5-10 years you should take a look at what is happening in Dallas.

This will give you a glimpse of the future.

In Dallas, there are hundreds of roofing companies competing for the first page of Google.

The first page of Google is like expensive real estate in Manhattan.

Every campaign has a landing page, every campaign has a free estimate, every campaign has dozens of testimonials.

In most cities, you won’t see this level of sophistication.

You’ll see a few roofing companies doing an okay job with their marketing while the rest of them suck.

In Dallas, there are many companies spending 10K a month per month on AdWords.

In the end, it’s not really that big of a budget.

These companies have decided to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to generate millions in sales.

If you spend 100K in ad spend you should be getting at least 5X the revenue.

The cost per click is 3 times higher in Dallas than anywhere else.

This means that you have to invest enough in your advertising in order to get a return.

This will soon happen with every other city.

Roofing is a high ticket item

So these companies that are spending the figures online can easily justify this because they are making it back in sales.

If you are not getting sales then investing this capital into online advertising will be a waste.

The costs will keep increasing year after year unless Google changes their bidding system.

Soon only the big players with large budgets will be the only ones that will be able to compete.

The roofing business marketplace will continue to consolidate as the bigger roofing companies swallow the smaller roofing companies.

The roofing companies that haven’t adapted will be out of business in the next 3-5 years.

How To Adapt

Change is hard for most people.

Most people are stuck in their ways and refuse to adapt to the latest trends in the marketplace.

The online marketing world has been around for a long time now but I still see the majority of roofing companies refusing to change.

The biggest thing holding back roofing companies when it comes to online marketing is a lack of will and education.
If a roofing company owner is committed to change then they will do whatever it takes to succeed online.

This means that they might have to go through a few marketing campaigns without any results before getting things to work.

Ultimately, the future of their company depends on the roofing company’s owners willingness to embrace change.

Once a person is committed they will realize that the fundamentals of marketing online won’t change.

This means you have to provide valuable content, you have to figure out how to get people’s attention in a creative way, and finally, you have to see marketing as an investment.

Long-term the companies that wholly embrace digital marketing will be in the ones that survive.

Over 90% of roofing companies disappear after 10 years. I expect this number to increase as more and more people will prefer doing business online.

Having an in-house digital marketing team will be a great strategy for many companies.

However, if you don’t know what you are looking for then you are going to likely hire the wrong person.

Budgets are for pussies

The majority of companies spend at least 10% of their budget on marketing. I have yet to find a roofing company that is spending 5% of their budget on marketing.

This will change in the next years roofing companies will continue to consolidate.

These bigger companies will have the budget and the commitment to outspend their competition and to drive their competitors out of business.

What this means is that in the future you will be forced to spend at least 10% of your budget on digital marketing.

This will be the MINIMUM requirement in the future.

This means that you are doing 1M in revenue you should be spending at least 100K per year on digital marketing.

This includes Google Ads, Facebook Ads, SEO, and whatever comes next.

Marketing & Innovation

Marketing and innovation are the only two things that should not be considered a cost. They should be seen as investments.

What most companies do is they invest in marketing after they have finished paying off whatever they need to pay.

This should be the opposite.

You invest in building a brand and marketing first so that you will be in a much stronger position in the future to work with the clients that you want to work with.

When you buy an office that has fixed costs.

When you invest in marketing and you get customers, as a result, your business grows.

Marketing for Roofing Contractors: 6 Mistakes to Avoid

By Mauricio Cardenal | Marketing

The ability to install a quality roof is an important part of building a profitable roofing business, but it’s only one part. Marketing for roofing contractors is nearly as important as the work itself.

Without marketing to promote and feature your work, all that skill and effort will be for nothing. That said, marketing is not a process to be handled carelessly. What follows are 6 common mistakes to avoid when building your marketing strategy.

Racing to the Bottom of a Price War

A roof is one of the most costly purchases any homeowner can face, and as such, a lot of thought – not to mention procrastination – goes into the decision to purchase a new roof or repair an existing one.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of undercutting your competition to attract cost-conscious customers. The trouble is, low-balling your pricing actually devalues your business.

Instead of focusing on how inexpensive you are, focus your marketing on the value for money. While you may not have the lowest price, you offer more value for the money. In other words, cost-effectiveness.

