One of the funny terms I use about leaders in their respective industry’s is they are the “big stick” (and they use their sticks beat their competitors with it)
What do we mean? Simply put they cast a huge shadow. They market better, they dominate, they control their destiny, all others are fighting for scraps.
How do they accomplish that? With big corporations it is often a matter of money and with small companies it can be too but not always, some have found marketing themselves doesn’t have to cost a fortune and in fact can be free of you are willing to spend some of your time.
For twenty five years I owned a restaurant, back in the eighties we could run an ad in the local paper and be busy the day the paper came out. Same with radio to a lesser extent, run an ad and see immediate results, put an ad in the phone book and wait for the phone to ring. Today, not so. What’s changed? Technology.
Satellite radio and Pandora, DVR’s and DVD’s, the Internet and other technologies have drastically reduced the effectiveness of those traditional methods for generating sales. Listen to an ad? Ya gotta be kidding me! A one hour show on TV only takes forty minutes to watch if you DVR it and fast forward through the ads.
So how can you aquire a big stick? A business website coupled with social media.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and many more all offer ways to have a presence for FREE right where potential customers are looking.
Even brick and mortar stores like restaurants where no internet sales are offered are finding that interacting with people online can generate sales. Today’s lunch special sent out at 10:30am on Facebook just may increase lunch business. I ate at a restaurant, Grill on Gage, in Kennewick that I would never have stopped at had I not friended them on Facebook, and it was fantastic!
For a contracting business like the one we are in, the Internet is how they are found, yellow pages are almost dead, news papers are fine for coupons but not as good for general information, especially when paying by the column inch! Phone books are bulky and with three or more in many areas the chances of you being seen are diminishing as fast as the people who actually use a phone book are.
If you want to walk with the big boys you gotta carry a big stick. You have to spend the time to refine your web site, you have to engage with social media and you have to be consistent to see results. That, or ya gotta be willing to pay someone to do it for you.
If while doing this you trip over some settled concrete give us a call, we are the big sticks of Slabjacking in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho,
1-855-752-2522
www.SlabjackGeotechnical.com
Superior technology, Superior polymers, Superior results.
