Karen L. Edwards, Casimir Group, LLC
Many of you have likely heard of the term public relations but what is it exactly? And how can you leverage it to grow your business?
Typically, public relations has been thought of as just a press release or information that goes out to the media; however it is shifting to include many relationship-building activities. Businesses need to understand the shift and be ready to embrace new ways of thinking in order to be successful. It’s also important that the relationships you build between your company and your publics (existing and potential customers) are mutually beneficial.
Think of marketing as the whole pie. It’s a complete plan that includes all of the activities that you do to promote your business and generate leads. It can include paid advertising, direct mail, home show participation, sponsorships and public relations. Think of public relations as just a slice of the marketing pie.
One of the most appealing things about public relations is that there is typically very little cost involved. Let’s take a look at how public relations applies to your roofing business and how to leverage it for success in maintaining customers and adding new ones.
Your first public is one you already have a relationship with - your existing or previous customers. The relationship exists because you have either installed, repaired and/or maintained their roof.
As is true in any relationship, though, there has to be interaction, dialog and activity in order for it to be sustained. Think what would happen to your relationship with a spouse or significant other if there was little interaction and poor communication. Chances are you would be single before too long!
So, what kind of interaction should you be having with existing customers? Remember that the relationship should be mutually beneficial. Your goal is to also get something in return. It’s no fun when all you do is give in a relationship and you don’t get anything back.
An easy way to get started with building a relationship is to implement a simple email newsletter to stay in touch with those existing customers. This is also going to overlap into the marketing pie and can support and enhance your marketing efforts.
Don’t get hung up on building your email list. If you have captured email addresses, you’re ahead of the game. If you have them but they are on paper, consider hiring an intern or a temp to enter the email addresses into a spreadsheet in order to be uploaded into your email program. If you have not been collecting them, it’s time to start!
There are software programs for emailing such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp or Emma that offer templates where the only thing you need to do is enter content. They offer a variety of pricing options, most commonly charging based on the number of contacts that you are emailing. Mail Chimp offers a free plan if your list has fewer than 2,000 subscribers. And it’s important to use one of these programs as they make sure that you are in compliance with anti-spam laws.
Wondering what to put in the email newsletter? You want to be sure that the content brings value to the customer and provides useful information. Content ideas include: profiling an employee, showcasing a unique project, offering tips on care and maintenance as the seasons change or sharing a favorite joke or cartoon (remember to keep it PG-rated).
The mutually beneficial part of the relationship comes in when you include a call to action in your newsletter. Consider offering a restaurant or gas gift card for every referral. Ask customers to submit a testimonial about the quality of your work and enter them into a drawing for a prize.
Be sure to highlight what additional services your company offers such as annual inspections and maintenance services, or siding and gutter work. I know of many situations where a customer called someone else to come in and perform work and when asked why they didn’t call their original contractor the answer so often is “I didn’t know they did that.” Consider offering a discount or coupon for repeat customers.
Let’s take a look at the second public – new and future customers. Here is where your strategy should turn to the Internet to begin building relationships through the use of blogs and social media and also to target the media outlets (newspaper and television reporters in particular) in your service areas. What’s nice about these avenues of relationship building is that they not only reach new customers, they also cross over into the first public we talked about – your existing customers.
This is where your relationship-building efforts are again going to overlap with and support your marketing efforts. Ultimately your goal is to generate leads and sharing content and building relationships online will help to support that goal.
If you are a mostly residential contractor, you will reach your public more easily on Facebook. Be sure you have a Facebook page for your business. Invite your friends to like the page and more importantly, share what your page posts on your own personal page. You’ll want to highlight the same kinds of things on social media that you highlight in your newsletter. Profile employees, highlight unique jobs, offer tips, welcome new hires to the team.
If you want to focus more on commercial roofing, then LinkedIn is your place online to build relationships. Your business needs to have a page but, more importantly, your sales team should all have professional profiles and become members of the groups on LinkedIn where your potential customers are hanging out, such as a group for building owners or facility managers.
In active groups, people will often ask questions looking to their peers to provide advice. If a facility manager asks how he or she should decide whether to replace or repair a roof, as a member of the group you can offer an answer with tips on how to make that decision. That’s a potential lead for your business that can be followed up on later. The more you interact and provide meaningful information, the more you are establishing yourself as an expert in the area of roofing. So, when other members of that group need roofing services you will be at the top of their mind on who they should call.
As for the newspaper and television outlets in the areas you serve, you want to be sure to reach out to them when you can offer information or tips that are useful for their readers or viewers. Most media outlets list their reporters’ email addresses on their website to make it easy to contact them with possible news stories. They are tasked with finding new stories every day and typically appreciate ideas and information being sent to them.
What could you send to a reporter? If there is a big storm headed your way, put together a checklist for home and building owners to follow to make sure their roof will properly protect their property. Reach out to the reporter through email and offer to share the information. When you are seen as the expert providing advice and information it lends credibility to your business and can drive business to you.
One of the most important things to remember with public #2 is that these are potential new customers who are learning about your business. One of the first things they will do is to visit your website. First impressions matter!! Be sure your website is up-to-date, relevant and informative. It’s also important to have a contact form where they can let you know what their needs are.
Strategic is an important word because all of the activities that I talked about need to be part of the bigger marketing pie. It’s really important to create a year-long marketing plan or at a minimum a marketing calendar in order to organize your communications and relationship-building activities.
For instance, if you know that in February your company will be participating in a home show, plan your social media posts around that with content relevant to customers that might be attending the show. Share an article on how to select a roofing contractor, post a link to information about the importance of only working with a licensed contractor (FRSA has much of this information already available on its website that can be easily repurposed).
A calendar helps to ensure that you stay on track and follow through with the activities that are a part of your public relations plan. Your public relations efforts should support and reinforce your marketing campaigns and the messaging being shared by your sales team. It’s important to remember that this is an ongoing process, not a one and done deal. It takes time to build strong relationships. Communications should be carried out over a period of time in order to build, grow and maintain relationships that are mutually beneficial for your customer and your business.
Karen L. Edwards has been a marketing professional for more than 20 years and has focused the past 12 years on marketing for the construction and roofing industry. She has worked at Carlisle Syntec, HJE Marketing, EagleView Technologies and is currently freelance writing for RoofersCoffeeShop.com. Edwards is co-chair of FRSA’s Public Relations & Marketing Committee and she most recently founded Casimir Group, LLC which focuses on providing marketing consulting to the roofing industry. Contact her at karen@casimirgroupllc.com.
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