June 25, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, Janet and Caitlyn dive into one of their favorite strategies—hybrid marketing. Designed for contractors who are beyond the startup phase and actively scaling, this episode explores how to integrate field marketing tactics (like home shows, canvassing, and signage) with digital marketing strategies (like SEO, PPC, and email nurturing).
Listeners will learn:
- What hybrid marketing really means for home improvement businesses.
- How to track offline efforts like signage and events using QR codes and phone numbers.
- The importance of syncing your CRM with field data for seamless follow-up.
- How social media can serve as your field marketing hype machine.
- Why email nurturing after events is the missing link to more appointments.
- A case study showing a massive lead spike from a hybrid campaign.
If you're only doing field or digital marketing—this episode proves why you’re leaving money on the table.
Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caitlyn (00:01):
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors.
This podcast is brought to youby Fat Cat Strategies, a
full-service digital marketingagency based in Raleigh, North
Carolina.
We specialize in helping homeimprovement contractors just
like you grow their businesses.
Janet (00:17):
Today, you're listening to a series called Build, Grow,
Dominate, marketing strategiesfor every stage of your home
improvement business.
Every Wednesday, we take a deepdive into the lessons that
we've learned from supportingsome amazing business owners.
in the home improvementindustry.
In
Caitlyn (00:35):
part one, we'll cover the essentials from startup to
your first five million.
In part two, we're shiftinggears to focus on what it takes
to scale your business to asuccessful exit and or how to
dominate your market.
Now let's get into it.
Janet (00:50):
Hi, welcome back.
I am Janet, the founder of FatCat Strategies.
Today, I'm joined by the lovelyand talented and honestly
beautiful Caitlin Noble.
Caitlyn (01:00):
Hey, I'm Caitlin, head of client services here at Fat
Cat.
We are talking about a,honestly, one of our favorite
topics today.
We are going to combine thepower of field marketing with
digital strategy to create ahybrid approach that's really
going to drive results.
So, Janet, tell us a little bitmore of your business, kind is
(01:20):
in this phase and what to look
Janet (01:22):
for.
Yeah, so if you're listening tous and you are well past the
startup phase.
You've already tackled some ofthose early problems and now
you're really starting to hityour stride and scale.
Maybe you've got a few salesreps, you've got a brand
present, you are doing somecanvassing, you're out at
events, you're out at homeshows, and you really want to
(01:45):
integrate all of those bits andpieces, then this episode is for
you.
Caitlyn (01:49):
Yeah, that's right.
Let's talk about how blendingtraditional boots on the ground
efforts with all Onlinecampaigns can actually help you
generate more leads, build moretrust, and close more jobs.
So, Janet, what is hybridmarketing?
I don't
Janet (02:03):
know.
It sounds sexy.
Okay, in all seriousness, whatdo we mean when we say hybrid
marketing?
What we're really talking aboutis online and offline.
So your field marketingincludes things like going to
home shows, door-to-doorcanvassing, really, honestly,
(02:25):
like yard signs, job sitesignage.
It's got a QR code, directmail.
It's that...
Offline face-to-faceconnection.
So that's one part of thehybrid.
And what we're talking abouttoday is marrying that with the
digital side.
The digital side, which
Caitlyn (02:43):
is what we have spent many, many, many episodes
recording about SEO, PPC, emailmarketing, social media, the
stuff we should all be doing,right?
Janet (02:53):
Right.
And so when you can combinethese two things together,
the...
offline in the real world withthe digital side, then that's
where the real magic happens.
And you're not just doing oneor the other.
What you're doing is you'recreating a strategy where the
offline tactics and the onlinetactics complement each other
(03:13):
and work together.
Exactly.
Caitlyn (03:16):
More channels mean more touch points, and the more
touch points usually mean higherconversions.
There's so many stats outthere.
I've heard you might need totouch somebody at least eight
times.
And we're not talking abouttouch in a creepy way.
Janet (03:58):
usable data.
Caitlyn (03:59):
We love data.
And if you can track youroffline efforts in your CRM the
same way you can do digitally,then you're going to get a 360
degree view of how people aremoving through your funnel.
Which
Janet (04:14):
brings us
Caitlyn (04:14):
to our
Janet (04:15):
first strategy.
So Caitlin, what is the firststrategy?
Our
Caitlyn (04:18):
first strategy is promoting your events with SEO
and PPC.
Don't just rely on foot trafficor word of mouth.
Run PPC ads targeting peoplenear your event, near your
showroom.
Use keywords like windowreplacement event, home
remodeling expo in Raleigh.
Janet (04:35):
And so you're talking about PPC, but you've also, I've
seen you do it.
You do it with social.
You do it with paid social.
