In today’s blog we explore how effective marketing of your KBB business can be simpler than most retailers think, and you can discover a 2-step system to implement in your business for big growth…
Accountants are good with numbers and spreadsheets, Dentists are good at fixing teeth, Arborists are great at cutting down trees and Plumbers are good with pipes.
The problem for all these businesses is that they’re good at what they do, but they’re not experts at the marketing and selling of their trade.
It’s the same in the KBB retail industry. Many of us are sensational at designing, surveying and installing, but we’re also found wanting when it comes to getting our message out there and attracting new customers.
The good news is that in the last six years, we’ve spent a large amount of time honing and refining our marketing skills, and whilst working exclusively with KBB retailers up and down the country, it’s apparent that you only need to be good at two things in order to create huge uplifts in sale and enquiry volumes.
Traffic and Conversion
If you’re a student of marketing, you may recognise the phrase ‘Traffic and Conversion’. Whenever we have a lead issue in our business, it’s often solved by coming back to the mantra of ‘Traffic and Conversion’. But what does it mean? And how does it relate to a KBB business? Here are the definitions…
Traffic: The volume and flow of qualified prospects to your website and shop floor.
Conversion: The rate at which you can convert traffic into leads, enquiries, design appointments and ultimately sales.
How Can Traffic and Conversion Be Used To Grow My KBB Business?
Quite simply, Traffic and Conversion is the be-all and end-all of your marketing strategy. If you can drive a large amount of quality traffic to your website AND you have a website that converts traffic into enquiries at a good rate, you’ll be onto a winner.
How Can I Get More Traffic To My Website?
Luckily, getting quality traffic to your site has never been easier. Never have we been blessed with so many options when it comes to getting in front of our target market, and many KBB brands are taking advantage of these modern marketing techniques. But there’s a problem…
…they’re doing it ALL wrong.
You see, the secret to driving large volumes of traffic to your website is this: ‘A Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy’. When most people do some marketing, they choose one medium, such as ‘Direct Mail’ or ‘Google Ads’ and they assign some budget. Often, this singular piece of marketing won’t have much of an impact and the business owner will conclude that it hasn’t worked before quickly scrapping the campaign and stopping all marketing for six months.
One of the secrets to a successful marketing campaign is to operate through multiple channels with the longer term in mind…
Marketing Channels
There is a plethora of marketing channels to choose from. I could literally type out a list of one hundred and still have room for more. But what’s the point? No one has time to keep track of any more than seven or eight campaigns at once, and let’s be frank, the Yellow Pages and many local magazines are a waste of time.
In no particular order, here are the marketing channels that we are seeing the best results from right now. The chances are that if it’s not on this list, it’s probably not worth your time (unless you have large marketing capabilities in your business)…
1. A great website (one that converts)
2. Google Ads
3. SEO
4. Facebook Ads
5. Google Display Advertising
6. Remarketing (Through Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Display)
7. Lead Magnets
8. Email Marketing
9. Direct Mail
10. Content Creation (Blogging and Articles)
Strong campaigns in each of these areas, all targeting the same or similar audiences in key geographical locations, is the key to building awareness and starting to create a relationship between your prospects and your brand.
Long Customer Journeys
What most people fail to recognise (or weave into their marketing plan) is the length of the customer journey in this industry. It’s not uncommon that someone would take three years to buy a kitchen, from inception of the idea to purchase, and most marketing campaigns simply aren’t in front of prospects for long enough.
Remarketing is key to staying in front of qualified prospects. Channels like Facebook Ads and Google Ads will give you the opportunity to run ads to people for 180 days after they have visited your website, and that’s an incredibly powerful tool when long buying journeys are involved.
So, What’s The Budget?
Many of us hate being asked this question as it inevitably means we’ll be parting with money, but in all seriousness, a good marketing plan needs to be backed up with a healthy budget. You can’t expect to get £20,000+ customers for free. That’s ludicrous, be sensible when it comes to setting aside money to grow your business. If you need some help in assigning budgets, please let us know as we’ll be happy to talk you through it.
Consistency: The Long-Term Approach
Where many part-time marketers come unstuck is pulling the plug too early. Often, a campaign will have to ‘bed in’ and results will only be seen as time goes on, and with the long buying journeys in the KBB industry this is especially true.
Running synchronised campaigns across many different medias so that your prospects see you in multiple places (Facebook, Instagram, Display Network, Google Search Ads) is a great way to go.
How Can I Convert My Web Traffic Into Enquiries?
Now that your multi-channel marketing campaign is in place, you should start to see more traffic hitting your website (you can see this by logging into Google Analytics).
it’s now time to focus on converting all of this new traffic into genuine enquiries, so here’s how you can do that…
It All Starts With Your Website…
Having a website that converts is paramount to your marketing strategy working, and the graph below shows just how important this is…
The graph above shows just how important it is that your website ‘converts’. For example, if you’re site is only converting at 0.5%, you’ll get 5 enquiries where you would have had 20 if your site was converting at 2.0%. That’s a difference of 15 leads and 3 sales working on a 1 in 5 conversion rate!
So, What Can You Do To Increase The Conversion Rate On Your Website?
Over the last ten years, the way people buy kitchens has changed dramatically. Back in the day, the consumer’s first action point on their customer journey was to visit a showroom. Now it’s the last. People now do most of their research online, so if your web presence isn’t a direct reflection of your fabulous showroom, people are going to go elsewhere before they even get to your showroom.
With that said, it’s important that your website, the vehicle that shows off your brand, is next to perfect. It needs to be inspirational, aspirational, functional and easy to get in touch with your business. There are a plethora of points that are a ‘must’ for your website, and although we’re not going to go into explicit detail on all of them, here are some of the things that your website must do…
1. Be image-led
2. Have inspirational design and branding
3. Easy-to-view and operate gallery
4. Plenty of testimonials and case studies
5. A navigation bar that scrolls with the user
6. Multiple call to actions
7. Optimised for a positive mobile experience
8. Analytics code installed for tracking and reporting
9. Good site speed
10. Easy-to-use navigation
11. Effortlessly functional
This is in no means an exhaustive list, but you will need to prioritise this list in order for your conversion rate to start creeping up.
In Summary
There are obviously many things to take into account when it comes to implementing a profitable, multi-channel marketing strategy, but it remains true that there are only 2 things you need to be worried about, and that’s Traffic and Conversion.
If you’d like to talk through your plans for Traffic and Conversion, please talk to us on 0121 450 6780.