April 29, 2025 • 21 mins
Ever wondered why some home service businesses become household names while others remain forgettable? The secret isn't just clever digital marketing or a fancy logo—it's building genuine community relationships that transform customers into raving fans.
Crystal, founder and lead strategist at Lemon Seed Marketing, pulls back the curtain on what truly separates market leaders from the competition. With passion and practical wisdom, she challenges the common misconception that your brand is merely your logo. While visual identity matters, it's only the introduction—not the relationship. True brand building happens when your technicians roll trash cans up driveways for elderly customers, when your mascot high-fives local kids, and when your team shows up consistently as positive community members.
The harsh truth Crystal delivers? Most contractors won't commit to genuine community marketing because it demands sustained effort and creativity. But those who persevere gain tremendous advantages. Rather than simply writing sponsorship checks and slapping logos on banners, successful brands customize their community presence in memorable ways—transforming putting greens into branded experiences, creating signature charitable moments, and generating authentic content that resonates long after the event ends.
This approach creates what Crystal calls "the top of the funnel" marketing that builds brand awareness and trust before customers ever need your services. When market demand fluctuates or digital advertising falters, companies with strong community relationships maintain stability through word-of-mouth and brand loyalty. The key is layering these community efforts with digital marketing, direct mail, and other tactics for a comprehensive approach where "2+2=5."
Ready to transform your home service brand from a forgettable logo into a beloved community fixture? Take Crystal's challenge to think outside the box, show up consistently, and create the kind of authentic connections that competitors can't easily replicate. Because when market conditions get tough, it's not your logo that saves you—it's the relationships you've built one community interaction at a time.
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.
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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
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, guys, have you ever been really wondering
how you can set your companyapart from everyone else in your
market?
Well, buckle up.
Today's episode is all aboutthat.
So what's up, lemonheads?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I'm Crystal and I am the founderand lead strategist co-founder,
(00:22):
I should say, and leadstrategist at Lemon Seed
Marketing, but today I'm goingto be talking about going beyond
the logo for your companybuilding a community-driven home
service brand that willdefinitely put you above the
rest.
I can't wait to talk about this.
Y'all know this is my passion.
Let's sit down and let's sipsome lemonade, all right?
(00:54):
So I want to talk about acouple of things here.
So, when we talk about brandingand we talk about community
engagement, most of you I'm justgoing to like give a little
warning label to this episodeMost of you are not going to do
what it takes to get this done.
Most of you will start outreally strong but not be able to
really complete this challenge,Because you know why.
(01:14):
It gets old, it gets tiring,sometimes it can get expensive,
it gets a little daunting, justlike everything that is hard.
Always, anything that's goodcan be a hard challenge up front
.
So that is what is kind of moredifficult about the community
marketing side of things.
But today, as I kind of diveinto these three things that I
(01:35):
want to talk about, I want youto understand that when I say
that most of you won't do this,what I mean is you have to dig
in deep, right.
You've got to find the time,you've got to find the people,
you've got to find someresources.
So it does not come without itsown set of pain and sorrow, as
I say, but what it does comewith is great reward tons of
(01:56):
brand building, lots of brandauthority, but, more than
anything, some residual andlong-term lasting brand building
will change the trajectory ofyour overall marketing spend, if
we can do it right and if wecan do it well, which you
totally can.
But I want to get your mindsetright to where I know you need
to be to be able to tacklecommunity marketing and engaging
(02:19):
in your market.
So let's get started with thenumber one thing of our three
things.
Your logo, friends, is only theintroduction to your brand.
It's not the relationship.
People do not have arelationship with your font,
people do not have arelationship with your hierarchy
, all of those things that arecool, to designers and brands
(02:41):
and logos.
Listen, that is a superintegral part.
Don't underestimate the valueof having a good logo and a good
look and a good font and goodcolors, all that stuff.
Yes, it is super important.
Don't look past that.
But what I want you to do isunderstand that is your calling
card, that is your business card, that is you putting yourself
(03:04):
out there for the world to see,but it's not the relationship,
right?
The relationship is what comeswhen your brand is out in the
market and you are rolling intrash cans that are out along
driveways of elderly patients,that you come.
That's when your technicianchanges the batteries in a smoke
alarm.
That's when your mascot ishigh-fiving the kids in the
(03:27):
local basketball team.
All of those things are whatyou are doing that build
relationships and buildengagement.
So what I want you tounderstand is, as we go beyond
the logo, it is important thatyour logo be good and be solid
and be modern and be refreshedon a fairly relatively
(03:49):
consistent basis.
I mean years, but still makesure that you're kind of keeping
your eye on the ball there.
But it's only the introduction,right?
It's only what people see andwhat they interact with visually
.
I mean those of you that havejingles and mascots, like
there's some auditory thingsthat go on there, but mean those
of you that have jingles andmascots, like there's some
auditory things that go on there.
But remember, that's theintroduction, it's not the
(04:09):
relationship.
So your relationship buildinghas to come from what you are
doing.
I call it the shaking hands andkissing babies.
Right?
How are we doing that?
