3 Low-Cost Marketing Techniques to Help Your Remodeling Business Grow

What You Can Do:  Build a Great Website

Do you know the single most important member of your sales team? It's your website!

Your website is the most valuable salesman you have. A great website will be busy selling for you 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. But what actually makes a website great?

A great website is responsive on all devices and has a bright, clean design. It’s packed full of high-quality photos of your remodeling projects and informative, easy to digest content. And don’t forget a blog. (Yes, even remodelers need a blog.  Here’s why.) 

Fresh content with relevant keywords will help your website climb the search engine rankings. This gets your site in front of more potential customers. When those potential customers visit your site, they’ll be drawn in by the beautiful design, enticing images, and helpful blog articles. Now that potential customer is on their way to becoming an actual customer. 

I know what you’re thinking. "Building a website is hardly a low-cost endeavor."  It’s true, a new website can be expensive. But it doesn't have to wipe out your budget. Sure, you’ll find marketing firms that charge $10-$20,000 for a shiny new site. But there are alternatives. Shop around for marketing agencies that specialize in your line of business and offer flexible, cost-effective options for creating your new website. With a great site, you’ll soon see the return on your investment. 

What You Can Do:  Develop a Customer Referral Program 

It’s the oldest marketing method in the world—good ol’ word of mouth. It’s been around forever because it really works. And in the digital age, word of mouth is even more relevant now that customers can share their opinions about you online to countless others. 

It’s incredibly easy to leverage word of mouth recommendations to build a marketing campaign. The possibilities are many. Offer your existing customers a discount on future services for each referral they send your way. Or offer the existing customer and the new customer an incentive.  Gift cards and discounted services are always popular referral rewards. There are a ton of ways you can incentivize your existing customers to spread positive feedback about your business and help you get new customers. 

What You Can Do:  Email Marketing

To many, email marketing seems complicated, invasive, and expensive. But in reality, email marketing is really quite simple and cost effective. 

Collecting email addresses and building an email list was much more complicated 20-years ago when much of the process was manual. But now, there are plenty of services out there that collect, collate, and manage all the addresses on your list. There’s very little involvement needed from the business itself. 

Conscientious business owners never want to spam their email lists with a bunch of useless messages. This is easily avoidable, though.  Be sure your email marketing messages contain useful, pertinent information and are sent on an acceptable frequency.  Send emails once a month, bi-monthly, or maybe even once a week. Share your knowledge, talk about upcoming events and projects, or offer coupons or discounts. Whatever you send, it should be something your customer actually wants to read.

There are plenty of email marketing applications out there, varying in price from cheap to expensive. But like anything else, you can find good deals if you shop around. Some major names in the email marketing space, like MailChimp and Constant Contact, offer free plans that include great tools for small businesses. 

Email marketing is a great, low-cost, way to reach your customer base. You’re consistently getting your name in front of people, sharing valuable content, and establishing your company as a trustworthy expert in your field. 

Low Investment = Big Payoff 

The three marketing techniques mentioned here are only the tip of the iceberg. There is no shortage of free or low-cost marketing activities you can engage in.  And because your financial risk is limited, you can try as many of these techniques as you want with little risk.

Try out these marketing techniques, get some campaigns off and running, and watch your remodeling business grow.