Oh, absolutely.
That
Caitlyn (04:43):
might be a, I think we're going to get to that.
Janet (04:45):
Oh, okay.
I jumped ahead.
But we are.
You absolutely.
I teased an
Caitlyn (04:49):
act later in this play.
But honestly, though, like havethat page on your website and
like about the upcoming eventposted.
And so you can run an ad to iton the PPC side or the SEO side
of things.
Okay.
So what's the next tactic?
Okay.
So next tactic is track.
We're tracking signs, QR codes,and phone numbers.
(05:10):
This is like you have to,Janet.
Janet (05:13):
Right.
So, you know, we're talkingabout field marketing here.
So field marketing means out inthe field.
So you've got reps in Sam'sClub.
You've got maybe a booth inHome Depot.
You're attending thesecommunity festivals.
You've got a branded trailerwith you know samples of your
work and small scale modelsyou're doing all the things
(05:35):
you've probably got signs you'vegot print collateral you may be
handing out fun stuff on thatprint collateral on your signs
on you know things that you'rehanding out you've probably got
a phone number oh yeah and maybeyou've even gotten slick and
you've got a qr code so Why notloop all that together and make
(05:57):
sure you're using a trackingphone number that your agency
can help you set up throughsomething like CallRail or
WhatConverts.
So then every phone call thathits that phone number you know
came from your Sam's Club boothor came from a field marketing
event.
Caitlyn (06:14):
Exactly.
Or even a yard sign.
Right.
And to be honest with you, youguys know this.
Not everyone is going to stopand talk to your field marketing
reps.
I...
have definitely been at eventsmaybe you know with my baby with
my dogs and I'm like I just Iknow I need to get my gutters
clean and if you're there withyour
Janet (06:34):
dogs you know that you can't stop and talk to somebody
not with that big ass dog you'vegot
Caitlyn (06:39):
if I'm there with my dogs I might hopefully have
drugged them somehow so thelittle white one you know just
rolls over but the big one Imean come on the big one is a
Shetland pony so I'm still out.
I'm out and about.
I definitely am interested andexcited.
I saw your sign.
(06:59):
I know my gutters have to becleaned.
And so what did you do?
So instead of going up andapproaching...
with the Shetland pony.
With
Janet (07:08):
a herd of small elephants on leashes and a baby in a
stroller.
What did you do?
I just
Caitlyn (07:14):
pulled out my phone and I took a picture of the sign.
It was so easy.
And my husband, you know, Itexted him the picture of the
sign and he called
Janet (07:20):
later that day.
And so that's where we'rereally talking about marrying
your field marketing with yourdigital marketing.
If you've got somebody likeCaitlin, who is a prospective
customer and is out in the worldwith these circus animals and a
small human, she's not going towalk up to you And you probably
don't want me to.
(07:42):
Why not have a tracking phonenumber on the materials that
you're taking out to fieldmarketing?
Then when you look at the endof the month and you look at all
(08:02):
of the phone calls that cameinto your business, it is just
dead simple to filter thatreport and say, oh, we got 26
phone calls from this communityevent that we sponsored.
Caitlyn (08:13):
Yeah,
Janet (08:13):
absolutely.
Caitlyn (08:14):
So no brainer.
Track your signs with QR codesand phone numbers.
If you don't know how to dothat, your agency definitely
should.
Absolutely.
Here we go, Janet teased thisone already.
Okay,
Janet (08:28):
social, that's our next tip.
The hybrid approach.
To marry the hybrid approach towhat you're doing out in the
world and what you're doingonline.
So social media is your fieldmarketing hype machine.
I'm obsessed.
What you're doing, you'reposting photos, you're going
live from your event.
Why not?
Yeah, you're sharing behind thescenes content.
Caitlyn (08:50):
Oh my gosh, I mean, I love that.
I mean, and also what weencourage our clients to do is
yeah, Grab photos.
Go live.
Share the behind-the-scenescontent.
But then come back and give usthose photos.
Because then we can go on toblog that you attended.
You mean give the agency.
Sorry, give us.
Give the agency your photos.
Thank you.
Because then we can go on toshare in later posts.
(09:11):
Did you see us at this event?
Write a blog post, like I said.
Like, hey, we're so excited tosupport this local 5K.
Here's photos of us handing outbranded water bottles.
So also, don't sleep onFacebook events so this is
something that a lot of theseevents so many words so many
(09:33):
events but a lot of these eventsthat you may be sponsoring will
already have their own Facebookevent page I guarantee you like
they do so what you can do isgo on to that Facebook event
page and you can actually add itto your own Facebook a page so
it like shows up like you'realso going to be hosting Oh,
(09:56):
that's a good
Janet (09:59):
tip.