Where are we to be seen?
And I'll tell you this it isone of the biggest secrets of
growing a brand quickly to me.
(04:29):
So, quick story back in 2014,when I went to McWilliams, my
brother called me and said comeand work for me those of y'all
that have heard the story, comeback to work.
I'd work there as a kid, butcome back to work there as a
professional, if you will.
And one of the first things Idid was just go out into the
community.
I literally just like, took offinto our community, engaged
with our local chamber ofcommerce, and I just started
(04:51):
literally shaking everybody'shand that would shake my hand,
telling anybody that wouldlisten what McWilliams did.
I started, we started creatinga mascot when we started private
labeling equipment.
We so we created Sailor Mac,which is based around my grandpa
, so then I wanted to take himeverywhere.
But I wanted to be where thepeople are.
I was Ariel under the sea,sebastian, all the characters.
(05:13):
I was trying to get out thereand be where the people were,
because I knew my logo was good,people saw it.
We had vans everywhere, we wereputting our logo places, we
were advertising.
But I wanted to buildrelationships, and that's where
the community involvement becameso super important was not only
was I engaging with the peoplethat were attending these events
(05:36):
and festivals and fairs and allof that stuff, but the
coordinators, the volunteers,the chamber staff those also
became raving fans of our brandout of kindness and goodness.
But I had built relationshipswith those people, and so
today's episode is really aboutthat number one piece.
How can we really buildrelationships with your
community that go past a goodlooking wrap?
(05:58):
And again, remember what I toldyou at the beginning.
Many of you are going to belike I'm not going out, I'm not
doing all that, and you don'thave to.
But what you have to understandis that if someone like me
comes into your market, give mesix months and I'm rolling with
you on brand recognition becauseI put in the work, I invested
in the work.
I had boots on the groundstrategy.
(06:19):
So right now a lot of you thatare listening the majority of
your advertising is spent indigital.
You know what digital reallyneeds to perform well Need, and
so when there's no demand forthings, it really means your
digital is going to drop off.
Well, if that happens for me,I've done a lot of brand
building right.
So I've done a lot of awarenessthings that make me more of a
(06:40):
household name, and so I'mworking now at the top of the
funnel.
So if your advertising strategyoverall does not have a top to
bottom funnel strategy, you aremissing the boat because you now
have put all of your proverbialeggs in a basket of an
advertising tactic and you'rejust got both fingers crossed
(07:00):
that.
Please let the weather help me.
Instead of building a brand forlong-term things, creating some
short-term wins and investing ina digital strategy and all the
extra things, go back and watchmy episode called 2 plus 2
equals 5.
I talk about the importance oflayering that marketing.
So do not sleep oncommunity-driven home service
(07:23):
brand building.
Don't sleep on it.
Number one why your logo isonly the introduction and not
the relationship Number two.
So do not sleep on communitydriven home service brand
building.
Don't sleep on it.
So, number one why your logo isonly the introduction and not
the relationship Number two whatare some real, actual ways that
we can embed your brand intothe community?
So let's talk about Crystal.
What the heck does that evenmean?
Well, you have to go deeper.
Let me tell you what most ofyou do, or at least most of the
(07:44):
contractors that I've interactedwith, which is a lot.
What you do is you're like well, you know my cousin.
He was the coach of the12-year-old all-star team.
So I paid him $300 and put mylogo on their banner.
Okay, good for you.
But like we failed the test ofreally engaging with people
during that brand, okay For yourbrand.
Really engaging with peopleduring that brand Okay For your
(08:07):
brand, I'm sorry, reallyengaging.
So the basic people put a logo.
The pro tip here, the pro tipfor this community engagement,
is I invited that team to myoffice and I had my mascot go to
their practice.
Maybe I made my own banner thatsays you know, sailor Max
(08:28):
supports the 12 year old DaballAll-Stars or Lufkin All-Stars.
Right, I made that.
I also had a cooler full ofdrinks for them, or I made some
snack packs.
So, yes, I gave them $250 forthe banner, but I now have
pictures of me and every player,me and the team I am picked.
I want somebody there videoingme high-fiving the team.
(08:49):
Put your hand in the middle.
One, two, three, go Lumberjacksright.
All of those things needed tohappen because that is engaging.
What's not engaging is my logoand 15 others.
So I just added 50, a hundredbucks to my 250.
So for $350, I now have videofootage, picture footage,
pictures.
I have some little fun B-rollshots that I need to be putting
(09:13):
on social media and encouragingeveryone to go support those
kids.
In the meanwhile, I'm buildingmy brand, one event at a time,
and I will fly past people thatrefuse to invest time, energy
and effort into building thosethings.
So that's one way of doing it.
Another way is looking foropportunities to not just
(09:33):
sponsor something but really ownthat.
So, for one thing that LemonSeed did is when we were
sponsoring a local golftournament for Habitat for
Humanity.
We like to practice what wepreach, so of course, habitat
for Humanity builds homes, andso that's what our contractors
do, and so we love to supportthings that support and fuel our
own industry.
