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Still Relying On Word Of Mouth? ...You’re in Trouble · Marketing For Tradies

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're considering online marketing right now because you've capped out on referrals and word of mouth, or you're ready to take your business to the next level, and you know that we have businesses who the majority of their audience doesn't know that they need what you offer.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: They only know that they have a problem.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, time and time again, I see business owners who have no CRM, and all that's happening when they get a lead is it's going to their inbox and they're filing it away after doing a couple of follow-ups.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Strategies or the best tactics for those type of businesses are welcome to Websites That Convert, the podcast where your website stops being a liability and transforms into your greatest asset.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host Shannon and I'm going to guide you through the strategies and insights you need to build a website that not only attracts but converts.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to grow your business, but you are capped out on referrals and word of mouth.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: You've used this to grow your business to the point that it's at now.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: You have a solid foundation, and the fact that you're getting consistent referrals and word of mouth business coming through proves that your service, your offer, and whatever it is that you do is high quality and you are able to be trusted by people to refer their family, friends, colleagues, or business relationships to you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so we love working with these businesses because it literally tells us that you have a solid foundation and you have a great service and that any online marketing that we do is basically putting fuel on the fire of what you've already created.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So going into a business that is relying on word of mouth and referrals is actually a great thing for us because we know that you are already performing well and this is gonna allow you to scale to the next level.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're capped out on referrals and word of mouth, you're not alone.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very common thing because what got you where you are now is not gonna get you to the next stage.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you can get to 50 or 100 or you know, multiple hundreds of thousands per month just with a referral and word of mouth.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's totally possible.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you will reach a stage where you are realizing that you can't rely on this kind of traffic and this type of business coming through because it's not scalable, it has a limit, and it's not totally reliable or consistent over time.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking that you can rely on referrals and word of mouth puts you in a really vulnerable position because at the end of the day, you can't control how many word of mouth and referral clients are coming through to you.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of like a hope and pray type strategy.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can continue to provide an amazing service to ensure that you're getting reviews, you're getting testimonials, you're getting repeat business referrals, all of those things that you're currently getting right now, you want to sustain that.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't lose that at all.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that will cap out.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're feeling that right now and you're feeling like you've plateaued in your business or you're even starting to retract, then now may be the perfect time to consider what other avenues you can go down to ensure that you're getting found by people that are in your target market that can't find you right now, so that you can generate leads from people who are looking for your services and ready to buy.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can grow and scale your business without relying on word of mouth or referrals.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're considering online marketing right now because you've capped out on referrals and word of mouth, or you're ready to take your business to the next level, and you know that those channels of generating leads and getting sales is unsustainable and not reliable and you lack control of it, then I know that it can become quite overwhelming thinking about, you know, what do I actually do?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do I run Google Ads?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do I do Facebook, social media, start a podcast?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need a personal brand?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Should I recreate my website?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Do I hire an in-house marketing provider?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do I start posting content?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need to do blogs?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a lot of different things.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to give you the three simple things that you need to be doing.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to decide what channels or what tactics you're going to use within these things.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, any marketing strategy can work.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to sit here and say our website marketing system is the only way that you can generate leads and grow your business.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: What I can say is it works really, really well for service-based businesses that want to scale and stop relying on word of mouth and referrals.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're interested in little plug, website marketing system, go and book a call with me and my team, and I'll run you through exactly what that looks like.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: But in order to scale your business with digital marketing, there's just one simple thing that you need to do, and that's to create a marketing funnel.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the steps inside of a marketing funnel are gonna differ depending on the strategy that you go with.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the point of this episode is to educate you on what a marketing funnel is and why you need it.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just the way that marketing works.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can wrap your head around what a marketing funnel is and how a marketing funnel works, then you're gonna be better equipped to have the conversations with a marketing provider so that you can make a decision of what's right for your business.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things that go into deciding what strategy you should use for your business.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: But before I get into what a marketing funnel is, I just want to tell you that the platforms strategies and the tactics that you use for your business should always be related to the overall mindset of your target audience.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that actually mean?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it means that for some businesses, the majority of your audience are already in their buying mindset.