Caitlyn (10:26):
through your Facebook business page, you can go and
add that Facebook event to
Janet (10:34):
your page.
It's free to do.
So if I'm a roofer in Raleigh,North Carolina, and I'm doing
the Southern Home Living show, Igo to my roofing Facebook
business page, and I add theSouthern Home Living event to my
business page, which makeseverybody understand I'm
attending that event, and you'realso saying reciprocally, I
(10:56):
show up on the Southern HomeLiving event page?
No.
Caitlyn (10:59):
If you're a sponsor, you're probably already linked
on there, but it's showing up onyour Facebook page that you are
going to be at that event.
And if for some reason you'reat a small event and they don't
have, or maybe you're hostingsomething at your own showroom,
make your Facebook event.
You can promote it.
There's also the free versionof that too.
(11:20):
Great tip.
What's the next one?
Yeah, this is fun.
And we've done this for severalclients in terms of capturing
leads both on-site and online.
You're talking about at events?
Yeah, at events.
Yeah, exactly.
So how do they do that?
I mean, you've got to obviouslyhave a plan for lead capture,
duh, if you're already paying toattend this event.
How are you going to do it?
(11:41):
Don't just collect businesscards.
Don't just scribble names onnotepads.
And we've seen, you know, youcan do that.
Like, it's not not successful.
But let's be more sophisticatedabout it.
Janet, we've done this forclients.
Janet (11:54):
Oh, yeah.
So what we've done, dependingon which CRM our clients use.
Let's take lead perfection, forexample.
Our client comes to us andsays, hey, we've got a summer
chock full of field marketingevents, and we want to capture
leads in the field digitally,and we want them to go directly
into our CRM.
Hey, agency, make it happen.
(12:16):
Well, what we do is we end upmaking a landing page that the
field reps are using.
So they have that bookmarked onthe iPad that has a form on it,
and that form is connecteddirectly to their lead
perfection CRM, and we'vealready gone ahead and
thoughtful through what leadsource, what primary source and
(12:37):
secondary source.
It's going to show up
Caitlyn (12:38):
in your CRM.
Right.
Raleigh Home
Janet (12:40):
Show.
Right.
And so then you can eitherdecide you're going to train
your field marketing staff to bethe human that holds the iPad
and stands there and asks thehomeowner, homeowner, what is
your first name?
What is your last name?
What products are youinterested in?
Or you can set up some sort ofkiosk with a keyboard.
(13:02):
I mean, it could just be like awireless keyboard connected to
a display or an iPad and havesome sort of contest where
homeowners can enter to win afree front door if they get 10
windows.
Whatever your contest is.
An Amazon gift card.
In fact, on an earlier episodewe had a rep from
(13:25):
PerfectGift.com who has amazingideas for giveaways.
So whatever your incentive is,if you're going to try to
capture information fromhomeowners and you go ahead and
think about doing that digitallywhether your reps are doing it
by their they're the onesholding the iPad or you give the
power to the homeowners just goahead and take the extra steps
(13:48):
to figure out how to get thatinformation to go to directly
into your CRM because here'swhat you don't want to do you
don't want to fatigue your staffby going to all these events
and then after they've stood ontheir feet in the hot sun for
six hours Probably been cussedat.
Yeah, they've been cussed at.
They're handing out flags.
That dog may have jumped onthem.
Yeah, Caitlin's dog came andscared the shit out of them.
(14:11):
Now you're going to ask them togo back to your office after
hours and sit and manually entera bunch of paper slips.
We've
Caitlyn (14:19):
seen it.
Janet (14:20):
Yeah, don't do that.
We've seen it.
There's a much easier way to doit.
Caitlyn (14:23):
And ask your agency.
Like, it's not thatcomplicated.
It really isn't.
And so...
while you're out in the fieldand you're already collecting
phone numbers, you're alreadycollecting addresses, names, et
cetera, grab an email becausethis is probably like the most
unspoken secret trick.
People are busy.
(14:43):
Like I said, you know, they didmake the effort to come stop
and talk to you, but then theymay not remember it a week
later.
Absolutely not.
Especially if it's like at oneof those like
Janet (14:51):
beer festivals that you've said.
Oh yeah.
We have a great beer andbourbon festival here in Raleigh
and one of our bath contractorswas always a vendor at the beer
and bourbon festival and what'sthe chances that people at a
beer festival remember enteringto win a bathroom or makeover
exactly i mean at that
Caitlyn (15:09):
point you're just having fun and so you're
entering all of the makeoversyeah you're like you get a big
makeover you get a roof um grabtheir email because Email
marketing is so important.
We don't probably talk about itenough.
