Now you’ve learned five key property services business marketing activities, here are some more to keep the fire going. When you’re trying to grow your business, you don’t need to apply hundreds of marketing efforts, but a few choice strategies can help.
To learn how to connect with your audiences, increase your brand awareness and improve your efficiency in communicating with stakeholders, read on…
Tip 6: Network in your local area
Participating in networking events and joining local business groups is a great way to introduce yourself, grow your business contact list and market your offering. It can also help you gain new ideas which may help strengthen your business.
To get the most value out of networking, remember to keep the conversation equal and listen closely to the person you’re talking to. The information you remember about others can help ‘break the ice’ if you ever made contact after this initial meeting. To help you prepare, you can brush up on these successful networking tips.
Networking can be nervrewracking, particularly if you’re new in town or just starting out. But you won’t be alone. You can search for local business groups and events on Google and Facebook.
Hot tip: Practice being able to describe your business and what it offers in a couple of engaging sentences. Ditto with you and your working background. That way you’re well prepared when someone asks. Look at you go, property services business marketing pro!
Tip 7: Promote your business at a trade show
Displaying your business at a trade show can be a great way to promote your services to a specific target audience and help establish brand awareness. People attending trade shows relating to your industry should be more interested in your business than the general public. Hence, an increased chance of them becoming a customer or referral partner.
For example, being in the property services industry you might want to set up a stand or try to nab a speaking spot at a home and lifestyle expo. Researching opportunities by calling on your network and conducting online research is a good way to get ideas.
There are some considerations to make when deciding to exhibit at a trade show, including how you will engage with attendees. Learn more here.
Tip 8: Establish your referrers
A kind word about you from another business or customer can be enough validation to bring new customers to your door.
Why? Because word of mouth is the effective marketing you need. A direct referral taps into the relationship businesses and existing customers have with their network. You want them to confidently and positively promote your business to those in need of your services.
Once customers are directed to you, managing their expectations is imperative. That way you encourage further referrals.
Adding some incentive for the referral can be motivating and also shows your appreciation, so consider what you can offer and afford ahead of setting this up. The referral reward might be monetary, a discount or reciprocal referrer in the case of businesses.
Here are some tips to setting up a referral program.
Tip 9: Setup an email service
Email signatures are one way to promote your biz via email, but sending targeted emails to customers is a fantastic way to maintain communication. Note you will have established contact with these customers because you need to first get their permission to market to them via email.
Using an online email marketing platform, such as MailChimp, you can share information and offers directly to the customer’s inbox. One key feature of many providers is their templates (aka layouts for emails). These will help you craft attention-grabbing emails to promote engagement.
Most platforms allow you to import your own contact list, plus invite new customers to subscribe (join your list). With a list of contacts you can start sending your emails, which can include topics around:
- New services or products
- Your newsletter (if you have one)
- Current and expiring offers
- Changes to your business hours or operation (such as during Christmas)
- Customer surveys
- Sharing your events
Some platforms are free to use when starting with a smaller contact list. We also recommend reading about unsubscribed contacts and how often to email your contacts, so that you’re aware of best practice.
Tip 10: Connect with your local media
Whether you’re reading online news or listening to the radio, advertising is everywhere. Buying advertising space in your local media could be out of budget as a property services business marketing activity for you. Or it may not provide a positive return on investment. But that doesn’t mean you need to avoid media completely.
Much like having a list of business contacts, a few at your local newspaper and broadcaster can be in your favour. Remember they have online channels too, which means that any story your business features in will live on the world wide web forever. Long term promotion, anyone?
With regular contact, you can keep your media contacts informed about market trends or incidents they might find interesting. Ditto with services and promotions they could see as being in the public interest. This may lead to an opportunity to share your ‘industry expert’ knowledge and experience for stories.
And as your business grows and changes due to your property services business marketing efforts, don’t forget to reassess your Professional Indemnity and General Liability insurance. All that effort needs to be properly safeguarded.
