It’s no secret that we believe Facebook is a vital part of an online contractor marketing strategy for lead generation; but you need to know how to make it work effectively for your business or you coud be wasting your time.

If you don’t already have a Facebook page for your contractor marketing business, then go out and set one up with a complete and full profile. Then, use the follow 5 tips to begin to generate more contractor leads to boost and grow your business!

Post content that’s interesting and relevant (and be consistent!): Consumers are looking for information that interests them, so make them want to read from your Facebook page by posting newsworthy content with a consistent schedule they can count on.

Engage your audience: If you build it, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll come when we’re referencing social media sites such as Facebook. It’s important to engage your fan base and target audience by commenting on their posts, responding to comments on your wall, etc.

Remember to use keyword optimization: Use keywords within your Facebook business page profile, as well as in comments and posts, to help you get found within search engines. You also want to use local geographic modifiers, like your zip code, city, address, and so on within your profile content.

Utilize Facebook’s Business Help Section: There’s a ton of useful and straight forward information here to get the most out of Facebook for businesses, including information on setting up Facebook Ads, etc. to generate contractor leads.

Utilize images: Studies show that pictures and images are key to capture a consumer’s attention and engage them more than plain text.

Again, all contractor marketing campaigns should utilize Facebook to generate referral traffic and contractor leads. Use these tips to ensure you’re getting the most out of your Facebook experience.

Social media options to incorporate into a contractor marketing campaign seem to be endless and easier to understand and identify nowadays; but understanding their Return on Investment and contractor lead generation isn’t quite as easy to identify.

We often get questions from clients and leads focused on how to understand and measure Return on Investment when it comes to social media contractor marketing campaigns; understandable considering that until recently, there were few tools in place to help businesses with this quandary, and they’re still few and far between. This is what prompted me to write a recent post, Local Business – How Do You Measure ROI on Social Media?, to help businesses analyze their social media use, cost and returns (or lack there-of).

In addition to reading this post, you may also want to consider checking out the recent post on Social Media Examiner, 4 Ways to Measure Social Media With Free Tools. The post outlines the following 4 Free Tools to help you get to the bottom of Social Media ROI when it comes to contractor marketing social media campaigns and promotions you implement:

1. Event Tracking: Event tracking allows you to track actions visitors take which allows you to better understand visitor behavior.
2. Google Analytics: Google Analytics has some newer tools that are specific to helping business better understand social media as it relate to contractor lead generation by allowing you to identify social actions generating the most traffic.
3. Google Alerts: Google Alerts allows you to see other places on the web that picked up your social promotion and delivers the information straight to your inbox.
4. Google Analytics Alerts: You can get real-time alerts with Google Analytics Alerts, and they allow you to stay up to date with the success of your promotion.

For more information on these tools, including screen shots and setting up certain accounts to support these tools, read the post here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/measure-social-media-with-free-tools/.

Do you have additional tools or thoughts to share about capturing ROI as part of contractor marketing campaigns? Please share them below!

A large piece of the puzzle that helps businesses with their contractor marketing efforts to generate contractor leads is building great content online. Without great content, most businesses will lack in online visibility and lose leads to the competition. Creating an Editorial Calendar can help keep content posting on track and under control.

It’s true. To generate contractor leads online, you must have great content as part of your contractor marketing strategy. To help you organize and develop great content, it can be helpful to develop a simple Editorial Calendar. I’ve listed some simple tips below to help you get started today.

Use an Excel spreadsheet or simple form of documentation. An Editorial Calendar need not be complex. All you need is an Excel Spreadsheet, or even a calendar you can write on will work. Whatever works best and easiest for you. The example below is a simple Excel Spreadsheet.

Where will you post content? You want to decide where you will be posting your content, and then incorporate it into the calendar. For the example provided, we used general buckets, but it’s best to be as specific as possible with where you’ll post.

What posting schedule will you use? You then want to develop a consistent schedule for posting, and capture that in your Editorial Calendar. In this example, for simplicity sake, we only included a weekly posting schedule, but for blogs, etc., you may want to post more than one time a week. The important thing is to capture as much detail as possible about when and where you’ll post.