Not Having a Marketing Strategy

This is probably the biggest – and most common – mistake roofing contractors make in the marketing efforts. They haphazardly “market” without a clear idea of what they’re trying to achieve, or a timeline in which they want to achieve it. They treat it like a one-time thing, rather than a continuous process that never stops.

As a result, their marketing brings in few leads and ends up being a waste of time and money. Invest the time in mapping out exactly what you want to achieve with your marketing.

Plan out your content, such as blog and social media posts over an extended length of time, and allow some flexibility to make adjustments as necessary along the way.

Not Differentiating Your Business

The market gets more and more crowded every day, and the internet has opened up even more choices for consumers who are looking for a product or service. This increased competition makes it all the more essential that you clearly communicate why your roofing business is different.

As we’ve discussed, the price won’t do it.

Quality of work is not enough either. Finding that unique selling point (USP) is an often overlooked, but essential tool in building your roofing business. Maybe you specialize in energy efficient, “green” building techniques.

Perhaps you focus on a specific type of roof repair. Whatever it is, it has to be communicated clearly and consistently to your prospects to help you stand out.

Underestimating the Power of Word of Mouth (Referrals)

The explosion of rating and review sites has made “word of mouth” marketing incredibly powerful. These days, what customers tell each other about you is as important as what you say about you.

Too many roofing contractors fail to see the value in these referrals, or they fail to engage in the conversation, especially when there’s an issue.

Roofers don’t realize that many prospects will first check these review sites before even contacting them. Being proactive and engaging with customers (whether satisfied or not), goes a long way to improving your reputation.

Not Claiming Your Google Business Listing

Google My Business is a free tool that puts your business on Google Maps and helps your website rank higher in search results. Not claiming your listing means you’re missing out on a tool many, many prospects use to find local businesses. The fact is, prospective customers often contact businesses off the Google business listing. If you’re not there, you’re losing prospective customers.

Not Marketing When Leads Are Strong

This related to the lack of a marketing strategy. Many roofing contractors only market when leads are running dry. This “emergency marketing” rarely works effectively, and sometimes doesn’t work at all.

Marketing is a continuous process, not something you do only when you need the business. By constantly marketing, you’re able to take advantage of opportunities whenever they come up, not just when you need them.

These may be common mistakes in the world of marketing for roofing contractors, but with diligence and a solid marketing strategy, they’re easily avoided.

7 Amazing Roofing SEO Strategies

By Mauricio Cardenal | SEO

7 Amazing Roofing SEO Strategies

It’s the goal of every business, no matter the industry: How to get the coveted top spot in search engine results. There are many factors that determine how results are listed in a search engine, but one of the most important to understand – particularly for roofers – is local SEO. What follows are a few roofing SEO strategies and tips to help boost your company’s ranking in search engines.

First, what exactly IS local SEO?

Local SEO (search engine optimization) allows businesses to promote their products and services to local customers at the exact time they’re looking for them. Every day millions of customers use search engines to find the local businesses that will provide the best products and services. By ranking highly on these local searches, customers can more easily find you and do business.

So how do you rank higher in local search results? Try some of these tips:

Choose the right location-specific keywords

Location keywords used throughout your website and social media content are essential to good SEO. Think of your customer – a homeowner who’s concerned about the condition of their roof for example. What words would they use in a search engine to find a local roofer? Make a list of all the words and phrases that come to mind, such as:

• Roofing contractors [your city]
• Roofers [your city]
• [Your city] roof repair

Be sure to do this for all the services you offer, such as gutter replacement, window installation, etc.

Implement your keywords throughout your roofing website and social media.

Now that you have a roofing SEO keyword list, you need to incorporate them throughout your website and social media content. By using these keywords often in your content, a customer typing those keywords into a search engine is far more likely to find your business in the results.

A caveat: Don’t just stuff keywords into your content at random places. Ensure that they make sense and that the rest of the content supports the keywords.

Add your location-specific keywords to your page titles and metadata

A good and often overlooked practice for boosting SEO is to include your location-specific keywords and phrases into your website’s title and metadata.

While not weighted quite as strong as it was in the past, search engines still look to these areas for keywords when ranking. Ensure that you do this for all the pages on your site, including blog posts.

Use a consistent name, address, and phone number.

Local roofing SEO best practices state that your office address and phone number should be added to the footer of your website.

