May 13, 2025 • 20 mins
Ever feel like you're throwing marketing dollars into a black hole and praying something works? You're not alone. In this refreshingly honest episode, we're peeling back the layers on what's really holding home service contractors back from marketing success.
Marketing for contractors has become a chaotic landscape of conflicting advice, flashy trends, and endless "must-try" tactics. It's exhausting trying to keep up! But after working with hundreds of home service businesses, we've identified three critical mistakes that even successful contractors make with their advertising – mistakes that silently sabotage growth and waste precious marketing budgets.
The first pitfall we tackle is "Spray and Pray Marketing" – that haphazard approach where you throw content everywhere without strategy or tracking. Next, we dive into "Promo Sapiens Syndrome," the prehistoric attachment to basic promotions (hello, $49 tune-up!) that keeps contractors in a race to the bottom. Finally, we examine the "Vanishing Brand Act," where inconsistent visuals and messaging prevent customers from truly recognizing your brand.
The good news? These mistakes are entirely fixable. We break down practical solutions that don't require a marketing degree – from dialing in your ideal customer avatar to building campaigns that showcase your unique value proposition. Whether you're struggling to break through revenue plateaus or just tired of spending money on marketing that doesn't work, this episode provides the framework to transform your approach.
Ready to build a brand that sticks? Pour yourself some lemonade and join us for a conversation that could completely change how you think about your marketing strategy. Your competitors will wonder what hit them.
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!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome back to another episodeof From the Yellow Chair.
I'm Crystal and today we'regoing to talk about how, you
know, we like to sip on strategyand squeeze out the sour spots
of branding and marketing.
But today, specifically, we arepeeling back the top three
mistakes we are seeing homeservice companies make and,
trust me, they're a little zesty, a little messy, but, guys,
(00:23):
they're totally fixable, right?
So you're going to want tobuckle up, grab your lemonade,
because today's episode iscalled promo, but no mojo.
So let's talk about what we seepeople doing wrong and how
we're going to fix them.
Let's sip some lemonade, allright?
(00:53):
So I just wanted to come backin here and say there are so
many cool things going on inmarketing right now.
There's all these ideas and allthese trends and everybody's
doing everything and all thethings.
Well, we just need to take adeep breath, right, because you
know what's out of control rightnow the amount of knowledge,
the amount of ideas, the amountof vendors, the amount of
strategies.
You should be doing this.
Why aren't you doing that?
That is going on in ourindustry right now so much.
(01:17):
It's very noisy right now.
So here's what we're going todo and what Lemon Seed's job is
normally to be is.
Let's get organized andstructured with our thoughts and
realize we cannot do everything.
We can't be everything toeveryone.
But there are three advertisingmistakes that I have seen.
My account managers andstrategists and marketing
(01:37):
coordinators have seen that weknow contractors are not doing
this on purpose.
It's just the lack of bringingit to the surface and bringing
out some attention to it.
So let's start with number onespray and pray marketing.
Spray and pray.
We just throw all kinds ofstuff out there and be like dear
Lord Jesus, if you can, pleasemake this work right.
(01:59):
Guys blindly posting socialmedia stuff.
Guys blindly posting socialmedia stuff, blindly running ads
with no target or no tracking,no tracking, um, doing things
just because you've always doneit, not measuring it, relying on
generic run-of-the-mill ads.
If you look at your ads andanyone that does your same
(02:24):
service could run that same adand have that same graphic.
That's not it.
Look at your graphics and godoes this look like any other
company could use this?
You should not be using suchtemplatized things, if you can
help it.
But more than anything, I'mtelling you the spray and pray
method here.
(02:44):
But more than anything, I'mtelling you the spray and pray
method here.
That mistake is because youdon't have a strategy for what
you are doing and some of youare just like praying and hoping
that something sticks.
But let me tell you, the issuehere is that you're flying blind
.
You probably don't have goodtracking.
You listen to any little guruthat throws out something new,
(03:04):
like you should do this, andlike sometimes, if I throw in
like cool sneakers and some cusswords, y'all are like here for
it.
Y'all are like sign me up Right, but at the end of the day you
could not, it's not, it may notbe a good decision for your
style of business or your pricepoint or your market or your
brand, and so you got to stopdoing things so blindly.
And let me see your brand.
(03:26):
And so you got to stop doingthings so blindly.
And Lemonseed's whole goal hereis to help people be more
intentional with a strategy.
So even if you're not usingLemonseed to help you build out
your advertising strategy andwhat vendors to use and how to
do those things, you still canbe strategic.
You just need to stop prayingthat things stick.
Listen, if you're aggressive,things aren't going to stick
right, you're going to be boldand you're going to try new
(03:47):
things that don't work.
But the only way that we getout there and find some cool,
unique things is to try thingsthat are cool and unique and
risky.
