2+2=5: Marketing Beyond Digital
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What's up, lemonheads? Welcome to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal and today I'm going to talk to you a little bit about two or three conversations two or three conversations that I have had with digital contractors lately. I can't wait to talk to you about it. It's really how I've always felt and I've wanted to share it, and I share it a little bit here and there, but I'm going to tell you today about how two plus two can really equal five. Let's sip some lemonade. All right, guys, welcome back. So hear me out with this right.
Speaker 1:0:38
Most people, most contractors, especially when I ask them like hey, tell me about your marketing strategy, you know what they tell me. Well, my digital vendor is X. Oh, my website guy, my SEO guy, my paid ads guy. Our natural instinct is to lean directly back into our digital side. And, guys, that is such an important piece but is not the whole. So today I called this episode two plus two equals five, because really there is power in looking at marketing holistically. There's power in understanding that there is the impact that your brand can have on every other pieces of your marketing's performance. Once you hit that, once you understand that and value that, it's game changer, game over for your competition. That's how you're going to win. So today I thought I would just literally talk through why it is the combination of all of those things working together in tandem that really set a company apart from their competition and help your new customer acquisition cost drastically go down. So you guys know, emily and I are super passionate about branding. We want companies to have a solid brand.
Speaker 1:1:52
So I'm at a show, I'm walking the aisle headed to my booth, this guy stops me and he's like hey, crystal, I know you, we're Facebook friends. So, side note, y'all ever lived that life where you're like I watched your kids grow up, but you really don't know them in real life, like you've never met them personally or ever. It's a very professional relationship. So he's like, oh, we're, we're, we're Facebook friends. And so I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, oh, your kids play golf, so yeah, so we kind of made some chitat for a minute. But then he's like hey, I want to talk to you a little bit. Like I am about to lose my mind with my clients and this is a digital provider that just won't brand their company. Brands are terrible. And I'm like, oh listen, lemon Seed has literally placed a lot of focus on helping companies build a better brand. I talk about it till I'm blue in the face about how many contractors are missing the boat.
Speaker 1:2:46
So he goes on to tell me the story of this contractor. That was a very well-established, multi, multi, multi-generation company we're talking like 50 more plus years old and they rebranded their company, but without really a strategic plan. Well then, people, there was brand confusion. People didn't know their digital stuff was all over the place. And he was telling me. He said, man, I was so proud of them for rebranding, but there still wasn't a strategy. But he's like, I'm starting to tell people that I can't work with them unless their brand is solid.
Speaker 1:3:20
And I was like, oh my gosh, you're preaching to the choir, right. Like, oh my gosh, you're preaching to the choir, right. Like, oh my gosh, this is what I say, this is what I feel. But I was like, man, you are preaching. Listen, I love it. I'm here for it because I don't care what anyone tells you.
Speaker 1:3:39
You can have an ugly logo. So let me say this this hurts my heart to say it, but at the end of the day, a logo is a logo. So let me say this. This hurts my heart to say it, but at the end of the day, a logo is a logo. A brand is a lot more than just that logo. Now, listen, don't get it twisted. I want to help many of you fix your logos.
Speaker 1:3:55
Your logos are terrible. We can't read them. They're confusing. Y'all are using last names that are hard to read, hard to pronounce, definitely no SEO value. You're called your last name heating and air plumbing, whatever. So we got a lot of generic life. Listen, most people I meet need to freshen up their brand. Okay, but at the end of the day, your brand is this, this how you make people feel, what their experience is with you, what how your people look as far as like cleanliness and professionalism, what your vans look like, what you say, your follow up procedures all of those things make up the brand. That's who you are. But a lot of companies have good things.
Speaker 1:4:34
But his point in talking to me today was and he's a digital provider he's like man, I now care so much that they have a solid brand, because here's what's going to happen Contractors, this is what you do. I'm going to step on your toes, but this is what you do. You are like okay, I'm going to pay this digital vendor $5,000 a month. They're going to do SEO, paid ads, host my website and keep everything up to date, and I'm going to be a millionaire. And so you're like I'm going to kill it. I'm going to grow my company 50% year over year. I'm going to kill it with leads, with that one $5,000 investment with that digital company.
