March 31, 2025 • 22 mins
Marketing synergy isn't just a buzzword—it's the game-changing approach that separates thriving contractors from those perpetually struggling to generate consistent leads.
Drawing from recent conversations with digital marketing providers, Crystal tackles the critical disconnect happening in contractor marketing today. Too many business owners place all their hope (and budget) into digital tactics alone, then wonder why their results fall short. The truth? Without solid branding as your foundation, even the most sophisticated SEO and PPC campaigns will underperform.
Think of effective marketing like baklava—those delicious, honey-soaked pastries with countless thin layers. Each marketing component might seem insignificant on its own, but when properly layered together, they create something exponentially more powerful than any single ingredient could deliver. This is the "two plus two equals five" principle that transforms good marketing into great results.
Crystal doesn't hold back on some uncomfortable truths: most contractors drastically overestimate their market recognition, their logos are often illegible or forgettable, and word-of-mouth alone won't protect them from competitors with actual marketing strategies. She explains why different marketing tactics require different expectations—from the transactional nature of Google Local Service Ads to the awareness-building function of billboards and social media.
The podcast reveals why leading digital providers now refuse clients without solid branding fundamentals—they've learned through experience that no amount of technical optimization can overcome basic brand deficiencies. For contractors serious about sustainable growth, the path forward requires honest assessment and a willingness to build marketing systems where each component enhances the others.
Ready to transform your marketing approach from disconnected tactics to a powerful, integrated strategy? This episode provides the roadmap to make it happen. Follow Lemon Seed Marketing on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to catch upcoming webinars and exciting new product announcements that will help you implement these principles in your business.
If you enjoyed this chat From the Yellow Chair, consider joining our newsletter, "Let's Sip Some Lemonade," where you can receive exclusive interviews, our bank of helpful downloadables, and updates on upcoming content.
Please consider following and drop a review below if you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to check out our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
From the Yellow Chair is powered by Lemon Seed, a marketing strategy and branding company for the trades. Lemon Seed specializes in rebrands, creating unique, comprehensive, organized marketing plans, social media, and graphic design. Learn more at www.LemonSeedMarketing.com
Interested in being a guest on our show? Fill out this form!
We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I'm Crystal and today I'm goingto talk to you a little bit
about two or three conversationstwo or three conversations that
I have had with digitalcontractors lately.
I can't wait to talk to youabout it.
It's really how I've alwaysfelt and I've wanted to share it
, and I share it a little bithere and there, but I'm going to
(00:23):
tell you today about how twoplus two can really equal five.
Let's sip some lemonade.
All right, guys, welcome back.
So hear me out with this right.
Most people, most contractors,especially when I ask them like
hey, tell me about yourmarketing strategy, you know
(00:44):
what they tell me.
Well, my digital vendor is X.
Oh, my website guy, my SEO guy,my paid ads guy.
Our natural instinct is to leandirectly back into our digital
side.
And, guys, that is such animportant piece but is not the
whole.
So today I called this episodetwo plus two equals five,
(01:07):
because really there is power inlooking at marketing
holistically.
There's power in understandingthat there is the impact that
your brand can have on everyother pieces of your marketing's
performance.
Once you hit that, once youunderstand that and value that,
it's game changer, game over foryour competition.
(01:27):
That's how you're going to win.
So today I thought I would justliterally talk through why it
is the combination of all ofthose things working together in
tandem that really set acompany apart from their
competition and help your newcustomer acquisition cost
drastically go down.
So you guys know, emily and Iare super passionate about
(01:49):
branding.
We want companies to have asolid brand.
So I'm at a show, I'm walkingthe aisle headed to my booth,
this guy stops me and he's likehey, crystal, I know you, we're
Facebook friends.
So, side note, y'all ever livedthat life where you're like I
watched your kids grow up, butyou really don't know them in
real life, like you've never metthem personally or ever.
(02:11):
It's a very professionalrelationship.
So he's like, oh, we're, we're,we're Facebook friends.
And so I'm like, yeah, yeah,yeah.
He's like, oh, your kids playgolf, so yeah, so we kind of
made some chitat for a minute.
But then he's like hey, I wantto talk to you a little bit.
(02:32):
Like I am about to lose my mindwith my clients and this is a
digital provider that just won'tbrand their company.
Brands are terrible.
And I'm like, oh listen, lemonSeed has literally placed a lot
of focus on helping companiesbuild a better brand.
I talk about it till I'm bluein the face about how many
contractors are missing the boat.
So he goes on to tell me thestory of this contractor.
That was a verywell-established, multi, multi,
(02:54):
multi-generation company we'retalking like 50 more plus years
old and they rebranded theircompany, but without really a
strategic plan.
Well then, people, there wasbrand confusion.
People didn't know theirdigital stuff was all over the
place.
And he was telling me.
He said, man, I was so proud ofthem for rebranding, but there
still wasn't a strategy.
But he's like, I'm starting totell people that I can't work
(03:17):
with them unless their brand issolid.
