Linx’s moto has been “THINK AHEAD” as we have been providing our clients with out-of-the-box strategic marketing plans for generations.
My grandfather started this business with newspaper ads at grocery stores in the 60s and followed trends until the 90s. My father took this business to new heights through every possible digital transformation and continued to be ahead of the curve all the way through retirement.
Linx has undergone rebranding and reinventing over four times to adapt to ever-changing corporate landscapes. The rapid transformations across industries in recent years truly epitomize the meaning of the word “shock.”
Here’s an idea. Instead of scrambling and trying to catch up, let’s take a second to really explore what is going on and what the opportunities are. I’m sure you have seen the infiltration of competition popping up one new business at a time. For the simplicity, I am going to pick an industry and go through the numbers with you.
Let’s discuss the “roofing industry.”
There are 110,000 roofing businesses in the USA in 2024. This is up from 81,000 in 2022. Obviously as a roofing company you would localize your business endeavors to specific areas you would service, and target your customers on the specific platforms they visit to get information to them, both offline and online.
There are 19,500 incorporated cities in the US and 15,000 have fewer than 5000 people. So, let’s say for ease of understanding, we take 100,000 business in 4500 towns. That means statistically speaking, you have 22 other competitive roofers in your town who are pursuing your customer and bidding for the same job. Remember, this is an average across America. There are over 200 companies on Long Island, NY.
How in the world do you stand out as a roofer in a competitive landscape like that? Word of mouth works. If you do the job well and can get a referral, nice. The old school way is a great way, but it doesn’t always happen like that.
Let’s do a little exercise. Go to Google, type in “ROOFING COMPANY.” In .2356 seconds, you have 50 pages of roofing companies all organized by paid, business, and organic search results based on your specific location. Later when you go to Facebook, scroll down about 5-7 pages. How many “sponsored” roofing ads did you see? Sorry, this search query just inundated your entire week with roofers, but the point is, this is how roofing, or any company, is trying to get their business across to their customers. Forget watching Hulu tonight, some of those 30 second ads will be saying you need a new roofing now, and you start asking yourself, do I?
Believe it or not, this isn’t enough to always get a new client, even on rinse and repeat being a numbers game. What about those reviews? Anything less than a 4.5 rating will cost you A LOT of business. 63% of consumers won’t purchase from a company with less than a 4-star review.
Let’s step back now. We understand that we need to hit our customer at the right time, with the right message when they are ready to pick up the phone and say, “I need a new roof now.” There is still a quoting phase, a scheduling phase, and an entire sales funnel you have to worry about after the initial interest.
Regarding the marketing, it surely feels like a lot of these companies are just throwing as much information and content out on every possible platform hoping that it will one day be there waiting for their customer on a silver platter when they finally want to make a choice. And it works for some, but for how much longer can you wiggle your information to your audience through all this noise? Consumers subconsciously have been overrun with options while these companies are hoping to wait around long enough for when they are ready to pull the trigger.
What is the magic marketing equation? Ha, you thought I was going to lay it all out here for you. That’s what we get paid the big bucks for (wink wink). I’ll give you an overview, but believe me, the biggest thing we learned over the years at Linx is a truly successful marketing plan, is customized for YOUR business. It’s an omni-channel play where all the moving pieces work together.
We spent time learning hundreds of industries, but if we don’t know yours, we take the time to, and not just the industry but your unique sales and operations process. We then integrate our custom strategies through the appropriate channels to reach your customers. Because let’s admit it, you’ve been doing something right to keep your business going and so have we.
If we have any advice, it’s don’t use a cookie cutter strategy where AI promises to do it all for you. Your business will never outlast your competition and you will be changing your strategy very often to stay afloat. Remember, customers want to be heard, not just hear what you have to say. They buy for specific reasons, out of necessity, out of convenience, out of security, FOMO, pricing, or just plain happiness. Why does your customer buy from you?
There are questions you need to ask yourself to really understand what you need. I will start off with these, but there are other questions that help clarify exactly what needs to be done.
- How many new customers do you want to be successful for growth?
- What is the real value of your average customer?
- How much are you willing to spend to acquire a new customer?
- Does your company have the trust and creditability to be better than your competition?
It’s time to start Thinking Ahead of your competition and creating a plan for growth that will last more than six months. Let us help you build out the foundation and implementation of your marketing that will create the success you are looking for.