And following up, post an eventwith email sequence to nurture
(15:29):
those leads is going to becritical.
You've already got the staffwho's going to be calling them
to try to schedule thoseappointments.
You know, we know, you'reprobably listening, oh my gosh,
people aren't answering theirphones.
Follow up with an email andeducate them on product info, on
maintenance tips, on financingoptions.
And not just one email.
And not just one email.
(15:51):
Whatever is going to help themmove forward with the decision
to remind them that you met atthe beer and bourbon festival
and they did enter for agiveaway and you've got these
amazing financing options ifthey don't win.
Janet (16:01):
Yeah, so if you're doing that follow up via email, and
like Caitlin said, we know ifyou've made it past that early
scale stage.
We know that your call centeris calling these people.
We know that.
We know.
And we know that they're notgetting through to all of them.
So, like she said, emailmarketing, don't sleep on it.
Go ahead as part of your fieldmarketing strategy, have some
(16:25):
digital content, like maybe it'sa blog post or a video
walkthrough, you know, a blogpost could be, or article, you
know, how to choose the rightwindows for your climate or
video walkthrough of a recentproject.
Then you're nurturing emailsthat are set to automatically
drip over a period of days orweeks post event, then can link
(16:48):
back to that educationalcontent.
And that way you're addingvalue and you're keeping the
conversation going.
Absolutely.
Caitlyn (16:54):
I mean, to be honest with you, the only reason I'm
giving my email out these daysis because I want to know about
a deal or I want to be educatedabout something.
Yeah,
Janet (17:02):
and...
As I age, and I'm aginggracefully, by the way, I am
thriving and doing such abang-up job of becoming an old
lady.
But as I become an older lady,and by the way, don't sleep on
old ladies because we've gotmoney.
Yeah, you do.
And we are ready to fix up ourhouse.
But you know what we can't dois we can't remember shit.
So if we give you our emailaddress, for God's sake, use it.
(17:26):
Because it's going to be twoweeks from now, we're going to
be drinking coffee in oursunroom, and we're going to get
an email going, oh, my God, Itotally forgot we went to that
event and I gave these people myemail because I do need my
gutters replaced.
I do.
Yeah.
So my windows are not.
Yeah.
And I forgot that I've alreadyfound a vendor that, you know,
(17:47):
I'd like to get a price from.
So use the email people toCaitlin's point.
A There might be giving you aGmail account that is not a work
account, and they do itspecifically because that's the
email address that they use tocollect information about
possible future purchases.
(18:08):
That's the only purpose of thatemail.
So you're totally fine to sendthem a bunch of marketing
content because they know that'swhat they're going to get
there.
Caitlyn (18:16):
Exactly.
So fun quick case study beforewe wrap everything up with a
real-world example.
We...
Not we.
We did not.
But one of our clients hosted aweekend fair.
Say it ain't so.
Tell me about it.
I don't think I knew aboutthis.
And they didn't host.
Well, I guess they were likeone of the head sponsors of a
(18:38):
local community weekend fair.
Like they offered live productdemos.
There were giveaways.
There were on-siteconsultations in terms of what
you could learn about thewindows and doors that they
sell.
They promoted the event throughFacebook ads and And honestly,
through Google PPC, in terms ofusing some of those phrases
like, you know, window demo nearme.
(19:00):
At the event, weird.
They used templates to capturetheir leads and then what did
they do after that?
They followed up with emailmarketing and retargeting ads of
those same events and of justtheir business.
So what was the result of thatwhole exercise?
(19:20):
A big spike in leads and a tonof appointments were set.
They weren't set right there atthe event, but they were set
afterwards.
Because of the follow-up game.
Because of the follow-up.
Hybrid marketing works when youdo it right.
Janet (19:34):
That's an awesome case study.
I'm so excited about it.
I mean, listeners may notbelieve this, but in all
honesty, I just now learnedabout that week in fair.
Yeah, aging gracefully.
Maybe somebody told me about itand I can't remember it.
Caitlyn (19:49):
All right, y'all.
That's it for today's episode.
If you're only doing digital oronly doing field marketing,
you're obviously missing out.
The real power comes fromcombining them
Janet (19:59):
both.
Okay, so next week, what are wetalking about?
We are talking about a powerfulstrategy that many contractors
overlook, and that ismulti-channel marketing.
So specifically, what we'regoing to get into is we're going
to tell you...
Yeah.
Well, that's hybrid like onlineand offline.
We're talking about multi...
Multiple.
(20:19):
Multi-digital channel.
There you go.
Where you've got media, TV,radio, social, email...
Digital campaigns.
All these digital campaigns...
can work together.
And that's what we're going tobe talking to you about how to
do in the next episode.