Speaker 1:5:10
And let me tell y'all something Y'all are setting yourself and that digital vendor up for failure I'm sorry, I know that sounds terrible and even good digital vendors and there's a ton of good digital vendors y'all they still cannot be as successful as they could have been with a solid brand. Also, like, if that is it, all you're doing is a digital tactic. You're like out there, all of your eggs are in one basket. So if search tanks, if the Google algorithm tanks I mean, listen, google changes algorithms like hookers change panties. Listen, there's just a lot going on, right, a lot of changing and so. But listen, some of y'all are like that's okay, that's all I care about.
Speaker 1:5:57
Let me put all of my trust in Google and being in a digital platform and my website. That's all I need in this world, the Lord and digital marketing and what happens is we get into seasonality issues, to where there's no demand, and so people aren't looking for the service. So, even if your digital provider is killing it, like killing it with your performance, if no one is looking for you, you aren't looking for, not necessarily you. I'm sorry. If no one is looking for your service ac repair near me and things like that it is your ppc campaign, not. It can't perform. There's nothing asking it to perform, right. So like, well, I've got all this money in PPC, sir, it's 72 degrees. No, everybody's living their best life, but heating and air conditioning owners, right. So at the end of the day, like there has to be lots of things happening to really make a holistic approach. So what my point is there is you're working with your digital provider and you're putting budget in and you're doing all the things that you think you should do and it's not working, and you're mad at the digital provider when you have to look at the full picture of what is going on. That's not performing. So there is a different strategy and expectations of success with an SEO strategy. There are different performance metrics and expectations on PPC.
Speaker 1:7:29
Then there are Google local service ads. Then there are. So I had a contractor the other day say to me well, I'm going to cut GLSA, it's not working. So I'm like well, that's an odd statement, because Google local service ads are like transactional, so normally for the most part you get charged for a lead when a lead books. Now listen, we can all get down in the weeds. Well, they charged me for this lead and it wasn't a valid lead, all that jazz. But for the most part, directionally, I would put as much money as Google wanted to me to put in Google local service bucket because it only spins as I get a lead. Versus PPC is like putting a bunch of bird feeders out and then hopefully a bird will pick you right. So, like there's, it's very different. You're paying for all the feed and the bird feeders, but only one or two might work. Versus Google local service ads are pretty directional. You're only charged when a lead is a viable lead.
Speaker 1:8:32
And then geo-targeting is another one. Geo-fencing is one that my clients get confused on a lot. Geo-fencing, the only thing that made someone ready to receive that ad where they see your ad in a geofencing campaign is that they were doing something right. They lived in the right area, they visited the right thing. They drove through somewhere. There's not always intent behind it, so you may be serving up ads to people that don't need your services. They were just in the right place or lived in the right town or in the right neighborhood, and so those are awareness campaigns.
Speaker 1:9:06
So expectations are so important. And so he's right when he says, man, all of the pressure is on the digital provider and it should be when we've got fair playing ground, right? So hey, in the middle of July it's 110 degrees outside in the middle of Texas and it's dry and everybody's hot, and you have no leads and you're spending $5,000 a month. We need to talk. Something's not right, because we know search volume is there, but in that same Texas town in the middle of March, when it is 70 degrees outside, ain't nobody even in their house to know if their air is working. It's beautiful weather for the four days that East Texas gets beautiful weather and we're outside Okay, odds are we're outside just smelling clean, soft air, because we're used to burning our eyeballs out if we're out there too long, right? So at the end of the day, you really have to understand and have clear expectations.
Speaker 1:10:05
But what I loved about what this vendor said to me was I am really doing this deep dive into who. I want to do a brand analysis Because if their brand is not there, I do not need to work with them. They are going to be. I'm set up for failure and they're not going to have the expectations that they want. And it just opened my eyes because let me tell you something, just a little secret here I am so passionate to help contractors that I will take you on as a client when I don't even need to because you're not ready. Whatever's happening is whatever's going on in your business is not indicative of really needing lemon seed services. But I always feel like I can find a way to help.
