Slowing Economy Marketing Tips...

This is part of document sent to distributors for giving contractors ideas for marketing. Thought it might help.

Whether we fall into a recession or not, the economy is slowing. The housing market has come to a near screeching halt in many parts of the U.S. New commercial construction projects are slowing or tightening their budgets and people that do have money to spend are just holding onto it a little tighter these days.
So with all that said, how is it going to affect your business? If you play your cards right, it wont hurt you at all… This document will provide you with some suggestions and tips (perhaps some unorthodox) that will keep you growing not slowing.

The extent of the marketing assistance that most contractors know of is just to read the manual, read the website and implement all of the various marketing ideas. Contractors really need to take advantage of speaking with their distributor and talk specifically about what areas of their business are they lacking in. Tell your distributor what you are doing to promote your business. Detail what is working for you and what is not. You literally need to speak with them on a weekly basis
The fact is, even though construction and remodeling slows during a poor economy, consumers don't just stop spending money. When the economy is good, people will spend money on expensive, luxurious items. When the economy slows, people will still spend, they just want more bang for their buck. Something cheaper but just as nice and durable. Contractors have to change their marketing programs to highlight terms like; more affordable, costs less than tear out and replace, more durable, etc.
Another thing you can do is go over each and every line item on the "Marketing for Success" document. Not everyone has the available funds to implement all of these suggestions and even if you do, you want to focus more of your efforts towards the less expensive but immediate return suggestions.

I have heard of a number of great sales and marketing techniques that contractors are using these days that are working. Here are a few.

- Imaging Software: Yes you already know what it is but there some contractors going into nice neighborhoods and taking pictures of driveways, detailing the condition of the driveway and then using the imaging software to add a few different patterns to the driveway. Then they mail the homeowner the three or four pictures of their driveway with the pattern on it along with a letter explain the benefits (salt resistant, chemical resistant, weather resistant, etc.) and a brochure.

One contractor I spoke to actually does a minimum of 5 homes a day and more on the weekends. He also has a laptop and a portable printer and does it from his truck and just hand delivers the packet when he is done. He has been doing this since November and sold 13 jobs already.

- Constantcontact.com: What an an invaluable marketing tool. One distributor has all of his contractors using Constant Contant to market to builders, architects, pool contractors, landscapers, realtors, etc. to promote their services and product benefits. Have them do three different newsletters each month, one highlighting exterior, one for interior flooring and another specifically for garage floors.

- Rocks in a Bag: Sounds silly I know but one contractor is printing a nice letter explaining their services and using a brochure and putting the documents into a clear zip lock bag with 2 to 3 rocks. Yes rocks. Then they drive through nicer neighborhoods tossing the bags onto driveways. They do this to the same homes three times about 1 to 2 weeks apart. They are finding that it takes about 2 to 3 times of repeating this until they start to get responses. Repetition is the key here.

- Windshield Wipers: Similar to the rocks in a bag packet but without the rocks. Some contractors are putting packets under windshield wipers at home improvements stores, malls, landscape design centers flooring stores and more. People shopping at these places obviously have a disposable income and are spending money.

Good luck guys.