So they have the putting greensponsorship, basically, where
(09:59):
you know you put and all thesethings.
And so of course we went backto them and we were like well,
can we call it the puttingyellow?
And they were like huh.
And I was like we're going tobring like yellow rugs down for
them to put off of.
And they were like this isgenius, because it was all fun
anyway, but what I needed todrive home is lemon seed.
Right, I needed to drive thathome.
(10:20):
Mcwilliams, now we sponsor theball drop every single year at
any golf tournament.
That'll, let us do it, becausewe're going to drive our van up,
sailor Mac is going to get ontop of our van and we're going
to use flex duck and we're goingto dump all the balls into that
flex duck and point that ducktowards the hole and whoever's
ball.
So you purchase a ball as anattendee and whoever's ball
(10:41):
lands in the hole wins the prize.
But y'all, it is like a shiningmoment, like people love to see
this character on top of thevan.
So there's my van, there's mymascot, there's my marketing
team, there's videos happening,people are cheering.
It is wonderful, organic, feelgood content.
That's way better than mehaving my name on a yard sign
(11:02):
stuck on hole six, right?
But see, we think easy, wethink inside the box.
Well, this is what the peoplehad as sponsorship.
Y'all push a little bit harder.
If you have a brand that has aparticular animal as a mascot,
why is everything not aroundthat animal?
If I have a fast animal, I'msponsoring every race.
If I have a slow animal, I'malso sponsoring every race, just
(11:25):
because it's kind of fun.
If I have a character, I'mgoing to have a rhyme to it.
So if I've got perfect pat, itmight be perfect pat, perfect
raffle sponsor.
I'm going to connect all thedots for the consumer.
And listen y'all, the consumerdoesn't even know that we're
doing it.
This is not like, hey,everybody, we're doing it in a
(11:48):
quirky and fun way, but it'sgoing much deeper and much
outside the box, other than Iput my logo on the back of a
t-shirt and on a banner and mostof you are like rolling your
eyes right now because that'swhat you do now, because it
makes you feel good, which I'mhere for.
But what I want you to switchyour brain around is how can you
actually use this investmentthat is out of the goodness of
your heart to help you buildyour brand.
(12:09):
You don't have to get out thereand be like who wants a system,
who needs a water heater.
That's not necessarily my styleeither.
My style is much more like hey,we are so excited to be here.
Thank you so much forparticipating in our ball drop.
You know we're not comfortabletill you are All our tagline and
cool stuff like that.
(12:32):
So as you're doing things in thecommunity, you really want to
make sure that you are doingsomething cool, that's memorable
, that works.
The funnel, the marketingfunnel.
So remember, we have people atthe top of the funnel that
aren't ready to make a decision.
So the odds of people being onthe golf course, when you're the
golf chair sponsor, that areready to buy a unit or a new
water heater or a new electricpanel right, this moment is not
there.
That's not what's there, right?
What's there is people that youcan leave a lasting impression
(12:54):
with because you had a coolwater station, you had a cool
cooling tent, right?
So if you sponsor a golftournament in the middle of the
summer and you have a coolingtent, those are things that
people walk away and are likedang, you know, you remember who
had those cooling towels, thatlemonade, whatever.
And so just think outside thebox here.
Let everybody else the peanutgallery, as I call it let that,
(13:15):
let that competitor, you know,sponsor something like you do.
But you stand out and you bedifferent.
That's what you can do.
So my encouragement to you isreally own what you do.
Own thinking outside the box.
Own thinking through howeverything needs to be above par
(13:37):
.
No golf pun intended there, butjust take it deeper than that
and look for opportunities thatmatch your brand, and so these
are real ways that you can embedthat.
Opportunities that match yourbrand, and so these are real
ways that you can embed that.
Also, you know doing things thatare outreach based.
(13:57):
So this is when my crew fromComfort Control went and worked
at the food bank and youdistributed food or you worked
at the animal shelter.
Things like that are soendearing.
They make you real, they makeyou an actual like the community
starts, making you feel like anactual person.
So I really encourage you tothink through, like my
sponsorships, are they deeperthan my logo, than just my logo
(14:18):
on a banner or a t-shirt Forlocal events?
Am I present?
So do I have a booth there?
Am I shaking hands, kissingbabies, giving out balloons,
high fives?
Is my mascot there?
How am I going above and beyondwhat people expect to happen?
How can I think deeper thanthat?
And then, outreach is also apart of like just honestly being
a good citizen and giving backto your community through things
(14:41):
like I mentioned, the fooddrives and things like that.
But again, be more intentional.
Feel the back of a truck orpartner with a local grocery
store.
You can do lots of things thatreally drive that home.
And our third thing today islet's talk about measuring trust
, right?
So a lot of people are like I'mnever going to be able to
quantify me, my communityinvolvement, like if I go hire
(15:03):
someone that their job is to beout in the community
representing my name, my brand,my company.
How do I pay for that?
Well, listen, it is aboutcustomer retention.
It's around brand awareness.
And the third thing that Ireally want to push on.
So you know what.
Number one, why your logo isonly the introduction, not the
relationship.
