Web-based marketing allows for an incredible collection of data and information. Constant Contact and other email service providers, for example, provide extremely detailed and granular reports: We can see how many people are opening the emails, when, and (most significantly) who is reading what! Other useful resources are Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools but my [...]
Charity and construction marketing
Can charity be combined with marketing? The answer, undoubtedly, is “yes”, but the question arises about the boundaries between genuine generosity and real marketing effectiveness. Recently, for example, Leah Thayer in Daily5Remodel highlighted the story of the “Great Nashville Giveaway” in which contractor The Wills Company offered (in celebration of its 20th anniversary) to donate [...]
Donate a beer?
If you look closely at the right of this blog, you’ll notice I’ve posted two “donation” options. One says “donate a beer”, the other, is just a plain PayPal donation button. Click and you’ll receive an opportunity to give me $2.30. I’ll give you nothing in return. Now, I’m not really expecting a flood of [...]
Patience, perseverence or pestering in sales and marketing — how do we draw the line?
One common sales training assertion is that too many sales representatives give up, too early. You need to make multiple efforts to reach your prospective client, the advice goes, and once you do, find a way to keep in touch until you receive the crucial “yes” decision. On another level, we are advised to give [...]
The winner’s curse
David Cook from Management Research and Solutions Inc. attracted a significant crowd to his presentation based at the Ontario General Contractors Association symposium on the challenge that, in bidding work, the lowest bidder often “wins” by making the biggest mistake. Cook sought to explain that the solution to the problem lies on many levels including [...]
What works, what doesn't (in construction marketing)
Jason Whipple in West Pawlett, VT, sought his peers’ guidance at remodelcrazy.com on a newspaper ad he planned to have published last summer. The design and wording he chose didn’t win universal support — other contractors expressed concern that the ad would be utterly ineffective and a total waste of money. One reviewer even went [...]
Construction marketing: Using the survey tool effectively
In this week’s Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter (you can request a free subscription with the “discover” link at the top of the page), I focus on the use of surveys — providing some simple tips on how to get the best value from this marketing resource. Two suggestions: Keep the number of questions to three [...]
What do people think about your marketing?
[polldaddy poll=4351600] One challenge in construction marketing is gathering feedback and knowledge about whether your initiatives are succeeding. Of course, you know you are on the right track when potential and current clients inquire and their inquiries lead to profitable work, and referrals. However, the marketing process is much more nuanced and (especially for work [...]
Construction marketing systems: Your giant business challenge
In yesterday’s posting, I indicated I would offer some thoughts about how to develop an effective construction marketing system for your business. In fact, however, this is something that I cannot whip out in a blog posting. It is a major undertaking. While some marketing professionals can provide template approaches which may be helpful to [...]
Measuring strategic alliance success: The challenge
Yesterday, The Society for Marketing Professional Services sent a PDF copy of my most recent Marketer article: Measuring Strategic Alliance Success: How to Quantify Accomplishments. I discovered that few strategic alliances are actually measuring their success in the AEC community, reflecting the overall failure to measure success in virtually any form of marketing. (This trait [...]