Caitlyn (20:37):
That's a powerful one.
Thank you so much for joiningus for another episode.
If you are loving this series,please don't forget to subscribe
and we would really love areview.
As always, check out our blogpost linked in the show notes
for even more resources andexamples of what we just talked
through.
Until next time, keep growing.
Don (20:56):
Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by FACT
For more information, visitfatcatstrategies.com.
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors.
This podcast is brought to youby Fat Cat Strategies, a
full-service digital marketingagency based in Raleigh, North
Carolina.
We specialize in helping homeimprovement contractors just
like you grow their businesses.
Janet (00:17):
Today, you're listening to a series called Build, Grow,
Dominate, marketing strategiesfor every stage of your home
improvement business.
Every Wednesday, we take a deepdive into the lessons that
we've learned from supportingsome amazing business owners.
in the home improvementindustry.
In
Caitlyn (00:35):
part one, we'll cover the essentials from startup to
your first five million.
In part two, we're shiftinggears to focus on what it takes
to scale your business to asuccessful exit and or how to
dominate your market.
Now let's get into it.
Janet (00:50):
Hi, welcome back.
I am Janet, the founder of FatCat Strategies.
Today, I'm joined by the lovelyand talented and honestly
beautiful Caitlin Noble.
Caitlyn (01:00):
Hey, I'm Caitlin, head of client services here at Fat
Cat.
We are talking about a,honestly, one of our favorite
topics today.
We are going to combine thepower of field marketing with
digital strategy to create ahybrid approach that's really
going to drive results.
So, Janet, tell us a little bitmore of your business, kind is
(01:20):
in this phase and what to look
Janet (01:22):
for.
Yeah, so if you're listening tous and you are well past the
startup phase.
You've already tackled some ofthose early problems and now
you're really starting to hityour stride and scale.
Maybe you've got a few salesreps, you've got a brand
present, you are doing somecanvassing, you're out at
events, you're out at homeshows, and you really want to
(01:45):
integrate all of those bits andpieces, then this episode is for
you.
Caitlyn (01:49):
Yeah, that's right.
Let's talk about how blendingtraditional boots on the ground
efforts with all Onlinecampaigns can actually help you
generate more leads, build moretrust, and close more jobs.
So, Janet, what is hybridmarketing?
I don't
Janet (02:03):
know.
It sounds sexy.
Okay, in all seriousness, whatdo we mean when we say hybrid
marketing?
What we're really talking aboutis online and offline.
So your field marketingincludes things like going to
home shows, door-to-doorcanvassing, really, honestly,
(02:25):
like yard signs, job sitesignage.
It's got a QR code, directmail.
It's that...
Offline face-to-faceconnection.
So that's one part of thehybrid.
And what we're talking abouttoday is marrying that with the
digital side.
The digital side, which
Caitlyn (02:43):
is what we have spent many, many, many episodes
recording about SEO, PPC, emailmarketing, social media, the
stuff we should all be doing,right?
Janet (02:53):
Right.
And so when you can combinethese two things together,
the...
offline in the real world withthe digital side, then that's
where the real magic happens.
And you're not just doing oneor the other.
What you're doing is you'recreating a strategy where the
offline tactics and the onlinetactics complement each other
(03:13):
and work together.
Exactly.
Caitlyn (03:16):
More channels mean more touch points, and the more
touch points usually mean higherconversions.
There's so many stats outthere.
I've heard you might need totouch somebody at least eight
times.
And we're not talking abouttouch in a creepy way.
Janet (03:58):
usable data.
Caitlyn (03:59):
We love data.
And if you can track youroffline efforts in your CRM the
same way you can do digitally,then you're going to get a 360
degree view of how people aremoving through your funnel.
Which
Janet (04:14):
brings us
Caitlyn (04:14):
to our
Janet (04:15):
first strategy.
So Caitlin, what is the firststrategy?
Our
Caitlyn (04:18):
first strategy is promoting your events with SEO
and PPC.
Don't just rely on foot trafficor word of mouth.
Run PPC ads targeting peoplenear your event, near your
showroom.
Use keywords like windowreplacement event, home
remodeling expo in Raleigh.
Janet (04:35):
And so you're talking about PPC, but you've also, I've
seen you do it.
You do it with social.
You do it with paid social.
Oh, absolutely.
That
Caitlyn (04:43):
might be a, I think we're going to get to that.
Janet (04:45):
Oh, okay.
I jumped ahead.
But we are.
You absolutely.
I teased an
Caitlyn (04:49):
act later in this play.
But honestly, though, like havethat page on your website and
like about the upcoming eventposted.
And so you can run an ad to iton the PPC side or the SEO side
of things.
