Promo & No Mojo : When bad ads happen to good contractors— and how to turn it around.
-
Speaker 1: 0:00
What's up, lemonheads? Welcome back to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal and today we're going to talk about how, you know, we like to sip on strategy and squeeze out the sour spots of branding and marketing. But today, specifically, we are peeling back the top three mistakes we are seeing home service companies make and, trust me, they're a little zesty, a little messy, but, guys, they're totally fixable, right? So you're going to want to buckle up, grab your lemonade, because today's episode is called promo, but no mojo. So let's talk about what we see people doing wrong and how we're going to fix them. Let's sip some lemonade, all right? So I just wanted to come back in here and say there are so many cool things going on in marketing right now. There's all these ideas and all these trends and everybody's doing everything and all the things. Well, we just need to take a deep breath, right, because you know what's out of control right now the amount of knowledge, the amount of ideas, the amount of vendors, the amount of strategies. You should be doing this. Why aren't you doing that? That is going on in our industry right now so much. It's very noisy right now. So here's what we're going to do and what Lemon Seed's job is normally to be is. Let's get organized and structured with our thoughts and realize we cannot do everything. We can't be everything to everyone.
Speaker 1: 1:31
But there are three advertising mistakes that I have seen. My account managers and strategists and marketing coordinators have seen that we know contractors are not doing this on purpose. It's just the lack of bringing it to the surface and bringing out some attention to it. So let's start with number one spray and pray marketing. Spray and pray. We just throw all kinds of stuff out there and be like dear Lord Jesus, if you can, please make this work right. Guys blindly posting social media stuff. Guys blindly posting social media stuff, blindly running ads with no target or no tracking, no tracking, um, doing things just because you've always done it, not measuring it, relying on generic run-of-the-mill ads. If you look at your ads and anyone that does your same service could run that same ad and have that same graphic. That's not it. Look at your graphics and go does this look like any other company could use this? You should not be using such templatized things, if you can help it. But more than anything, I'm telling you the spray and pray method here. But more than anything, I'm telling you the spray and pray method here.
Speaker 1: 2:48
That mistake is because you don't have a strategy for what you are doing and some of you are just like praying and hoping that something sticks. But let me tell you, the issue here is that you're flying blind. You probably don't have good tracking. You listen to any little guru that throws out something new, like you should do this, and like sometimes, if I throw in like cool sneakers and some cuss words, y'all are like here for it. Y'all are like sign me up Right, but at the end of the day you could not, it's not, it may not be a good decision for your style of business or your price point or your market or your brand, and so you got to stop doing things so blindly. And let me see your brand. And so you got to stop doing things so blindly. And Lemonseed's whole goal here is to help people be more intentional with a strategy.
Speaker 1: 3:29
So even if you're not using Lemonseed to help you build out your advertising strategy and what vendors to use and how to do those things, you still can be strategic. You just need to stop praying that things stick. Listen, if you're aggressive, things aren't going to stick right, you're going to be bold and you're going to try new things that don't work. But the only way that we get out there and find some cool, unique things is to try things that are cool and unique and risky. So we don't want to have the spray and pray method. What we want to have is a risky yet strategic approach to being active and out of the box thinking for our marketing strategy, to being active and out of the box thinking for our marketing strategy. So the fix to this that mistake of spray pray ideology here the fix to this is dial in that ideal avatar. So again, a lot of you know this, but Lemon Seed performs ideal avatars and branding audits for a lot of our all of our clients.
Speaker 1: 4:21
When you onboard with Lemon Seed, that's part of what the process is, because if you're thinking that you're going to market to everybody and everybody's your customer, I know where you're going with that, like I understand your thinking. But really, at the end of the day, everyone cannot be who we direct and curate your marketing strategy around. We have to pick a lane and when I say that we have to understand who we are writing ad copy for, who are we creating promotions for? Who are we doing these social media trends for? Who are our emails written for? When we design our culture book or our sales book, who are we designing it for? Well, you can't design it for a 20-year-old male and a 60-year-old female. Their design preference, the way they think, their terminology, all their verbiage, all of that's different. So dial in that ideal avatar, understand really who you are talking to.
