A lot of business owners think that marketing is something that should only be done if you are looking to get more customers, but this idea is very wrong. Marketing is an ongoing business effort that your business needs to be doing whether you are not getting enough customers or you have a two month waiting list. The challenge, though, is not determining if you should be marketing, but rather what marketing you should be doing based on how busy you are.
If you’re too busy...
Consider raising your rates. Having too many clients sounds like a great problem to have, right? Sometimes having too much work is actually a bad problem. If you have a two month (or more) waiting list, for your business, then chances are, your prices are too low! We're not saying that you need to raise them to the point of not having a full schedule, but raise them to ensure that you are only taking on the right kind of clients.
Ask yourself, are you taking on the right clients? Take on the Right projects in your profitable area. We know lots of home service businesses who are busy doing jobs that are too far. If you are spending more time driving to job sites than at a job site, then chances are, you are losing money! Your marketing should be producing more demand than you can supply and by doing this, you will be able to take on only the best jobs to make sure you are as profitable as possible.
Relying on referrals is risky...
Referrals are great - it means that you’ve done great work, but it’s very risky to not have other marketing channels working for your business. Relying on one source of marketing in any way is a terrible idea - especially if it’s referrals. Referrals are not controllable, scalable, or in any way predictable. If your business is relying on referrals from another vendor, that is especially dangerous! A home builder I know had one main referral source. Then that guy closed his business… and the referrals dried up. Then what do you do? A strong marketing plan will have multiple different campaigns across multiple platforms and will be a lot less risky than just relying on referrals.
When economy runs south, people will still buy -- just differently.
Just because the economy takes a turn doesn't mean that business will dry up. Yes, you will have fewer people willing to buy, but if you have done a good job marketing yourself, the people that are willing to spend during a recession will choose you! People still do remodel projects and improvements because recessions hit everyone a little differently and you may even find a long term project or ideal client during a recession because you never gave up on your marketing.
Create more demand than you have supply; it’s better to be ahead than to catch up.
Your marketing should be creating more demand than you have supply. Of course - minimize your expenses to things that are only generating real, tangible, measurable results is key. This doesn't mean that you should be wasting money on marketing, but rather that you are doing enough marketing for you to turn down less-than-ideal clients.
Recruiting is a marketing activity.
So, what do you do when your marketing has generated so many good leads that you are booked out for two months and you are turning down bad leads. That's when it is time to recruit a new staff member! It may not seem like it, but recruiting is a marketing effort. Just like your clients, employees are looking for the best companies to work for and if you aren't marketing to job candidates, how will you ever grow your team? Make sure that you are getting found not only by the best clients, but also the best employees by having a strong marketing plan that never quits!