And I was like, oh my gosh,you're preaching to the choir,
right.
Like, oh my gosh, you'repreaching to the choir, right.
Like, oh my gosh, this is whatI say, this is what I feel.
But I was like, man, you arepreaching.
Listen, I love it.
I'm here for it because I don'tcare what anyone tells you.
(03:39):
You can have an ugly logo.
So let me say this this hurtsmy heart to say it, but at the
end of the day, a logo is a logo.
So let me say this.
This hurts my heart to say it,but at the end of the day, a
logo is a logo.
A brand is a lot more than justthat logo.
Now, listen, don't get ittwisted.
I want to help many of you fixyour logos.
Your logos are terrible.
We can't read them.
They're confusing.
Y'all are using last names thatare hard to read, hard to
(04:01):
pronounce, definitely no SEOvalue.
You're called your last nameheating and air plumbing,
whatever.
So we got a lot of generic life.
Listen, most people I meet needto freshen up their brand.
Okay, but at the end of the day, your brand is this, this how
you make people feel, what theirexperience is with you, what
how your people look as far aslike cleanliness and
(04:23):
professionalism, what your vanslook like, what you say, your
follow up procedures all ofthose things make up the brand.
That's who you are.
But a lot of companies havegood things.
But his point in talking to metoday was and he's a digital
provider he's like man, I nowcare so much that they have a
solid brand, because here'swhat's going to happen
(04:45):
Contractors, this is what you do.
I'm going to step on your toes,but this is what you do.
You are like okay, I'm going topay this digital vendor $5,000
a month.
They're going to do SEO, paidads, host my website and keep
everything up to date, and I'mgoing to be a millionaire.
And so you're like I'm going tokill it.
I'm going to grow my company50% year over year.
I'm going to kill it with leads, with that one $5,000
(05:08):
investment with that digitalcompany.
And let me tell y'all somethingY'all are setting yourself and
that digital vendor up forfailure I'm sorry, I know that
sounds terrible and even gooddigital vendors and there's a
ton of good digital vendorsy'all they still cannot be as
successful as they could havebeen with a solid brand.
(05:31):
Also, like, if that is it, allyou're doing is a digital tactic
.
You're like out there, all ofyour eggs are in one basket.
So if search tanks, if theGoogle algorithm tanks I mean,
listen, google changesalgorithms like hookers change
panties.
Listen, there's just a lotgoing on, right, a lot of
(05:52):
changing and so.
But listen, some of y'all arelike that's okay, that's all I
care about.
Let me put all of my trust inGoogle and being in a digital
platform and my website.
That's all I need in this world, the Lord and digital marketing
and what happens is we get intoseasonality issues, to where
(06:13):
there's no demand, and so peoplearen't looking for the service.
So, even if your digitalprovider is killing it, like
killing it with your performance, if no one is looking for you,
you aren't looking for, notnecessarily you.
I'm sorry.
If no one is looking for yourservice ac repair near me and
(06:33):
things like that it is your ppccampaign, not.
It can't perform.
There's nothing asking it toperform, right.
So like, well, I've got allthis money in PPC, sir, it's 72
degrees.
No, everybody's living theirbest life, but heating and air
conditioning owners, right.
So at the end of the day, likethere has to be lots of things
(06:57):
happening to really make aholistic approach.
So what my point is there isyou're working with your digital
provider and you're puttingbudget in and you're doing all
the things that you think youshould do and it's not working,
and you're mad at the digitalprovider when you have to look
at the full picture of what isgoing on.
That's not performing.
(07:18):
So there is a differentstrategy and expectations of
success with an SEO strategy.
There are different performancemetrics and expectations on PPC
.
Then there are Google localservice ads.
Then there are.
So I had a contractor the otherday say to me well, I'm going
to cut GLSA, it's not working.
So I'm like well, that's an oddstatement, because Google local
(07:40):
service ads are liketransactional, so normally for
the most part you get chargedfor a lead when a lead books.
Now listen, we can all get downin the weeds.
Well, they charged me for thislead and it wasn't a valid lead,
all that jazz.
But for the most part,directionally, I would put as
much money as Google wanted tome to put in Google local
(08:04):
service bucket because it onlyspins as I get a lead.
Versus PPC is like putting abunch of bird feeders out and
then hopefully a bird will pickyou right.
So, like there's, it's verydifferent.
You're paying for all the feedand the bird feeders, but only
one or two might work.
Versus Google local service adsare pretty directional.
(08:28):
You're only charged when a leadis a viable lead.
And then geo-targeting isanother one.
Geo-fencing is one that myclients get confused on a lot.
Geo-fencing, the only thingthat made someone ready to
receive that ad where they seeyour ad in a geofencing campaign
is that they were doingsomething right.
(08:49):
They lived in the right area,they visited the right thing.
They drove through somewhere.
There's not always intentbehind it, so you may be serving
up ads to people that don'tneed your services.
They were just in the rightplace or lived in the right town
or in the right neighborhood,and so those are awareness
campaigns.
