Robert Koci
Word-of-mouth marketing is not just on the street
Canadian Contractor Marketing & Sales Basement basement renovation Commercial community groups credibility endorsement featured membership costs reno toronto word of mouth marketingHere's online marketing to die for and how to make it happen for your company.
Click on this link to see an example of word of mouth marketing to die for, but wait till we explain first.
The link will take you to the website of the Danforth East Community Association (DECA), an organization dedicated to the improvement of a neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto. DECA’s membership is small, but concentrated, and the credibility of any endorsement within the community is very, very high; easily as strong as the endorsement of a trusted friend.
As you’ll read, someone used this network to ask for an endorsement of a contractor that could do their basement renovation. here’s the post:
Contractor Wanted
And, finally – speaking of businesses we want to support, I’ve received a request for some recommendations for a contractor to do a major basement reno and a minor stairs reno. Step up DECA-ites and post your suggestions to the blog or send them to me and I’ll do it (natasha.granatstein(at)gmail.com.
The post received 11 responses from members, most raving about the qualities of the contractors they have used for their various projects. If you lived in that neighbourhood, you would definitely want to be on that list. How to get there? Here are our recommendations:
– Join your local community groups. All of them. DECA membership costs $10 per year. That’s very cheap marketing.
– Link to them, and ask them to link to your website.
– Sign up for their newsletters. Scan them, and find something to respond to, but DO NOT try to sell your company. Just participate. Readers will learn soon enough that you are a contractor and, when they are ready, will call you.
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I’m having issues finding this link to DECA. Can you forward me the link?
thank you
Try this: http://decadiaries.wordpress.com/
This should get you to the main page of their blog.
DECA website = http://danfortheastcommunityassociation.com/
their blog where this discussion of contractors happened =
http://decadiaries.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/want-a-vibrant-commercial-strip-shop-local/#comments
and scroll down to ‘contractors wanted’
I totally agree. Trust and consistence is the key to success in business and in life. It is far better to say no to the work than to take it on and really mess it up. The association link back to your web site does help with SEO and those links are all tracked by the crawler bots!
One of the comments was interesting
“He was knowledgeable, professional, and pleasant to work with, so I hired him to build my deck. He quoted me an extremely reasonable price ($2000) and did a meticulous job”
As a contractor I don’t know if I would want someone posting this.
First, anyone that reads this and is planning to build a deck, they might call this guy and maybe assume that they’re project will cost around $2000.
The comment doesn’t specify the size of the deck, the type of materials, whether they paid this guy cash, or if it only includes labour not materials.
It sets an unreal expectation with any future customers, To the point that it might do more damage than good. What if people start calling you to quote decks and you are pricing $8000 for the job, people would start to think you are trying to rip them off.
Steve
Greenside Renovations
416-556-0207
http://www.greensiderenos.com
I think you underestimate the intelligence of customers. They can go to a site like HomeStars and read hundreds of reviews. Our site also asks homeowners to put in an estimated price of the job which gives homeowners an idea of what the general range of a job might be. We’ve heard it has helped many people understand the range of prices for particular projects. (ie. no, you can’t ask a contractor to throw up a deck for < $1000 – the cost more than that)
Very interesting thoughts. Always be marketing!