Speaker 1:10:50
But let me tell you what I have determined People that want to be successful, that are entrepreneurially driven and are fiscally focusing on things that they need to focus on, they will be successful. And then they will get to a revenue point that lemon seed makes sense. But y'all really the lowest level contractors that are doing lower revenues they will bicker over a $50 charge. And then I have larger clients who are much more. They can see, they can see the vision, so they just trust the process, and this you know. But my smaller contractors, man, they just they're tighter with their money and so everything is a fight and I'm just like man, you don't trust the process, like we need to trust the process.
Speaker 1:11:43
So I really wanted to get into this today and I wanted to use that story of that vendor telling me you know, I'm so frustrated, I don't even wanna work with people that don't have a good brand. I want that to lead us into the fact that when we are talking about marketing strategy so Lemon Seed is a marketing strategy company and we do rebrands and we do branding because it's all a part of a strategy, right? And when we take all these pieces of marketing, all these different tactics, and we partner with them with a solid, identifiable, unique again, solid brand, that is when they exponentially compound on each other. And that's how I get that. Two plus two equals five.
Speaker 1:12:30
So if you're just going to do bits and pieces of things or you're just going to throw wet noodles at the wall to see what sticks, you're really going to have a hard time building out some true traction. So one of two things is going to happen You're going to feel like you live on a hamster wheel because you're living in the life of home advisor and Angie list and thumbtack list and I'm paying all this money out and I just cause I can't keep up. And I've got a digital provider and I'm doing SEO and I'm doing PPC and I'm doing everything I know to do and I'm still not winning. And you're not winning because you're out of control in the sense of expectations are, expectations are not aligned. So we have to start at where the basics is, and a lot of you are just scared to death to think about your brand.
Speaker 1:13:16
Well, what do I do? Or we have this unrealistic value of who we think we are. So this is a hurtful thing to say, but it's very truthful. You are not as important or as recognizable as a company as you think you are. So people say I dominate my market and I'm like sir, I have a competitor one market over who's doing more in this zip code than you are, and this is not even their home base. But the contractor thinks man, who doesn't know what we do, and I'm like a lot of people. So for you to sit back and think, man, I don't need to do branding, it's word of mouth for me. That's it for me. Word of mouth keeps me busy. Well, you know what? All it's going to take is one good competitor to knock you on your booty and you're going to be like what happened to my business. Well, we rolled over the top of you through good marketing strategy.
Speaker 1:14:08
Hvac is not exempt from solid marketing strategies that build companies from ground zero all the way up, and you don't. There's no shortcuts, there's no silver bullets, there's no quick wins that perpetuate your business to being a multimillionaire. What there are is solid people that keep punching that marketing strategy in the face every single day. So they've got a solid brand, they have a strategy that has digital components and branding components and cultivating their existing database, and it's all of those pistons pumping together that makes a solid engine roar. And again, guys, we just get so caught up in literally.
Speaker 1:14:53
I listened to a call the other day and it was a contractor and all they wanted to talk about was this race that they were sponsoring, and this race that they were sponsoring took up so much of their conversation with their consultant and then, but at the end of the day, I was like this client doesn't even have an SEO strategy, but we spent this whole time with these valuable marketers. He had the time, the focus of marketing people that do it for a living, and we spent all that time on a yard sign design and I'm just like man. We're off right. Our thought process is off. We have to turn around and realize that good things start with a solid foundation. I mean, think about anything, everything that you've ever done. It's always harder to build the foundation when you're a $10 million company and you're a hot mess Right now. If you're less than $5 million and you need a refresh, the time to do that on your brand is not at $10 million. That is a bigger undertaking. We have a lot bigger of a battle, a blaze, to fight.
Speaker 1:15:59
So what my encouragement here is is understanding that when you do a consistent process of okay, 50% of my marketing budget is going to go to digital and I want a comprehensive digital strategy meaning. I want an meaning. I want a good website that looks nice, it's easy to navigate, it asks for the business and I want it to be SEO, loaded with everything and all the search terms that I can afford to buy. I want it to be navigatable. I want it to list my membership club. I need there to be a chat. I need people to be able to click to call. I need people to be able to schedule online. I want a solid GLSA approach. Google local service ads I want to turn them on. I want to be intentional, leaving a solid budget in there. I mean, all of that is your digital performance. Then that other half of your budget.