So expectations are so important.
(09:10):
And so he's right when he says,man, all of the pressure is on
the digital provider and itshould be when we've got fair
playing ground, right?
So hey, in the middle of Julyit's 110 degrees outside in the
middle of Texas and it's dry andeverybody's hot, and you have
no leads and you're spending$5,000 a month.
(09:32):
We need to talk.
Something's not right, becausewe know search volume is there,
but in that same Texas town inthe middle of March, when it is
70 degrees outside, ain't nobodyeven in their house to know if
their air is working.
It's beautiful weather for thefour days that East Texas gets
beautiful weather and we'reoutside Okay, odds are we're
(09:54):
outside just smelling clean,soft air, because we're used to
burning our eyeballs out ifwe're out there too long, right?
So at the end of the day, youreally have to understand and
have clear expectations.
But what I loved about what thisvendor said to me was I am
really doing this deep dive intowho.
(10:14):
I want to do a brand analysisBecause if their brand is not
there, I do not need to workwith them.
They are going to be.
I'm set up for failure andthey're not going to have the
expectations that they want.
And it just opened my eyesbecause let me tell you
something, just a little secrethere I am so passionate to help
contractors that I will take youon as a client when I don't
(10:37):
even need to because you're notready.
Whatever's happening iswhatever's going on in your
business is not indicative ofreally needing lemon seed
services.
But I always feel like I canfind a way to help.
But let me tell you what I havedetermined People that want to
be successful, that areentrepreneurially driven and are
(11:00):
fiscally focusing on thingsthat they need to focus on, they
will be successful.
And then they will get to arevenue point that lemon seed
makes sense.
But y'all really the lowestlevel contractors that are doing
lower revenues they will bickerover a $50 charge.
(11:22):
And then I have larger clientswho are much more.
They can see, they can see thevision, so they just trust the
process, and this you know.
But my smaller contractors, man, they just they're tighter with
their money and so everythingis a fight and I'm just like man
, you don't trust the process,like we need to trust the
(11:43):
process.
So I really wanted to get intothis today and I wanted to use
that story of that vendortelling me you know, I'm so
frustrated, I don't even wannawork with people that don't have
a good brand.
I want that to lead us into thefact that when we are talking
about marketing strategy soLemon Seed is a marketing
strategy company and we dorebrands and we do branding
(12:05):
because it's all a part of astrategy, right?
And when we take all thesepieces of marketing, all these
different tactics, and wepartner with them with a solid,
identifiable, unique again,solid brand, that is when they
exponentially compound on eachother.
(12:26):
And that's how I get that.
Two plus two equals five.
So if you're just going to dobits and pieces of things or
you're just going to throw wetnoodles at the wall to see what
sticks, you're really going tohave a hard time building out
some true traction.
So one of two things is goingto happen You're going to feel
like you live on a hamster wheelbecause you're living in the
(12:47):
life of home advisor and Angielist and thumbtack list and I'm
paying all this money out and Ijust cause I can't keep up.
And I've got a digital providerand I'm doing SEO and I'm doing
PPC and I'm doing everything Iknow to do and I'm still not
winning.
And you're not winning becauseyou're out of control in the
sense of expectations are,expectations are not aligned.
(13:09):
So we have to start at wherethe basics is, and a lot of you
are just scared to death tothink about your brand.
Well, what do I do?
Or we have this unrealisticvalue of who we think we are.
So this is a hurtful thing tosay, but it's very truthful.
You are not as important or asrecognizable as a company as you
(13:31):
think you are.
So people say I dominate mymarket and I'm like sir, I have
a competitor one market overwho's doing more in this zip
code than you are, and this isnot even their home base.
But the contractor thinks man,who doesn't know what we do, and
I'm like a lot of people.
So for you to sit back andthink, man, I don't need to do
(13:52):
branding, it's word of mouth forme.
That's it for me.
Word of mouth keeps me busy.
Well, you know what?
All it's going to take is onegood competitor to knock you on
your booty and you're going tobe like what happened to my
business.
Well, we rolled over the top ofyou through good marketing
strategy.
Hvac is not exempt from solidmarketing strategies that build
(14:14):
companies from ground zero allthe way up, and you don't.
There's no shortcuts, there'sno silver bullets, there's no
quick wins that perpetuate yourbusiness to being a
multimillionaire.
What there are is solid peoplethat keep punching that
marketing strategy in the faceevery single day.
So they've got a solid brand,they have a strategy that has
(14:38):
digital components and brandingcomponents and cultivating their
existing database, and it's allof those pistons pumping
together that makes a solidengine roar.
And again, guys, we just get socaught up in literally.
I listened to a call the otherday and it was a contractor and
all they wanted to talk aboutwas this race that they were
(15:00):
sponsoring, and this race thatthey were sponsoring took up so
much of their conversation withtheir consultant and then, but
at the end of the day, I waslike this client doesn't even
have an SEO strategy, but wespent this whole time with these
valuable marketers.