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: So think trades businesses, you know, home improvement services, allied health clinics, all of those things.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: The majority of people that are in your target market and the audience that you want to market to and that you want to be found by are already aware and ready to take the next step into booking, getting a quote, um, you know, inquiring with you because they have a particular need, problem, or goal that they're aware there is a service provider who can help them with.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go and think about okay, one of our clients at the moment is a kitchen renovations business.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, most people that are thinking about getting a kitchen renovation already know that they need a kitchen renovation.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're already in the market for it, they're already looking, collecting information, they're already in the buying mindset.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them are already looking for quotes because you know they're actually ready to take that next step and renovate their kitchen.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Another example is a smoke alarm installation business.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So again, someone doesn't wake up one day and go, oh yeah, maybe I'll get a new smoke alarm.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: They know that they need a smoke alarm.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Same with another client we are working with right now in the polished concreting business.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: No one wakes up one day and just decides they want polished concrete.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, your content can help nurture them into deciding that they want polished concrete because of how great it looks.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: But most people and the people that are in your target audience are already aware and ready to take action on getting those type of services.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Same with physiotherapy, exercise physiologists, counselors, all of those kind of things.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like people know that they need you.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that means the majority of your marketing strategy should be targeted at people that are in that buying stage.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: People that are ready to buy, people that are actively searching for what you offer, people that have identified themselves as being in the market for your services.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: The best strategies or the best tactics for those types of businesses are Google Ads.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: The reason that that is, is because you can control who your ads are being seen by, more specifically, based on the keywords that you're targeting.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So think, you know, physiotherapist Brisbane, Polish Concreting, Sunshine Coast, Kitchen Renovation Sandgate or Brisbane, wherever your location is.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: We can see in Google how many people are searching for those keywords.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And if we can get your business in front of those people, then that's a winning formula in terms of the strategy around getting you found by people.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, on the other hand, we have businesses who the majority of their audience doesn't know that they need what you offer.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: They only know that they have a problem.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, for these businesses, there will still be some people in their potential target market who aren't in that buying stage.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that there isn't, like in any business, in any audience, we have people in all different stages of their buying journey being completely unaware that they have a problem, aware that they have a problem, considering a solution to that problem, or deciding who's going to be the best option for that problem to be solved, and then, you know, actually purchasing.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's the buying journey.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is for those businesses that's further down their buying journey.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, on the other hand, we have a group of businesses like your coaches, some therapists, some product-based businesses as well, where people aren't ready.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're not in the buying mindset.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're not actually considering who or the best business to work with or ready to actually inquire.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: The majority of the people who you need to be marketing to are those people that are in the stage of being aware that they have a problem and maybe aware that there's a solution to that problem, but not actually aware that you would be the right fit for them right now.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so this marketing is more around like brand building and nurturing, building trust, that is important for the other businesses too, as is the lead generation and sales-based tactics for these businesses too.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I'm saying is that if your business, the services that you offer, what you're selling to people, isn't something that you can convince someone that they need, such as a physiotherapy appointment, such as polishing your concrete, installing smoke alarm, renovating your kitchen.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not something that you can educate and like warm someone up to the idea of, because someone doesn't just wake up one morning and think, I'm going to renovate my kitchen today, then you're much better off focusing on people that are further down their buying journey.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said before, we can actually look at the keywords in Google to figure out if the majority of traffic or people in your target market are in that buying stage or not.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: On the other hand, if you have a business where people aren't even aware that you exist or that your offer exists, or that this could be a solution to their problem, you must spend most of your time educating them and building value and helping them understand that you are the solution to the problem.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be focused more on problem solving rather than lead generation.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Brand building, trust building, lead generation, and sales.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: These are the two types of businesses that we see in marketing.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, what that looks like for marketing strategy is creating content, posting on social media, maybe starting a podcast, doing things to get value out to your audience.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: 70% of your marketing should be that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: 30% of it should be lead generation and sales-based content and generating leads and trying to get people to convert.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: On this side, which is the majority of businesses that we work with, it needs to be the reverse.