Last week, we received a call from a business owner who was an owner/operator for a dump truck and backhoe business. He had been in business for ever relying solely on referrals and networking with builders and other contractors. However, he was EXTREMELY tired of having to take every job that came along whether it paid well or not or was even the type of work he even wanted to do.
Anyway, this business owner came to us saying "I want to reach new potential clients, drive the right kind of business for me, and focus more on the type of work that actually pays well. What can you do for me using only Facebook and whatever ideas you have for Google Search? I can't afford and really don't want a business website".
Now, most marketing agencies will tell these potential clients that in order to grow as a business, you must have a website. Then they will tell you that you need a focused advertising program for social media, print, radio, etc. to grow the business. That thought process would be correct for a business of 10 or more employees but for a owner/operator, that person is going to walk away and do ZERO business with the agency and not grow their business at all.
I say all of this because this truly outlines the difference that Trigger-Switch brings to the table. We don't want to make all businesses fit into a predetermined structure or marketing path that likely pays our bills more than it grows revenue for you, the business owner. We meet you where you are in your business path and help you with whatever budget or money you can scrape together to get you stared.
So with this in mind, you are probably wondering just what we did do for this dumptruck/backhoe business. Well, we took on this challenge and looked at both Facebook and Google.
The FACEBOOK FIX:
Their Facebook page had been build but had ZERO followers, no posts in the last year, and didn't have all the About Us information filled out so that Google Search would pick it up. Now, for a business like this where their best paying jobs come from working for homeowners who have acreage and a gravel driveway, Facebook can be a truly phenomenal marketing tool. With a correctly built page, listed services, photos and posts of work done and then targeted posts that are advertised directly to the correct audience, you can really grow a businesses new jobs and revenue.
We tackled this with a number of efforts or tasks:
Branding - We updated their profile and cover images to be more professional, appealing and inline with the services they were wanting to push. We didn't create a new logo because they already had one that would work for now.
Correcting or Completing Information - We completely rebuilt their About Us section to populate all fields and provide a thorough description of what the business does and how they try to set themselves apart from the competition.
Services - We created a listing of all their core services that paid the best and left off the type of work they really didn't want to do. This way when someone visits their Facebook page, they will immediately see the main services and work this business would love to do.
Photos - We really wanted to build out their available photos showing before and after work and in-process work showing them hauling dirt, sand or gravel or spreading topsoil for pad finishing or spreading gravel for resurfaced driveways. The big problem? They had no photos to work with at first. So that was put on hold for now.
New Post and Ad - To help kick this off and start advertising to the correct target market, we went out and purchased stock photos of the standard type of work this business wanted to pursue. We gathered together photos of new gravel and drainage pipe for a driveway or private road, and stock photos of piles of gravel, sand and topsoil. We used these photos to paint a picture with our first post that was informative, targeted, appealing, spoke directly to a current need that key target consumers could identify with and encouraged them to take action by calling or texting the business. With this key first post built, we then "boosted" that Facebook post to a very specific audience that was within 20 miles of the business location and were homeowners. We just used $10 to advertise for 5 days. This resulted in reaching 1,800 target consumers and generated 223 post clicks and 20 reactions/comments/shares. Within that, it brought 4 new prospects in contact with the business owner to discuss possible service. With one job won out of that, that $10 in advertising just generated 2 hours of work and $400 in new revenue.
Additional Posts of New Work - The first post definitely peaked the business owners attention and all of a sudden, he was making time to take photos while on jobsites or provide before and after photos of his work. This lead to new Facebook posts that would help build a baseline of the type of work and quality he provides. This is very important because it lays the groundwork to make additional posts/ads even more successful and generate even further revenue.
The Google Fix:
With Facebook squared away and the new advertised post generating new target customer reach and engagement, we switched our focus to helping the business show up in Google Search. Our competitor research showed that 95% of this type of business does not have a website and 85% don't have a Google My Business Profile created. Since building a website was not possible for the short term, we built a new Google Business profile for the business using the same information and photos used in building out the Facebook page. Once verified by postcard code provided by Google, this now provides a new way for the business to show up in all area searches for their type of business or services. Of course, it will take time, clicks and hopefully customer reviews to help this business show up in Page 1 search results. However, since the majority of competitive contractors aren't showing up in Google Search at all, the bar is set very low for our business client to quickly gain awareness and market share.
The COST:
After all this, you are probably wondering what this cost the client to turn both Facebook and Google around to their advantage. To be honest, we only charged $50 to fix/build out Facebook and an additional $50 to create the Google My Business profile. That is a total of $110 spent including the Facebook ad and $400 generated in initial revenue. Not a bad start and much, much more to come as we help this business grow.
If you have a business situation you would like to discuss, you can sit down in person with our business owner and executive consultant, Scott Roy, for free for the first hour. To schedule time, just call our office at 918-268-8555. Thanks!