It's an exciting time to be working in the flooring industry, with high demand for quality flooring services and products.
Whether that’s garage floor coating, commercial flooring or domestic applications. However, as opportunities grow, so do the marketing challenges that come with growing a business in a competitive space.
Marketing is an interesting topic for many small flooring companies that we speak to both here in the UK and in the US and Canada. The constant bombardment of new technologies and gimmicks makes it a difficult target to follow. We get it. It’s a pain, and it tends to quickly fall to the bottom of the to-do list. Thankfully, there are some small actions you can take that will make a big difference.
We’ve looked into the top five challenges that flooring brands say are their biggest targets to fix - and provided a few tips on some quick wins that businesses can do to tackle them.
Let’s get stuck in...
1. Competition
The flooring market is a billion-dollar industry. It’s a busy space filled with a range of different businesses from multinational retailers through to local boutiques. Standing out from the competition requires a combination of substance and sizzle. In our opinion, this boils down to 3 key points:
- What makes you different
- What makes you better
- Your customer service
These points are not something you can throw together overnight. They form the foundations of your brand and can take many weeks to establish. As you work on this, we recommend that you begin by using one of the best resources you have - your existing customers.
Testimonials and positive feedback are a fantastic way to champion your business - communicating why you're the best option for new customers. As you maintain a consistent message of quality workmanship, browsers will begin to view your brand with that positive message in mind - helping their decision to become your customers and not the competition’s. Our case study of our work with Torginol is a great example.
2. Customer understanding
With so much product choice out there and so much conflicting information, many customers across all industries struggle to understand the best options for them. For flooring, this can ramp up a notch with other factors such as the condition of the existing floor and the installation processes involved. With so many types of flooring products available, the paradox of choice can leave many customers feeling frustrated.
Flooring businesses can address this by creating content that informs and educates their audience. Content is king and the more quality content you can create, the better. Things like blogs, case studies of your previous work and videos are all great ways to inform your audience and boost your rankings on search engines.
If time is against you here, there are a number of ways to give your customers more buying confidence. Virtual design tools such as visualizers are a great way to help customers try out different products and guide them through their flooring options - giving them confidence in what they purchase and preventing buyer’s remorse in the future.
Another great way to educate your customers is to provide free consultations. You’re the expert here and many customers will respond well to this type of additional service and guidance.
Remember, the goal here is to present your business as a knowledgeable expert when it comes to flooring, which can influence purchasing decisions.
3. Seasonality
Flooring sales follow the same peaks and troughs that other home renovation trades do, with Spring and Fall tending to be busier, and Summer and Winter tending to slow down. A good way to smooth out this turbulence is to develop marketing campaigns specifically for the quieter times of the year that focus on promoting discounts. This can help reduce reliance on seasonal trends while maintaining more lucrative prices in times when demand is higher.
Many flooring brands that use Onfigr’s tools have branched out into other products that are sellable all year round such as rugs, cleaning supplies and other renovation work such as roofing and kitchen installation. This is another useful way to smooth out a bumpy revenue forecast.
4. Digital Presence
These days, we live in a digital-first world, so having a strong online presence is crucial for finding and engaging with potential new customers. Many flooring businesses struggle with digital marketing tactics such as optimizing their company website, ranking on search engines and managing multiple social media accounts.
There are a lot of tools to choose from in digital marketing and we recommend looking into getting support here for more technical challenges. For more immediate wins, we would recommend the following:
Mobile: It’s essential that your website works well on mobile. This has become so important these days, that if your website doesn't provide a good mobile experience, it can negatively affect your rankings on search engines like Google. Make sure to check all your current website pages on a mobile phone and ensure any new ones are designed to work on mobile, first. If you have a website developer helping you, they will be able to support and advise on this.
Social media: Social media is the leading digital marketing tool helping small businesses to grow an online presence. They are free to get going and provide a whole range of different options. Many of you will be familiar with social media already. It’s growing your social media presence that bogs many businesses down. Social media management is key, and there are some great free tools out there that can help you manage multiple social media accounts at once. We’ve listed these plus the other free digital tools that we think are worth your time here.
Email lists: Email is a tried and tested digital marketing tool. It’s a great way to get your brand out there and keep customers coming back. Most businesses will have an email database, and providing you are meeting your privacy laws, this database can be contacted with various offers and promotions that can get potential customers interested in you again, or get existing customers referring you to friends and family.
Local listings: There is a lot going on, online. Sometimes the best course of action is to go digital - local. One of the best ways to do this is to set up a Google My Business account. We look into this in more detail in our next point.
Getting your digital marketing right is hard work, but it’s becoming more and more important to ensure you are engaging your online audience and nurturing them to become customers. However, it’s a big task to take on all at once and we recommend getting these essentials right before exploring bigger ticket opportunities. Once you are ready to explore more options, get in touch to see how our tools can help get you to the next level.
5. Local Marketing
Location, location, location. Getting your local marketing right is essential - especially in the digital world. The vast chasms that you can fall into with digital channels such as social media are great, but if you’re a small business with a local footprint, having a fan base on the other side of the country isn’t going to be very useful. This is where local targeting comes in handy. Here are our top four actions for local marketing:
Google My Business: A free tool from Google that lets you communicate the details of your business to those searching for relevant information within your area. It’s easy to set up and a must-have option for small business marketing.
Local Listings: While not as prominent as they once were, these still hold sway with enough people to make them worth your time. The cost here also tends to be a lot less than other channels.
Community Events/Sponsorship: A great way to get eyes on your brand is to support local events through sponsorships. Combine this with the free consultation we mentioned in section two and you have a nice locally-focused marketing campaign in the works.
Business Relationships: Partnering with relevant businesses in your area can be a great way to share sales leads that have affiliated value. For flooring, look at speaking with local estate agents, other home improvement trades, interior designers and contractors. The value you can bring to each other will make the relationship worth it.
Five top takeaways
There’s a lot to dig into here, so we’ve summarized our top five takeaways to get some quick wins:
- Focus on customer testimonials and communicate these to other potential customers through your marketing channels such as your website and social media. This is a solid way to build a positive and lasting opinion for your brand.
- Consider the support of new technologies such as visualizers to help engage and educate your customers quickly, without having to invest too much time and effort into getting results.
- Plan your promotional campaigns to boost seasonal quiet times.
- Manage your social media marketing efforts better using the free tools available. More info on our recommended free digital marketing tools here.
- Create and manage your Google My Business account to bolster your local marketing.
Marketing can be time-consuming and complex, but by strategically tackling these challenges using the actions above, flooring businesses can not only survive but thrive in a competitive landscape.
To see how Onfigr’s tools could help bolster your flooring business, get in touch to book in a free consultation with our team.