Generate $17 to $34 For Every $1 You Spend On Digital Marketing

Since 2015, I have continued to offer digital marketing services to restoration contractors throughout the United States. When I first started this business, I knew that a digital marketing strategy is effective if it is well thought through and implementation is executed consistently.

From 2011 to 2014, I worked exclusively for a disaster restoration company, starting initially in a marketing and business development role and eventually moved into the position of Chief Financial Officer. These were great learning years where I gained a complete understanding of how a restoration company operates from a marketing and lead generation stand point as well as the complexities of operations and financing.

This experience is the primary reason my strategy generates results for my clients. I understand the restoration business and the questions consumers have about the services they offer. This understanding enables me to anticipate and answer questions through the content I post on my clients’ websites. In turn, this creates goodwill and trust between the consumer and restoration client, which leads to higher close ratios.

My passion for this business really grew from the desire to educate consumers. In 2007, I suffered from mold illness after purchasing a building after the inspector indicated it had moisture concerns. There was water damage in the ceiling from a leaky roof, window casings were rotten, and the integrity of the building structure was questionable as the walls moved noticeably when pushed. Like most people, I really did not pay much attention to the damage and after fixing the leaks, continued to work. Unaware of the presence of mold and its impact on health, my family and I grew increasingly sick for the next three years. I still remember how difficult it was to accomplish anything during this period. I suffered from bronchitis and pneumonia several times, always felt tired, could barely concentrate, and really became depressed. In 2010, we moved after selling the business and the building and I began to feel better. Full recovery took 12 months.

In 2011, I started a consulting business focusing on helping business owners grow. Luckily, one of my past business associates who owned a disaster restoration company presented an opportunity to work with him. My first task was to begin working on creating an online following for his business, managing his social media and website content. I was also required to educate consumers on the topics of mold, asbestos, indoor air quality, water damage, etc. I really enjoyed this work because I was learning so much from the research, but most importantly, helping other consumers educate themselves.

After gaining considerable experience in the field, fast forward to 2015 when I decided to launch my digital marketing agency and offer my content marketing and digital marketing services to other restoration contractors. The rest as you say is history.

Today, I have gathered 4 years of data from my current clients and the purpose of this article is to present to you with the results of one of my clients with whom I have been working with since March 2016. You will learn three key lessons in this article…

First, I will provide you with data clearly demonstrating you can gain a significant return from investing in a digital marketing strategy.

Second, I will detail why your website is so important in converting visits to leads and how you can maximize conversions with 16 website recommendations.

Third, I will present the top 10 skills you need to have to implement a successful digital marketing plan.

Case Study Data!

Case Study: Data!

Since March 2016, one of my clients has generated 100,000 plus page views mostly from visitors referred by search engines and FaceBook.

Implementing my strategy, traffic to their website has grown approximately 50% each year: 20,960 page views in 2016; 30,660 page views in 2017; and 43,557 page views in 2018. Most of the visitors to the site originate from Facebook through B2C (Business to Consumer) PPC (Pay Per Click) ads and organic search engine visits.

In 2018, this client spent $24,000 (including the advertising budget for PPC ads) on RDMS’s services and generated 340 web leads from consumers filling in an online form. This does not include additional direct phone calls to the client, which are in addition to online inquiries. However, for the purposes of this article, we will focus on leads captured from direct inquiries online through the website.

I spoke with the client and they advised me that the average closure rate on leads is 40% and their average sale ranged from $3,000 to $6,000.

Based on this data, this means they closed 136 leads (40% of 340) generating sales between $408,000 (136 jobs x $3,000 per job) and $816,000 (136 jobs x $6,000 per job).

Simply put, for every $1 spent on RDMS’s digital marketing services, the client generated between $17 and $34 in revenue. This is an excellent return on investment!

Top 5 Reasons The Client Got An Excellent Return On Investment!

Top 5 Reasons The Client Got An Excellent Return On Investment!

This client is getting such a great ROI on their digital marketing spend with RDMS for FIVE KEY REASONS:

Patience!

When I started working with this client, I explained this approach is a long-term strategy. All good marketing takes patience because it takes at least 7 touch points, ie. exposures to their brand, likely more, when you are focusing on creating online relationships with potential consumers.

Quality!