Equally important here is that anywhere your address and phone number are displayed, they should be consistent in format throughout.

This helps Google better understand that you’re from a specific location and will help it to present your site to customers searching for businesses in that location.

Create a Google My Business account

Google My Business is a great way to boost your ranking within Google search. By listing your business information here, customers can find you even more easily, as it makes you visible on other Google services, such as Google Maps. As with your website, make sure your business information (address, phone, etc.) are consistent with those listed on your site.

Create separate web pages for office locations

If your roofing business has more than one office location, then you should create separate web pages for each, so that you can adapt the local keywords to reflect that specific location, allowing customers in those areas to more easily find you.

Create links from other sites back to your own

When multiple sites link back to your site, it helps increase your ranking in Google search. These are known as “backlinks.” Like metadata keywords, backlinks aren’t valued quite as much as they once were by search engines, but they still represent an effective tool for boosting your ranking.

Try using local business listing sites, or guest posting on blogs to help create a network of backlinks and boost your visibility.

These are just a few strategies for boosting your roofing business’ local visibility. In the end, the key is to make it as easy as possible for customers to find and do business with you. Local roofing SEO is a powerful tool for doing just that.

5 Roofing Ads You Can Try To Get More Jobs

By Mauricio Cardenal | Marketing

5 Roofing Ads You Can Try To Get More Jobs

How does a roofing company stand out in a crowded market? Roofing ads can no longer simply rely on offering the lowest price for a job.

Competing on price is a race to the bottom that ultimately no one wins. With so many choices available, consumers are looking more and more for the value provided by companies. Let’s explore 5 types of roofing ads designed to provide more value while helping you stand out from your competitors.

Weather Specific

Is your business located in an area that regularly encounters severe weather? Hail, hurricanes, and tornados can cause tremendous damage to roofs, and as a result, provide opportunities for roofing contractors. Promotions could be offered for repair work during hail or hurricane season. Alternatively, you could offer free assessments to determine the viability of a homeowners roof before the season begins.

Seasonal

Much like the weather specific ads, these ads are tied to the changing of the seasons, such as from fall to winter, or winter to spring.

Changing temperatures and increased snow/rain could cause serious issues such as leaks – issues that could be addressed or even prevented by a roofing contractor brought in at the right time. Obviously, these ads should be timed correctly to coincide with the appropriate season.

Green/Energy Efficient Roofing

If your business specializes in using green roofing materials or more energy efficient techniques, this can be a powerful unique selling proposition (USP) for ads. By focusing on the money homeowners could save by using your services, you provide value that makes the cost of a roof replacement much more cost-effective. Green construction techniques are also very popular at the moment, and that popularity can help generate extra attention for your business.

Show Don’t Tell: Portfolios

While an ad cannot show an entire portfolio of your past work, you could use ads to highlight high-profile projects or even to display the craftsmanship of your work through close up images.

If your business prides itself on providing a clean worksite, this imagery can be used in ads as well to give customers a good idea of what they can expect when you work for them.

Lead Magnets

This type of ad has been around for a while. The idea is that through the ad, you offer prospects a piece of valuable information, such as a checklist for preparing your roof for winter, tips on dealing with small leaks, or even a guide to choosing a reputable roofing company.

This piece of information is called a lead magnet, and it allows you to build credibility with prospective customers while giving you the opportunity to nurture the lead to eventually become a customer. These ads are simple and are focused entirely on the lead magnet itself.

These are just a few of the types of roofing ads that you can use to generate more leads, and ultimately, more business. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the different types, but remember: the key to marketing in the 21st century is to lead with value. The more value you offer your customers, the more likely they will come to you when the time comes to hire a roofing contractor.

7 Roofing Contractor Marketing Strategies

By Mauricio Cardenal | online marketing

It happens far too often.

Roofing companies wait until the business gets slow, and then pours effort and money into roofing contractor marketing, only to stop marketing as soon as business picks up again.

This kind of haphazard, start/stop marketing is not only ineffective and inefficient, it’s often a waste of money and resources over the long term.

Below you’ll find a collection of roofing contractor marketing strategies, some of which are sadly underused, that will help you create sustainable and effective marketing over the long term.

Build a Content Plan

Content is much more than a blog or social media posts.

