I just don’t understand…I speak with contractors every day, and they all say the same, “the economy where I’m at sucks, and my company hasn’t had work for over six months”. I just don’t understand it. Is my marketing really that good or does theirs just stink? I’m in the paver patio industry (Two Brothers Brick Paving) here in Southern Ohio, and this area has been experiencing layoff after layoff. We are a small version of the Motor City in Michigan. We’ve had GM leave the area, Ford left the area, and now DHL, but somehow this is not affecting my business. I’m not complaining, trust you me. I just want to understand it. How can every other contractor not have work? Does their economy stink worse than mine? I don’t think so. I think every other contractor in the US is so far stuck in the 90’s that they can’t afford to come out.

Take for instance the printed Yellow Page directories. I have an uncle in the home improvement business that is spending $1000’s every month just to be in the yellow pages. YELLOW PAGES, when was the last time anyone used one of those? So I did my research. I knew it wasn’t working for my uncle, because he hardly ever has work, and he can never make payroll. But, I think it’s just the way contractors think. The older the contractor is, the more outdated their marketing techniques are.

So as I was saying, I did my research, and I was a bit surprised. Turns out there are still a select few people that continue to use the yellow pages, 30% to be exact, according to a study by TMP Directional Marketing, a $500 million dollar research and marketing company that studies yellow page and search engine marketing. The 30% was down 3% from the previous year and has had a consistent downward spiral for the past few years.

So who are these 30% that still open the yellow pages? The retired, the elderly, and maybe the occasional person who’s internet just went down. I mean come on, it’s so much easier to open Google and search for a contractor to remodel your kitchen, than it is to look in the phone book. What category do I look in, which one do I call? But, when I search for a contractor on the internet, I can browse their photo gallery, read about their processes and check out other customer’s feedback. So this other 30%, they aren’t going to be around forever. The local phone company where I live just petitioned to get rid of the white pages, and the petition was granted. No more white pages where I live, and before long there will be no more yellow pages. The only reason why the yellow pages are sticking around is because people are still advertising in it. As soon as everyone figures out how much money they are throwing away, they will stop and so will the yellow pages. So how is every other contractor out of work, I think it’s just their marketing stinks, and it’s stunk for so long that now they are broke and can’t afford to change it. They know their business is dying, but they just stand by and watch it happen, waiting to move on, like an emotionless child at the bedside of their dying in-law.

So how do I stay so busy? I don’t do anything special, I have a website, business cards, and I send out some postcards from time to time. Nothing special, I get about 10 calls a week from my website, and about a 1% conversion rate on my postcards. People tell me it’s because of my website, but I think it’s because of my ability to brand. Ok, so I have a great looking website, yes better than any other brick paving contractor in my area, but does just having a pretty looking website get me that much business? Heck no, but it sure helps. You see, about two years ago I noticed the trend for local searches on the internet. I could see people using the internet to search for brick paving contractors. So I invested a little money in search ranking. Ok, not really, my web design company did it for free, but, it works. Now, if I go out to Google and search for a anything to do with brick pavers in the areas I service (Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio), I see my website plastered all over the search results.

You see, I have a two part internet marketing strategy. I get people to my website, and when they arrive, I make sure that my site is inviting and encourages them to stay. A website is just like a brick and mortar store. The nicer the store, and the more there is to look at, the longer the customer will stay. The longer the customer stays, the better the chance of them buying something.

So, it’s not the ECONOMY, it’s just your outdated marketing. Fix it, or go out of business. There will always be people buying what you are selling, just not from you if you’re not where they’re looking.