He had the time, the focus ofmarketing people that do it for
(15:21):
a living, and we spent all thattime on a yard sign design and
I'm just like man.
We're off right.
Our thought process is off.
We have to turn around andrealize that good things start
with a solid foundation.
I mean, think about anything,everything that you've ever done
.
It's always harder to build thefoundation when you're a $10
(15:43):
million company and you're a hotmess Right now.
If you're less than $5 millionand you need a refresh, the time
to do that on your brand is notat $10 million.
That is a bigger undertaking.
We have a lot bigger of abattle, a blaze, to fight.
So what my encouragement here isis understanding that when you
do a consistent process of okay,50% of my marketing budget is
(16:08):
going to go to digital and Iwant a comprehensive digital
strategy meaning.
I want an meaning.
I want a good website thatlooks nice, it's easy to
navigate, it asks for thebusiness and I want it to be SEO
, loaded with everything and allthe search terms that I can
afford to buy.
I want it to be navigatable.
I want it to list my membershipclub.
I need there to be a chat.
I need people to be able toclick to call.
(16:29):
I need people to be able toschedule online.
I want a solid GLSA approach.
Google local service ads I wantto turn them on.
I want to be intentional,leaving a solid budget in there.
I mean, all of that is yourdigital performance.
Then that other half of yourbudget.
What can we do in your market tolet people experience your logo
(16:50):
and experience your company allthe time?
And so, if what you do is well,I did a billboard campaign for
you know, 45 minutes basically,you know, or I did it for 30
days and I got no calls.
It was terrible, it did notwork.
Well, hello, that's not eventhe right expectations of a
billboard.
A billboard's expectations are.
(17:11):
You know, the performance of abillboard is measured a couple
of different ways, but one ofthose ways is you just got to
understand that it's not verymeasurable, it's not easily
measurable.
So that's number one.
But second of all, what weshould do is, after we have ran
a consistent strategy wherewe're branding the company and
it's in my line of sight as aconsumer for days, and then
(17:34):
weeks and then months, all of asudden it becomes.
I'm exposed to your logo andyour brand and what you do.
All that's doing is justpenetrating my environment,
where I see your company all thetime.
So when I have a need, you wantme to think of you.
That's why mascots are so easyto buy into, because they're
(17:55):
memorable things.
So a billboard and radio and TV.
The reason that they aresuccessful is because it's just
exposure.
You're basically infiltratingyour community's headspace with
who you are.
But then your website side themajority of those tactics are
for when people are looking forthe service.
(18:17):
So mass media, very much top ofthe marketing funnel.
People aren't intoconsideration, they're not even
considering it, they don't needit.
It's just a part of exposure.
And then you've got calls toaction where, when people are
ready, they've made somedecisions and they're made.
They've made some decisions andthey're ready to move forward.
So then we're going to give areason for them to call us right
(18:38):
, a reason to use us.
And then once they are ourcustomer and y'all have paid
$100, $300, $500 for that lead,why are we not remarketing to
them very consistently?
All of these things arecompounded on each other.
So when your brand is good, itmakes your digital perform
better.
When your digital performsbetter, and then you know
(19:01):
digital performs better, whichgets you higher revenue, which
gives you better money to workwith, and then your direct mail
is going to work better.
And then you layer on socialmedia, where you're doing videos
, and you're doing graphics andoffers and tips and tricks and
funny videos.
That's building your brand,y'all.
It's literally.
It just compounds on top ofeach other, on top, layer after
(19:23):
layer.
It's like the most when I was infifth grade, and we'll tell a
little story.
When I was in fifth grade, atthe elementary school that I
went to, we had the Olympics, iswhat it was called.
At the elementary school that Iwent to, we had the Olympics,
is what it was called like theOlympics, and every grade
participated and then everyclass inside of that grade was a
different country.
Well, one year we my class, wetasted all the foods and you
(19:46):
know what we got to try andy'all, I've never been more
excited to try something in mylife.
We got to try baklava, which,again, I'm from little old Poe,
dunkeys, texas.
Okay, call me what you want to,but it was a baklava, and I was
so excited as a fifth graderbecause it sounded so cool.
Well, you know what it was, itfelt like it was millions of
these tiny layers.
But man, when you've been intothat thing, it was gooey and
(20:09):
honey and caramely and it was,was so good.
And that is literally everytime I think about layering
things.
That's what I think about thatlittle fifth grade girl eating
that baklava.
And I wasn't even.
I was Japan, okay, my class wasJapan, but that class had
baklava and it was delicious.
But it was again.
(20:29):
It was all these little layersthat independently was like
phyllo dough or whatever.
But when it was all togetherand it had some pecans, I think,
maybe and just again, it wasgooey and good and it was
delicious.
But as a whole, that is howmarketing works.
When you layer everything ontogether is when two plus two
equals five.
Together it is greater thanthey can operate independently.
(20:53):
And so if I could givecontractors any thoughts, any
opinions, it would be to liketake a big step back from what
you're doing for marketing andstart at the basics.