RDMS’s strategy focuses on posting high quality content on the client’s website. You likely have heard “Content Is King“, but this is only true if the quality of the content is sincerely written to provide value to the reader. The main purpose of the article is to create awareness and educate. It is posted to generate a positive reaction and hopefully lead to what I call “digital word of mouth” where the reader decides to share the article with their friends and family on their social media profiles.

Consistency!

The success of any digital marketing effort is based exclusively on consistency. This is the guiding principal for all marketing. To have a deep and strong impact, the campaign must be scheduled and implemented consistently. Consistency develops trust and trust increases successful lead acquisition and sales.

Advertising Budget!

Included in every proposal is an ad budget to push consumers to the website. Since there is so much content being produced today, the most effective way to compete is increasing awareness through investment in PPC ads. I specialize in B2C PPC on Facebook, which accomplishes two objectives:

1. It creates significant brand awareness of the client’s company and their Facebook page, which leads to a higher fan base.
2. The ads target consumers in the client’s service area, meaning they are seeing the ads locally on their Facebook timeline.

Keep in mind, these are not “salesy” ads. They are designed to peak the viewers interest and compel them to want to learn more about the topic. I focus on Facebook because the cost per click is significantly less than Google ads.

Engagement!

Included in the digital marketing contracts I sign with my clients is management of their social media, meaning their FaceBook fan page is consistently updated. Comments and notifications are monitored continuously and if a comment or question is posted that requires the input of the client, I will let them know so they can respond personally. The impact of owner engagement is significant because it demonstrates caring which leads to further trust amongst fans of their business. This results in an increase of customer referrals, sharing, and goodwill from consumers in their service area.

Most importantly, this client has generated such great results from their investment because of the quality of their website – as provided by RDMS. There is absolutely no point investing in a digital marketing campaign if your website is not designed professionally. With this in mind, the next section lists my top 16 website recommendations.

16 Website Recommendations To Increase Lead Conversions!

16 Website Recommendations To Increase Lead Conversions!

The success of your digital marketing strategy will be accelerated if you have a well laid out, professionally designed website as the foundation for all future efforts.

By far, this is one of the most important steps you must take into consideration before you invest anything into your digital marketing efforts. Here are some recommendations to consider:

1. Make sure your menu is designed so visitors can navigate the site easily.
2. Create your website using WordPress. I recommend WordPress because it is a very effective tool for inbound marketing/blogging/content marketing and provides you with many different plugins that you can use to enhance SEO efforts, stats, list building, sharing, etc. More importantly, WordPress is very easy to use. Once your website is successfully getting lots of traffic, you can likely manage this yourself or appoint a staff member to do so!
3. Ensure your website is built using responsive design so that it looks good on multiple devices (mobile, tablets, desktop, etc).
4. Implement AMP (accelerated mobile pages) so Google can serve up mobile pages to your viewers.
5. Spend time on the “About Us” section of your website. You want to create trust, which is conveyed best through staff pictures, bios, personal and company history, etc.
6. Make sure the SEO of your pages is set up properly with title tags, header tags, meta descriptions, etc.
7. Optimize images and make sure that they have alt tag descriptions.
8. Make sure the “Contact Us” page is easy to find and has all of your business details (address, etc).
9. Ensure that your visitors can easily share your pages and posts.
10. Be social! Your website should have links to the social media you use including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I also recommend that you claim your Google Business page and go through the steps to verify the page.
11. Make sure your website has a site map so it is easier for search engines to index it.
12. Get testimonials – written and video if you can. Ensure that you have a separate section devoted to this.
13. If you offer a guarantee, make sure this is visible on your website.
14. Ensure your phone number is visible at the top of each page.
15. Publish before and after photos of your work.
16. Finally, offer a newsletter or some type of free report or something to prompt visitors to your website to subscribe to your newsletter and create an e-mail list that you can market to.

I offer a digital marketing course to contractors that want to educate themselves and implement their own digital marketing strategy in-house. There is no cost to the course. That said, in my experience most contractors that start their own digital marketing campaign find it difficult to maintain primarily because they get so busy managing their businesses. If you plan to implement a digital marketing campaign and hire in-house, the next section will list and explain all of the skills that you should be looking for in a potential employee.

Top Ten Skills Required To Be Successful At Digital Marketing!

Top Ten Skills Required To Be Successful At Digital Marketing!