It’s a collection of assets used by your business to generate leads and create conversions. A content plan is exactly what it sounds like – a detailed and intentional plan for a specific period of time that describes exactly what material will be created, what its purpose is, and where it will be used.

The content you create must build trust, educate prospective customers and encourage leads to convert. When a comprehensive content plan is baked into your business, you always have a method for generating leads and maintaining contact with prospective customers, without the inefficiencies of start/stop marketing.

Own your Web Presence

In the early days, all you had to do was create a website. However the world has changed drastically, and the “if you build it they will come” model is fatally flawed.

Participating in rating and review sites, being active on social media, maintaining your business information on local web listings and regularly sharing relevant, value-focused content to prospects are fundamental to owning your web presence.

Be Flexible with your Lead Generation Tactics

Lead generation rarely comes from one source 100% of the time. The most effective forms of lead generation take advantage
of multiple channels, such as advertising, referral generation, and social media to create enough repetition, credibility, and trust to motivate a prospect to call or schedule an appointment.

Committing your roofing contractor marketing efforts to delivering value-focused content wherever and whenever possible is the key to making this work over the long term.

Have a Lead Conversion Process in Place

Many roofing contractors succeed in generating a steady stream of leads, but fail to have a process in place to convert those leads.

It’s essential to continue the positive experience the lead has had up to now, begun by the marketing, and nurture them along the path to being a customer.

Decisions concerning roofing often take months or longer, so having a path for the lead to follow as they get closer to making that decision is as important as the process of generating the lead in the first place.

Harness the Power of Video

Video is a powerful marketing tool that very few roofing contractors take full advantage of. You can invest in a professional production company to make a commercial video, or create lower-budget “how-to” videos to educate prospective customers (how to select a new roof, what to look for in a roofing contractor, etc.).

This kind of content – optimized for YouTube search – helps to build credibility and trust, encouraging visitors to become leads and eventually, customers.

Be Part of the Conversation

In today’s internet-driven world, what other customers say to each other about your business is as important as what you have to say yourself, maybe even more so.

Roofing companies are beginning to realize how important online rating and review sites are to lead generation and marketing in general.

Many prospective leads will now check reviews made on HomeAdvisor, Facebook, and Google, and base their decision largely on the experiences of other customers. For better or for worse, your customers are online talking about you – it would be in your best interest to be part of that conversation.

Make Marketing a Habit

Marketing is not an event. It has no end date. It must be built into the everyday structure of your roofing business if it’s going to succeed. The strategies we’ve discussed here work most effectively when they are implemented each and every day in a system, a continuous (but also flexible) process that never really ends – it evolves as your business grows.

Whether you use one or several of these strategies in combination, what matters is that you have some sort of strategy. It’s a harsh truth, but a roofing business without a strategy is a roofing business that’s set up to fail.

Marketing For Roofing Companies: 4 Unique Strategies

By Mauricio Cardenal | Marketing

Marketing for roofing companies is absolutely essential, whether the business works with residential customers, commercial clients or a combination of both. While no amount of marketing will ever replace excellent workmanship, work of the highest quality won’t mean anything if customers don’t know the company exists.

Enter marketing, along with its partner, strategy.

Here are some tips for building a solid and effective marketing strategy for your roofing company. Many are “old school” in nature, but when used in conjunction with more modern online marketing techniques, they can provide the extra personal touch that helps a client choose your business over a competitor.

Know your Audience

One of the most fundamental rules of marketing in any industry is to know your target audience. Interestingly, residential customers tend to fall in one of two camps:

The Procrastinator

These are the people who wait until their roof is in very poor condition because they’ve put off getting a new roof or getting the existing one repaired. Marketing to the Procrastinator is all about education: The practical benefits of a new roof, such as leakage protection and energy savings.

Procrastinators often put off roof repairs due to the perceived cost, therefore your marketing should reflect the cost-effectiveness of your work and the value-for-dollar you offer.

The Beautifier

This customer is focused mainly on increasing the curb appeal and ultimately the value of their home. Marketing to the Beautifier should speak about the quality of your work and your ability to provide a selection of beautiful roofing materials that will add value and elegance to a home.

Establish a Consistent Visual Brand

Your roofing company should have a single logo that you use consistently on all materials seen by customers. This branding should be prominent on any vehicles you use, on all your documentation and on signs along the job site. It seems like a small thing, but it creates an image of professionalism and credibility in the eyes of prospects and can be an effective form of passive advertising.