Okay.
So what's the next tactic?
Okay.
So next tactic is track.
We're tracking signs, QR codes,and phone numbers.
(05:10):
This is like you have to,Janet.
Janet (05:13):
Right.
So, you know, we're talkingabout field marketing here.
So field marketing means out inthe field.
So you've got reps in Sam'sClub.
You've got maybe a booth inHome Depot.
You're attending thesecommunity festivals.
You've got a branded trailerwith you know samples of your
work and small scale modelsyou're doing all the things
(05:35):
you've probably got signs you'vegot print collateral you may be
handing out fun stuff on thatprint collateral on your signs
on you know things that you'rehanding out you've probably got
a phone number oh yeah and maybeyou've even gotten slick and
you've got a qr code so Why notloop all that together and make
(05:57):
sure you're using a trackingphone number that your agency
can help you set up throughsomething like CallRail or
WhatConverts.
So then every phone call thathits that phone number you know
came from your Sam's Club boothor came from a field marketing
event.
Caitlyn (06:14):
Exactly.
Or even a yard sign.
Right.
And to be honest with you, youguys know this.
Not everyone is going to stopand talk to your field marketing
reps.
I...
have definitely been at eventsmaybe you know with my baby with
my dogs and I'm like I just Iknow I need to get my gutters
clean and if you're there withyour
Janet (06:34):
dogs you know that you can't stop and talk to somebody
not with that big ass dog you'vegot
Caitlyn (06:39):
if I'm there with my dogs I might hopefully have
drugged them somehow so thelittle white one you know just
rolls over but the big one Imean come on the big one is a
Shetland pony so I'm still out.
I'm out and about.
I definitely am interested andexcited.
I saw your sign.
(06:59):
I know my gutters have to becleaned.
And so what did you do?
So instead of going up andapproaching...
with the Shetland pony.
With
Janet (07:08):
a herd of small elephants on leashes and a baby in a
stroller.
What did you do?
I just
Caitlyn (07:14):
pulled out my phone and I took a picture of the sign.
It was so easy.
And my husband, you know, Itexted him the picture of the
sign and he called
Janet (07:20):
later that day.
And so that's where we'rereally talking about marrying
your field marketing with yourdigital marketing.
If you've got somebody likeCaitlin, who is a prospective
customer and is out in the worldwith these circus animals and a
small human, she's not going towalk up to you And you probably
don't want me to.
(07:42):
Why not have a tracking phonenumber on the materials that
you're taking out to fieldmarketing?
Then when you look at the endof the month and you look at all
(08:02):
of the phone calls that cameinto your business, it is just
dead simple to filter thatreport and say, oh, we got 26
phone calls from this communityevent that we sponsored.
Caitlyn (08:13):
Yeah,
Janet (08:13):
absolutely.
Caitlyn (08:14):
So no brainer.
Track your signs with QR codesand phone numbers.
If you don't know how to dothat, your agency definitely
should.
Absolutely.
Here we go, Janet teased thisone already.
Okay,
Janet (08:28):
social, that's our next tip.
The hybrid approach.
To marry the hybrid approach towhat you're doing out in the
world and what you're doingonline.
So social media is your fieldmarketing hype machine.
I'm obsessed.
What you're doing, you'reposting photos, you're going
live from your event.
Why not?
Yeah, you're sharing behind thescenes content.
Caitlyn (08:50):
Oh my gosh, I mean, I love that.
I mean, and also what weencourage our clients to do is
yeah, Grab photos.
Go live.
Share the behind-the-scenescontent.
But then come back and give usthose photos.
Because then we can go on toblog that you attended.
You mean give the agency.
Sorry, give us.
Give the agency your photos.
Thank you.
Because then we can go on toshare in later posts.
(09:11):
Did you see us at this event?
Write a blog post, like I said.
Like, hey, we're so excited tosupport this local 5K.
Here's photos of us handing outbranded water bottles.
So also, don't sleep onFacebook events so this is
something that a lot of theseevents so many words so many
(09:33):
events but a lot of these eventsthat you may be sponsoring will
already have their own Facebookevent page I guarantee you like
they do so what you can do isgo on to that Facebook event
page and you can actually add itto your own Facebook a page so
it like shows up like you'realso going to be hosting Oh,
(09:56):
that's a good
Janet (09:59):
tip.
Caitlyn (10:26):
through your Facebook business page, you can go and
add that Facebook event to
Janet (10:34):
your page.
It's free to do.
So if I'm a roofer in Raleigh,North Carolina, and I'm doing
the Southern Home Living show, Igo to my roofing Facebook
business page, and I add theSouthern Home Living event to my
business page, which makeseverybody understand I'm
attending that event, and you'realso saying reciprocally, I
(10:56):
show up on the Southern HomeLiving event page?
