In a slower market we all have less money to spend but in the Home Inspection Industry those that don’t market dry up and move on. If you’re marketing budget is too small your going to lose business. If you don’t know how much you should be spending 7-12% of your gross sales is a good guideline. The worst mistake is to drop out entirely. Instead, if you must, cut back, but never stop marketing. A terrible thing happens when you stop marketing, potential business goes to other inspectors.

One of the reasons many companies stop or slow their marketing efforts is that cannot determine its effectiveness. Do you ask your clients how they found out about you? Do you ask new realtor clients how they heard about you?  Asking is the only way you will know what’s working.

1. Alternate your media

I believe in marketing to Realtors. They are where the customers are and frankly it’s more effective to advertise to these folks. Hopefully you already have some written business plan for 2008. If not just pull out a calendar and figure out a marketing/ advertising strategy. We do newsletters, postcards, flyers, notepads and giveaway trinkets. NAHI has made this easier for you. Simply go to the Marketing Toolbox and you will find successful examples that you can customize for you business.  

2. Use the Internet to generate local leads.

Since the arrival of the Internet as an advertising tool, three fascinating facts have emerged:

Fish where the fish are.  Surveys have shown that 72% of real estate buyers do research on the internet prior to making a purchase.  How large of an Internet presence do you have? Search for your company name on the big three of the search engines: Google, Yahoo and AOL. Where do you show up? Now search as a prospective client would, use just your “town, state” and “home inspector”. Where do you rank? If you’re not on the first page, you have some work to do because most prospects usually don’t go beyond that.  If you don’t know what SEO stands for, then you need some education. NAHI has information on SEO on its website.
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Most sellers search the Internet first as buyers. Most web leads come from prospects that live in the local area and want to move within the local area. This makes sense, because most sellers what to see what's out there to buy, before they get serious about selling. If you haven’t localized your Internet presence and website, you need to do that immediately.
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Three out of four information-gathering Internet prospects have not yet contacted the competition. Most Internet prospects research online and make contact via e-mail or phone. Be ready to respond quickly when they contact you. They may want a home inspector ready to go when they make an offer on a home.  Quickly establish yourself as your prospects' one-stop source of clear and current information with prompt responses to their online inquiries.

3. Mix your media and tumble your timing.

Since I target realtors I vary my messages and delivery vehicles according to the seasons. I know I will get more mind share in the slower months, so I may do an informational newsletter in November and January then vary between postcards and flyers in the busier times. For buyers I also use pay for click placement on Google and Yahoo. I don’t bid over $1.00 per click and cap my expenditure at $25 per site per month. Since I have come up in the top 5 organic search placements in my target market, my thinking is that if they see my name multiple times they will click on one of them. Either way I win.

4. Manage costs

Printing: Internet oriented print companies such as GoPrint will offer specials from time to time. Take advantage of those to get the best rates of post cards, brochures and flyers.

Direct mail: This is a misnomer for me because I rarely use the Post Office for marketing pieces. I hand deliver all my pieces and use the time to drop in on realtors.

Newspaper/ magazine: I have stayed away from this, as I don’t know of any inspector who says the return has justified the expense.

Yellow Pages: Some inspectors say a small ad is worth it and some say its not. This is a personal choice in your market. 

Pay per click: Low per-click bidders can get great click-through late in the month after high per-click advertisers use up their budget and drop out. Paying top bid rates per click isn't necessary. If the words are that expensive concentrate on getting higher in the organic searches.

TV and radio: Frankly this is too costly for my business so I don’t even consider it.

5. Build a client database.

Cost-effective marketing is a numbers game - the one with the biggest numbers wins. That's why the value of your business increases exponentially with the size of your database. Develop a "customer care campaign" designed to convert past clients and sphere relationships into your core "advocates" who send you referrals and repeat business constantly. Try to make your money and your relationships work equally. Being overly dependent on either advertising or referrals for more than half your business is ultimately unhealthy.