Developing a marketing plan is a major step in starting a countertop business as well as taking your fabrication business to the next level. In this article we will look at parts of a granite marketing strategy that will help you to implement your strategy.
We are focused on driving your business with direct sales. With direct sales you control the flow of business, You control the margins, You control the sakes process. With commercial you are subject to volume and terms which may be out of your control. We help provide direction for how to protect yourself with commercial work but this is not our focus. Our focus is to attract customers that are interested in the services that you provide at a volume you can sustain.
How many installs do you want?
If you know how much business you want this is the first step. By defining the amount of business you are looking to gain you now have a touch stone to measure success. We then attribute the cost associated to generating this business based on general market intelligence and we are then able to project your return on investment.
How many installs can your current infrastructure handle?
Are you the one man shop, sales team with install crew and fabrication crew or are you bigger than this? If you can project out where problems begin with too much business you will have a realistic view of the top line for cost to do more business. To much business is measured by a decrease in quality of service, and reduction in profit due to sales force limitation, fabrication crews over worked and installs going bad based on teams rushing to complete work.
What is your competitive advantage and value proposition?
How will do we differentiate you in the market. Look at your competitors and see what they do. How they do it and see who is winning the work. Take this and apply it to your values and see if that lines up with your values and your message.
How much should I spend on adverting?
Zero. Spend your money on marketing. You can't measure what you don't track. Marketing is advertising but includes measuring and tracking effectiveness of every advertising dollar spent. Once you have tested various channels and have developed your message to drive new business your marketing budget typically reflects 15-20% of sales to sustain this flow of new business.
Where do I start?
Start on the Internet. Why? it is the best medium to test creative, define your competitive advantage, build you brand and effectively understand the specifics of your market. Learning so much about the customer by driving them to a well formed website will provide you insight into how to define your marketing strategy and provide you with more confidence as you build out your marketing mix(Internet, Print, TV, Radio, etc.) Granite Countertops and Stone Marketing is a great niche' to market online. Track all channels with tracking phone numbers and track-able call to actions. This is very cost effective way to monitor the effectiveness of one channel over another and manage where your money goes when advertising.
How do I manage customers effectively?
With a online CRM or lead management solution. You may be able to manage your current work flow in your head or in your day planner but you dont want to be the bottle neck in your business. by managing your work flow online certain aspects of your business can be managed for you to allow you to allocate more of your resources to other tasks like sales , process , and your competitive advantage. A Granite Countertop lead management system monitors the effectiveness of each channel and while you track the progress of each sale you will be able to see trends, monitor closing rations and truly measure the effectiveness of each channel.
Example Starting Marketing Plan
Internet buy: $2500 : 50 phone calls 40 emails 17 sales = $147 Cost per Install (CPI)
Projected sales $2500 x 17 = $42500 in revenue per month @ 10% of sales
Phase 2 Marketing Plan
Internet buy: $2500 : 50 phone calls 40 emails 17 sales = $147 Cost per Install (CPI)
Projected sales $2500 x 17 = $42500 in revenue per month @ 10% of sales
Social Media buy: $1000: 10 phone calls 20 messages 6 sales = $166 Cost per Install (CPI)
Projected sales $2700 x 6 = $16200 in revenue per month @ 6.2% of sales
Projected sales $58700 in revenue per month $3500 ad cost =  @ 6% of sales
Example expand marketing mix (phase2):
Diversify marketing mix and expand into traditional media
Internet buy: $2500 : 50 phone calls 40 emails 17 sales = $147 Cost per Install (CPI)
Radio buy: $2000 : 40 phone calls 2 emails 3 sales = $667 (CPI)
Print buy: $3500 : 60 phone calls 10 emails 12 sales = $292 (CPI)
Marketing Budget $8000 for 32 installs = $250 (CPI)
Projected sales $2500 x32 = $80,000 Sales per month @ 5.8% of sales
Who are you?
We are online Granite Marketing experts that focus on specific markets. We take these specific markets and take the best online marketing tactics and strategies and apply our knowledge of specific verticals to put together a program that can't fail. We do not take on every customer we don't work in every market. We pick specific verticals that we have a passion about and can make a difference for small to medium size businesses. We are online marketers that specialize in you, the Granite Shop.
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