Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine April 2018

Business & Marketing Tips

Social media also provides a great channel for delivering content to stay engaged with your existing customers. Perhaps you want to send them winter maintenance tips. Doing so through the U.S. Mail is costly and email can be time intensive. But you can direct this content (whether it's a downloadable piece or just text in a message) to your users and customers so they benefit from the information and stay tightly connected to you 6. Create an enemy OK, take this with a grain of salt, but everyone loves to hate the bad guy. Most experts say that tension makes people pay attention, and in a business context, an enemy helps create this awareness. They also want to quickly avoid the pain that comes from knowing the bad guy could strike at any time. This isn't about actually finding a person or industry to target, however. This is about the culprit that gives you business in the first place. For a carpet cleaning company, kids' shoes are evil. They track water and dirt all over the house...let's go to war over kids' shoes! Or an HVAC company can align themselves with hot, uncomfortable customers to combat a heat wave with air conditioning...and possibly the opportunity to more effectively keep ice cubes cold in your margarita! Customers like quirky and fun campaigns like this because they are original and entertaining. It also gives you the ability to stay highly connected

and stand out from competitors who stick to standard, basic messages. While you aren't actually trying to instigate anger in people, having a common enemy (no matter how funny it is) is compelling and increases a customer's appreciation for you as a vendor. Don't forget that one of your greatest assets may be your employees. They represent your business and everything they do can either help or hurt your business' chance of retaining customers, so it's critical that you invest time to train them in customer service that stands out. A Gallup poll indicates that almost half of employees are unaware of their own company's branding, which prevents them from being a great ambassador for you. To make sure they are consistent with what you think is important, walk your employees through the entire process of engaging with a customer. It starts with marketing collateral, your website, social media - anything that a customer might see before they decide to work with you. That material should reflect the type of business you want to and it should look professional, be clear, and demonstrate a level of trustworthiness. Then, an employee needs to keep in mind all the little things that go into making a lasting impression : great the 7. Make your employees your best ambassadors