Number two, real ways to embedyour brand into the community
(15:27):
through those sponsorships thatwe talked through, local events
and outreach and, last but notleast, measuring trust, like how
your community engagementreally leads to that long-term
customer retention.
So what I want to tell you hereis you know you are building a
brand that has long-term,long-lasting effects, and so
when you do this and you embedyourself in your community and
(15:50):
you again y'all are going to gettired of me saying it, but you
shake hands and kiss babies.
It is so that people make thatconnection.
You know what the world ishungry for Connection.
So hug them high, five them,smile at them, you know, wave
and again, come and come back,be positive, be engaging.
It's not about selling a waterheater right now.
(16:11):
It's not about selling an airconditioning unit at that moment
.
What it's about is real andpositive and joyful interactions
with your brand.
So do not send your crotchetytechnician to go work your booth
.
It's going to be terrible.
They're not great peoplecommunicators.
If you've got a CSR or an officemanager that's volunteering to
(16:31):
work it and they just naturallydo not have a joyful spirit, do
not put them out at your booth.
What you need are people thatare active and engaged and
smiling and all of the coolthings, because you need your
brain.
You need to be a reflection ofthe brain that you're putting
out there, right?
(16:52):
So your logo is not theintroduction, it's the
relationship.
Really embed yourself inout-of-the-box, cool ways of
thinking around sponsorships,local events and outreach.
And then, last but not least,like, really build out that
long-term customer retentionwhere you are doing branding
continuously to get them to useyour company.
(17:12):
Once they use your company, howdo you keep them engaged with
you?
And that's still like you wantpeople to pass by your booth at
the local blueberry festival,apple pie festival, whatever
festival.
You've got shrimp corn on thecob.
I don't know all the festivalsyou want the people to be like
that's my water company, orthat's my plumbing company, or
that's my roofing company, orwhatever.
(17:33):
You want people to naturallyrelax.
Yes, I love my HVAC guy, right,I love my heating and air
conditioning company.
But to do that, you've got tostart somewhere and you've got
to build it there.
So I want to go back to what Isaid earlier.
I said that some of you won'tdo this.
This is not for the faint atheart, this is not for the
people that are scared to spend50 cents.
(17:53):
Okay, so it's not for you.
This, and also this cannot bethe only thing you do.
Remember that whole.
Two plus two equals five.
Community intentionality theengagement piece is something
that you layer on with otherthings.
You layer it on top of yourdigital performance.
You layer it on top of socialmedia.
You lay it on top of yourdirect mail.
(18:14):
You layer all these piecestogether, social media, you lay
it on top of your direct mail.
You layer all these piecestogether because individually,
things may not perform strongindividually.
It's the collection of all ofthose things, layered together
perfectly and layered togetherwell, that build your brand and
leave you getting active leadsvery consistently.
Most people are looking for thesilver bullet.
The silver bullet isdiversification and consistency.
(18:36):
It's when you put all of youreggs in that one basket.
Well, I do direct mail.
It doesn't work.
Did you do it for $300 and didit take one time and you were
done?
That's not going to work.
Marketing is a game of chessthat you sit down and you never
get back up.
You've got to keep going.
You've got to keep your eye outthere.
You've got to work out.
Your customer serviceexperience has to be reflective
(18:58):
of the brand.
So if you're out and you'resmiling and they call your
office the first time and you'relike thanks for calling
Crystal's Heating and Air.
You know that is not welcoming,that doesn't match the vibe,
right.
We're giving bothersome, right?
So what I want you to do, Iwant you to think through like
your brand has to go from thetruck all the way down through
(19:19):
the technician in the home.
Your brand is the story thatthat customer journey tells.
So your logo is one thing, butyour brand and who people think
you are, what they know from you, what they know about you, how
you make them feel that's fromthe truck to the technician, and
all the interactions in between, including your install crews,
right, all of those interactions.
(19:41):
That's building your brand,right?
So did they get to interactwith you in the community?
And then they saw you on socialmedia and then they saw you in
a postcard and then they saw youat the movie theater as a
commercial.
Before that they saw your banddriving around, they heard your
jingle.
And then they got to use yourcompany and the CSR was great
and we showed up and we did agreat job and we handed it off
(20:02):
and the technician smelled good,looked good, was clean, cut.
The engagement was very good,very wholesome.
Then your install crew came out.
They cleaned up when theystarted.
They cleaned up when theystopped, cleaned up when they
started.
They cleaned up when theystopped.
They got a package in the mailthanking them for the install.
You did a follow-up call.
That is your brand Not.
Well, you know what I do,crystal.
I do SEO and paid ads.
(20:22):
That's not your brand, crystal.
My brand is I have a reallygood logo, not your brand.
That's your logo.
That's the introduction, it'snot the relationship.
So I just want to tell you guysright now go beyond the logo,
(20:42):
think outside the box, do whatother people aren't willing to
do.
Be the differentiator in yourmarket of the people as being
known as the company that'sinvolved and engaged and is
lively and joyful and bringsenergy to your company or energy
to your community.
