Jessica Chevalier

Among flooring retailers, there are miles of difference between how best to use online marketing to attract customers and close sales and how most are doing. Unlike the old days of placing weekly newspaper ads or running commercials on the local evening news, online marketing reached specific buyers in specific markets seeking to produce specific results. . It requires the user to change to suit or be left in the dust. Used properly, online marketing can be a targeted and productive resource.

Tools that require intent
As Floor Focus contributor Irene Williams wants to remind readers, a productive online marketing program isn’t about tapping the youngest member of staff every once in a while to post on social media. A mature online marketing strategy includes establishing metrics and conducting frequent audits.

Flooring retailers investing in online marketing aren’t doing it alone. They have one or more agencies they hire to oversee and implement their strategies. Massachusetts-based AJ Rose Carpets & Flooring has vendors that specialize in digital marketing, traditional marketing, and social media. However, the key to these successes is more than just writing checks and handing over jobs. Collaboration is key.

Kevin Frazier of Knoxville, Tennessee-based Frazier’s Carpet One said: Offering floor coverings is not what they are used to in advertising. It is a turnkey commodity and consumer goods. [with which they are more familiar]You need to understand what your turnkey customers want and how best to market it. “Frazier has been doing his marketing online since 2003. He has a 45-minute meeting once a week with his partner. At these meetings, representatives give his Frazier a digital scorecard of about 20 bullet points detailing items such as: How was the traffic to the website Digital Lead How was the performance of his platform This includes his Carpet One-provided data on the performance of his website.

“I’m always very involved in the vision and big picture calendar,” says Frazier. “This allows us to stay on top of what is happening and any changes. [My rep] And in 2015, I started digging into my digital spending. I want proof that something works. ”

Calling to action is key
Of course, a recruitment agency represents a financial investment. In addition to paying agencies, Frazier spends 4% of his sales on marketing, part of which goes to his online marketing. This includes $2,700 a month spent on Google and Facebook ads, $1,200 a month on YouTube and Spotify ads, and his three-fourths of that on his YouTube. . Additionally, Frazier’s spends about $700 a month on content produced by his advertising agency.

Patrick Molyneaux, co-owner of Pennsylvania-based Molyneaux Tile Wood Carpet, devotes 40% to 50% of his total marketing budget to online outreach, which is used for a variety of strategies that change as needed. I’m here. “Our digital marketing team is constantly experimenting and testing different engagement methods,” he says Molyneaux. “The great thing about digital marketing is that you can measure ROI (return on investment).”

As with all marketing, measuring the success of online marketing is about getting consumers to take desired actions. The required actions may vary from company to company, but they should be specific, not vague like “brand awareness.”

Sam Locher, AJ Rose’s vice president of business development and marketing, said: Of course, the ultimate goal is to drive traffic to your store and get contact information for follow-up. “

In addition to an online lead submission form, AJ Rose offers consumers the opportunity to text the company and receive near-instant feedback. Locher fields these texts. “Some people prefer to send a text message rather than fill out an entire submission form,” he says. “And those who want instant gratification.” Locher says he receives about 10 texts a day and distributes them to the company’s teams as needed. He laughs and points out that a lot of people are painfully vague, like, “I’m looking for a carpet,” but that’s an opening that can also lead to sales.

Frazier believes that calls to action are an integral part of online marketing. he said: They have nothing to do with our 70 year old business or the fact that we have the largest selection and beautiful galleries in the world. The above points are affirmative. People often want these elements to be the most emphasized in their digital marketing, but spending money on top-of-mind messages ends up being top-of-mind instead of action. “

Molyneaux adds: These leads are assigned to specific design consultants. This also allows you to generate leads and measure close rates in your CRM (customer resource management) tool. As a result, many design consultants earn $100,000 a year, which is a significant income for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “

From 2006 to 2014, Frazier closely monitored digital marketing efforts to see if they were driving a “full-bodied and complete response from customers” for turnkey products. Even in an era when the answer was no, the company was investing about $1,000 a month in his online marketing to build a foundation for when the tide turned. Frazier adds: We all came to the same conclusion: this is real, but what’s the best way to use it?”

he continues. With these he asked himself how much he could influence Google reviews. Hopefully there is a traffic metaphor. He learned a lot of the best practices during that time, but most of all he learned that messages that felt organic and relational he needed to create tone and manage the execution as if it were just data. is that there is “

At the same time, of course, Frazier looked at how other providers of turnkey products used online marketing and realized that beautiful, highly-designed content wasn’t necessarily converting to traffic. “I’m fine with Top of Mind as long as it’s part of the traffic equation,” he says. No. We know that relational and organic sensory content is very important, but we can’t measure it with the senses, the top of the mind, the intangible, we can celebrate them. You can’t measure them.”

credibility
In a world where anyone can pretend to be someone else and be behind a computer, authenticity has become very important to consumers. , and one of those methods is consistency. This means that the tone and feel are consistent, even when the content is different.

This is easy when one person oversees all online marketing platforms. However, this can become more difficult if the person has left or many team members of her are creating marketing content.

Frazier’s daughter runs his Instagram page and through her consistent approach has become something of an influencer in the area and is doing a great job. But next year she will get married and move to South Carolina. Then what?

Creating a series of bullet points outlining your business’s social media personas is a good way to ensure your content stays organic and consistent. Everyone within and employed by a company must also create content on behalf of the company and review and comply with it.

Another great way to increase credibility is to use online reviews. AJ Rose requests online reviews from all customers, along with images of work she’s particularly proud of. According to Locher, for AJ Rose, good reviews combined with her image installed are the most influential marketing materials for her online. “They have authenticity,” he points out. Customers post reviews on various forums such as Facebook, Google, and Yelp. It is important that retailers read these frequently and seek to “correct” the “mistakes” aired therein.

Molyneaux advertises their high Google review score (4.8/5) on their website landing page.

feed to the algorithm
Staying on top of how social media algorithms prioritize content is a daunting yet necessary pursuit. That’s why it’s so important to work with experts in this field.

In 2019 and 2020, Frazier’s used Facebook Messenger to drive sales and received “response like a private sale for a $3,000 spend,” Frazier recalls. However, in December 2020, the Messenger algorithm changed. “We ran a campaign in April and it worked. By summer it was a cricket. Zero response.”

That didn’t stop Fraser. The company changed its strategy, increased spending, and continued to evaluate and re-evaluate.

Similarly, Locher reports in AJ Rose: Part of it is the branding, so I can’t really measure reactions. “

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