Old habits die hard. This adage applies to so much more than just personality traits because it’s also relevant to when you’re running a business, especially if it’s one that you inherited. Most traditional businesses are often resistant to innovations and developments, but that’s what needs to change.
This is because change is the only thing constant in this world. It’s impossible to remain set in your ways when the world around you is perpetually changing. If the times are changing, it’s only right that your business changes along with it because that’s how it can remain relevant and significant. So, here’s how your home service business can grow in the Internet age:
Find a Way to Meet Your Customers Where They Are
In the past, advertising was mainly done through print ads in the newspapers, radio announcements, and television commercials. These mediums were used because most consumers read the newspaper in the morning, listen to the radio on their way to work, and watch television to relax after a long workday.
However, consumer behaviors have changed drastically since then. Printed newspapers are slowly ceasing to exist, especially because it’s much cheaper to release online news articles. Plus, the availability of news articles on online platforms makes information dissemination quicker because they are already presented at a larger scale.
The same can be said for radios and televisions, particularly because modern-day consumers tend to use Spotify or Apple Music and YouTube or other streaming platforms for their entertainment needs. That’s why you can no longer rely on traditional marketing channels for your home service business.
It’s important to meet your customers on the platforms where they frequently stay, which are on the Internet. Of course, this is not to say that you should completely stop advertising in the real world, but you should prioritize and improve how you connect to your customers in the digital landscape.
Highlight the Benefits of Your Products or Services
After you’ve identified the right platforms where you can meet your customers, the next step would be to highlight your business’s relevance to their lives. Consumers tend to patronize the businesses that can add value to their lives and provide good reasons they should be chosen over other businesses in the same niche.
Since you’re running a home service business, homeowners looking to maintain or improve their houses are your main target audience. This means that you need to highlight why working with you or buying your products will benefit them more than if they were to choose another business.
Take, for instance, if you are to sell address stones to homeowners. Most homeowners can live without having a customized marker in front of their homes, so you need to show them why they should have one. Additionally, you can highlight the fact that the markers are both informative and decorative because they can increase their house’s curb appeal.
Take Advantage of Digital Marketing Trends
Once you know the what and the where, the final step would be to identify the how, as in how you’re going to sell your products and services to your customers. Marketing isn’t just about telling the world that you’re open for business and waiting for the customers to come flooding into your shop.
It’s also about using the right methods and strategies to reach your customers more efficiently. Simply relying on your existing methods won’t be enough because that’s what all the other business owners are already doing. You need to differentiate your business from the crowd, which you can do by staying current with the trends.
You might think that it’s useless to keep up with the trends because they always come and go, but more often than not, some trends become mainstays. However, when you find out that trends have become mainstays, it means that you’re too late to the party because everyone else is already doing whatever it is.
So, rather than be the one to follow the trends, you need to be leading them. You can do this by learning how to gauge the potential of digital marketing trends when they arise and take the risk of trying them out. This is the only way to test if a trend has the potential to become outstanding or if it’s a waste of time.
Understandably, it’s difficult to adopt the modern ways of running a business if you’re accustomed to the more traditional and time-tested methods. But you need to remember that even though the comfort zone can be a beautiful place, nothing ever grows there. Taking challenges and risks in business may be exhausting, but that’s the only way your business can continuously grow.