What topics will you write or post about? And now for the fun part. Fill in the calendar with the topics you plan on posting about for each venue. For some venues, you might not know the topic until that week if you’re waiting to see what’s “hot news” for the industry for a particular day or week. In other instances, you want to get ahead of the curve and pre-plan your topics.

Continually update the calendar. Your Editorial Calendar shouldn’t be a static document. It’s a working document that you’ll want to continually update with ideas, posts, etc. It’s also a great resource to look back on so you can repurpose content if you’re in a pinch. You’ll notice in the example that the same topics are used for more than one venue in different weeks. This is an example of repurposing content, and can be great if you’re having difficulty coming up with new ideas.

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll focus on tips to help you generate SEO boosting content, where to post, and how to create great content to keep your contractor leads coming back for more!

As home contractors, we’re hoping our customers are happy with how we’re doing when it comes to contractor marketing and our business in general. But will you really know if contractor leads and customers are happy and what they think about your business if you don’t ask???

Our customers and contractor leads hold the key to generating more business, so it’s important to really understand what they think and how they view your business. But you won’t know unless you ask…

Is there anything you wish we did better or offered that we don’t currently do or offer? Maybe there are some common services your customers are looking for that you could easily add to your contractor marketing arsenal. Find out what they are by asking.

What do you like or love about our business? To get really clear on why it is customers love your business, ask them for specifics. Is it pricing, customer service, the type of products and services, etc.?

Is there anyone you can think of that might benefit from our services or products? We’ve said it before, but one great way to get referrals is to simply ASK for them! Your customers and contractor leads likely know at least one individual or business that could benefit from your products or services.

Consumers are busy, so they often don’t think or have time to share this information without you asking for it. But once you ask, they’re happy to share. So ask the right questions to get the right answers to help you successfully build and grow your contractor marketing business!

When it comes to engaging in social media, every business should be doing it as part of their contractor marketing strategy. At the same time, many don’t know where to start or have the time to make it happen. Outsourcing some or all of your social media marketing activities to generate contractor leads might make sense…

Per the 2012 Social Media Marketing Report, only 30% of businesses are outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing, which is only a slight increase from the 28% reported in 2011. At the same time, this is up by 128% compared to the 14% reported two years ago in early 2010.

Given that social media can be a very powerful marketing tool to generate contractor leads, we encourage all businesses to actively engage in the platforms that fit into their overall contractor marketing strategy. And because social media engagement can be very “personal” and business specific, it’s important that a company engages directly within social media networks.

At the same time, time and knowledge can be a hindrance for businesses to make the most out of social media for their business. In these instances, because social media engagement is so important, businesses should consider outsourcing at least some elements of social media.

When might it best for you to outsource social media activities as part of your contractor marketing strategy?

You have the money, but don’t have time. If you’re strapped for time, and many business owners are, then paying a knowledgeable Internet marketing firm or consultant who specializes in social media to help you makes sense, but be sure you do your due diligence before you choose just any business to help you. For helpful tips in hiring a reputable Internet marketing firm, read 3 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Hire an Internet Marketing Company.

You have someone who completely understands your business and your culture’s “personality”. The perfect scenario would be to outsource to a business or individual that has a background in your industry, and even better, with your organization, This will make it easier for someone to truly represent your “voice” via social media. At the same time, a good social media marketer will be able to ask you the right questions and do their own due diligence to ensure your brand image and “voice” shines through.

You’re just getting started and you find yourself clueless. The Internet is a powerful marketing tool… if you know how to use it. Hiring an expert who can help you get started and provide guidance to help you effectively engage in social media to generate more contractor leads for your business is smart business.

You might also choose to simply outsource certain aspects of social media, such as social media analytics, design, and content creation. But for a business to get the most out of social media, they should also directly participate to optimize contractor lead generation and online visibility.

For more helpful information and statics, check out this post by HubSpot.

Social media is a valuable tool for contractor marketing, but it’s important to understand which social media platforms work best to generate contractor leads. A recent report shows that LinkedIn is the place to be to make this happen.