Speaker 1: 5:13
Use data tracking. Use data to guide your ad placement. So if you're on a CRM that does not have tracking in there, please look at CallRail, add CallRail, get you some phone numbers, attach those phone numbers and then that at least lets you know call amount, quantity of calls coming in. Because right now many of you are like, hey, you know what I want to do, Fly this airplane, but hey, let me cover your eyes and so just guess, are we close to the imploding or not, right? So you have to stop doing that and then be intentional with your timing and your messaging. So you know, at Limit Seed we do everything in a quarter because that's like the easiest kind of visionary way to see your ad calendar for the year. You can shift it up and down a month, but overall seasonality is kind of where you want some changes, right, but be intentional with that timing and that messaging.
Speaker 1: 6:03
So marketing is not like a water sprinkler, it's a laser beam. It's a laser beam, so we don't want water spraying everywhere. We want to be laser focused on who we're talking to. So number one mistake that we're making spray and pray. Throw it out, see if it works, pray that it works and go on about our business and really not have a plan. The fix to that is get strategic, get an organized plan of when and how you're going to do it, and while you're actively needing to do it is not when you should do it. I encourage you, I really encourage you, to do this at the end of the year. Plan out your whole year from a very 30,000 foot view. Then a quarter of the time, get down in the weeds and get down in those numbers and pivot where you need to pivot, based on data. All right.
Speaker 1: 6:49
Number two my little fun name for this one is called promo sapiens syndrome. Right, promo sapiens syndrome is being stuck in caveman marketing, just like $49 tune-up right In every ad with no brand, voice story, no value beyond. Hey, it's $49. Come on, call me. We cannot live in this cycle of everything's a tune-up, right, so get it. That's a really good strategy. We actually deploy this strategy quite often because it's a low barrier of entry offer. It is affordable. So when people know something's wrong and they might not can afford $49, if your ideal avatar is an affluent double income home, $49 doesn't matter to them, right. So it's not a race to the bottom of a pile of cheap contractors. We don't really want to be the bottom, but it depends on the intentional strategy, right.
Speaker 1: 7:48
But we have got to get more customized offers and campaigns. So if you're just throwing out there, oh well, what is your campaign? A $49 tune up? Well, really, we want campaigns. Think about Geico, think about Liberty Mutual. Think insurance companies are killing it right now, but even like. Think about Geico. Think about Liberty Mutual. Think insurance companies are killing it right now. But even like. Think about Bronco, right, and how everything is rugged and tough and cool. Those are all campaigns. Those are our vibes. Nike and the just do it. Those are like true brands.
Speaker 1: 8:19
But they also launch these campaigns around women in sports and things like that brands. But they also launch these campaigns around women in sports and things like that, because you've got to kind of change your story up some in your advertising verbiage and your visuals and I learned this word from my graphic design team iconography, the icons that you're using and things like that in every single thing you do, needs to reflect your brand, but also it's got to help you stand out. So, in a pile of $49 tune-ups go look at the last time you sent that graphic out Could any other company in your market use that same graphic? Probably A lot of you are using canned things from different vendors Like well, they designed my postcard. Well, you know what? They have six templates, right. So you need to like let me see, I'm always trying to rock a boat, okay, I'm always trying to say, uh, I want to, let's change that design around, because I need our things to stand out, I need them to be on brand, I need them to be constantly brand building. But also urgency to book, book with me, right.
Speaker 1: 9:19
So the biggest fix here is evolve your messaging. Tell stories, showcase your team, highlight cool things about your culture, make the promo the actual sidekick of the plan, not the actual headline. So building out your messaging should really be all around a campaign or your brand messaging. All of that together, right? So again, if you just got a $49 tune-up that's red and blue with a snowflake and a sunshine, and don't spring into summer, okay, listen, everybody and their mama and their grandpa, uncle, baby, sister, cousin is doing that offer.
Speaker 1: 9:59
We have to think outside the box. We should not say, oh yeah, you know, I'm so creative, I'm doing spring graphics during spring. You know what? I was a really powerful thinker. Here we have tulips on our spring postcard. Yeah, that's great and wonderful. You know what. Does it get the job done? Yes, but does it move any real needles? Probably not, probably not.
Speaker 1: 10:20
But many of you are afraid to think outside the box. You're like but what about the tulips for spring? I mean, I didn't do Easter bunnies for Easter. You know what? You know what never gets anywhere is mediocrity. All right, mediocrity never grows us. Okay, we just ride right in the middle.