Speaker 1:16:45
What can we do in your market to let people experience your logo and experience your company all the time? And so, if what you do is well, I did a billboard campaign for you know, 45 minutes basically, you know, or I did it for 30 days and I got no calls. It was terrible, it did not work. Well, hello, that's not even the right expectations of a billboard. A billboard's expectations are. You know, the performance of a billboard is measured a couple of different ways, but one of those ways is you just got to understand that it's not very measurable, it's not easily measurable. So that's number one. But second of all, what we should do is, after we have ran a consistent strategy where we're branding the company and it's in my line of sight as a consumer for days, and then weeks and then months, all of a sudden it becomes. I'm exposed to your logo and your brand and what you do. All that's doing is just penetrating my environment, where I see your company all the time. So when I have a need, you want me to think of you. That's why mascots are so easy to buy into, because they're memorable things.
Speaker 1:17:57
So a billboard and radio and TV. The reason that they are successful is because it's just exposure. You're basically infiltrating your community's headspace with who you are. But then your website side the majority of those tactics are for when people are looking for the service. So mass media, very much top of the marketing funnel. People aren't into consideration, they're not even considering it, they don't need it. It's just a part of exposure. And then you've got calls to action where, when people are ready, they've made some decisions and they're made. They've made some decisions and they're ready to move forward. So then we're going to give a reason for them to call us right, a reason to use us. And then once they are our customer and y'all have paid $100, $300, $500 for that lead, why are we not remarketing to them very consistently?
Speaker 1:18:51
All of these things are compounded on each other. So when your brand is good, it makes your digital perform better. When your digital performs better, and then you know digital performs better, which gets you higher revenue, which gives you better money to work with, and then your direct mail is going to work better. And then you layer on social media, where you're doing videos, and you're doing graphics and offers and tips and tricks and funny videos. That's building your brand, y'all. It's literally. It just compounds on top of each other, on top, layer after layer.
Speaker 1:19:24
It's like the most when I was in fifth grade, and we'll tell a little story. When I was in fifth grade, at the elementary school that I went to, we had the Olympics, is what it was called. At the elementary school that I went to, we had the Olympics, is what it was called like the Olympics, and every grade participated and then every class inside of that grade was a different country. Well, one year we my class, we tasted all the foods and you know what we got to try and y'all, I've never been more excited to try something in my life. We got to try baklava, which, again, I'm from little old Poe, dunkeys, texas.
Speaker 1:19:54
Okay, call me what you want to, but it was a baklava, and I was so excited as a fifth grader because it sounded so cool. Well, you know what it was, it felt like it was millions of these tiny layers. But man, when you've been into that thing, it was gooey and honey and caramely and it was, was so good. And that is literally every time I think about layering things. That's what I think about that little fifth grade girl eating that baklava. And I wasn't even. I was Japan, okay, my class was Japan, but that class had baklava and it was delicious. But it was again. It was all these little layers that independently was like phyllo dough or whatever. But when it was all together and it had some pecans, I think, maybe and just again, it was gooey and good and it was delicious. But as a whole, that is how marketing works. When you layer everything on together is when two plus two equals five. Together it is greater than they can operate independently. And so if I could give contractors any thoughts, any opinions, it would be to like take a big step back from what you're doing for marketing and start at the basics. What foundationally does my marketing, my brand, look like? And then what have I layered on as soon as I could afford to do? What have I layered on to really make this a successful thing? So I encourage you today to think about your marketing as a whole, and how can we start layering for you?
Speaker 1:21:27
So many of you know that this podcast is brought to you by Lemon Seed Marketing and we are a full-service marketing company that focuses on strategy and branding for the trades. We come from the trades, we know the trades, we live the trades every single day, and so this podcast is an outlet for us to be able to share that. So thank you for listening to another episode. If you love what you heard, please go, leave us a review. We may even give you a shout out on our next podcast. And follow us on our social media channels and listen. If you're not getting our newsletter, you need to check it out now. We are doing tons of cool webinars, tons of cool stuff. We've released some new products. You're not going to want to miss a really big announcement coming from us in the next couple of days and months to come. So thank you so much, everybody. Have a good day. Thanks for sipping lemonade with me. We'll talk soon.
