Marketing Ideas for Your Flooring Business
This article will go over tips you can use to market your flooring business. Some tips are conventional, while others have to do with your products and services. Marketing is not just about running ads. You can also give your business a competitive advantage that will market itself. If you haven’t started your flooring business yet then you may want to take a look at How To Start an Epoxy Flooring Business; otherwise, let’s get started!
1. Offering a Robust Guarantee
Let’s start with the first tip, offering a robust guarantee. Flooring is a service, and people that don’t know you may hesitate to do business with you.
You can boost customer confidence by offering a strong guarantee while giving people one more reason to do business with you. But, of course, you are free to create your warranties as you see fit.
Here’s an example I thought of and haven’t heard of for the flooring industry. You could offer an accidental damage guarantee. So even if the customer damaged a section of their floor, you would replace that area for them at no charge.
You would give them a few cases of the flooring used for their home. It would be the responsibility of the customer to store them.
If an accident occurred, you would come in and replace that area for them. If you think about it, how many people will have accidental damage to their floors? Very little, even if they did, you have the product at their location, so you wouldn’t have to worry about finding matching tiles after a few years.
In the eyes of the customer, you offer a service that your competitors probably don’t have, and this could be the edge you need. You could call it lifetime accidental floor repair.
The worst that can happen is you’re putting in the labor, but keep in mind you are reacquainting yourself with an old customer, and you will most likely get referrals because you repaired the flooring for a customer you serviced years ago at no charge.
2. Enhanced Floor Sampling
Your next non-conventional way to market your service is to bring samples to the customer’s location, so the customer sees what the area will look like with the different sets of floor samples. For example, instead of just bringing one tile, you could lay out a 3-4 foot area for each different sample you provide. This allows the customer to see a side-by-side comparison.
Many flooring places show samples inside their store, but if you go to the customer’s location and layout five different samples in the same room, they’ll have an overview of what the final job will look like.
3. Job Completed on Time or the Labour Is Free
When it comes to contract work, one of the things that I’ve noticed worldwide is that contractors tend to take too many jobs at once, which causes delays in finishing jobs.
You can take advantage of that by guaranteeing the job will be done on time for any issues in your control, or the labor is free! This way, the customer knows you’ll show up on time and complete the job on the agreed-upon deadline.
So, for example, if the customer’s product didn’t come in on time, your guarantee wouldn’t apply. Likewise, if you couldn’t access the premises because of something related to the customer, then your guarantee wouldn’t apply. You must explain to your customer that if the issues are in your control, you will guarantee you will finish the job on time. It’s to your advantage to extend the time needed by 10 days and finish early. That way, you are never late completing a job.
4. Create Your Corporate ID
A corporate idea is a collection of products to build your company’s identity. Corporate IDs include business cards, brochures, a letterhead, envelopes, your logo, website, etc. Corporate IDs can be expensive, and if you are just starting out, you can start with a logo, business cards, and your website.
5. Participate in Trade Shows
Take out a booth at home-improvement shows and trade shows. Naturally, you will want an appealing booth to display your products and services.
Be sure to have plenty of business cards and a brochure to give to people passing by. You could also come up with promotional items such as sample tiles cut in a small way with your contact information printed on the back. One point is a sample, and the other point is people will use it and remember you. The key is to ensure that the design is tasteful and legible contact information is present.
6. Lawn Signs for Completed Jobs
It’s common to place a lawn sign in front of houses or companies where you redid or installed new flooring. Some customers allow it, while others don’t want a sign on their lawn.
To get your sign accepted, do you want to create signs that are tasteful and non-intrusive. You don’t want to put too much information on your sign, but you do want to have your phone number easy to read because many of the people that will see your signs are driving by, and if your contact information is too small, drivers won’t be able to see it unless they stop.
7. Contact Local General Contractors
Getting jobs from local contractors is an excellent way to keep a good stream of income flowing. Naturally, when you’re working with a contractor, you must give them a special rate so they can make money too. I’m sure you’ll make less profit on each job, but you stay in business and stay strong with the volume of work.