Keep in mind that if you do use branding on the job site, it must be kept as clean as possible to avoid having your business name and brand associated with a messy site.

Learn from your Clients

When beginning a new job, ask clients how they found out about you. This information can be invaluable for determining which marketing methods are working well and which are not.

For example, if a lot of your clients seem to come from Facebook, it might be worth investing a little more in that area in future.

Keep in Touch

Keep a database of your customers and leads to whom you’ve provided estimates. Touch base with them once or twice a year with value-focused content, such as an information guide or checklist.

This helps keep you “top of mind” for those leads who may not have yet made a decision about hiring a roofing company.

Contacting your clients a week or two after you finish a job to make sure they’re satisfied is also a great way of reinforcing great service, showing you care about the quality of your work and increase the chances that they will refer you to others.

Partner with Related Businesses

Create and nurture relationships with local realtors, banks, and landscapers.

Set up mutually beneficial marketing efforts such as displays, business cards or brochures in your respective offices for the benefit of clients looking for information.

Creating a “collection” of services is a convenience for customers, and creates a sense of credibility. (If a bank they trust associates with your business, the client is more likely to extend that trust to your business, and vice versa.)

Whether you prefer “old school” or modern techniques, marketing for roofing companies is absolutely essential. Neglecting them will make it difficult, if not impossible, to grow your business. Just remember that marketing must be a continuous process, not an event. Making use of the techniques described above will give you happy customers, a continuous stream of business, and an edge over your competitors.

5 Amazing Roofing Advertising Strategies

By Mauricio Cardenal | Marketing

For a roofer, a successful business starts by providing a quality service at a fair price. However, that alone won’t guarantee you success.

The market is more crowded than ever and prospective customers have far more options thanks to the internet. Roofing advertising strategies can take many forms, from online retargeting to simply following up on completed jobs to check on your customer’s satisfaction. We’re looking at 5 different strategies you can use to help grow your roofing business.

Create Unique Promotions

Community involvement can create a scenario where everyone wins. The community feels supported, and they, in turn, are more willing to support your business.

In the case of a roofing advertising strategy, try selecting a household every 1-2 months that needs a roof, but may not be in a financial position to afford such a renovation.

Applications or nominations can be created to decide who the recipient will be, which creates positive exposure. People will want to do business with you because you’re the company who is willing to help that struggling family get back on their feet, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve supported a good cause. Win-win.

Make use of Retargeting Ads

The purchase of a new roof is a decision that many homeowners put off due to the costs involved. As a result, it can take months or more for a lead to finally become a customer.

Retargeting ads keep track of visitors to your website and offer up your ads to them as they explore the internet. While the lead may not click on the ads, they will see them, keeping your business “top of mind” until the moment when they finally choose a roofer. Retargeting increases the chances that the roofer they choose will be you.

Show your Work with a Portfolio

A comprehensive portfolio of past projects is a great way to demonstrate the quality of your work to prospective customers. Close up images of the craftsmanship that goes into your projects help build credibility and give customers an idea of what their roof will look like.

Also, if one of your value propositions is that you offer a tidy worksite, images of a project throughout its phases would also be great for demonstrating value to customers. All these images can be displayed on a portfolio page on your website, and used (with the client’s permission) as social media content as well.

Optimize your Search Advertising

Ranking as high as possible in local search results is essential to drive traffic to your website. There are three primary ways to ensure your business is as close as possible to that coveted top spot on search results: Pay-per-click advertising, Google My Business, and organic web listings.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are run through auction-based systems like Google Adwords and Bing Ads, allowing you to show in the top positions (reserved for paid ads) where you can control the ad copy and landing page.

Google My Business is a Google Maps listing and review platform that you can optimize your descriptions and customer reviews. Organic website listings are created by optimizing your website for keywords, gaining backlinks (links from other sites), maintaining an active social media presence and regularly updating your content (such as a blog).

Lead with Value

This is a primary tenet of marketing in the 21st century. By providing prospects with value (information, tips, etc.), you’re laying a foundation of trust and relevance that’s impossible to replicate any other way.

Provide tips on fixing a leak, or ensuring that their roof is ready for inclement weather, or even how to choose a roofing contractor.