Don't give up, don't bedistracted, and be intentional
about consistently andholistically building an
advertising strategy.
So, just so y'all know, thispodcast is brought to you by
(21:03):
Lemon Seed Marketing.
We're a full-service marketingagency that really helps you
build your brand and organizeall of your marketing tactics.
So we're not a digital company,friends.
We're a brand forward companyand we're here to help you.
So I would love to help you.
Visit us online at lemon seedmarketingcom and fill out that
contact us form.
Make sure you tell them thatyou heard us from the podcast
(21:23):
and I have a little prize forthose that come from the podcast
.
So thank you so much.
Hey, and friends and familytalk free, so schedule that
discovery call.
Let's chat about how you canuse lemon seed to help your
company go beyond the logo.
Bye, guys, thanks for shippinglemonade.
See you next time.
All right, guys, have you ever been really wondering
how you can set your companyapart from everyone else in your
market?
Well, buckle up.
Today's episode is all aboutthat.
So what's up, lemonheads?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I'm Crystal and I am the founderand lead strategist co-founder,
(00:22):
I should say, and leadstrategist at Lemon Seed
Marketing, but today I'm goingto be talking about going beyond
the logo for your companybuilding a community-driven home
service brand that willdefinitely put you above the
rest.
I can't wait to talk about this.
Y'all know this is my passion.
Let's sit down and let's sipsome lemonade, all right?
(00:54):
So I want to talk about acouple of things here.
So, when we talk about brandingand we talk about community
engagement, most of you I'm justgoing to like give a little
warning label to this episodeMost of you are not going to do
what it takes to get this done.
Most of you will start outreally strong but not be able to
really complete this challenge,Because you know why.
(01:14):
It gets old, it gets tiring,sometimes it can get expensive,
it gets a little daunting, justlike everything that is hard.
Always, anything that's goodcan be a hard challenge up front
.
So that is what is kind of moredifficult about the community
marketing side of things.
But today, as I kind of diveinto these three things that I
(01:35):
want to talk about, I want youto understand that when I say
that most of you won't do this,what I mean is you have to dig
in deep, right.
You've got to find the time,you've got to find the people,
you've got to find someresources.
So it does not come without itsown set of pain and sorrow, as
I say, but what it does comewith is great reward tons of
(01:56):
brand building, lots of brandauthority, but, more than
anything, some residual andlong-term lasting brand building
will change the trajectory ofyour overall marketing spend, if
we can do it right and if wecan do it well, which you
totally can.
But I want to get your mindsetright to where I know you need
to be to be able to tacklecommunity marketing and engaging
(02:19):
in your market.
So let's get started with thenumber one thing of our three
things.
Your logo, friends, is only theintroduction to your brand.
It's not the relationship.
People do not have arelationship with your font,
people do not have arelationship with your hierarchy
, all of those things that arecool, to designers and brands
(02:41):
and logos.
Listen, that is a superintegral part.
Don't underestimate the valueof having a good logo and a good
look and a good font and goodcolors, all that stuff.
Yes, it is super important.
Don't look past that.
But what I want you to do isunderstand that is your calling
card, that is your business card, that is you putting yourself
(03:04):
out there for the world to see,but it's not the relationship,
right?
The relationship is what comeswhen your brand is out in the
market and you are rolling intrash cans that are out along
driveways of elderly patients,that you come.
That's when your technicianchanges the batteries in a smoke
alarm.
That's when your mascot ishigh-fiving the kids in the
(03:27):
local basketball team.
All of those things are whatyou are doing that build
relationships and buildengagement.
So what I want you tounderstand is, as we go beyond
the logo, it is important thatyour logo be good and be solid
and be modern and be refreshedon a fairly relatively
(03:49):
consistent basis.
I mean years, but still makesure that you're kind of keeping
your eye on the ball there.
But it's only the introduction,right?
It's only what people see andwhat they interact with visually
.
I mean those of you that havejingles and mascots, like
there's some auditory thingsthat go on there, but mean those
of you that have jingles andmascots, like there's some
auditory things that go on there.
But remember, that's theintroduction, it's not the
(04:09):
relationship.
So your relationship buildinghas to come from what you are
doing.
I call it the shaking hands andkissing babies.
Right?
How are we doing that?
Where are we to be seen?
And I'll tell you this it isone of the biggest secrets of
growing a brand quickly to me.
(04:29):
So, quick story back in 2014,when I went to McWilliams, my
brother called me and said comeand work for me those of y'all
that have heard the story, comeback to work.
I'd work there as a kid, butcome back to work there as a
professional, if you will.
And one of the first things Idid was just go out into the
community.
I literally just like, took offinto our community, engaged
with our local chamber ofcommerce, and I just started
(04:51):
literally shaking everybody'shand that would shake my hand,
telling anybody that wouldlisten what McWilliams did.
I started, we started creatinga mascot when we started private
labeling equipment.
We so we created Sailor Mac,which is based around my grandpa
, so then I wanted to take himeverywhere.
But I wanted to be where thepeople are.
