How to Market Your Company More Efficiently

By Heidi J. Ellsworth. 

Learn from industry professionals about ways to effectively utilize old and new marketing tactics. 

Recently I was honored to be part of a panel on marketing at the Roofing Contractors Association of Washington (RCAW) tradeshow.  It was a powerhouse of marketing professionals in roofing.  I joined Michelle Miller of Creativate, Sarah Allen of Ruby and Megan Ellsworth of RoofersCoffeeShop® to talk about how roofing companies can more efficiently market in this digital age.    

The panel talked about preparing your current lead acquisition and sales processes for any new marketing you may do along with what you should be paying for and new marketing initiatives that should be considered in 2023.  We also focused on the importance of brand reputation in the age of social media and how sometimes old marketing is now new.  

Here is a synopsis of each of our focus areas.  Hopefully some of this will ring true for your current marketing. 

Is your marketing ready for the right follow through? 

Too often companies get excited about new marketing, but they do not have the right foundation in place.  Without the right follow-through for leads and reviews, you can be in more trouble long-term than not having leads.  First, be sure that your digital presence is strong.  Is your website up to par with current best practices?  This means having forms that customers can fill out for easy buying practices.  Your website should not just have forms but good educational and informative information that helps owners make good decisions around their roofing purchases. 

Digitally this also applies to social media.  You need to first have a social media presence.  If you are residential, Facebook and Instagram are good platforms.  For commercial roofing, be looking at LinkedIn and Twitter.  Be sure that you are monitoring your social media for direct messages (DMs) that may be inquiring about your services while also monitoring the comments.  It is important for sales, brand and your reputation.  Sometimes social media overall does not seem natural, but it is one of the strongest sales lead acquisition tools today. 

2023 is not all about digital.  You have to look at all your incoming channels where you may receive leads and one of the biggest is still the phone.  Yep, people pick up the phone to get information, make appointments and build relationships.  If your phones are not being answered the potential customer simply moves on.  Sarah Allen with Ruby was great in pointing out how important it is to not only answer the phone but be able to respond quickly to requests and move the sales process along efficiently.  If you do not have this in place you will lose the customers before you have a chance to even talk to them. 

And it may seem obvious, but do you have a sales team in place that can handle an increase in leads.  There is nothing worse than not being able to follow through with inquiries.  Again, there are a lot of roofing companies and if you cannot move quickly then it is better to wait to start marketing until you can. 

What should you be paying for? 

There is a never-ending list of marketing costs but are all of them necessary.  The panel talked about priorities for marketing and emphasized the need for a strong foundation.  Michelle Miller of Creativate, a marketing agency that caters to the roofing industry, noted that websites are still the most important foundation for any business.  It is critical to not just have a website but have one that makes it easy to use with strong call to action forms that help consumers move easily through the buying process. 

She emphasized the need to have strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that is ongoing not just when you first build the website.  By supporting ongoing content development including blogs and project profiles along with evaluating the relevance of overall content, it then makes sense to look into additional marketing to drive consumers to your website. 

New marketing initiatives to adopt in 2023 

One of the most discussed new initiatives during the panel was the use of multimedia including podcasts, video and live social media.  Megan Ellsworth, the multimedia manager for RoofersCoffeeShop, talked about the evolution of podcasts and how roofing companies can participate in the podcast medium. The panel agreed that whether contractors seek out podcast opportunities with companies like RoofersCoffeeShop or develop their own podcast series, it is a marketing tool that is only going to grow. 

Social media was also discussed actively during the presentation with the panel offering ideas on how companies can decide which social media to use and how to make it happen.  Looking inside of your own company for social media leadership was an important topic when working on, creating or improving social media channels.  Often there are people within companies right now who would like to be involved with social media but have never had a chance.  It is a great way to start. 

This led to the importance of brand reputation.  With marketing tools like podcasting and social media continuing to trend, understanding how to position your company’s brand is essential.  Trends show that cause marketing and community involvement are both critical to growing strong brand reputation.  Reviews are also very important.  It is essential that companies work through brand reputation and reviews with a high level of authenticity and honesty. 

Sometimes old is new 

The last part of the presentation was about looking at old marketing ideas that are still relevant and gaining some momentum.  The key to gaining the attention of future consumers or reminding current customers about your business is to be seen in many places.  Direct mailers, online directories, community events were all noted by panelists as marketing tools that when used with creativity and consistency are powerful.  Knowing what is currently working for your marketing and then adding new ideas can create a marketing program that fits your brand and culture today and tomorrow. 

Watch the RCAW presentation here.