We hear it a lot. “I’m not getting in front of the right people. I don’t have enough leads. I feel like I’m wasting my money on my marketing efforts. I’m not seeing a return on my marketing dollars.” Well, there are at least seven good reasons for that (and really quite a few more, but I think seven is all we can handle in this post). Here we go:
1. People don’t read the newspaper anymore. It’s a fact. Newspapers are dropping like flies and page count is shrinking on the ones that remain, making them less attractive to advertisers. However, where do we typically advertise our Open Houses? Less readers = less traffic on the weekend.
2. People don’t just “drive around” anymore. Not with gas over $4.00 a gallon in parts of the country! It’s more expensive and, let’s face it, people are really busy. They don’t explore like they used to – they don’t go out for the Sunday drive and run across new neighborhoods and communities that peak their interest. So, if they’re not out driving, they’re not going to see you’re A-signs.
3. People are listening to Sirius/XM – not your local radio ads on AM/FM.
4. Your local TV ad just got “Tivo-ed”. Nuff said.
5. 240 million US citizens are internet users – 77% of the population. You can bet the percentage is a lot higher for your target market. And they are using every day to work, shop, and gather information. The world is at their fingertips without ever leaving home.
6. People don’t want to hear what you have to say about your company – they want to hear what others have to say. Today, this is ridiculously easy to accomplish on the web. Do you know what others are saying about you? Are you shaping the conversation?
7. Most likely you are still using newspaper, TV, and radio to try and reach your potential buyers. Unfortunately, if they are really potential buyers, they have already searched on the web for companies that can help them with their project, formed an opinion of those companies by the quality of their website, the amount of information that was made available to them, whether they seemed relevant and believable, and whether other buyers had nice things to say about their experience with them. Newspaper, TV and radio can augment their opinion and awareness, but it’s not going to form it anymore.
Is your web presence pulling in and identifying potential buyers? Is it molding and forming their opinion of you and your building company in a positive way? What changes should you be making?