What foundationally does mymarketing, my brand, look like?
And then what have I layered onas soon as I could afford to do
(21:13):
?
What have I layered on toreally make this a successful
thing?
So I encourage you today tothink about your marketing as a
whole, and how can we startlayering for you?
So many of you know that thispodcast is brought to you by
Lemon Seed Marketing and we area full-service marketing company
that focuses on strategy andbranding for the trades.
(21:36):
We come from the trades, weknow the trades, we live the
trades every single day, and sothis podcast is an outlet for us
to be able to share that.
So thank you for listening toanother episode.
If you love what you heard,please go, leave us a review.
We may even give you a shoutout on our next podcast.
And follow us on our socialmedia channels and listen.
If you're not getting ournewsletter, you need to check it
(21:57):
out now.
We are doing tons of coolwebinars, tons of cool stuff.
We've released some newproducts.
You're not going to want tomiss a really big announcement
coming from us in the nextcouple of days and months to
come.
So thank you so much, everybody.
Have a good day.
Thanks for sipping lemonadewith me.
We'll talk soon.
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I'm Crystal and today I'm goingto talk to you a little bit
about two or three conversationstwo or three conversations that
I have had with digitalcontractors lately.
I can't wait to talk to youabout it.
It's really how I've alwaysfelt and I've wanted to share it
, and I share it a little bithere and there, but I'm going to
(00:23):
tell you today about how twoplus two can really equal five.
Let's sip some lemonade.
All right, guys, welcome back.
So hear me out with this right.
Most people, most contractors,especially when I ask them like
hey, tell me about yourmarketing strategy, you know
(00:44):
what they tell me.
Well, my digital vendor is X.
Oh, my website guy, my SEO guy,my paid ads guy.
Our natural instinct is to leandirectly back into our digital
side.
And, guys, that is such animportant piece but is not the
whole.
So today I called this episodetwo plus two equals five,
(01:07):
because really there is power inlooking at marketing
holistically.
There's power in understandingthat there is the impact that
your brand can have on everyother pieces of your marketing's
performance.
Once you hit that, once youunderstand that and value that,
it's game changer, game over foryour competition.
(01:27):
That's how you're going to win.
So today I thought I would justliterally talk through why it
is the combination of all ofthose things working together in
tandem that really set acompany apart from their
competition and help your newcustomer acquisition cost
drastically go down.
So you guys know, emily and Iare super passionate about
(01:49):
branding.
We want companies to have asolid brand.
So I'm at a show, I'm walkingthe aisle headed to my booth,
this guy stops me and he's likehey, crystal, I know you, we're
Facebook friends.
So, side note, y'all ever livedthat life where you're like I
watched your kids grow up, butyou really don't know them in
real life, like you've never metthem personally or ever.
(02:11):
It's a very professionalrelationship.
So he's like, oh, we're, we're,we're Facebook friends.
And so I'm like, yeah, yeah,yeah.
He's like, oh, your kids playgolf, so yeah, so we kind of
made some chitat for a minute.
But then he's like hey, I wantto talk to you a little bit.
(02:32):
Like I am about to lose my mindwith my clients and this is a
digital provider that just won'tbrand their company.
Brands are terrible.
And I'm like, oh listen, lemonSeed has literally placed a lot
of focus on helping companiesbuild a better brand.
I talk about it till I'm bluein the face about how many
contractors are missing the boat.
So he goes on to tell me thestory of this contractor.
That was a verywell-established, multi, multi,
(02:54):
multi-generation company we'retalking like 50 more plus years
old and they rebranded theircompany, but without really a
strategic plan.
Well then, people, there wasbrand confusion.
People didn't know theirdigital stuff was all over the
place.
And he was telling me.
He said, man, I was so proud ofthem for rebranding, but there
still wasn't a strategy.
But he's like, I'm starting totell people that I can't work
(03:17):
with them unless their brand issolid.
And I was like, oh my gosh,you're preaching to the choir,
right.
Like, oh my gosh, you'repreaching to the choir, right.
Like, oh my gosh, this is whatI say, this is what I feel.
But I was like, man, you arepreaching.
Listen, I love it.
I'm here for it because I don'tcare what anyone tells you.
(03:39):
You can have an ugly logo.
So let me say this this hurtsmy heart to say it, but at the
end of the day, a logo is a logo.
So let me say this.
This hurts my heart to say it,but at the end of the day, a
logo is a logo.
A brand is a lot more than justthat logo.
Now, listen, don't get ittwisted.
I want to help many of you fixyour logos.
Your logos are terrible.
We can't read them.
They're confusing.
Y'all are using last names thatare hard to read, hard to
(04:01):
pronounce, definitely no SEOvalue.
You're called your last nameheating and air plumbing,
whatever.
So we got a lot of generic life.
Listen, most people I meet needto freshen up their brand.
Okay, but at the end of the day, your brand is this, this how
you make people feel, what theirexperience is with you, what
how your people look as far aslike cleanliness and
(04:23):
professionalism, what your vanslook like, what you say, your
follow up procedures all ofthose things make up the brand.
