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 Expand Your Referral Network
with Charity-Related Marketing
Working with charitable groups, if done in the right way, can help you increase the number of homeowners who know you and have a personal and positive opinion of your company. There are some fundamental strategies for selecting and working with charities that provide the best win/win/win situation for your company, your market, and the charity. And some of the best approaches can be low cost and low effort while doing the most good.
Here are two ideas that use some of these strategies, will boost your company’s visibility and image, don’t have to cost much, and can be fun and effective:
  Host a charitable event: If you have a showroom with a working kitchen, offer to host a $100 or $200-a-plate gourmet dinner where the people attending (perhaps only 10-20 people) can watch as the chef prepares their dinner and even learn some cooking tips along the way. The chef can be a personal chef or instructor looking to pick up some clients and willing to donate time to the charity. The food can be donated to the charity, and the charity invites their members to the event. Your job is to find the charities and chefs that might be interested, get the ball rolling and provide your showroom. Perhaps you can prepare a gift packet with your company name and logo that includes the menu, the recipes, information on where to find the ingredients, and some other donated goodies from local merchants.
Do one of these a month and you'll introduce 120-240 homeowners a year to your business and show them you support what is important to them.
 Form your own team for an existing event: Whether it’s forming a team for Race for the Cure or any other cause that is important to your clients and their friends (prospects), you can create an emotional and personal bond when you all work towards a common goal that is not business-related. What’s more, this approach can also be a low-cost effort using the online tools many of these charities already have in place to invite team members (clients, friends of the company, etc.). Ask your clients to forward your invitations to their friends so they can also join the team. You can even ask your client/team members to brainstorm with you on how the team can get more members (more people who will know about your company).
If you can afford to, set up related fun activities such as practice runs/walks with a running store owner who gives tips on shoes and how not to injure yourself before the run. If you do something on a Saturday morning, bring donuts, coffee and plenty of water; if you do something midday or in the evening, combine it with a team barbeque. Want to up the excitement? After the race, give out team awards for the fastest member in different age groups or give fun awards for most spirit, hardest working, and so on. Offer door prizes such as donated gift certificates from running stores or health food stores. It's great if everyone can get something small but unexpected just for being on your team. Perhaps a local coffee or ice cream shop will donate some $5 gift certificates.
Of course, any of these activities should be integrated into your overall marketing program. Contact us if you would like to know more about how you can take advantage of creative low-cost charitable marketing for your company.
A Remodeler Asked:
Q: I have great photos on my website, but so does my competition. How do I get homeowners to contact me?
A: The photos on your website must not only be good photos, they also need to be relevant to the homeowners you are targeting. They should show work that is similar to the type of project the homeowner is looking for and is of the quality/cost level they are looking for. Limit your "process" photos to one "before" shot with great "after" photos. If your competitors have equally good photos, you need to use strategically written copy to differentiate your company so a homeowner will want to call you in particular. In addition to all the basics, what do you have to offer that they value and won’t get from another remodeler? Make sure you point that out!
 PowerMeeting Announcement
Our friends at Remodelers Advantage are having a special PowerMeeting focusing on marketing and sales on September 22nd in Raleigh, NC. Check it out.
Survey Says…
Wow, we are surprised with the results of our current survey!
So far, 50% of those who took the poll said they are actively using more than one social media channel.
We’re going to leave the poll on our website longer to see how the number holds up as more people respond. If you haven't done so already, VOTE NOW! |
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Comments & Questions
If you have questions or topics you would like us to address in future issues of Marketing Matters, please let us know. Send them to editor@continuum-mg.com.
Sincerely,
David Alpert
President, Continuum Marketing Group, LLC
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