Advertising in a buoyant market

Are you driven to working long hours while the market is hot, because you need to make the most of it, but then pushed to discount when the work dries up just to stay afloat? Then read on!

There’s no question that when your workload is high, it’s hard to focus on anything other than getting the work done. The following quote, which I’ve heard from a number of builders, is testament to that:

“I’d like to make my business more secure, but I don’t have time. There’s so much work now that I’m flat-out. I don’t even advertise, yet I’m getting more enquiries than I can handle. I have to make the most of it now. I’ll develop the business when the boom is over.”

There is a way to reduce the peaks and troughs of the economic cycle. It involves learning the art of marketing your business. When you have heaps of work coming in and you don’t need to advertise, you don’t bother with marketing.

This is actually when you have the best opportunity to grow your company’s ability to connect with the market and prepare for the future. You see, you can afford to spend on growing your marketing programme now, but you may not have that luxury later on. You are most in control of your business when you have a good idea of what is happening in your market.

Learn the needs of your target market

Learning the art of marketing begins with finding out about your market. The better you can articulate your market’s needs, the better you can design services to match and the better your advertising will connect. Take the time to find out – it will keep you in front.

In-depth market surveys are excellent, but it’s unlikely you will have the time or money to do these. Therefore, here are a couple of direct ways you can start discovering your market’s needs.

If you’re starting out, then simply utilise one of the best-kept secrets of many successful renovation companies to survey your market – drop letterbox flyers in the immediate neighbourhood of jobs you are currently doing, which make an offer to the homeowner. Or, use Facebook to have paid posts/ display ads, regionalised to your preference turning up in your target customer’s feeds.

Direct the offer at what you think is a need. Then wait and see what happens. Make a change and see what happens. As you target different needs, you will discover which ones are more prevalent.

If you have a website, then maybe spend a little time mastering AdWords. Customers like to do research online, so being knowledgeable about keywords that your customers use to search for a builder will help you reach them with your brand. Test various ads, keywords and offers to better understand your market’s needs.

If you’re not advertising and measuring responses, then you won’t know if your company is getting work simply because people are desperate or because your marketing is working.

Your company may not be connecting with the market at all. Should the economy turn, you will then be left behind. You need to keep advertising, so you know how well you are connecting with your market’s needs.

Build marketing resources for the future

Keeping a record of what you do in your marketing builds a valuable resource. It’s a history of your market’s response to various messages at various times in the year and in the building and/or economic cycle. It’s your company’s IP.

Imagine starting a new year with a folder full of last year’s marketing attempts. You can simply repeat the things that have worked and see if you get similar results. Doesn’t take much thinking! Then focus the balance of your marketing time on new initiatives.

Sure, the market changes, but some things stay the same. Which things? No one really knows. However, over time you will discover what stays the same for your business and what requires change.

Moreover, when your monitoring tools tell you the market is starting to shift, you can adjust to meet those changes. There is no magic formula in marketing. It’s just consistent work.

Improve your specialisation

Some of the biggest companies in the world limit their offerings to just a few products and services – and they become very good at them. Apple doesn’t build houses, or boats, or manufacture washing powder, it sticks to electronics – mainly computers and phones – and they are very good at it.

Similarly, in construction, bigger companies offer fewer services and are perceived as experts. Yet the local builder, who offers everything, is not, (even though he often produces a better job). Subsequently, he struggles through downturns.

So, if you wish to improve the security of your business, look at what you learn from your marketing activities and adjust your business to provide specialist services. Then:

1. Define in detail what you do and how.
2. Improve your operations, so you can deliver.
3. Build a value proposition that connects with your target market.
4. Advertise.

If your expertise is renovations, and your target suburbs have a lot of sixties and seventies basement-style homes, then you may want to specialise in basement transformations.

Alternatively, if your speciality is first homes, with an expertise in three-level terraced homes, then your target market is developers, to whom you will become the terrace construction expert.

Remember, as the market moves, you may need to modify your speciality; but your interaction with your market will give you warning of such changes, to allow you to react.

So, don’t quit advertising in a buoyant market!

 

About The Successful Builder

Graeme Owen, based in Auckland, is a builders’ business coach. Since 2006, he has helped builders get off the tools, make decent money, and free up time for family, fishing, and enjoying sports. Get his free ebook: 3 Reasons Builders Lose Money and How to Fix Them for High Profits at http://TheSuccessfulBuilder.com.