One key to making it work with a general contractor is scheduling. You want to meet your deadlines and don’t over-schedule jobs. If you’re getting a lot of work from a general contractor and from customers, you may consider expanding your crew. But, again, never promise what you can’t deliver.
8. Conventional Advertising Methods
You’re probably aware of a few conventional methods, including your local newspaper, radio station, TV station, magazines, etc. These conventional methods of advertising are alive and well and still work.
You can try taking out a small test ad to see which one gives you the best response and once you find one which works well, you can expand your advertising. For example, if an ad in the paper gets you clients, you can keep running that ad and even expand your advertisement into a quarter page and even up to a full-page ad.
If radio works better, you will expand your advertising campaign to cover more spots on the radio. Both are working. You could use them simultaneously. And the key is finding what works and expanding your advertising campaign using that method.
9. Joint Ventures
If you’re installing flooring and don’t deal with the products. You can contact stores and suppliers that offer flooring products and ask them to refer customers to your service. In exchange, you refer your customers to buy products from their store.
It doesn’t have to be one store because one store may specialize in tile, another specializes in vinyl, and another specializes in carpet. You can make deals with different stores. You have to prove to them that you will take care of their customers and ensure their satisfaction, or it won’t be worth it for the store to refer their customers to you.
10. Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce
When you join your local Chamber of Commerce, you can network with other local entrepreneurs.
You could even offer discounts on your service to other members of the Chamber of Commerce. It also adds credibility to your business when you are a member of the local chamber of commerce.
11. Apply for BBB Accreditation
Applying for accreditation from the Better Business Bureau helps give customers peace of mind when choosing your service. When it comes to service jobs, it’s not just about the money. A lot of it has to do with trust and the quality of your work. If people don’t trust you, they won’t use your service. Being a Better Business Bureau member will help you build trust with your customers.
12. Billboard Advertising
You may want to consider a billboard advertising campaign for your area. Local billboards can draw a lot of attention to your business. But, first, you can see how much business to get from it. Then, if you find it’s bringing in a lot of business, you can look for ways to create long-term billboards.
For example, if there’s a busy highway in your area, see if you can contact landowners near the highway to place a billboard on their land for a monthly fee, or you could even purchase a used truck trailer and create a wrap on the side and use it as a billboard that way you can move it from location to location.
Another idea is if you live in a large city, you may be able to find mobile billboard advertising where your billboard will be displayed on a truck while driving around the city.
13. Advertise on Your Company Vehicle
If you have a van or a truck, look into getting it wrapped with a tasteful advertisement, allowing you to promote your business anytime you’re on the job or driving around town. Of course, you want a professional graphic designer to create your design before the vehicle is wrapped. Then, when you’re not busy, you can even park your vehicle in a high-traffic area for the day, which will bring awareness to your business.
14. Contests
You can create contests for installation. For example, you would want to create a way to get media coverage, especially if you’re offering a $5,000 job.
For example, you could contact a local radio station to discuss creating an exclusive contest for their listeners. They would promote the contest on the radio for a couple of weeks, and people would give their contact information to enter the contest through the radio. The radio station promotes itself and offers something to its listeners. Some radio stations may be interested as long as you can guarantee the work. You need to ensure that the winner won’t be disappointed because the radio station has to protect its listeners.
For example, if this campaign turned out to be a huge success, you could run another campaign in a few months with the same radio station, or you may want to try a newspaper or a local TV station. If I were running a contest and had huge success with the radio station, I would repeat it for the same station after a few months because I already know it works, and I already have the radio station onboard. But that’s something you would decide.
You could also post a video of the winner and videos of the work performed and before and after shots to keep the contest participants engaged.
Finally, be sure to check your local laws regarding contests before you run one.
15. Create a Google Ads Campaign
When you sign up for Google Ads, you can customize your campaign to meet your needs. For example, you can run it during certain times during certain days of the week and in a certain area. In addition, you can pay by impressions or by clicks. For example, you pay $10 for every thousand views. This is a return referred to as CPM or cost per medium.