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: 70% of your marketing strategy should be focused on lead generation and sales, targeting people that are further down their buying journey.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that 30% on brand building, building trust, nurturing your audience, because it's all going to feed into each other.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: But you can see here why the 70-30 split is the complete opposite for both businesses, depending on where the majority of their audiences sit right now in their buyer's journey.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, because we work with majority of businesses that are on this side of the table, I'm going to take you through what you need if you have a business like this and you want to stop relying on word of mouth and referrals and start creating an online marketing strategy that's going to get you found by the right people and generating leads so you can make more sales and grow your business.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: All you need is one simple scalable system that addresses getting in front of the right people.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So these are people that are in your target market, actively searching for what you offer and ready to take action.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: How we do that is create ads on Google targeting keywords that we know that high intent traffic is using to search for your services.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So these are things like Physiotherapist Brisbane, Smoke Alarm Installation Sydney, Gym Fit Out Company Sydney, variations of those types of keywords and location-based keywords because we know if someone's looking for that, they're in the buyer's mindset.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're ready to book something, they're ready to get a quote.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing that you need to create a marketing system that's super scalable and really, really simple is to have a place to send people.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: That needs to be a website, needs to be a landing page, but not just any website and landing page.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: This website or landing page needs to be set up with the right strategy, with all things considered, what your goals are, your messaging, your industry, your target market.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have the right content.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: That means the right structure of the pages, the right words, the right messaging.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the last thing that you need is the right calls to action.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do not ask people just to contact you.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Use some terminology that's action-focused, things like get a free quote, book an appointment, something along those lines, whatever's relevant to your business.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Make it really, really clear what they need to do next.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The third thing that you need is the right systems.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: After that lead comes through, you should be sending all of those people's details into a customer relationship manager that's going to help nurture those leads and have a place for you to manage them.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Time and time again, I see business owners who have no CRM and all that's happening when they get a lead is it's going to their inbox and they're filing it away after doing a couple of follow-ups.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to grow your business this way.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you're getting word of mouth and referrals, you might be converting 80% of the leads that are coming through, sometimes 100%.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is not the case when you're getting leads from sources other than those that know you personally or have been told by someone that they should trust you.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You need to get back to that lead almost instantly.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: So have an autoresponder in place.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: So they're getting an email, acknowledging their inquiry, telling them what the next step is.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Have an automation that gives them the next step to take.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's that you do a site visit or that they should book an appointment or request a callback or book something in, or whatever it is, the next step that you do, give them that step to do.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna fast track the process of getting them through that buying journey and getting them to take those steps and those actions that lead them into purchasing from you and becoming a customer.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's really, really important.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the third thing inside of your systems is that you need to be doing your follow-ups.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you get a lead through, call them as soon as possible.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't get an answer, send them an SMS, send them an email.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And have an automated process around making sure that you andor your sales team is following up people systematically and have a lead nurture sequence in place so you're touching base automatically with those people and building trust and authority in the background while you're manually following them up too.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that you do after a lead comes through should be leading them to purchasing and becoming a customer.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: They have told you, people get really scared about follow-ups.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand it because there is so much money being left on the table right now because you're not doing the follow-ups the way that you should, or being more aggressive in those follow-ups.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Put yourself in the shoes of that person that's inquired.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have gone out of their way to search for something on Google, to find your website, to put their details into a form.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's come through to you.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they didn't answer your call for some reason or they're busy.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have their details.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: They have asked you to get back to them.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know that sales isn't a skill that a lot of service-based business owners have, but it's still really important to make sure that you're tapping into remembering that this person has identified themselves as wanting what you offer.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And more than likely, they're inquiring with a number of other businesses, and the person that gets back to them first and they have the best experience with is the one that they're going to buy from.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so the initial stages are really important, but also making sure that you're doing those follow-ups.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's people in my pipeline who I've been connected with for like years, and then they've come on board.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it wasn't the right time.