Email marketing is a powerful tool that allows you to connect and communicate with your ideal clients.
While search engine optimization, social media marketing, and paid digital advertising are valuable tools for marketing your contractor business, email marketing takes the lead.
Need some proof?
Let's look at the numbers.
- Email marketing has an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent
- 80% of professionals say email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention
- 60% of consumers have made a purchase as a result of an email they received
- 61% of consumers say they actually ENJOY receiving weekly promotional emails
So how do you get these same incredible email marketing results for your contractor business? By following these 4 easy email marketing tips.
Know Your Audience
Before you start wondering what you're going to email, you need a solid understanding of who you're going to email.
Who is your ideal client?
Are they residential homeowners looking to remodel or build?
Professional house flippers looking for a quick kitchen update and some curb appeal?
Maybe you want to work with more general contractors and construction companies looking for subcontractors. Or a business owner who needs to build out a new retail space.
What is the ultimate goal for your ideal clients?
Clearly, the goal for a homeowner looking to build their forever home is entirely different than a commercial tenant looking to build out retail space.
What problems do they face along the way?
What's standing in between your client and their ultimate goal? Are there similar problems you help solve for all of your clients or frequently-asked questions you answer all of the time?
Now that you have a good understanding of who your ideal client is, where they're trying to go, and what's standing in the way of their success, you're ready to think about what you should email them.
Go Beyond the Screwdriver
Imagine that you have signed up to receive emails from DEWALT. Which of these two newsletters would you rather receive?
The Screwdriver Weekly Newsletter: Tips for using screwdrivers, stories about screwdrivers, pictures of screwdrivers, comparisons of various screwdriver brands... (you get the flathead point we're making here).
Or...
Tools for Building a Better Contractor Business: Tips and advice to help you bid, manage, and complete your project. How-tos and hacks to help you build structures and build your business. Not to mention information and promotions about DEWALT products.
Including the aforementioned screwdriver.
One of these options will be vastly more valuable to you as a contractor than the other.
When you're contemplating just what to email your list, go beyond the screwdriver.
Think of your email recipients as real people facing real problems. How can you help?
Be Purposeful
Don't send emails for the sake of sending emails. Be purposeful with your email content. Give your email recipients a reason to look forward to receiving your correspondence in their inbox. Whether it's tips for planning, paying for, and surviving a remodel or a curated list of the best articles about dentist office trends, make sure to tailor your email for your specific audience and their goals, problems, and needs.
Pro tip: Your email content doesn't have to be 100% original. You don't even have to write it yourself! You can send a round-up of helpful articles and blog posts that you find interesting and useful. This is a process called "content curation." Get started with this list of 46 content curation tools.
Be Consistent
While it may be our last piece of advice, it is far from the least important:
Be consistent with your email efforts.
Don't start and stop and start again.
If your list doesn’t hear from you in 6 months, they're not likely going to remember you. Decide on a regular cadence you can commit to, whether that's weekly, twice a month, or monthly, and stick to it.
The key to email marketing success is to be thoughtful about your audience, purposeful about helping them achieve their goals, and consistent with your delivery. Do these things, and your subscriber count -- and your job offers -- are sure to grow.