Speaker 1: 10:38
So for those of you that are listening, here's a pro tip for those contractors why can't I get over a million or $3 million? This promo sapien syndrome? Because what got you here won't get you there. And so what's happened is you don't want to think any deeper, you're scared of the change, you're worried about the response. Listen, broke money don't make money. So we've got to get out there and invest a little bit in reinvigorating ourselves and kicking ourselves forward and kicking our brand, reinvigorating that brand in our market. Shake it up. Let's make people think, hey, where in the heck did they come from? And let me tell you what happens Every time.
Speaker 1: 11:18
This used to happen to me a lot when I was at McWilliams. I would be doing something and we would do it for six months, eight months, 10 months, something cool like 777 or the Seller Mac buyback. Right, give it six months and somebody else will like another competitor. Well, all of a sudden they'll start doing it. Well, they don't have lasting power. So what happens is they like break a hard blitz for like two months and they're like this was expensive. I mean it's because there's no intentionality behind it other than kicking me in the, trying to kick me in the butt.
Speaker 1: 11:48
So also, side note for those of you that struggle with that everything I do something, they do it too. If you're not getting kicked in the butt, it means you're not in the front. So if they're constantly copying you and following everything you do, good, there's a reason they're a follower. Keep innovating, keep thinking outside the box, keep doing things first. Believe me, consumers notice that more than you think. But again, on the promo sapien syndrome, get away from those basic promotions. Think outside the box, Think more campaign style and think about things that are just different. They're just different. Again, this is what Lemon Seed excels at, but you also can be great at this, all right.
Speaker 1: 12:30
So the third thing is the vanishing brand act. Right, that's going to be our third mistake. So, like abracadabra, right, your logo is there, but ain't jackass happening? You're not consistent. You've got weird taglines. You don't even have a tagline, or you're using someone else's tagline. Your fonts are all different, because you know what. You just felt like using a curly font today. Or I felt like using something that looked like graffiti.
Speaker 1: 12:53
Isn't this cool? No, okay, it's not cool. It might've been fun to do, but it confuses the consumer. And let me say this You're like whatever. That's not true. Listen, it is true. It is true that you will have the an issue with what you're doing. Okay, you're going to have people are going to know you for who you are, but when you have no taglines and no fonts, you can use it. It looks fun, it looks cool, it looks great, but it's like your brand is just there. People are not making the connection Right, and so, no, we don't need to have it melting. You know your logo all of a sudden, going from block font to cursive, and listen, there's things that you can do to really like. If you want to do something for pink out for breast cancer winners, there's cool things you can do.
Speaker 1: 13:45
But altering your actual logo or just sticking your logo on things is not a branded approach. Remember, brand is more than the logo. It's the overall perception, it's how you make people feel, and so let's stick to brand standards. So I'm going to take a pro tip right here. If, right now, you were to call Limit Seed, I want you to think this is one of the things I'm going to ask clients for, and they do not have it, even those of you that have been rebranded and branded by professional companies. I need a brand guide from you.
Speaker 1: 14:17
So, right now, if you do not have a brand guide meaning you can't tell me what your exact colors are, what your fonts are, what your logo actually looks like, and have it in multiple formats, so listen, if you have a format of your logo that ends in jpeg, as in a JPEG. You do not have a brand kit. You have a picture of a logo. Okay, and listen, you can't scale that up. You know, listen, you know. I had to learn this because designers would be like Crystal. You've lost your mind. We have a whole team of designers and they'll be like girl. We can't do anything with this because it doesn't, it distorts and it gets pixelated and it's not the best quality and designers take a lot of pride in how good and clear and crisp things look, and so for us to like throw a JPEG in there.
Speaker 1: 15:05
So odds are most of you that are listening do not even have a brand guide. You have a logo that your cousin from you know, your cousin's college roommate from six years ago was getting into graphic design. He designed it and he sent it to you. That's cool, but we ain't. That's not what we got. We have to start actually having brand standards of how we use our logo, because you know why that is important for consistency, it is important for exposure. Consistency. It is important for exposure. It is important that people really know who you are and they experience the look of your logo all the time and it's the same. So this is my pet peeve when people have five different band wraps driving around. Now there is some strategic ways. Remember strategy. Is it culture? Each strategy for breakfast? I'll tell you that. But strategy is where most people place no importance. And so I'm like man, if we were strategic and while we were doing these five different bands, so we wanted to do a different band, a different color, but we kept the layout the same.