I was Ariel under the sea,sebastian, all the characters.
(05:13):
I was trying to get out thereand be where the people were,
because I knew my logo was good,people saw it.
We had vans everywhere, we wereputting our logo places, we
were advertising.
But I wanted to buildrelationships, and that's where
the community involvement becameso super important was not only
was I engaging with the peoplethat were attending these events
(05:36):
and festivals and fairs and allof that stuff, but the
coordinators, the volunteers,the chamber staff those also
became raving fans of our brandout of kindness and goodness.
But I had built relationshipswith those people, and so
today's episode is really aboutthat number one piece.
How can we really buildrelationships with your
community that go past a goodlooking wrap?
(05:58):
And again, remember what I toldyou at the beginning.
Many of you are going to belike I'm not going out, I'm not
doing all that, and you don'thave to.
But what you have to understandis that if someone like me
comes into your market, give mesix months and I'm rolling with
you on brand recognition becauseI put in the work, I invested
in the work.
I had boots on the groundstrategy.
(06:19):
So right now a lot of you thatare listening the majority of
your advertising is spent indigital.
You know what digital reallyneeds to perform well Need, and
so when there's no demand forthings, it really means your
digital is going to drop off.
Well, if that happens for me,I've done a lot of brand
building right.
So I've done a lot of awarenessthings that make me more of a
(06:40):
household name, and so I'mworking now at the top of the
funnel.
So if your advertising strategyoverall does not have a top to
bottom funnel strategy, you aremissing the boat because you now
have put all of your proverbialeggs in a basket of an
advertising tactic and you'rejust got both fingers crossed
(07:00):
that.
Please let the weather help me.
Instead of building a brand forlong-term things, creating some
short-term wins and investing ina digital strategy and all the
extra things, go back and watchmy episode called 2 plus 2
equals 5.
I talk about the importance oflayering that marketing.
So do not sleep oncommunity-driven home service
(07:23):
brand building.
Don't sleep on it.
Number one why your logo isonly the introduction and not
the relationship Number two.
So do not sleep on communitydriven home service brand
building.
Don't sleep on it.
So, number one why your logo isonly the introduction and not
the relationship Number two whatare some real, actual ways that
we can embed your brand intothe community?
So let's talk about Crystal.
What the heck does that evenmean?
Well, you have to go deeper.
Let me tell you what most ofyou do, or at least most of the
(07:44):
contractors that I've interactedwith, which is a lot.
What you do is you're like well, you know my cousin.
He was the coach of the12-year-old all-star team.
So I paid him $300 and put mylogo on their banner.
Okay, good for you.
But like we failed the test ofreally engaging with people
during that brand, okay For yourbrand.
Really engaging with peopleduring that brand Okay For your
(08:07):
brand, I'm sorry, reallyengaging.
So the basic people put a logo.
The pro tip here, the pro tipfor this community engagement,
is I invited that team to myoffice and I had my mascot go to
their practice.
Maybe I made my own banner thatsays you know, sailor Max
(08:28):
supports the 12 year old DaballAll-Stars or Lufkin All-Stars.
Right, I made that.
I also had a cooler full ofdrinks for them, or I made some
snack packs.
So, yes, I gave them $250 forthe banner, but I now have
pictures of me and every player,me and the team I am picked.
I want somebody there videoingme high-fiving the team.
(08:49):
Put your hand in the middle.
One, two, three, go Lumberjacksright.
All of those things needed tohappen because that is engaging.
What's not engaging is my logoand 15 others.
So I just added 50, a hundredbucks to my 250.
So for $350, I now have videofootage, picture footage,
pictures.
I have some little fun B-rollshots that I need to be putting
(09:13):
on social media and encouragingeveryone to go support those
kids.
In the meanwhile, I'm buildingmy brand, one event at a time,
and I will fly past people thatrefuse to invest time, energy
and effort into building thosethings.
So that's one way of doing it.
Another way is looking foropportunities to not just
(09:33):
sponsor something but really ownthat.
So, for one thing that LemonSeed did is when we were
sponsoring a local golftournament for Habitat for
Humanity.
We like to practice what wepreach, so of course, habitat
for Humanity builds homes, andso that's what our contractors
do, and so we love to supportthings that support and fuel our
own industry.
So they have the putting greensponsorship, basically, where
(09:59):
you know you put and all thesethings.
And so of course we went backto them and we were like well,
can we call it the puttingyellow?
And they were like huh.
And I was like we're going tobring like yellow rugs down for
them to put off of.
And they were like this isgenius, because it was all fun
anyway, but what I needed todrive home is lemon seed.
Right, I needed to drive thathome.
(10:20):
Mcwilliams, now we sponsor theball drop every single year at
any golf tournament.
That'll, let us do it, becausewe're going to drive our van up,
sailor Mac is going to get ontop of our van and we're going
to use flex duck and we're goingto dump all the balls into that
flex duck and point that ducktowards the hole and whoever's
ball.
So you purchase a ball as anattendee and whoever's ball
(10:41):
lands in the hole wins the prize.
