For small businesses, including water damage restoration specialists, the world of online marketing and social media provides so many benefits. One benefit is the ability to target a specific audience easily and effectively at little cost. When you market offline, through print advertising, billboards, or television ads, you have very little control over who will be exposed to your campaign. Sure you can try to target certain demographics by adjusting the time of a day a commercial will appear or placing your ad in a specific publication, but when it comes down to it, this is just guesswork and there is no guaranteed results.
Marketing online is different. Whether you are creating a social media campaign or using Google Adwords to bring more traffic to your website, you can modify your campaign settings to make sure the right eyes are being exposed to your brand. These tools all allow you to target people based on age, gender, income, the industry where they work and more.
The Importance of Targeting a Specific Audience
A marketing campaign that targets a specific audience is essential to making sure you are getting your money’s worth for your marketing efforts. Putting your ads or website in front of everyone who gets online is simply inefficient. You don’t need everyone online exposed to your brand because not everyone who gets online needs your services. Once you have determined exactly who your target audience is, you can avoid inefficiencies in your marketing efforts.
Who is the Target Audience for the Water Damage Specialist?
Before you can take advantage of the customization tools available through many online marketing tools, you must be sure you understand who your target audience really is. One mistake commonly made by water damage restoration specialists is the belief that their primary target market is the homeowners experiencing water damage, but this is simply not true.
For the restorer, the target audience is actually the insurance agents, plumbers and other contractors in industries related to yours. The majority of the time, your business will come from referrals. If a homeowner experiences a water damage emergency they will typically call their insurance agent or plumber first. These referral sources will typically have contractors they have worked with before, or who have a reputation for being honest and providing high quality work. Because of this, when marketing your business, you want to focus your efforts on these referral sources, who will become your main source of new business. Given that as many as 80% of these referral sources use search engines and social media to research companies like yours, it makes sense to use the same avenues to connect with them and grow your brand.
Online marketing and social media are purpose-built to help you target a specific audience and will take your marketing efforts to the next level. To learn more about marketing your water damage restoration business online, click here or call 1-866-667-3356 to find out if joining our national network of independent restorers is right for you.