On the other hand, your ad could be displayed to thousands of people, and you don’t pay anything unless someone clicks on your ad. That’s called paper click. There is a learning curve involved in optimizing your Google Ads. However, if you don’t want to go through the trouble, you can hire a professional to set up your campaign.
16. Facebook Advertising
Like Google Ads, you can use Facebook to pay for advertising and get people to your business.
With Facebook, it costs a little more to advertise for anything not on Facebook than to advertise on a Facebook page. So that’s something you would want to look into. It would probably be more cost effective to create your Facebook page and advertise your page so that members of Facebook go to your page and the conversion there.
Even though advertising your Facebook page adds an extra step to get the customer to your offer, keep in mind that when people like your page, they will also get a notification anytime you update it. This process also has a learning curve, and you can hire someone to set up everything for you. For more, see How to Advertise on Facebook.
17. TikTok Videos
You can also bring awareness to your business by creating a series of TikTok videos. For example, if you deal with non-scratch vinyl flooring, you could create a series of videos showing the durability of your floors. You can also pay for advertising on TikTok.
18. YouTube Videos
While TikTok videos are short, YouTube allows for much longer videos. For example, you can create videos showing the advantages and disadvantages of different flooring. In addition, you could offer installation, tips, etc.
By creating detailed and focused videos for each topic, you’ll begin to build a library, also known as a YouTube channel. You draw attention to your business, offer insightful tips, and explain the advantages of using your service and how to contact you.
19. Develop Your Website
Social media is an excellent source of engagement and awareness for your business, but you don’t want to build your entire business based on a Facebook page because you don’t own that property.
For example, if Facebook changes its terms of services or your page gets banned for some reason, you have lost your entire business referral system.
Creating your own website is a better way of creating a strong online presence. When you register a domain name, that name is yours for as long as you keep up the yearly fees, usually less than $10. Even if you lost your hosting account, you would still be able to host somewhere else, and people would be able to find you because your domain name is your online address.
With your own domain name and website, you have more freedom to do whatever you want. It’s like owning your own home. You’re free to do as you wish. There’s no landlord, and all your efforts for promoting your business are safe.
You want to integrate your website and social media accounts by linking each social account to your website and providing links on your website to each social media account you control.
You may also want to create a blog offering tips and insights for people interested in flooring.
Naturally, you wouldn’t give away your secrets, but you can offer tips on what types of floors to choose, buying tips, what to watch out for, etc. You become the expert and the go-to person for flooring by creating content.
You can also create a local SEO campaign so that people searching for flooring in your area will find your business near the top of the page.
In addition, you’ll want to create an online profile showing different projects that you have completed with a lot of before and after pictures. You will also want to include testimonials on your page to showcase customer satisfaction.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is another way to get people searching for your products and services to reach your website.
SEO is technical, and if you are looking to get into the first position on google for some keywords, you will have a hard time without SEO experience. Instead, you might be better off understanding the basic on-page SEO practices so you can optimize your pages when you build them, with a focus on driving traffic through referrals and other forms of advertising.
20. Joining Angie’s List
Get your business listed on Angie’s list to build credibility and bring awareness to your business. Angie’s list is a popular site for contract work, and you definitely need to look into it. Sign up for your account and follow the directions. Take some time to study the current terms of services to abide by their rules. You’ll also want to learn as much as you can about Angie’s List. It can turn out to be you’re one of your strongest marketing channels.
21. Set up a Google Business Profile
Setting up a Google Business Profile offers an opportunity for your business to show up when people search for your business name or products and services you deal with. If your listing shows up, people can see your hours, a short blurb, a location, a map, and a link to your website. So it’s something you definitely want to look into.
22. Yelp
Create a yelp my business page. Putting your business on yelp allows customers to rate your business. Some people are open to getting their businesses reviewed, while others may hesitate. If you’re confident you’re giving the best service to your customers, then you should be able to welcome reviews. And if you get a bad review, you can dispute it. Knowing your business is always under review keeps you on your toes and encourages you to give the best service possible.