That's who you are.
But a lot of companies havegood things.
But his point in talking to metoday was and he's a digital
provider he's like man, I nowcare so much that they have a
solid brand, because here'swhat's going to happen
(04:45):
Contractors, this is what you do.
I'm going to step on your toes,but this is what you do.
You are like okay, I'm going topay this digital vendor $5,000
a month.
They're going to do SEO, paidads, host my website and keep
everything up to date, and I'mgoing to be a millionaire.
And so you're like I'm going tokill it.
I'm going to grow my company50% year over year.
I'm going to kill it with leads, with that one $5,000
(05:08):
investment with that digitalcompany.
And let me tell y'all somethingY'all are setting yourself and
that digital vendor up forfailure I'm sorry, I know that
sounds terrible and even gooddigital vendors and there's a
ton of good digital vendorsy'all they still cannot be as
successful as they could havebeen with a solid brand.
(05:31):
Also, like, if that is it, allyou're doing is a digital tactic
.
You're like out there, all ofyour eggs are in one basket.
So if search tanks, if theGoogle algorithm tanks I mean,
listen, google changesalgorithms like hookers change
panties.
Listen, there's just a lotgoing on, right, a lot of
(05:52):
changing and so.
But listen, some of y'all arelike that's okay, that's all I
care about.
Let me put all of my trust inGoogle and being in a digital
platform and my website.
That's all I need in this world, the Lord and digital marketing
and what happens is we get intoseasonality issues, to where
(06:13):
there's no demand, and so peoplearen't looking for the service.
So, even if your digitalprovider is killing it, like
killing it with your performance, if no one is looking for you,
you aren't looking for, notnecessarily you.
I'm sorry.
If no one is looking for yourservice ac repair near me and
(06:33):
things like that it is your ppccampaign, not.
It can't perform.
There's nothing asking it toperform, right.
So like, well, I've got allthis money in PPC, sir, it's 72
degrees.
No, everybody's living theirbest life, but heating and air
conditioning owners, right.
So at the end of the day, likethere has to be lots of things
(06:57):
happening to really make aholistic approach.
So what my point is there isyou're working with your digital
provider and you're puttingbudget in and you're doing all
the things that you think youshould do and it's not working,
and you're mad at the digitalprovider when you have to look
at the full picture of what isgoing on.
That's not performing.
(07:18):
So there is a differentstrategy and expectations of
success with an SEO strategy.
There are different performancemetrics and expectations on PPC
.
Then there are Google localservice ads.
Then there are.
So I had a contractor the otherday say to me well, I'm going
to cut GLSA, it's not working.
So I'm like well, that's an oddstatement, because Google local
(07:40):
service ads are liketransactional, so normally for
the most part you get chargedfor a lead when a lead books.
Now listen, we can all get downin the weeds.
Well, they charged me for thislead and it wasn't a valid lead,
all that jazz.
But for the most part,directionally, I would put as
much money as Google wanted tome to put in Google local
(08:04):
service bucket because it onlyspins as I get a lead.
Versus PPC is like putting abunch of bird feeders out and
then hopefully a bird will pickyou right.
So, like there's, it's verydifferent.
You're paying for all the feedand the bird feeders, but only
one or two might work.
Versus Google local service adsare pretty directional.
(08:28):
You're only charged when a leadis a viable lead.
And then geo-targeting isanother one.
Geo-fencing is one that myclients get confused on a lot.
Geo-fencing, the only thingthat made someone ready to
receive that ad where they seeyour ad in a geofencing campaign
is that they were doingsomething right.
(08:49):
They lived in the right area,they visited the right thing.
They drove through somewhere.
There's not always intentbehind it, so you may be serving
up ads to people that don'tneed your services.
They were just in the rightplace or lived in the right town
or in the right neighborhood,and so those are awareness
campaigns.
So expectations are so important.
(09:10):
And so he's right when he says,man, all of the pressure is on
the digital provider and itshould be when we've got fair
playing ground, right?
So hey, in the middle of Julyit's 110 degrees outside in the
middle of Texas and it's dry andeverybody's hot, and you have
no leads and you're spending$5,000 a month.
(09:32):
We need to talk.
Something's not right, becausewe know search volume is there,
but in that same Texas town inthe middle of March, when it is
70 degrees outside, ain't nobodyeven in their house to know if
their air is working.
It's beautiful weather for thefour days that East Texas gets
beautiful weather and we'reoutside Okay, odds are we're
(09:54):
outside just smelling clean,soft air, because we're used to
burning our eyeballs out ifwe're out there too long, right?
So at the end of the day, youreally have to understand and
have clear expectations.
But what I loved about what thisvendor said to me was I am
really doing this deep dive intowho.
(10:14):
I want to do a brand analysisBecause if their brand is not
there, I do not need to workwith them.
They are going to be.
I'm set up for failure andthey're not going to have the
expectations that they want.
