The Good Old Days Of “Place An Ad And Wait For The Phone To Ring” Are Gone FOREVER. “How Do I Make My Ads Work Better?” Isn’t Even The Right Question Anymore.
Written by Rich Harshaw.
Last year I was watching TV with my family when a commercial came on promoting a show starring Kevin Bacon called The Following. I guess it had been a while since I had seen Kevin Bacon because my reflexive comment when I saw him was “Wow! Kevin Bacon looks hammered! How old is that guy now!?!” His youthful Footloose days were clearly behind him.
The question had been strictly rhetorical; I could tell just by looking that Bacon was probably in his mid-50’s. Nevertheless, within a matter of seconds my wife called out, “he’s 54.”
I’ll give you one guess how she knew so quickly how old he was… and NO, she’s not a former president of the Kevin Bacon fan club.
That’s right: she Googled it on her iPhone.
Which is the same way just about every man, woman, and child instantly discovers information about nearly anything he or she could ever want to know about. I know this isn’t a news flash, but the internet is now in the palm of EVERYONE’s hand—with astonishingly inexpensive and fast bandwidth—which means that everything is now instantly accessible.
And from a contractor’s marketing perspective, that literally (yes, REAL literally, not HYPERBOLE literally) changes everything (yes, everything).
I’ll prove it to you: Let’s go back 8 or 10 years in time—2004 to 2006. Let’s say you placed an ad in your local newspaper (or TV or radio or whatever advertising you did then) that would, at that time, reliably generate 10 leads for you. Given that historic home improvement lead costs used to be about $250 to $300, let’s say that it cost you $3,000 to get those 10 leads.
Now here’s the important question: If you spend that same $3,000 on that same advertisement now, how many leads can you realistically expect to generate? I’ve asked this question at scores of seminars all over the country, and the audience generally tells me the answer is now 2 or 3 leads. Same money spent, same media as before—now instead of 10 leads, it’s just 2 or 3.
So the operative question is “what happened to all the leads!?!” Surely there are still people buying windows, siding, remodeling, and roofing. So why aren’t they responding to your advertising anymore?
Answer: Kevin Bacon!
See, 10 years ago, when somebody wanted to look something up online, they would generally have to LOG ON to their DESKTOP computer and DIAL IN on their modem. And even though laptop computers were being widely used by 2005, wireless internet was still a rarity, especially in private homes. Then, in 2007, the first true smartphone was introduced (the iPhone), and right about that same time, wireless internet started to become more commonplace. In 2010 the iPad was launched, and by 2013, instant-access internet was available on multiple devices—at home, at work, and on the go.
So 10 years ago when somebody thought about replacing their windows (or siding, or remodel their kitchen, etc.), more often than not, they wouldn’t take any immediate action. They’d have the thought, consider their options for a moment, then forget about it. Then, 3 or 4 days (or weeks) later they’d see your ad in the paper and think, “Oh yea, I need to call about that.” Boom—10 calls.
Here’s what happens NOW to the 10 people who USED to call you:
- 2 of them see your ad and call—just like in the good old days.
- 4 of them already looked it up online and contacted SOMEONE before they ever saw your ad.
- 3 of them see your ad, look you up online, don’t like what they see, and decide NOT to call you.
- 1 of them sees your ad, looks you up online, and calls you.
In case you’re not catching on, all of this is just another way to say that you’d better have your internet marketing act together. But for some reason, the majority of remodeling companies I’ve seen over the last few years just aren’t getting the job done.
To make matters worse, instead of shoring up their internet marketing, most construction company owners keep asking me the same old tired question: “How can I make my ads generate more leads?” Look at the numbers above again—asking me how to write a better ad that generates more leads isn’t even the right question anymore. The smart companies are asking these questions instead:
- How can I make my home improvement website work better so it converts more of my web visitors into leads?
- How can I get more of the people who are searching for what I sell to find my website?
The answers to these questions are complex and take time to implement effective strategies. I’ve already answered the first question here… and I’ll answer the second question in a future column. But believe me when I say that these are the FIRST AND SECOND questions you’d better be asking yourself from this day forward if you want to continue to compete and thrive in your marketplace. The days of “slapping up a website” and calling that “internet marketing” are long over. All of the bad experiences you have probably had with web building companies and SEO companies and PPC providers for contractors do not diminish the need to find good answers to these important questions.
I’ll be discussing answers to these two questions in future columns. For now, just realize that when you place an ad and get far fewer leads than you’d like—it’s Kevin Bacon’s fault.
© 2014 – 2016, Rich Harshaw. All rights reserved.