In a HubSpot report released in January, they reported that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook and Twitter. The study of over 5000 businesses showed that “LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 3 times higher (277%) than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%).”

This isn’t totally surprising given that most people join LinkedIn to promote their business and connect with other professionals, so there’s a common ground and people anticipate you’ll reach out to them in an attempt to network and generate contractor leads. Twitter and Facebook, on the other hand, tend to add more value in way of branding and communicating with consumers.

So how can you generate more contractor marketing leads via LinkedIn?

Fully complete your profile. As with Facebook pages for business, or any social media page, you want your profile to be complete (all sections) and professional on LinkedIn.

Connect with others. Start networking and asking for (and offering) recommendations on your LinkedIn page.

Optimize your profile. Use local keywords and other relevant keywords to help you get found on LinkedIn, as with any social media profile you set up for contractor marketing.

Using Twitter and Facebook are still important for contractor marketing, but you want to make sure you’re fully utilizing LinkedIn to generate and convert contractor marketing leads if you aren’t already.

Are you on LinkedIn? What results have you experienced??

In a recent post, 10 Signs Your Marketing is Totally Outdated, The Young Entrepreneur Council asked 10 successful young entrepreneurs to name one business development or marketing strategy that companies are still using, but that is annoying, irrelevant, or simply out of date. It’s good insight into what to do, and not to do, to effectively target leads of the younger generations, and in general, for your contractor marketing business.

With modern technology, there are so many forms of communication to allow business owners to effectively promote their contractor marketing businesses; and we find that sometimes we forget that the members of Generation Y are now part of the consumer audience who can make their own buying decisions.

With that being said, it’s important to use current modes of marketing to appeal to these contractor leads. At the same time, the majority of the consumer market is on the same page and prefers current modes of marketing to ‘outdated’ ones, as well.

Below I’ve summarized some of the top responses from the Young Entrepreneur Council to outdated forms of marketing and provided my thoughts, as well.

Don’t Cold Call. With so many ‘warm’ marketing available to us today, there’s no need for cold calling. In addition, referrals are huge for a contractor marketing business, so a referral generating program should be implemented vs. a cold calling one.

Quality over Quantity Matters. If you’re always focused on the sell, especially hard sells, you’ll come across as fake and ‘salsey’, which are both turn offs for potential consumers. In addition, contractor leads know when you’re reading from a script, so be authentic and yourself instead of insulting a lead by reading a script.

Make it about the Consumer, Not You. People know when you’re trying to ‘sell’ them on something by making it all about you, your business, and the ‘hype’ around it. The fact is, people want to know what you can provide to them, not what you can promote to them. You need to make it about the consumer if you want to make the sell.

You Need to Engage in Social Media for It to Be Effective. I have said this in several posts, and we explain to our contractor marketing clients on a consistent basis, that you need to engage in social media for it to truly be effective to generate contractor leads.

Don’t Spam. This goes without saying, though some contractor marketing businesses still do it. Contractor leads are going to ignore anything that remotely looks like spam that comes their way.

In the end, all contractor marketing businesses should make it a priority to implement current and effective forms of marketing, and use an authentic, proactive, and consumer focused approach.

When generating business, you work hard to generate as many contractor leads as possible with the hopes of converting them to paying customers. By getting clear on who’s wasting your time, you can eliminate them from your lead list and hone in on the contractor leads that are more likely to convert.

If you own a contractor marketing company, then you understand that your time is valuable, and you also understand that there are a lot of leads out there who can really waste your time. There are those who are ‘simply looking around’ or those who are ‘looking for the best price’; or maybe you’ve encountered those who take forever to make a final decision (which often ends up being a ‘no’) while nit-picking every step of the way with questions and the need for clarity about everything you discuss.

Sound familiar?

Yes, we’ve all been there. But, there are some things to watch out for so you can recognize these time wasters from the start and quickly move on from them. By doing so, you can then spend your time on those contractor leads who are actually worth your time to close the deal.
In the post, Watch Out for Time Wasting Prospects, they share the following questions you can consider asking prospects when you first come in contact with them:

-What is the nature of your project or problem?
-How soon do you need to have something done about it?
-Are you speaking with other professionals about helping you with this?
-Do you have a budget in mind?
-What information will you need to make a decision?