No.
Caitlyn (10:59):
If you're a sponsor, you're probably already linked
on there, but it's showing up onyour Facebook page that you are
going to be at that event.
And if for some reason you'reat a small event and they don't
have, or maybe you're hostingsomething at your own showroom,
make your Facebook event.
You can promote it.
There's also the free versionof that too.
(11:20):
Great tip.
What's the next one?
Yeah, this is fun.
And we've done this for severalclients in terms of capturing
leads both on-site and online.
You're talking about at events?
Yeah, at events.
Yeah, exactly.
So how do they do that?
I mean, you've got to obviouslyhave a plan for lead capture,
duh, if you're already paying toattend this event.
How are you going to do it?
(11:41):
Don't just collect businesscards.
Don't just scribble names onnotepads.
And we've seen, you know, youcan do that.
Like, it's not not successful.
But let's be more sophisticatedabout it.
Janet, we've done this forclients.
Janet (11:54):
Oh, yeah.
So what we've done, dependingon which CRM our clients use.
Let's take lead perfection, forexample.
Our client comes to us andsays, hey, we've got a summer
chock full of field marketingevents, and we want to capture
leads in the field digitally,and we want them to go directly
into our CRM.
Hey, agency, make it happen.
(12:16):
Well, what we do is we end upmaking a landing page that the
field reps are using.
So they have that bookmarked onthe iPad that has a form on it,
and that form is connecteddirectly to their lead
perfection CRM, and we'vealready gone ahead and
thoughtful through what leadsource, what primary source and
(12:37):
secondary source.
It's going to show up
Caitlyn (12:38):
in your CRM.
Right.
Raleigh Home
Janet (12:40):
Show.
Right.
And so then you can eitherdecide you're going to train
your field marketing staff to bethe human that holds the iPad
and stands there and asks thehomeowner, homeowner, what is
your first name?
What is your last name?
What products are youinterested in?
Or you can set up some sort ofkiosk with a keyboard.
(13:02):
I mean, it could just be like awireless keyboard connected to
a display or an iPad and havesome sort of contest where
homeowners can enter to win afree front door if they get 10
windows.
Whatever your contest is.
An Amazon gift card.
In fact, on an earlier episodewe had a rep from
(13:25):
PerfectGift.com who has amazingideas for giveaways.
So whatever your incentive is,if you're going to try to
capture information fromhomeowners and you go ahead and
think about doing that digitallywhether your reps are doing it
by their they're the onesholding the iPad or you give the
power to the homeowners just goahead and take the extra steps
(13:48):
to figure out how to get thatinformation to go to directly
into your CRM because here'swhat you don't want to do you
don't want to fatigue your staffby going to all these events
and then after they've stood ontheir feet in the hot sun for
six hours Probably been cussedat.
Yeah, they've been cussed at.
They're handing out flags.
That dog may have jumped onthem.
Yeah, Caitlin's dog came andscared the shit out of them.
(14:11):
Now you're going to ask them togo back to your office after
hours and sit and manually entera bunch of paper slips.
We've
Caitlyn (14:19):
seen it.
Janet (14:20):
Yeah, don't do that.
We've seen it.
There's a much easier way to doit.
Caitlyn (14:23):
And ask your agency.
Like, it's not thatcomplicated.
It really isn't.
And so...
while you're out in the fieldand you're already collecting
phone numbers, you're alreadycollecting addresses, names, et
cetera, grab an email becausethis is probably like the most
unspoken secret trick.
People are busy.
(14:43):
Like I said, you know, they didmake the effort to come stop
and talk to you, but then theymay not remember it a week
later.
Absolutely not.
Especially if it's like at oneof those like
Janet (14:51):
beer festivals that you've said.
Oh yeah.
We have a great beer andbourbon festival here in Raleigh
and one of our bath contractorswas always a vendor at the beer
and bourbon festival and what'sthe chances that people at a
beer festival remember enteringto win a bathroom or makeover
exactly i mean at that
Caitlyn (15:09):
point you're just having fun and so you're
entering all of the makeoversyeah you're like you get a big
makeover you get a roof um grabtheir email because Email
marketing is so important.
We don't probably talk about itenough.
And following up, post an eventwith email sequence to nurture
(15:29):
those leads is going to becritical.
You've already got the staffwho's going to be calling them
to try to schedule thoseappointments.
You know, we know, you'reprobably listening, oh my gosh,
people aren't answering theirphones.
Follow up with an email andeducate them on product info, on
maintenance tips, on financingoptions.
And not just one email.
And not just one email.