But y'all, it is like a shiningmoment, like people love to see
this character on top of thevan.
So there's my van, there's mymascot, there's my marketing
team, there's videos happening,people are cheering.
It is wonderful, organic, feelgood content.
That's way better than mehaving my name on a yard sign
(11:02):
stuck on hole six, right?
But see, we think easy, wethink inside the box.
Well, this is what the peoplehad as sponsorship.
Y'all push a little bit harder.
If you have a brand that has aparticular animal as a mascot,
why is everything not aroundthat animal?
If I have a fast animal, I'msponsoring every race.
If I have a slow animal, I'malso sponsoring every race, just
(11:25):
because it's kind of fun.
If I have a character, I'mgoing to have a rhyme to it.
So if I've got perfect pat, itmight be perfect pat, perfect
raffle sponsor.
I'm going to connect all thedots for the consumer.
And listen y'all, the consumerdoesn't even know that we're
doing it.
This is not like, hey,everybody, we're doing it in a
(11:48):
quirky and fun way, but it'sgoing much deeper and much
outside the box, other than Iput my logo on the back of a
t-shirt and on a banner and mostof you are like rolling your
eyes right now because that'swhat you do now, because it
makes you feel good, which I'mhere for.
But what I want you to switchyour brain around is how can you
actually use this investmentthat is out of the goodness of
your heart to help you buildyour brand.
(12:09):
You don't have to get out thereand be like who wants a system,
who needs a water heater.
That's not necessarily my styleeither.
My style is much more like hey,we are so excited to be here.
Thank you so much forparticipating in our ball drop.
You know we're not comfortabletill you are All our tagline and
cool stuff like that.
(12:32):
So as you're doing things in thecommunity, you really want to
make sure that you are doingsomething cool, that's memorable
, that works.
The funnel, the marketingfunnel.
So remember, we have people atthe top of the funnel that
aren't ready to make a decision.
So the odds of people being onthe golf course, when you're the
golf chair sponsor, that areready to buy a unit or a new
water heater or a new electricpanel right, this moment is not
there.
That's not what's there, right?
What's there is people that youcan leave a lasting impression
(12:54):
with because you had a coolwater station, you had a cool
cooling tent, right?
So if you sponsor a golftournament in the middle of the
summer and you have a coolingtent, those are things that
people walk away and are likedang, you know, you remember who
had those cooling towels, thatlemonade, whatever.
And so just think outside thebox here.
Let everybody else the peanutgallery, as I call it let that,
(13:15):
let that competitor, you know,sponsor something like you do.
But you stand out and you bedifferent.
That's what you can do.
So my encouragement to you isreally own what you do.
Own thinking outside the box.
Own thinking through howeverything needs to be above par
(13:37):
.
No golf pun intended there, butjust take it deeper than that
and look for opportunities thatmatch your brand, and so these
are real ways that you can embedthat.
Opportunities that match yourbrand, and so these are real
ways that you can embed that.
Also, you know doing things thatare outreach based.
(13:57):
So this is when my crew fromComfort Control went and worked
at the food bank and youdistributed food or you worked
at the animal shelter.
Things like that are soendearing.
They make you real, they makeyou an actual like the community
starts, making you feel like anactual person.
So I really encourage you tothink through, like my
sponsorships, are they deeperthan my logo, than just my logo
(14:18):
on a banner or a t-shirt Forlocal events?
Am I present?
So do I have a booth there?
Am I shaking hands, kissingbabies, giving out balloons,
high fives?
Is my mascot there?
How am I going above and beyondwhat people expect to happen?
How can I think deeper thanthat?
And then, outreach is also apart of like just honestly being
a good citizen and giving backto your community through things
(14:41):
like I mentioned, the fooddrives and things like that.
But again, be more intentional.
Feel the back of a truck orpartner with a local grocery
store.
You can do lots of things thatreally drive that home.
And our third thing today islet's talk about measuring trust
, right?
So a lot of people are like I'mnever going to be able to
quantify me, my communityinvolvement, like if I go hire
(15:03):
someone that their job is to beout in the community
representing my name, my brand,my company.
How do I pay for that?
Well, listen, it is aboutcustomer retention.
It's around brand awareness.
And the third thing that Ireally want to push on.
So you know what.
Number one, why your logo isonly the introduction, not the
relationship.
Number two, real ways to embedyour brand into the community
(15:27):
through those sponsorships thatwe talked through, local events
and outreach and, last but notleast, measuring trust, like how
your community engagementreally leads to that long-term
customer retention.
So what I want to tell you hereis you know you are building a
brand that has long-term,long-lasting effects, and so
when you do this and you embedyourself in your community and
(15:50):
you again y'all are going to gettired of me saying it, but you
shake hands and kiss babies.
It is so that people make thatconnection.
You know what the world ishungry for Connection.
So hug them high, five them,smile at them, you know, wave
and again, come and come back,be positive, be engaging.
It's not about selling a waterheater right now.
(16:11):
It's not about selling an airconditioning unit at that moment
.
What it's about is real andpositive and joyful interactions
with your brand.
