In our changing economy, relying on referrals alone won't cut it.

Over the years, the #1 reason I’ve heard from small business owners about why they don’t do much marketing is because they get so much of their business from referrals. #2 is that they don’t know where to start. That's not surprising since digital marketing tools and the availability of DIY marketing tactics have exploded since the downturn of 2008. It's no wonder business owners are like deer in the headlights.

For more established companies, referrals may have been enough to keep the pipeline full for the past 10 years. Now, two years after Covid 19 hit us, challenges are compounding beyond supply chain issues; we’re also facing inflation, global effects of the war in Ukraine, and a slowing economy.

When I was invited to speak at the Master Builder’s Association’s Remodelers Council meeting in September, I had planned on speaking about how to get marketing done in your company. But I have pivoted to talk about what to do with your marketing in times of a slowing economy, working title “How to Market your Business in Uncertain Times”. Today I got a start and began developing a list of practical things remodelers can do to strengthen their businesses, and honestly, I don’t want to wait until September to share some of my recommendations. Although the examples relate to remodeling and design projects, most apply to small businesses outside of the home improvement space.

Doing quality work and managing the business well got many companies through the last downturn. This time, you also need a solid marketing foundation, including a strong online presence with targeted messaging. Why? As consumers, we expect to find information about a company in multiple places online, and when we don't find it, we move on to the next company. You need to be discoverable online, and your website alone isn’t enough.

This might sound overwhelming, but rest assured you don't need to have a degree in marketing to plan and execute. However, you do need to learn about marketing and to know where you're taking your business. Don't worry if your current marketing isn't buttoned up - most companies need to focus more on marketing. That's good news for you because it means that those businesses that take marketing seriously and act will leapfrog the competition.

Here are 8 practical things you can do to improve your marketing and strengthen your business…

1. Reach out to past clients or customers. They already know you, like you, and trust you; so, you’ve got a warm audience of people who would like to see you succeed. Share about projects, new initiatives, and updates. When you're top of mind, you're more likely to come up in conversation when someone has an opportunity to refer business to you. You shouldn't be selling but rather be sharing content that is relevant to your audience that they want to consume it. Photos and commentary of completed renovation projects are perfect.

2. Be intentional about building partner relationships. As an established business, you already have partners you work with in various capacities, and you're most likely referring or willing to refer business to one another. So why not make partner relationships part of your marketing plan? Take the time to learn what a good referral is for your trusted partners, and then keep an eye out for the chance to recommend your partner to others who need their service. This concept coined “givers gain” by BNI (Business Networking International) recognizes the value of taking the first step to help others. When you do this karma is on your side and you're more likely to benefit from others talking about you to prospective clients.

3. Take time to study your clients' needs and wants. Depending upon your projects, you may get to know your clients well. If you're designing and building someone's home or commercial space, you must pay attention to what they’re looking for in the build. However, have you thought about what your prospective clients are looking for before they hire? What are they looking for in an architect or a contractor? What is the most pressing challenge that they need you to solve for them? Where do they get their information? How do they research? What motivates them? Furthermore, how does the state of the current economy change their behavior toward their project?

Talk to existing and past clients to get their perspectives on what the uncertainty would mean if they were undertaking a new project. Your findings can inform important changes in your messaging and your project delivery.

4. Update your marketing materials to match your focus and attract the ideal clients and projects. All your marketing should be developed to attract what you're looking for - whether it's clients, projects, partners, employees, or subcontractors. Doing this will help you stand out from your competition and your message will resonate with the people you want to do business with and who you want on your team. If you don't differentiate yourself from the competition, then your prospective clients are more likely to make decisions based on price.

Wouldn't you rather that they value what you bring to the table and be willing to pay more because they have confidence that you can provide the best solution to their problem?

5. Own your marketing. You need to be active and committed to marketing your business regardless of who is doing the work. By this I mean that you need to steer the ship as the captain of your company. You know where you’re taking the business better than anyone else, and that should guide what you do with your marketing - even if you have an outside contractor or agency involved. Get and stay involved. Marketing isn't rocket science. Sure, some of the technical tactics such as web design and SEO are best handled by experts, but that doesn’t mean that you must cede control to them. The buck stops with you, and that includes the ROI of marketing. You can learn. If needed, bring in an expert who can become a trusted advisor. If you're working with outside marketing resources such as subcontractors or an agency, make sure that you stay on top of what they're doing and that you are guiding their actions. You owe it to yourself and to your company to make sure that your marketing efforts tie back to your business plan.

6. Assign marketing to an internal employee other than the owner(s). This will help ensure that the owner(s) can continue to focus on the business without having to manage the details of administering marketing programs. I’ve seen owners lose focus because they’re trying to do everything. As a result, they’re less effective in their leadership role, marketing isn’t getting done well and the owners feel burned out and guilty. Plus, sharing the responsibility with another person starts to build your team and makes it easier to build marketing into a system.

7. Maintain your marketing spending. It's tempting to cut back on marketing expenditures when things get slow. However, experts agree that you can't expect to bring in the business that you need if you don't continue to spend money on marketing. Now this doesn't mean that you shouldn’t make adjustments to improve ROI. You actually need to be smarter with your resources, so they deliver better results. To do this well, you should focus on making the most of your budget. I like to remind business owners that that marketing spending includes both money and time. Some marketing tactics don't cost much money but do take a fair amount of time to implement and manage, such as social media. It's critical that you understand how much time something like posting to Instagram will take out of someone's day and what the return on that investment is.

8. Audit and evaluate your current marketing. Make a list of what you are currently spending time and money on related to marketing. Then evaluate how each tactic is helping drive the results you're looking for – be it getting someone to discover your company, check out project photos and pick up the phone/fill out a form. What's working? What's not working? How are you measuring success?

After you've got everything down on paper, make sure that you're addressing the journey that your perspective clients take in working with you. There are likely some holes in the customer journey that could be costing you business. Strategize, plan, and focus where you should be putting your efforts.

I encourage you to take some time to start planning your marketing in light of this changing and uncertain economy. Those who do make the effort will be rewarded. Doing nothing or cutting back reactively will slow your momentum and reduce the overall effectiveness of your marketing.

I’ll be adding to this list periodically between now and my presentation. Come back to LinkedIn for more recommendations.