How To Give Your Home Improvement Business A Marketing Refresh
Does your home improvement business have a dated marketing plan? Or maybe you don’t have a plan at all? It’s time your team gets a marketing refresh that will help drive leads and grow revenue. We sat down with Doug Schatz, VP of Business Development at Socius Marketing to discuss how his team helps alleviate common marketing misconceptions and provides business owners with a clear path to growth.
Ingage: Can you share some background on Socius and how you got involved with the business?
Doug Schatz: Socius Marketing is a full-service marketing agency that has helped home improvement businesses dominate markets since 2006. We work with thousands of companies ranging from small businesses to those with hundreds of installers to help them represent their brand while also increasing their marketing ROI. What makes Socius different is that we’re focused on creating a unique branded message that helps their business grow to scale, we have extensive historical data on successful approaches, and we provide a timeline that works for each business owner.
This type of approach is what made me excited to join Socius after working in the digital marketing space for the home improvement industry for over 14 years. Rather than the standard agency approach that a lot of business owners have been scorned by, our team uses 16 years of experience and data to develop an approachable marketing strategy that sees results.
Ingage: How would someone get started with Socius, do they have to have digital marketing in place already?
Doug: Although a lot of contractors have attempted marketing in the past, they don’t actually need to have a marketing strategy to find success with our team. We have a breadth of data and proprietary methods to help them achieve their goals while also helping them understand how marketing works so it feels less like a black box to business owners.
It all starts when our team does a basic assessment of a company’s online presence. This is where we get to understand how they’re performing online and the gaps in . From here, we combine their current position with their goals and create a customized marketing strategy designed to help the business grow.
Ingage: You mentioned marketing can feel like a “black box” to some business owners, how do you help them better understand marketing and especially the need for digital marketing?
Doug: It’s so easy for business owners to feel overwhelmed by marketing or even frustrated based on past experiences with agencies who may have taken an owner’s money and run. But marketing is essential to ensuring success for your business long-term, especially as we head into a shaky economy. We work closely with each business owner to ensure they have a solid understanding of the marketing plan and know why we make the recommendations we do. Most importantly, we let the data do the talking.
For example, we know that 80% of consumers who search for a Home Improvement specialist online don’t have a specific company in mind. This creates fantastic opportunities for local businesses to develop an online presence so theirs is the first one a potential customer clicks on. We use a combination of historical data, proven methods and the company’s ICP (ideal customer profile) to determine the best platforms to use to diversify a company’s online presence and ensure that their message is streamlined throughout. This gives homeowners a better understanding of who the company is and makes them more likely to work with them.
Ingage: Switching gears, walk us through how you were introduced to Ingage and how our teams work together to help customers.
Doug: We initially started working with Ingage to build marketing-centric presentations for Ingage users. That evolved to become a partnership where Socius helps business owners generate leads at the top of the funnel and Ingage presentations help close deals at the bottom of the funnel. These lead gen strategies we’ve implemented have helped a number of companies see revenue increase by more than 30%! The best part is that because both of our products are flexible, we’ve seen these results for both large brands and small business owners who are looking to scale.
Ingage: Finally, with the New Year upon us, what do you see for the future of the home improvement industry as we head into 2023?
Doug: It’s no secret that the US economy is seeing some instability that will no doubt impact the home improvement industry. We’re likely going to see growth slow in 2023, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be business to be had. What it does mean is now is the time to secure your marketing strategy across the funnel and focus on high quality leads that will make up for the lower volume. Look at your marketing and tech stacks and ask yourself… “are they set up to drive leads where you need to?” Because at the end of the day, lead gen is not just about the bottom line, it’s about retaining employees. Your business needs to create consistent marketing that drives leads in which will keep employees happy which in turn, keeps them with you for the long-term.
About Socius Marketing
Socius Marketing was founded in 2006 and is based in Tampa, Florida. Our approach to digital marketing has always been to serve as a partner to our clients, first getting to know their business, their challenges, and working alongside them to develop a strategic marketing plan that will help them grow their business.