So we don't want to have thespray and pray method.
What we want to have is a riskyyet strategic approach to being
active and out of the boxthinking for our marketing
strategy, to being active andout of the box thinking for our
marketing strategy.
So the fix to this that mistakeof spray pray ideology here the
(04:11):
fix to this is dial in thatideal avatar.
So again, a lot of you knowthis, but Lemon Seed performs
ideal avatars and brandingaudits for a lot of our all of
our clients.
When you onboard with Lemon Seed, that's part of what the
process is, because if you'rethinking that you're going to
market to everybody andeverybody's your customer, I
know where you're going withthat, like I understand your
(04:31):
thinking.
But really, at the end of theday, everyone cannot be who we
direct and curate your marketingstrategy around.
We have to pick a lane and whenI say that we have to
understand who we are writing adcopy for, who are we creating
promotions for?
Who are we doing these socialmedia trends for?
Who are our emails written for?
(04:54):
When we design our culture bookor our sales book, who are we
designing it for?
Well, you can't design it for a20-year-old male and a
60-year-old female.
Their design preference, theway they think, their
terminology, all their verbiage,all of that's different.
So dial in that ideal avatar,understand really who you are
talking to.
Use data tracking.
(05:15):
Use data to guide your adplacement.
So if you're on a CRM that doesnot have tracking in there,
please look at CallRail, addCallRail, get you some phone
numbers, attach those phonenumbers and then that at least
lets you know call amount,quantity of calls coming in.
Because right now many of youare like, hey, you know what I
want to do, Fly this airplane,but hey, let me cover your eyes
(05:38):
and so just guess, are we closeto the imploding or not, right?
So you have to stop doing thatand then be intentional with
your timing and your messaging.
So you know, at Limit Seed wedo everything in a quarter
because that's like the easiestkind of visionary way to see
your ad calendar for the year.
You can shift it up and down amonth, but overall seasonality
(05:58):
is kind of where you want somechanges, right, but be
intentional with that timing andthat messaging.
So marketing is not like a watersprinkler, it's a laser beam.
It's a laser beam, so we don'twant water spraying everywhere.
We want to be laser focused onwho we're talking to.
So number one mistake thatwe're making spray and pray.
(06:20):
Throw it out, see if it works,pray that it works and go on
about our business and reallynot have a plan.
The fix to that is getstrategic, get an organized plan
of when and how you're going todo it, and while you're
actively needing to do it is notwhen you should do it.
I encourage you, I reallyencourage you, to do this at the
end of the year.
Plan out your whole year from avery 30,000 foot view.
(06:42):
Then a quarter of the time, getdown in the weeds and get down
in those numbers and pivot whereyou need to pivot, based on
data.
All right.
Number two my little fun namefor this one is called promo
sapiens syndrome.
Right, promo sapiens syndromeis being stuck in caveman
marketing, just like $49 tune-upright In every ad with no brand
(07:07):
, voice story, no value beyond.
Hey, it's $49.
Come on, call me.
We cannot live in this cycle ofeverything's a tune-up, right,
so get it.
That's a really good strategy.
We actually deploy thisstrategy quite often because
it's a low barrier of entryoffer.
It is affordable.
So when people know something'swrong and they might not can
(07:29):
afford $49, if your ideal avataris an affluent double income
home, $49 doesn't matter to them, right.
So it's not a race to thebottom of a pile of cheap
contractors.
We don't really want to be thebottom, but it depends on the
intentional strategy, right.
But we have got to get morecustomized offers and campaigns.
(07:53):
So if you're just throwing outthere, oh well, what is your
campaign?
A $49 tune up?
Well, really, we want campaigns.
Think about Geico, think aboutLiberty Mutual.
Think insurance companies arekilling it right now, but even
like.
Think about Geico.
Think about Liberty Mutual.
Think insurance companies arekilling it right now.
But even like.
Think about Bronco, right, andhow everything is rugged and
tough and cool.
Those are all campaigns.
Those are our vibes.
(08:14):
Nike and the just do it.
Those are like true brands.
But they also launch thesecampaigns around women in sports
and things like that brands.
But they also launch thesecampaigns around women in sports
and things like that, becauseyou've got to kind of change
your story up some in youradvertising verbiage and your
visuals and I learned this wordfrom my graphic design team
(08:34):
iconography, the icons thatyou're using and things like
that in every single thing youdo, needs to reflect your brand,
but also it's got to help youstand out.
So, in a pile of $49 tune-upsgo look at the last time you
sent that graphic out Could anyother company in your market use
that same graphic?
Probably A lot of you are usingcanned things from different
(08:57):
vendors Like well, they designedmy postcard.
Well, you know what?
They have six templates, right.