Speaker 1: 16:11
Graphic designers are experts in knowing kind of how to bring a vision to life out. The same Graphic designers are experts in knowing kind of how to bring a vision to life. But some of y'all, on one logo it's got two different names, and then one area it's like graffitied, and one it looks like spray paint, and then one's a whole different color because we were in a black and white phase. Like no, that's not consistent. That's not doing you any favors. You're not keeping in front of customers consistently like you hope you are. So, from your trucks to your televisions commercials and to your pieces of material. So what do you hand out to a homeowner If you leave something behind? What does it look like? If you are? A logo goes on a T-shirt, is that the same? Are you doing the same look everywhere you should. You should because you're trying to be.
Speaker 1: 16:57
Every visual touch point that you can make with a consumer counts right. So seven to ten times they need to experience your brand visually right For it to start recognizing. Well, think about how many times somebody might have to experience your brand when there's five different vans and six different logos. You have no signage on your building, your billboards barely have your logo because you were worried about co-op dollars so you stuck your manufacturer up there but not your own logo. Or your vehicle has so much equipment written on it or put on it that you're building this manufacturer's brand Like listen, get yourself a brand and a brand guide.
Speaker 1: 17:29
You don't have to reinvent the wheel to change your brand, to refresh it. But then I need you to be consistent. Your editorial way, the way that you write for your brand, the brand voice you know needs to be consistent. Your visuals need to be consistent so that you can become unforgettable, not invisible, right. So I want to tell you something when you look at these three mistakes that we see contractors making. I'll give to you one more time Spray and pray, throw it up against the wall, see if it sticks Absolutely not.
Speaker 1: 18:02
Dial in that avatar, start tracking, promo sapien syndrome, doing the same thing that you've done forever and being against change and things being boring, with no brand flair and no campaign to it, and stop it. Evolve your messaging, get more creative, grow up, grow past it. Right, let's get aggressive. And, last but not least, the vanishing brand act of well, my logo's on it and it's four different ways and every stop right. Stick to get some standards, take pride in your brand, be consistently building that with every single interaction that people have with your brand, and you can really build something powerful when you invest in understanding, when you invest in the consistency that you need around this, because I see a lot of times this is what I want to say I have a contractor.
Speaker 1: 18:56
I mean, he's in a very competitive market, but we know what his problem is. He's so scared of everything that he won't do anything that he hasn't done forever, because what ifs right? What if this happens? Right? He worries about the outliers okay, way more, way, way, way more than the actuals of what's going to happen. We're worried about the two people that might say something than the majority of people that are going to experience our brand.
Speaker 1: 19:21
So let me tell you something. Lemonsy can help you with this. So, those of you that listen this far, I want to tell you Lemonsy can help you with all of these things. But I want you to remember something, lemonheads Do not just throw your ads out like confetti.
Speaker 1: 19:37
Build a brand that sticks. Stay bold, stay bright and fresh and you know what. You will grow your company because you are sticking to things and you're being consistent and you're pivoting and you're pushing and you're pulling and you're keeping your brand forward and you stay the course and you don't buy into all this new flashy stuff that's happening all the time. Right, that's not what you do. You are a rock star, right? This is no promo and no mojo. So we got to get our mojo back. Right.
Speaker 1: 20:03
Bad ads happen to good contractors. All the time. I see it all the time. Good contractors are doing bad advertising work, bad marketing, bad messaging, bad structure, right. And so, guys, trust the professionals, get some support. You don't have to live this life alone, right. Get you a marketing collaborator, someone like Lemonsie, that'll sit down and talk with you about these things. Don't feel like you just gotta keep doing it, right. You just. You need some support, and that's what we're here for Help you build brands, help you organize your strategy and, more than anything, help you guys kick booty. Hey, if you love this episode, I'd love for you to give us a review. Follow us on social media. Thanks so much for sipping lemonade with us guys. We will catch you next time right here at From the Yellow Chair. See you later.
