Lead times are shrinking for many offsite and modular home factories as the rush to buy new houses has slowed due to rising interest rates, inflation and material shortages. Projects that just a month or so ago were the low-hanging fruit, today are beginning to be just out of reach for many factories.
With production lines still packed with work, modules in the yard ready to ship, trusses and wall panels loaded on carriers waiting to be delivered and even a couple of new projects waiting in the wings, you’re probably asking yourself why your company should worry about increasing sales. We already have more than we can handle.
But fear not, in the housing industry for as long as anyone can remember, everything that goes up eventually comes down. The 2008 housing recession was preceded by great sales. After the recession, over 50 modular and offsite factories closed their doors forever.
PFS Corporation
Viking Carrier
Mariotti Building ProductsHave you forgotten the phrase “History always repeats itself?”
Although successful, well-executed B2B marketing strategies take time to build and require ongoing, consistent effort, there are still some things you can do today to help drive sales for your manufacturing company this year.
Make Sure Your Marketing and Sales Efforts Are in Alignment
In a recent study by Forrester, 43% of CEOs believed that misalignment had cost them sales. To improve your company’s sales, your marketing and sales teams must be cohesive and collaborative. Take the time to foster relationships between these teams; this will help ensure your marketing team’s efforts are actually helping the sales team close deals.
Stop the Presses!
Only a few factories have true marketing departments.
In the case of the typical modular home factory, the Sales Manager or the GM or maybe even the owner handles those duties. I’m sure while business is good, marketing is one of the last things they have time to think about.
So, aligning your sales and marketing people usually is this one person sitting at their desk and posting a few pictures on Facebook or LinkedIn or one of the other social media outlets. That’s the best 5 minutes they spent this week!
I’ve also seen Sales Managers that had no idea someone in Marketing decided to post an article about a product that was discontinued last year until a few emails showed up. How hard is it to have these two teams work together?
Create New Ads
Staying fresh with new ads targeting your audience is a real challenge, especially for the one-person marketing depart mentioned above. Looking at creating a new advertising piece is an expense that many seeing serves no purpose when they still have the advertising logo or banner they bought 10 years ago that still looks OK. That’s money you don’t have to spend.
Some factories wouldn’t think of placing any ads while business so good. “That’s just a waste of money. Wait until business slows down before you place any ads in blogs, magazines or direct email.”
Stop the Presses!
If you think it a waste of money to advertise, where will you get the money to run ads when sales fall and you’re laying off people?
Top-of-mind awareness is the goal of marketing. Making an impression with people that can buy your product simply means that when it’s time for them to buy, they will remember your name. Now isn’t that what you wanted? Be the one they remember, not the one on the third page of a Google search.
Record a Video of Your Factory
Two of the most effective videos are simply a series of pictures of what you want to show with someone explaining what they are seeing and the other is you simply recording yourself talking while walking through your factory explaining what you’re showing everyone. These videos should be under two minutes or if you don’t want to edit them and simply want to post of social media immediately, keep them to 15-30 seconds.
A few years ago, I took a 15-second video while walking through the outdoor exhibit at IBS in Orlando. That little video went viral within the first day. Here’s a little secret folks, all I did was walk past a couple of displays and announce who they were. VIRAL! ONE DAY! 100,000 HITS!
Buyers love getting a behind-the-scenes look at things.
Stop the presses!
You can’t do it? You don’t look good on video? Who the heck cares! As Nike tells everyone…Just Do It! If you own the company, you’ll get bonus points from buyers.
Review Your Website
You don’t have to pay a lot of money to have a professional firm review your website to see if it’s still effective, current and appealing to your target audience. You can do what several local businesses near me did last year.
They went to the local community college and had a class of social media marketing students critique their websites. The response was very enlightening. One of the business owners told me that most of the students were so turned off by her website that they didn’t want to see anything beyond the homepage. But since it was a class project, they did a full report of it and gave her important things she needed to address.
She actually hired one of the students who changed the website by brightening it up, changing the fonts and adding a lot of pictures and a short video. Best investment she ever made in her business, considering her original website cost her $7,000 and the update only cost a couple hundred dollars. Sales have almost doubled.
The other website fared better but the students made several important suggestions he decided to add. Since he designed his own website using one of the online services, he was able to make the changes and is still seeing improved traffic.
Stop the Presses!
When it comes to factory marketing, a lot of manufacturers spend their time waiting — for visitors to come to their site, for visitors to convert into prospects, and for prospects to turn into buyers. If they didn’t like your website the first time they visited it, your wait will be in vain.
Send Regular Updates to Your Customers
Regular email communications keep your business top of mind to prospects and customers who are more likely to repeat business with you. Focusing on existing accounts can help you build better relationships and increase sales. Stay in touch regularly with email newsletters, welcome emails, and re-engagement emails — not just the basic transactional emails that confirm when someone completes a purchase or submits an RFI.
When you’ve done something new, let them know! A key thing about emails and sharing content is the ability to generate a lot of leads.
Stop the Presses!
If your company wants this to be an effective way to market your products and services, it has to be consistent. Doing it only when you remember doesn’t get you the top-of-mind awareness you need.
Think Again!
Now go back to the beginning of the article and check off the suggestions you think would best help you quickly and which ones should be long-term and regularly addressed. None of it is hard to do. It just needs to become a regular part of your total marketing program.
And if you don’t have a dedicated marketing department or person, do it now.
Related Articles:
9 Common Marketing Mistakes Of Offsite Construction
Have You Become “Marketing” Poverty Stricken?
Stop Marketing Off-Site Construction To The Wrong Audience
Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at gary.fleisher@imediagroup.com
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