So you need to like let me see,I'm always trying to rock a
boat, okay, I'm always trying tosay, uh, I want to, let's
change that design around,because I need our things to
stand out, I need them to be onbrand, I need them to be
constantly brand building.
But also urgency to book, bookwith me, right.
(09:19):
So the biggest fix here isevolve your messaging.
Tell stories, showcase yourteam, highlight cool things
about your culture, make thepromo the actual sidekick of the
plan, not the actual headline.
So building out your messagingshould really be all around a
campaign or your brand messaging.
(09:44):
All of that together, right?
So again, if you just got a $49tune-up that's red and blue
with a snowflake and a sunshine,and don't spring into summer,
okay, listen, everybody andtheir mama and their grandpa,
uncle, baby, sister, cousin isdoing that offer.
We have to think outside the box.
We should not say, oh yeah, youknow, I'm so creative, I'm
doing spring graphics duringspring.
(10:05):
You know what?
I was a really powerful thinker.
Here we have tulips on ourspring postcard.
Yeah, that's great andwonderful.
You know what.
Does it get the job done?
Yes, but does it move any realneedles?
Probably not, probably not.
But many of you are afraid tothink outside the box.
You're like but what about thetulips for spring?
(10:26):
I mean, I didn't do Easterbunnies for Easter.
You know what?
You know what never getsanywhere is mediocrity.
All right, mediocrity nevergrows us.
Okay, we just ride right in themiddle.
So for those of you that arelistening, here's a pro tip for
those contractors why can't Iget over a million or $3 million
?
This promo sapien syndrome?
(10:46):
Because what got you here won'tget you there.
And so what's happened is youdon't want to think any deeper,
you're scared of the change,you're worried about the
response.
Listen, broke money don't makemoney.
So we've got to get out thereand invest a little bit in
reinvigorating ourselves andkicking ourselves forward and
(11:07):
kicking our brand,reinvigorating that brand in our
market.
Shake it up.
Let's make people think, hey,where in the heck did they come
from?
And let me tell you whathappens Every time.
This used to happen to me a lotwhen I was at McWilliams.
I would be doing something andwe would do it for six months,
eight months, 10 months,something cool like 777 or the
(11:28):
Seller Mac buyback.
Right, give it six months andsomebody else will like another
competitor.
Well, all of a sudden they'llstart doing it.
Well, they don't have lastingpower.
So what happens is they likebreak a hard blitz for like two
months and they're like this wasexpensive.
I mean it's because there's nointentionality behind it other
than kicking me in the, tryingto kick me in the butt.
So also, side note for those ofyou that struggle with that
(11:50):
everything I do something, theydo it too.
If you're not getting kicked inthe butt, it means you're not
in the front.
So if they're constantlycopying you and following
everything you do, good, there'sa reason they're a follower.
Keep innovating, keep thinkingoutside the box, keep doing
things first.
Believe me, consumers noticethat more than you think.
But again, on the promo sapiensyndrome, get away from those
(12:12):
basic promotions.
Think outside the box, Thinkmore campaign style and think
about things that are justdifferent.
They're just different.
Again, this is what Lemon Seedexcels at, but you also can be
great at this, all right.
So the third thing is thevanishing brand act.
Right, that's going to be ourthird mistake.
(12:33):
So, like abracadabra, right,your logo is there, but ain't
jackass happening?
You're not consistent.
You've got weird taglines.
You don't even have a tagline,or you're using someone else's
tagline.
Your fonts are all different,because you know what.
You just felt like using acurly font today.
Or I felt like using somethingthat looked like graffiti.
Isn't this cool?
(12:53):
No, okay, it's not cool.
It might've been fun to do, butit confuses the consumer.
And let me say this You're likewhatever.
That's not true.
Listen, it is true.
It is true that you will havethe an issue with what you're
doing.
Okay, you're going to havepeople are going to know you for
(13:18):
who you are, but when you haveno taglines and no fonts, you
can use it.
It looks fun, it looks cool, itlooks great, but it's like your
brand is just there.
People are not making theconnection Right, and so, no, we
don't need to have it melting.
You know your logo all of asudden, going from block font to
cursive, and listen, there'sthings that you can do to really
(13:41):
like.
If you want to do something forpink out for breast cancer
winners, there's cool things youcan do.
But altering your actual logo orjust sticking your logo on
things is not a branded approach.
Remember, brand is more thanthe logo.
It's the overall perception,it's how you make people feel,
and so let's stick to brandstandards.
(14:01):
So I'm going to take a pro tipright here.
If, right now, you were to callLimit Seed, I want you to think
this is one of the things I'mgoing to ask clients for, and
they do not have it, even thoseof you that have been rebranded
and branded by professionalcompanies.
I need a brand guide from you.
So, right now, if you do nothave a brand guide meaning you
(14:21):
can't tell me what your exactcolors are, what your fonts are,
what your logo actually lookslike, and have it in multiple
formats, so listen, if you havea format of your logo that ends
in jpeg, as in a JPEG.
