Staying competitive is extremely necessary for siding companies to experience sustained success. One of the most efficient (and necessary) ways to stay competitive in today’s home building and home renovation market is to integrate digital marketing strategies into everyday business processes. By using tech-based tools, siding companies can simplify their marketing tasks for a much smoother experience — for both employees and customers.
Digital marketing doesn’t have to be a complex realm for siding companies. Take a look at these three distinct ways of using digital marketing to propel and streamline business efforts:
1. Omnichannel Marketing
Whether scrolling through product galleries and commenting on social media from a mobile device, messaging local contractors by email, or texting a local siding representative for more information, customers are constantly turning to the fastest and easiest ways of getting tasks done. Naturally, this means that customers are using a combination of tools to communicate with contractors. This is where omnichannel marketing can help siding companies keep everything straight.
In essence, omnichannel marketing is a way of sorting all communication and contact with a single client across several channels. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools group communications by client, so that it’s much easier to keep track of exchanges and reference past messages without mixing up projects or missing details that have already been discussed. This simplifies tasks for contractors while also providing a smooth and easy way for customers to interact with reps from the siding company. For example, a customer may send a text, leave a voicemail, or comment on a social media post without their message getting lost in the crowd — it’s all linked right there in the customer’s file.
Research shows that omnichannel marketing works. In fact, companies that use this streamlined communication strategy have an 89 percent customer retention rate, compared to the standard 33 percent retention rate of those who don’t use omnichannel marketing. All in all, omnichannel marketing makes doing business easier for the customer and for the siding company, so it’s a win-win.
2. Chatbots
Fast communication and instant results — these are some of the hard truths about what customers expect in today’s digital age. In fact, over half of all potential customers expect a response within 10 minutes of reaching out to a company for more information.
However, the truth of the matter is that many siding companies find it difficult to have someone always free to respond to questions and calls. For most businesses, this requires hiring someone to sit around full-time to be on-call for questions from potential customers, which is not always practical for siding companies, who typically have workers out visiting job sites, picking up siding materials, and working on installs.
The solution? Chatbots. In addition to being much more affordable than hiring additional employees to respond to live chats, chatbots can help reduce the wait time for customers who are seeking quick, simple answers to their questions online. A shorter wait time often means a more satisfied customer, which boosts company credibility and the potential to grow the customer base.
In addition, there’s another huge advantage to using chatbots to interact with potential customers on your website. While engaging in online chats, chatbots gather important data from potential clients, which can then be used to provide more tailored siding services and better service. For example, a customer may continuously reference ‘cost’ in their thread with a chatbot with questions like, What’s the cheapest siding material you offer? or Do you have any sales on siding? Or Is fiber cement siding expensive? — these questions clearly show that the customer is concerned about pricing, so it may be smart for a sales rep to take note of this and prioritize cost savings in their sales pitch to the client.
3. Accommodate Customers with Voice Search
Finally, it can be extremely beneficial for siding companies to stay ahead of the curve by anticipating the ways in which customers find local contractors and businesses. Studies show that 58% of people have used a voice search function to find information about local businesses.
For many individuals, using a voice search feature is much easier and more accessible than searching online with a traditional input-based search. Voice search accommodates multi-tasking, making it easy for customers to search siding contractors on the go, while driving, or simply when they don’t feel like typing out search words by hand. This feature is a fast and easy solution for customers to find reputable siding companies online, so the better equipped your company is to show up in the results, the more likely you are to attract the attention of new customers.
Optimizing an online presence by using keywords used in voice searches can help siding companies show up on voice search results. Customers may use a voice search feature on their phone by saying, ‘siding contractors near me’ or ‘How do I get new siding in [city name]?’ or ‘best local siding companies in my city’. By anticipating these searches, siding contractors can tailor their online content to feature common long-tail keywords, thereby creating a better chance of showing up in search results and growing their customer base.
Digital Marketing in 2022
Siding companies can benefit greatly from these three digital marketing strategies in 2022, seeing results in customer retention, online presence and engagement, and the growth of the overall customer base. The key takeaway is that staying on top of digital marketing strategies is essential for staying competitive in today’s service market. For siding companies, this means making communication and contact easier for customers while also streamlining online customer engagement.