(15:51):
Whatever is going to help themmove forward with the decision
to remind them that you met atthe beer and bourbon festival
and they did enter for agiveaway and you've got these
amazing financing options ifthey don't win.
Janet (16:01):
Yeah, so if you're doing that follow up via email, and
like Caitlin said, we know ifyou've made it past that early
scale stage.
We know that your call centeris calling these people.
We know that.
We know.
And we know that they're notgetting through to all of them.
So, like she said, emailmarketing, don't sleep on it.
Go ahead as part of your fieldmarketing strategy, have some
(16:25):
digital content, like maybe it'sa blog post or a video
walkthrough, you know, a blogpost could be, or article, you
know, how to choose the rightwindows for your climate or
video walkthrough of a recentproject.
Then you're nurturing emailsthat are set to automatically
drip over a period of days orweeks post event, then can link
(16:48):
back to that educationalcontent.
And that way you're addingvalue and you're keeping the
conversation going.
Absolutely.
Caitlyn (16:54):
I mean, to be honest with you, the only reason I'm
giving my email out these daysis because I want to know about
a deal or I want to be educatedabout something.
Yeah,
Janet (17:02):
and...
As I age, and I'm aginggracefully, by the way, I am
thriving and doing such abang-up job of becoming an old
lady.
But as I become an older lady,and by the way, don't sleep on
old ladies because we've gotmoney.
Yeah, you do.
And we are ready to fix up ourhouse.
But you know what we can't dois we can't remember shit.
So if we give you our emailaddress, for God's sake, use it.
(17:26):
Because it's going to be twoweeks from now, we're going to
be drinking coffee in oursunroom, and we're going to get
an email going, oh, my God, Itotally forgot we went to that
event and I gave these people myemail because I do need my
gutters replaced.
I do.
Yeah.
So my windows are not.
Yeah.
And I forgot that I've alreadyfound a vendor that, you know,
(17:47):
I'd like to get a price from.
So use the email people toCaitlin's point.
A There might be giving you aGmail account that is not a work
account, and they do itspecifically because that's the
email address that they use tocollect information about
possible future purchases.
(18:08):
That's the only purpose of thatemail.
So you're totally fine to sendthem a bunch of marketing
content because they know that'swhat they're going to get
there.
Caitlyn (18:16):
Exactly.
So fun quick case study beforewe wrap everything up with a
real-world example.
We...
Not we.
We did not.
But one of our clients hosted aweekend fair.
Say it ain't so.
Tell me about it.
I don't think I knew aboutthis.
And they didn't host.
Well, I guess they were likeone of the head sponsors of a
(18:38):
local community weekend fair.
Like they offered live productdemos.
There were giveaways.
There were on-siteconsultations in terms of what
you could learn about thewindows and doors that they
sell.
They promoted the event throughFacebook ads and And honestly,
through Google PPC, in terms ofusing some of those phrases
like, you know, window demo nearme.
(19:00):
At the event, weird.
They used templates to capturetheir leads and then what did
they do after that?
They followed up with emailmarketing and retargeting ads of
those same events and of justtheir business.
So what was the result of thatwhole exercise?
(19:20):
A big spike in leads and a tonof appointments were set.
They weren't set right there atthe event, but they were set
afterwards.
Because of the follow-up game.
Because of the follow-up.
Hybrid marketing works when youdo it right.
Janet (19:34):
That's an awesome case study.
I'm so excited about it.
I mean, listeners may notbelieve this, but in all
honesty, I just now learnedabout that week in fair.
Yeah, aging gracefully.
Maybe somebody told me about itand I can't remember it.
Caitlyn (19:49):
All right, y'all.
That's it for today's episode.
If you're only doing digital oronly doing field marketing,
you're obviously missing out.
The real power comes fromcombining them
Janet (19:59):
both.
Okay, so next week, what are wetalking about?
We are talking about a powerfulstrategy that many contractors
overlook, and that ismulti-channel marketing.
So specifically, what we'regoing to get into is we're going
to tell you...
Yeah.
Well, that's hybrid like onlineand offline.
We're talking about multi...
Multiple.
(20:19):
Multi-digital channel.
There you go.
Where you've got media, TV,radio, social, email...
Digital campaigns.
All these digital campaigns...
can work together.
And that's what we're going tobe talking to you about how to
do in the next episode.
Caitlyn (20:37):
That's a powerful one.
Thank you so much for joiningus for another episode.
If you are loving this series,please don't forget to subscribe
and we would really love areview.
As always, check out our blogpost linked in the show notes
for even more resources andexamples of what we just talked
through.
Until next time, keep growing.
Don (20:56):
Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by FACT
For more information, visitfatcatstrategies.com.
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