You may need to tailor these questions based on the your specific business, but they’re a great place to start to get you thinking about the types of question you could ask to get clear on what a contractor lead is looking for up front. This will allow you to get some insight into whether or not they’re serious about using your services or products, or if they fall into one of the categories mentioned in the first paragraph, at which point you can kindly say ‘thanks, but no thanks’.

Lead nurturing is a great tactic to help convert today’s contractor leads into tomorrow’s (or next year’s) conversions.

Everyone knows new leads don’t happen overnight. And we hear frequently—and understand—how tough it can be to be patient when trying to generate new contractor leads for any business. When all is said and done, however, the process that seemed to take forever finally pays off when you gain a new lead that then turns into several.

At the same time, you may get a new contractor lead today that doesn’t convert today, or tomorrow, or next week for that matter. However, that doesn’t mean the lead isn’t interested in your business; it just might mean they’re not interested today. This is why lead nurturing is an important component of the lead generating process.

You Need Info at the First Point of Contact so You Can Continue to Nurture Leads

When you get a new contractor leads, it’s important for any company to gain as much information as possible about a lead that they can, so be sure that your call-to-action requires inputting at least an email address. This then allows you to follow-up and ‘nurture’ the lead in the future. Without contact information (name, email, phone number, etc.), it’s impossible to follow-up.

In addition, social networks make it easier to follow-up with leads because you have access to their profile… but a word of caution as you don’t want to overdo it or annoy anyone on social networking sites because they can easily eliminate you from their network, so keep this in mind.

Examples of Lead Nurturing

Unlike email blasts, lead nurturing is a way to keep in touch with potential leads without being a nuisance. When a potential lead makes an effort to contact your company, lead nurturing is a great way to respond.

There are several ways you can ‘nurture’ contractor leads, including:

• Responding immediately to a lead when they access your site, download content, etc.

• Creating a more personal touch (name, location, etc.) to communications helping leads feel more valued and ‘exclusive’

• Reaching out to contractor leads on a regular, follow-up basis to keep them ‘warm’ (without overdoing it) within the first 3 months.

• Reaching out to past contractors leads who didn’t convert 6 to 12 months down the road to see if there’s any interest at that time.

• Reaching out to past consumers to remind them that you’re still in business on a regular basis (every 1 to 2 months or so).

• Using an automated system to follow-up with leads so no lead ‘falls through the cracks’.

Studies have shown that those visiting a site are only doing research the first go round. It’s then your job to convince them to actually purchase a product or service. As stated before, gaining a lead doesn’t always happen overnight, and lead nurturing is a proven tactic to help companies convert contractor leads, so give some of the examples above a try for your business and let us know how it goes!

Consider creating a partnership blog to develop a referral generating machine. It could be a perfect tool to boost contractor leads for your business.

If you don’t have a blog for your contractor marketing or local business, then you should begin working on one as of yesterday. A blog is a great way to entice your target audience with newsworthy information and content to keep them coming back for more and to drive traffic to your website for contractor lead conversions.

At the same time, a blog can be a great way to generate referrals for your business by creating a multi-business blog by building a team of experts that complement each other to support your target market. For example, if you’re a roofing contractor, then you might consider partnering with a local home builder, Realtor, home store, landscape business, and so on. All of these providers would support your target market and could provide referrals back to you, as well.

To create a referral-generating blog:

1. Identify the team of individuals (referral partnerships) who will support and post to the blog.
2. Identify the blog platform you’ll use (WordPress, Blogger, etc.) and create the blog.
3. Create an Editorial Calendar to support when and what topics will be posted by each blogger.
4. Begin posting!

You may also want to consider setting up a regular (maybe monthly) meeting for all who support the blog to ensure all’s on the same page, discuss new strategies, etc.

In the end, you want all who are a part of the group to actively participate in the blog by providing newsworthy and relevant content. It’s the only way to work collaboratively together to generate contractor leads for each other to keep the relationship moving forward as a mutually beneficial one.