Week #12 coupon

While we don't actually have products to do a discount on, we could do discounts.  Say Free Estimates, or 10% off your estimate with the a signed contract of a referred customer.

Week #12 Other Social Media Tools

What four additional online marketing tools do you believe could be important to the growth of your business? 

How could you integrate them into your current strategy?

There are so many online marketing tools and social media sites that it can be a bit overwhelming.  

I have learned that it takes a lot of time and effort to keep these sites maintained.  

But four additional tools that I think could help our business would be Linkedin, Google plus, Google Docs and Youtube.  Linkedin and Google plus could increase our circles of influence and reach, we have a personal Linkedin, so I feel we could easily expand it to the business.  I thing Google plus would give a not only additional but different circles of reach.  Plus I have learned a little about the benefit of google drive and google docs and feel that it could be a great benefit to our business.  When you are biding and designing jobs, often different contractors, engineers and designers need to see different parts of the job, whether it be different explanations, or bids.  Google docs allows you to upload into a program similar to Microsoft word, power point, and excel and create documents in them that others you chose to share with can also edit, which could be extremely helpful.  I think it would also benefit us to establish a you tube channel.  That way we could create videos demonstrating the process of different aspects of our construction companies abilities.  These videos could then be uploaded into our power points that were created in google docs and shared with other people who need to add to the bid or proposal, or uploaded and shared with the potential customer or client we need to demonstrate our business to.  

Week #11 Social Media Marketing

I think one of the greatest benefits of Facebook is Word of Mouth.  It is much easier to put a post or a call to action post on Facebook and get friends and family to like and repost, then it is to sit and make calls to everyone you know to ask them to share about your business.  It is about getting your business in front of as many prospective customers as possible.  So if you simply post on your page, ask 10 friends to post on theirs, and they have ten share, already your name is being put in front of more people then you could touch in one day without social media, and it is free.  Then same with Instagram, post a picture of your business or a before and after collage of work you have done and share it with your friends.  Let the picture do the selling for you.  Linkenden is another way to connect freely with prospective customers, and get your name out there.  Some one who has used your company or service or product and then posts and shares about it, that is great advertisement and it is free.

Week #11 Comments

http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com/

http://tltarkington.blogspot.com/

http://amandapolkcsit.blogspot.com/

http://jillchang47.blogspot.com/

Week #11

At this stage for our construction company, I think the best two choices would be Facebook ads.  One to bring more people to our website, and another to bring more people to our Facebook page.  At this time both of our sites have had very little use so I think it would best serve to get us out there.  Starting at the beginning with visits to our website and our Facebook page, then hopefully once our name is out there and more people are liking and visiting then we can start.  Doing more complex ads.

Week #10 Blog Post Links

http://briangilb.blogspot.com/
http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com/
http://socialmedia858.blogspot.com/

Week #10 Email Marketing

I would think a monthly or at least quarterly newsletter would be a great benefit to our business.  There would have to be a balance between homeowner and commercial client topics.  We could definitely touch on the typical seasonal topics.  Weather proofing your home for winter, adding rooms or remodeling for the holidays.  Hardscape construction for you spring and summer projects.  It could also go to the real estate companies we work with so that they have updates to keep our name in the for front of their minds when new clients come in.  

Constant Contact could easily help us sort and send to specific clients and potential clients.  

Week #9 Blogging for Business

 What kinds of categories you would use on your blog to stay organized and reach your target audience. How would these categories help the business grow?

I think to help organize my blog and reach specific targets I could separate by these categories:
Home Improvements
Bathroom Remodels
Kitchen Remodels
Room Additions
Custom Homes
Weather Proofing
Permit Process
Patio Covers
Design Process

These are different areas we specialize in, and I think separating them would allow people only interested in doing say a bath remodel or patio covers to be able to simple read that category instead of having to read streams of info about Custom homes or Room additions.

These are the names of the blogs I commented on, 
http://patriciavazphotography.blogspot.com
http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com
http://marleemarlee.blogspot.com
http://briangilb.blogspot.com