So do not send your crotchetytechnician to go work your booth
.
It's going to be terrible.
They're not great peoplecommunicators.
If you've got a CSR or an officemanager that's volunteering to
(16:31):
work it and they just naturallydo not have a joyful spirit, do
not put them out at your booth.
What you need are people thatare active and engaged and
smiling and all of the coolthings, because you need your
brain.
You need to be a reflection ofthe brain that you're putting
out there, right?
(16:52):
So your logo is not theintroduction, it's the
relationship.
Really embed yourself inout-of-the-box, cool ways of
thinking around sponsorships,local events and outreach.
And then, last but not least,like, really build out that
long-term customer retentionwhere you are doing branding
continuously to get them to useyour company.
(17:12):
Once they use your company, howdo you keep them engaged with
you?
And that's still like you wantpeople to pass by your booth at
the local blueberry festival,apple pie festival, whatever
festival.
You've got shrimp corn on thecob.
I don't know all the festivalsyou want the people to be like
that's my water company, orthat's my plumbing company, or
that's my roofing company, orwhatever.
(17:33):
You want people to naturallyrelax.
Yes, I love my HVAC guy, right,I love my heating and air
conditioning company.
But to do that, you've got tostart somewhere and you've got
to build it there.
So I want to go back to what Isaid earlier.
I said that some of you won'tdo this.
This is not for the faint atheart, this is not for the
people that are scared to spend50 cents.
(17:53):
Okay, so it's not for you.
This, and also this cannot bethe only thing you do.
Remember that whole.
Two plus two equals five.
Community intentionality theengagement piece is something
that you layer on with otherthings.
You layer it on top of yourdigital performance.
You layer it on top of socialmedia.
You lay it on top of yourdirect mail.
(18:14):
You layer all these piecestogether, social media, you lay
it on top of your direct mail.
You layer all these piecestogether because individually,
things may not perform strongindividually.
It's the collection of all ofthose things, layered together
perfectly and layered togetherwell, that build your brand and
leave you getting active leadsvery consistently.
Most people are looking for thesilver bullet.
The silver bullet isdiversification and consistency.
(18:36):
It's when you put all of youreggs in that one basket.
Well, I do direct mail.
It doesn't work.
Did you do it for $300 and didit take one time and you were
done?
That's not going to work.
Marketing is a game of chessthat you sit down and you never
get back up.
You've got to keep going.
You've got to keep your eye outthere.
You've got to work out.
Your customer serviceexperience has to be reflective
(18:58):
of the brand.
So if you're out and you'resmiling and they call your
office the first time and you'relike thanks for calling
Crystal's Heating and Air.
You know that is not welcoming,that doesn't match the vibe,
right.
We're giving bothersome, right?
So what I want you to do, Iwant you to think through like
your brand has to go from thetruck all the way down through
(19:19):
the technician in the home.
Your brand is the story thatthat customer journey tells.
So your logo is one thing, butyour brand and who people think
you are, what they know from you, what they know about you, how
you make them feel that's fromthe truck to the technician, and
all the interactions in between, including your install crews,
right, all of those interactions.
(19:41):
That's building your brand,right?
So did they get to interactwith you in the community?
And then they saw you on socialmedia and then they saw you in
a postcard and then they saw youat the movie theater as a
commercial.
Before that they saw your banddriving around, they heard your
jingle.
And then they got to use yourcompany and the CSR was great
and we showed up and we did agreat job and we handed it off
(20:02):
and the technician smelled good,looked good, was clean, cut.
The engagement was very good,very wholesome.
Then your install crew came out.
They cleaned up when theystarted.
They cleaned up when theystopped, cleaned up when they
started.
They cleaned up when theystopped.
They got a package in the mailthanking them for the install.
You did a follow-up call.
That is your brand Not.
Well, you know what I do,crystal.
I do SEO and paid ads.
(20:22):
That's not your brand, crystal.
My brand is I have a reallygood logo, not your brand.
That's your logo.
That's the introduction, it'snot the relationship.
So I just want to tell you guysright now go beyond the logo,
(20:42):
think outside the box, do whatother people aren't willing to
do.
Be the differentiator in yourmarket of the people as being
known as the company that'sinvolved and engaged and is
lively and joyful and bringsenergy to your company or energy
to your community.
Don't give up, don't bedistracted, and be intentional
about consistently andholistically building an
advertising strategy.
So, just so y'all know, thispodcast is brought to you by
(21:03):
Lemon Seed Marketing.
We're a full-service marketingagency that really helps you
build your brand and organizeall of your marketing tactics.
So we're not a digital company,friends.
We're a brand forward companyand we're here to help you.
So I would love to help you.
Visit us online at lemon seedmarketingcom and fill out that
contact us form.
Make sure you tell them thatyou heard us from the podcast
(21:23):
and I have a little prize forthose that come from the podcast
.
So thank you so much.
Hey, and friends and familytalk free, so schedule that
discovery call.
Let's chat about how you canuse lemon seed to help your
company go beyond the logo.
Bye, guys, thanks for shippinglemonade.
See you next time.
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