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Something else came up.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: They, you know, whatever the reason was, but I do the follow-ups and I make sure that everyone is accounted for with the lead pipeline manager that we have in the systematic follow-up process that we have.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we can ensure that we're getting the highest conversion rate possible by leaving no stone unturned as a lead goes through that process because some people do need more time.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So until you get a no, it's a possible yes.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do just like two or three follow-ups and be done with it.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Minimum should be five, but pick the days and the amount of times that are going to work with you that you can be consistent with and have those automations in place as well.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the last thing I want to touch on before I wrap up this episode is just understanding what a marketing funnel is.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you're better equipped when you're speaking to a marketing provider.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: A marketing funnel is all that marketing works off.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like no matter when, where, how, why, whatever marketing that you're doing, it's always going to be run off an evergreen marketing funnel.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it doesn't matter what marketing that you're doing, as long as you have a funnel in place.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about this complex system that has all of these different steps.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just talking about the process that a lead goes through from being unaware of you to buying from you.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so the tactics within that marketing funnel matter, which is what I've addressed today.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the strategy behind that funnel matters, which I've also addressed today.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: But the most important thing is that you have a marketing funnel.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is a marketing funnel?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: A marketing funnel is just a process that a potential buyer goes through from being unaware of what you do and your business to buying from you.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: So this all starts in the awareness stage.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if we go back to our marketing system and the strategy that we implement for our service-based business clients, the awareness stage starts when someone finds you on Google.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: The reason that this is important is what I addressed before about these are the people who are actively searching for what you offer.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're listing your website, your meta descriptions, which are the little previews on Google, your ads on Google, are all coming up for that prospect as they're searching.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just getting you in the running for someone to click because they've put those keywords into Google and you've come up.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's not guaranteed you're going to get that click.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have the right copy.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: You need to speak to the prospect as they're in that awareness stage.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: But they've identified themselves as someone who's interested in what you offer.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first thing.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Creating awareness and getting you in front of your target market is where the marketing funnel starts.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: The next stage of the marketing funnel is to have a place to send that traffic.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And in our website marketing system, this is your website and landing pages.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: So those need to be set up to convert.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean by set up to convert is wherever you're sending that traffic, you need to have it a clear, consistent, easy to use call to action for someone to take that next step.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we've gotten found by people, we have somewhere to send that traffic, and then we have an action that they need to take.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: The next stage of the marketing funnel is taking that lead who has, you know, it's converted now.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you've gotten found, you've sent them somewhere, and they've taken the next step to convert.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now you need to take that lead into trusting you enough to buy from you.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the next stage of the marketing funnel.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the next stage of the marketing funnel is closing that lead into a customer.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever you do, whatever strategy that you're using, make sure that every stage of that marketing funnel is addressed.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go into marketing online and getting out of word of mouth by just thinking you can just turn on some ads and just hope for the best or just rebuild your website or just start a blog or just start a podcast.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like all of these things and these specific tactics will sit somewhere in that buyer's journey.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: And having all of those elements in place is what's going to get you the best results.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are a business that's relying on word of mouth and referrals right now, and you want to start properly scaling your business, using online marketing, creating a marketing funnel, and you want to target people who are actively looking for what you offer, have a place to send them and convert those people into leads and into customers so you can get a return on your ad spend, return on investment, and grow your business without relying on word of mouth and referrals.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then find the link somewhere in this episode in the show notes or whatever platform that you're watching this on or listening to it.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Book in a call with me and my team.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'll run you through exactly how this works, how our website marketing system will help you get these results and help you grow your business, and how you can stop relying on word of mouth and referrals and build a consistent, reliable, scalable system to generate leads and grow your business.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's all for this episode, and I'll see you next time.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Websites That Convert.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you found value in this episode, please give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Follow us on all social media.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a service based business owner that's looking to double their website conversions, book a call with my team using the link below.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next episode.