Social Media Versus Traditional Marketing Strategies

What are the advantages of social media advertising versus traditional marketing strategies for contractors?

No matter how much you may have thought the Internet was a fad, you were wrong. The Internet has invaded all aspects of our lives and has now become the main channel of communication for everyone.

With accessibility becoming easier in the form of smartphones, tablets, and Wi-Fi hotspots, marketing for contractors has never been easier. With the proliferation of constant access to the web, online marketing has become the go-to source for advertising budget allocation. This has given birth to a new trend known as Social Media Marketing.

As you can see, the dollars are pouring in online, so below are five key benefits to marketing for contractors!

• Cost: Advertising through social media platforms is cheap compared to many offline platforms. In fact, many platforms are still free to engage apart from the costs of designing and production. You certainly don’t need a model, a voice-over artist, or an actor to create ads online the way you do through traditional means like the TV, print media, and radio advertising needs.
• Reach & Focus: One of the key drivers or advantages of social media advertising as a form of marketing for contractors is that traditional advertising is who it reaches. Reaching your audience, and more importantly, targeting and focusing on the right kind of prospect has become much easier compared to the “shotgun” approach you had to use as a marketing strategy for your construction marketing.

  Your message gets a second life when it is shared with others in their circles. Also, something as simple as a mailing list becomes a bit obsolete when you consider the cost savings of not having to pay for postage…which is always rising!

• Real-Time Analysis: A real-time analysis is almost impossible to get through the traditional forms of media; and even if it is done, it is done in the long term. On the other hand, measuring the efficacy of advertising through social media can be done almost instantaneously.
• Future-Proof: Last but certainly not least, advertising on social media is the future. As mentioned earlier, with the rise in ad dollars spent on online marketing and the ‘constant hot’ connection to the Web, more and more companies will want to be where the eyeballs are…and that’s online.
• Democratization: The Web provides no cover for companies that don’t perform offline. If you have trouble in markets where below substandard operators exist, then the Web is WHERE YOU WANT TO BE. Trunk slammers and home scammers can’t exist online because they are flushed out too quickly. That’s why you want your message heard loud and clear, so you rise above the rest of the competition when people are ready to buy.

There are other reasons to focus online, but let’s just call a spade a spade, social media isn’t going anywhere. If you don’t have the time or the budget to build your brand online, you WILL be washed away by companies who make the investment.