And it just opened my eyesbecause let me tell you
something, just a little secrethere I am so passionate to help
contractors that I will take youon as a client when I don't
(10:37):
even need to because you're notready.
Whatever's happening iswhatever's going on in your
business is not indicative ofreally needing lemon seed
services.
But I always feel like I canfind a way to help.
But let me tell you what I havedetermined People that want to
be successful, that areentrepreneurially driven and are
(11:00):
fiscally focusing on thingsthat they need to focus on, they
will be successful.
And then they will get to arevenue point that lemon seed
makes sense.
But y'all really the lowestlevel contractors that are doing
lower revenues they will bickerover a $50 charge.
(11:22):
And then I have larger clientswho are much more.
They can see, they can see thevision, so they just trust the
process, and this you know.
But my smaller contractors, man, they just they're tighter with
their money and so everythingis a fight and I'm just like man
, you don't trust the process,like we need to trust the
(11:43):
process.
So I really wanted to get intothis today and I wanted to use
that story of that vendortelling me you know, I'm so
frustrated, I don't even wannawork with people that don't have
a good brand.
I want that to lead us into thefact that when we are talking
about marketing strategy soLemon Seed is a marketing
strategy company and we dorebrands and we do branding
(12:05):
because it's all a part of astrategy, right?
And when we take all thesepieces of marketing, all these
different tactics, and wepartner with them with a solid,
identifiable, unique again,solid brand, that is when they
exponentially compound on eachother.
(12:26):
And that's how I get that.
Two plus two equals five.
So if you're just going to dobits and pieces of things or
you're just going to throw wetnoodles at the wall to see what
sticks, you're really going tohave a hard time building out
some true traction.
So one of two things is goingto happen You're going to feel
like you live on a hamster wheelbecause you're living in the
(12:47):
life of home advisor and Angielist and thumbtack list and I'm
paying all this money out and Ijust cause I can't keep up.
And I've got a digital providerand I'm doing SEO and I'm doing
PPC and I'm doing everything Iknow to do and I'm still not
winning.
And you're not winning becauseyou're out of control in the
sense of expectations are,expectations are not aligned.
(13:09):
So we have to start at wherethe basics is, and a lot of you
are just scared to death tothink about your brand.
Well, what do I do?
Or we have this unrealisticvalue of who we think we are.
So this is a hurtful thing tosay, but it's very truthful.
You are not as important or asrecognizable as a company as you
(13:31):
think you are.
So people say I dominate mymarket and I'm like sir, I have
a competitor one market overwho's doing more in this zip
code than you are, and this isnot even their home base.
But the contractor thinks man,who doesn't know what we do, and
I'm like a lot of people.
So for you to sit back andthink, man, I don't need to do
(13:52):
branding, it's word of mouth forme.
That's it for me.
Word of mouth keeps me busy.
Well, you know what?
All it's going to take is onegood competitor to knock you on
your booty and you're going tobe like what happened to my
business.
Well, we rolled over the top ofyou through good marketing
strategy.
Hvac is not exempt from solidmarketing strategies that build
(14:14):
companies from ground zero allthe way up, and you don't.
There's no shortcuts, there'sno silver bullets, there's no
quick wins that perpetuate yourbusiness to being a
multimillionaire.
What there are is solid peoplethat keep punching that
marketing strategy in the faceevery single day.
So they've got a solid brand,they have a strategy that has
(14:38):
digital components and brandingcomponents and cultivating their
existing database, and it's allof those pistons pumping
together that makes a solidengine roar.
And again, guys, we just get socaught up in literally.
I listened to a call the otherday and it was a contractor and
all they wanted to talk aboutwas this race that they were
(15:00):
sponsoring, and this race thatthey were sponsoring took up so
much of their conversation withtheir consultant and then, but
at the end of the day, I waslike this client doesn't even
have an SEO strategy, but wespent this whole time with these
valuable marketers.
He had the time, the focus ofmarketing people that do it for
(15:21):
a living, and we spent all thattime on a yard sign design and
I'm just like man.
We're off right.
Our thought process is off.
We have to turn around andrealize that good things start
with a solid foundation.
I mean, think about anything,everything that you've ever done
.
It's always harder to build thefoundation when you're a $10
(15:43):
million company and you're a hotmess Right now.
If you're less than $5 millionand you need a refresh, the time
to do that on your brand is notat $10 million.
That is a bigger undertaking.
We have a lot bigger of abattle, a blaze, to fight.
So what my encouragement here isis understanding that when you
do a consistent process of okay,50% of my marketing budget is
(16:08):
going to go to digital and Iwant a comprehensive digital
strategy meaning.
I want an meaning.
I want a good website thatlooks nice, it's easy to
navigate, it asks for thebusiness and I want it to be SEO
, loaded with everything and allthe search terms that I can
afford to buy.
I want it to be navigatable.
I want it to list my membershipclub.
I need there to be a chat.
I need people to be able toclick to call.
(16:29):
I need people to be able toschedule online.