When the time comes to purchase a new roof or repair an existing one, they’re more likely to come to you, mainly because you’ve provided so much value in the past, and because you’ve developed a relationship over time.

Standing out in a crowded market involves much more than just a low price. You need to provide real value for the dollar and be willing to nurture relationships over time to turn leads into customers.

How To Get Roofing Leads

By Mauricio Cardenal | Marketing

How To Get Roofing Leads

Online marketing is a powerful tool for roofing businesses looking to generate leads – but only when it’s used properly.

Quite often, roofers fail to get the most out of online marketing and end up with results that are hardly worth the time and money invested. What follows are tips and strategies showing you how to get roofing leads in your business.

Optimize your Website for Conversions

Your website is one of the most important parts of your lead-generating efforts. Even if prospective customers find out about you offline, they’ll likely visit your site to learn more.

Simply put, your website is often the first impression customers will have of you, so it’s important that it reflects well on you and your roofing business.

For a roofing business, a website is more than just an information source. It’s also a tool for converting visitors into leads. That means it has to provide value, make contacting you as painless as possible and use powerful calls to action to motivate prospective customers.

Dominate Search Advertising

Ranking as high as possible in local search results is essential to drive traffic to your website, traffic that could potentially become leads. There are three primary ways to ensure your business is as close as possible to that coveted top spot on search results: Pay-per-click advertising, Google My Business, and organic web listings.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are run through auction-based systems like Google Adwords and Bing Ads, allowing you to show in the top positions (reserved for paid ads) where you can control the ad copy and landing page.

Google My Business is a Google Maps listing and review platform that you can optimize your descriptions and customer reviews.

Organic website listings are created by optimizing your website for keywords, gaining backlinks (links from other sites), maintaining an active social media presence and regularly updating your content (such as a blog).

Invest in Video Marketing

It would be a mistake for any article designed to teach you how to get roofing leads to fail to mention one of the most popular methods for sharing information online: Video.

While it’s a powerful marketing tool, few roofing companies take full advantage of it. Whether you decide to invest in a professional production company to make a commercial video, or create lower-budget “how-to” videos to educate prospective customers (how to select a new roof, what to look for in a roofing contractor, etc.), this kind of content – when optimized for YouTube search – helps to build credibility and trust, encouraging visitors to become leads and eventually, customers.

Make use of Retargeting Ads

Purchasing a new roof or repairing an older one is a decision that many people will take their time making. Unless the roof is badly damaged, some leads can take months to make a final decision on a roofer. Retargeting keeps track of visitors to your site and offers up your ads to them as they explore the internet. While the lead may not click on the ads, they will see them, keeping your business “top of mind” until the moment when they finally choose a roofer. Retargeting increases the chances that the roofer they choose will be you.

Differentiate your Business

It’s an easy trap to fall into – to assume that as a roofer, you’re just like every other roofer. This kind of thinking makes winning customers a matter of luck. Roofers who dominate in their marketing do so primarily by developing a unique selling proposition (USP).

A USP identifies the specific and unique benefit you offer your clients, it clearly shows how you can solve a customer’s problem and it differentiates you from the competition by offering something they don’t/can’t. A USP is rarely ever related to price. It’s a benefit that makes a lead think, “These are the people I need.”

Manage your Reputation

At some point, most of us have asked friends or family who has worked with a local company what their experience was like. With the explosion of the internet and the creation of online review sites, this common act takes on a whole new level of importance.

What other customers have to say about your business is now as important as what you have to say yourself. More and more roofing companies are realizing how important online review sites are to local lead generation.

Many prospective leads will now check reviews made on HomeAdvisor, Facebook, and Google, and base their decision largely on the experiences of other customers.

Closely monitoring what’s being said online about your business and responding to negative reviews with suggestions for rectifying problems can go a long way to ensuring an error now doesn’t cost you later.

Be Willing to Play the Long Game

Marketing has always been, and will likely be a long-term enterprise. The companies who succeed in marketing understand that not only do campaigns need to be given time to work, they must be flexible as well. Not every effort will work. When some part of your marketing fails or doesn’t provide the desired results, see it as a learning opportunity and try to determine why it failed – and be willing to put something new in its place. This process of flexibility and persistence will help you generate leads – and business – over the long term, long after your competitors have thrown in the towel.