The ideal candidate to manage your digital marketing campaign should have, at minimum, these 10 skills:

1. Research and writing skills. By far one of the most important skills. Note: 300 or 400 word articles will likely be of little benefit. Aim for articles with 1,000 words or more.
2. Marketing or communications background which is essential for creating copy to create calls for action and enticing ads on Facebook. This draws consumers in and encourages them to read and share the content.
3. Ability to curate content from news sources so that your social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) are consistently posting information to keep your fans engaged and following you.
4. Basic knowledge of html and working knowledge of WordPress including the many plugins that can be used to enhance your website look and feel.
5. Basic knowledge of Google analytics and Google webmaster tools. Knowledge of Bing is beneficial as well.
6. Page and Post SEO skills to ensure the candidate is not only able to research and write effectively but is able to set up the content properly on your website with proper title tags, meta descriptions, etc. Getting this right is critical for long term success.
7. Ability to use SEO plugins like All In One SEO or Yoast SEO.
8. Ability to source and implement images effectively into blog posts, meaning they should be resized to load quickly and have proper alt tags for SEO purposes.
9. Discipline and organizational skills. Content marketing only works if it is done consistently. Plan to post and promote a minimum of 2 articles per month or 48 to 60 articles in a period of 24 months.
10. Working knowledge of social media, most importantly Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. The individual you hire should know how to post articles, schedule posts, share information, and understand how to manage your profiles effectively and consistently.

Note: if planning to hire someone for this, expect to budget between $30,000 and $60,000 annual salary expense plus advertising costs. According to PayScale, the average salary of a digital marketing specialist is around $58,000 per year. In addition, you should forecast your budget for a minimum of 24 months to yield any results from this.

Keep in mind, hiring in house may cost significantly more than hiring an outside agency. If you decide to work with an agency, make sure they are familiar with the restoration industry, work with multiple clients, and have significant expertise.

Request A Digital Marketing Proposal!

RDMS offers you 6 key benefits of leaving your digital marketing needs to us. We work in the background, managing all of your digital marketing while you focus on managing and operating your business.

The proposal process starts with a 60 minute free consultation which you can book online. The purpose of the free consultation is to find out more about your business, your current digital marketing, and find out about your lead generation goals.

Book your free 60 minute call today or send us a message! 🙂

Related Articles!

1. Blogging Is A Game Changer!: Blogging is a game changer for the disaster restoration industry because it empowers contractors to connect with consumers early on in the sales cycle. This article explains why contractors that think outside the box can gain more leads and sales by investing in an inbound marketing strategy.
2. Top 7 Content Marketing Statistics: This article explains why digital marketing works by answering the top 5 questions most often asked by disaster restoration contractors. In addition, we list and explain the top 7 statistics that show you why content marketing can be such an effective strategy at increasing your leads and sales.
3. Top 4 Goals Of Content Marketing!: Many disaster restoration contractors set up blogs and wonder why they do not work. The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, it highlights the top 4 strategic goals of content marketing. Second, it explains why “content is king” but “consistency is queen.” Consistency is the key to success!
4. Google Is No Longer The Referral King!: Did You Know That Facebook Refers More Traffic To Websites Than Google? In fact, 60% of all the traffic to websites today related to education and research originates from Facebook, compared to only about 20% from Google. This article explains how to maximize your ROI from a Facebook marketing strategy!
5. If You Want More Leads, Read This!: If you want to create a long term organic lead referral system, this article will explain how you can generate more leads with a content marketing strategy promoted through PPC ads on Facebook.
6. The Business Case for Content Marketing: An article published by R and R magazine, explaining why your business needs to have a digital marketing strategy.

About Sanjay Gupta

I look forward to helping you, call 613-561-3563!

Sanjay is a marketing professional with over 20 years of experience in both traditional marketing and digital marketing. His digital marketing agency specializes in helping disaster restoration professionals increase their brand awareness and online lead generation using content marketing on topics related to mold removal, asbestos abatement, water damage restoration, fire and smoke restoration, and bio-hazard. In addition to providing marketing services to several restoration contractors, Sanjay is also the CEO of CitriFresh Distribution. CitriFresh Distribution provides eco-friendly mold removal, exterior cleaners, and other household cleaners. The goal of CitriFresh is to help disaster restoration contractors increase their profits. Sanjay is also a trained business coach, offering coaching and consulting services. Sanjay has also contributed several articles to R and R Magazine on the topics of mold and digital marketing.