I want a solid GLSA approach.
Google local service ads I wantto turn them on.
I want to be intentional,leaving a solid budget in there.
I mean, all of that is yourdigital performance.
Then that other half of yourbudget.
What can we do in your market tolet people experience your logo
(16:50):
and experience your company allthe time?
And so, if what you do is well,I did a billboard campaign for
you know, 45 minutes basically,you know, or I did it for 30
days and I got no calls.
It was terrible, it did notwork.
Well, hello, that's not eventhe right expectations of a
billboard.
A billboard's expectations are.
(17:11):
You know, the performance of abillboard is measured a couple
of different ways, but one ofthose ways is you just got to
understand that it's not verymeasurable, it's not easily
measurable.
So that's number one.
But second of all, what weshould do is, after we have ran
a consistent strategy wherewe're branding the company and
it's in my line of sight as aconsumer for days, and then
(17:34):
weeks and then months, all of asudden it becomes.
I'm exposed to your logo andyour brand and what you do.
All that's doing is justpenetrating my environment,
where I see your company all thetime.
So when I have a need, you wantme to think of you.
That's why mascots are so easyto buy into, because they're
(17:55):
memorable things.
So a billboard and radio and TV.
The reason that they aresuccessful is because it's just
exposure.
You're basically infiltratingyour community's headspace with
who you are.
But then your website side themajority of those tactics are
for when people are looking forthe service.
(18:17):
So mass media, very much top ofthe marketing funnel.
People aren't intoconsideration, they're not even
considering it, they don't needit.
It's just a part of exposure.
And then you've got calls toaction where, when people are
ready, they've made somedecisions and they're made.
They've made some decisions andthey're ready to move forward.
So then we're going to give areason for them to call us right
(18:38):
, a reason to use us.
And then once they are ourcustomer and y'all have paid
$100, $300, $500 for that lead,why are we not remarketing to
them very consistently?
All of these things arecompounded on each other.
So when your brand is good, itmakes your digital perform
better.
When your digital performsbetter, and then you know
(19:01):
digital performs better, whichgets you higher revenue, which
gives you better money to workwith, and then your direct mail
is going to work better.
And then you layer on socialmedia, where you're doing videos
, and you're doing graphics andoffers and tips and tricks and
funny videos.
That's building your brand,y'all.
It's literally.
It just compounds on top ofeach other, on top, layer after
(19:23):
layer.
It's like the most when I was infifth grade, and we'll tell a
little story.
When I was in fifth grade, atthe elementary school that I
went to, we had the Olympics, iswhat it was called.
At the elementary school that Iwent to, we had the Olympics,
is what it was called like theOlympics, and every grade
participated and then everyclass inside of that grade was a
different country.
Well, one year we my class, wetasted all the foods and you
(19:46):
know what we got to try andy'all, I've never been more
excited to try something in mylife.
We got to try baklava, which,again, I'm from little old Poe,
dunkeys, texas.
Okay, call me what you want to,but it was a baklava, and I was
so excited as a fifth graderbecause it sounded so cool.
Well, you know what it was, itfelt like it was millions of
these tiny layers.
But man, when you've been intothat thing, it was gooey and
(20:09):
honey and caramely and it was,was so good.
And that is literally everytime I think about layering
things.
That's what I think about thatlittle fifth grade girl eating
that baklava.
And I wasn't even.
I was Japan, okay, my class wasJapan, but that class had
baklava and it was delicious.
But it was again.
(20:29):
It was all these little layersthat independently was like
phyllo dough or whatever.
But when it was all togetherand it had some pecans, I think,
maybe and just again, it wasgooey and good and it was
delicious.
But as a whole, that is howmarketing works.
When you layer everything ontogether is when two plus two
equals five.
Together it is greater thanthey can operate independently.
(20:53):
And so if I could givecontractors any thoughts, any
opinions, it would be to liketake a big step back from what
you're doing for marketing andstart at the basics.
What foundationally does mymarketing, my brand, look like?
And then what have I layered onas soon as I could afford to do
(21:13):
?
What have I layered on toreally make this a successful
thing?
So I encourage you today tothink about your marketing as a
whole, and how can we startlayering for you?
So many of you know that thispodcast is brought to you by
Lemon Seed Marketing and we area full-service marketing company
that focuses on strategy andbranding for the trades.
(21:36):
We come from the trades, weknow the trades, we live the
trades every single day, and sothis podcast is an outlet for us
to be able to share that.
So thank you for listening toanother episode.
If you love what you heard,please go, leave us a review.
We may even give you a shoutout on our next podcast.
And follow us on our socialmedia channels and listen.
If you're not getting ournewsletter, you need to check it
(21:57):
out now.
We are doing tons of coolwebinars, tons of cool stuff.
We've released some newproducts.
You're not going to want tomiss a really big announcement
coming from us in the nextcouple of days and months to
come.
So thank you so much, everybody.
Have a good day.
Thanks for sipping lemonadewith me.
We'll talk soon.
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