In today’s Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter, I suggest, based on my experiences and those of Tim Klabunde‘s successful Design and Construction Network, that an individual on a social media list could have average value of between $30 and $40. This number is calculated by dividing the total number of names on our lists acquired through [...]
Testing your advertising
This posting from Neil Brown’s Construction Marketing Blog contains some useful insights about how you can test your advertising before spending significant sums of money on the process. Online media, especially, allows for extremely rapid and inexpensive live testing. You can post your ads, assess response, develop benchmarks, and try new things. The challenge is [...]
New experiments with construction marketing surveys
I’m continuing to explore the most effective use of surveys and polls in construction marketing. In theory, feedback from surveys can provide you with invaluable insights into client priorities and help you to assess your business potential and market. The challenge is to gather useful information without forcing the point — I think of few [...]
Systems, measurement and creativity in construction marketing
Years ago, I thought “systems” were for people who couldn’t think for themselves. We operated the business largely by the seat-0f-the-pants, with a great emphasis on individuality and freedom. Of course, there were some systems. We had a few repeated processes and even, towards the end, some measuring tools to assess “customer satisfaction”. Unfortunately, we [...]
The five biggest marketing mistakes contractors make
I enjoyed this video, apparently built on a prezi.com base, that I discovered within the closed forums of remodelcrazy.com (you can register for free there to gain access.) Especially useful are the definitions of marketing, and the advocacy for consistent, thoughtful, measurement of results and that you “fish with a net, not a pole” — [...]
Strategic alliance best practices: Survey results
Yesterday’s survey to determine the three most important “best practices” for architectural, engineering and construction community strategic alliances provided some useful insights — and others I didn’t expect. So far, we’ve received 17 responses from this blog and an online survey of 1900 readers (a combination of my Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter list and selected [...]
The power curve, the “long tail” and construction marketing
In earlier posts, I’ve discussed some evolving trends in business and marketing including the the combination of extreme diversity correlated with extreme concentration of power and wealth in the world. Certainly, these days, it seems the richer are getting richer and those in the middle class who cannot climb the ladder to wealth are sinking [...]
Working with QR (Quick Response) codes
We’ve started to discover the power and potential of QR (Quick Response) codes for marketing. The little bar codes can be imprinted in your print ads, billboards, marketing collateral, even your websites and T-Shirts. Scan your mobile device equipped with a (free) QR Code reader and you are instantly directed to the relevant webpage, phone [...]
Surveys, surveys, surveys . . . do they really work?
I have mixed feelings about client and market surveys. Sometimes they provide useful insights into the moods, opinions, values and priorities of your clients — and they can, if you view the “outlier” responses closely, add valuable insights to your understanding about service problems and strengths. But surveys can be a nuisance and, realistically, the [...]
Selling, generosity and creativity — the construction marketing challenge
Last night, we attended a party, “Rock the Rideau”, a rather (appropriately) loud event sponsored by the “Boone Flushers” in advance of the Sept. 10 “Ride The Rideau” 100K bike ride in support of cancer research at The Ottawa Hospital. The evening had nothing, but everything, to do with construction marketing. Boone Plumbing and Heating [...]