Why brand awareness is crucial for home improvement businesses
Brand awareness is a major key to getting the right people to look at your business. But many contractors overlook its power and fail to invest the effort into building their brand.
When it comes to a brand, many people may think of the name of a business, a distinct logo, a memorable tagline, or even a unique social media presence. However, a brand is so much more than just a singular factor — it’s the face of your company, the reputation of your business, and how you distinguish yourself from the competition. There are several benefits to having a strong brand for your home improvement business. Here are five reasons why you should prioritize strengthening your brand.
Establish trust & credibility
80% of consumers indicated that trust was a deciding factor in their buying decisions. You can put all the time and money in the world into your marketing, but nothing can replace good old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising. Most homeowners ask friends and family for recommendations before starting a home improvement project. This means, if you haven’t built a strong brand, you may be out of the running before you even get a chance to make an impression.
Decrease price sensitivity
The price of a service factors heavily into the customer’s decision-making process. However, having a strong brand allows you to charge more than the competition and still close jobs. When customers know they can trust you, they’re more willing to pay premium prices. In fact, it’s been estimated that a business with a strong brand can charge more than a medium or weak brand.
Increased employee retention
You may think that branding only matters to an external audience, but it can also affect your internal team. Many employees reported they wouldn’t apply for or continue to work for an organization with a poor public reputation or following. Plus, standing out from other organizations in your field can help you attract the best talent, making your business stronger by being able to serve your customers above and beyond their expectations.
Position yourself as a leader
Having solid brand recognition already in place builds a great foundation, giving you a leg up on the competition By positioning yourself as a leader within your industry, homeowners know they can come to you for the latest and greatest. Having a strong brand in place can also help with your overall advertising. Since you already know who you are as a company, many of the elements you need are already in place, allowing you to allocate essential resources elsewhere.
Second chances
Unfortunately, no matter how well you plan, mistakes can happen in any home improvement project. When customers have a strong relationship with a brand, they’re more likely to both forgive the mistake and continue their loyalty when you have a solid brand.
How much effort should go into branding?
This goes back to having a solid grasp of your numbers. You won’t know how much energy to put into building your brand unless you know exactly how many leads you need to bring in for your business to thrive. Knowing these numbers helps you determine how much brand building you need to do and sets guardrails for your time so you can focus on other things in your business.
To know how many leads you need, you must do the math and calculate your close rate against your job cost and profit margin. The bottom line is, to keep your leads coming, through the busy times and the lean months, you need to be building and marketing your brand year-round.
In the end, building your brand will strengthen the relationship of trust you have with the public. That means stronger name recognition, better reputation, more referrals, and more revenue.