You do not have a brand kit.
You have a picture of a logo.
Okay, and listen, you can'tscale that up.
(14:42):
You know, listen, you know.
I had to learn this becausedesigners would be like Crystal.
You've lost your mind.
We have a whole team ofdesigners and they'll be like
girl.
We can't do anything with thisbecause it doesn't, it distorts
and it gets pixelated and it'snot the best quality and
designers take a lot of pride inhow good and clear and crisp
things look, and so for us tolike throw a JPEG in there.
(15:05):
So odds are most of you that arelistening do not even have a
brand guide.
You have a logo that yourcousin from you know, your
cousin's college roommate fromsix years ago was getting into
graphic design.
He designed it and he sent itto you.
That's cool, but we ain't.
That's not what we got.
We have to start actuallyhaving brand standards of how we
(15:26):
use our logo, because you knowwhy that is important for
consistency, it is important forexposure.
Consistency.
It is important for exposure.
It is important that peoplereally know who you are and they
experience the look of yourlogo all the time and it's the
same.
So this is my pet peeve whenpeople have five different band
wraps driving around.
Now there is some strategicways.
(15:49):
Remember strategy.
Is it culture?
Each strategy for breakfast?
I'll tell you that.
But strategy is where mostpeople place no importance.
And so I'm like man, if we werestrategic and while we were
doing these five different bands, so we wanted to do a different
band, a different color, but wekept the layout the same.
(16:11):
Graphic designers are experts inknowing kind of how to bring a
vision to life out.
The same Graphic designers areexperts in knowing kind of how
to bring a vision to life.
But some of y'all, on one logoit's got two different names,
and then one area it's likegraffitied, and one it looks
like spray paint, and then one'sa whole different color because
we were in a black and whitephase.
Like no, that's not consistent.
That's not doing you any favors.
You're not keeping in front ofcustomers consistently like you
(16:34):
hope you are.
So, from your trucks to yourtelevisions commercials and to
your pieces of material.
So what do you hand out to ahomeowner If you leave something
behind?
What does it look like?
If you are?
A logo goes on a T-shirt, isthat the same?
Are you doing the same lookeverywhere you should.
You should because you'retrying to be.
(16:57):
Every visual touch point thatyou can make with a consumer
counts right.
So seven to ten times they needto experience your brand
visually right For it to startrecognizing.
Well, think about how manytimes somebody might have to
experience your brand whenthere's five different vans and
six different logos.
You have no signage on yourbuilding, your billboards barely
have your logo because you wereworried about co-op dollars so
you stuck your manufacturer upthere but not your own logo.
(17:18):
Or your vehicle has so muchequipment written on it or put
on it that you're building thismanufacturer's brand Like listen
, get yourself a brand and abrand guide.
You don't have to reinvent thewheel to change your brand, to
refresh it.
But then I need you to beconsistent.
Your editorial way, the waythat you write for your brand,
(17:40):
the brand voice you know needsto be consistent.
Your visuals need to beconsistent so that you can
become unforgettable, notinvisible, right.
So I want to tell you somethingwhen you look at these three
mistakes that we see contractorsmaking.
I'll give to you one more timeSpray and pray, throw it up
against the wall, see if itsticks Absolutely not.
(18:02):
Dial in that avatar, starttracking, promo sapien syndrome,
doing the same thing thatyou've done forever and being
against change and things beingboring, with no brand flair and
no campaign to it, and stop it.
Evolve your messaging, get morecreative, grow up, grow past it
.
Right, let's get aggressive.
And, last but not least, thevanishing brand act of well, my
(18:24):
logo's on it and it's fourdifferent ways and every stop
right.
Stick to get some standards,take pride in your brand, be
consistently building that withevery single interaction that
people have with your brand, andyou can really build something
powerful when you invest inunderstanding, when you invest
(18:48):
in the consistency that you needaround this, because I see a
lot of times this is what I wantto say I have a contractor.
I mean, he's in a verycompetitive market, but we know
what his problem is.
He's so scared of everythingthat he won't do anything that
he hasn't done forever, becausewhat ifs right?
What if this happens?
Right?
He worries about the outliersokay, way more, way, way, way
(19:13):
more than the actuals of what'sgoing to happen.
We're worried about the twopeople that might say something
than the majority of people thatare going to experience our
brand.
So let me tell you something.
Lemonsy can help you with this.
So, those of you that listenthis far, I want to tell you
Lemonsy can help you with all ofthese things.
But I want you to remembersomething, lemonheads Do not
just throw your ads out likeconfetti.
(19:37):
Build a brand that sticks.
Stay bold, stay bright andfresh and you know what.
You will grow your companybecause you are sticking to
things and you're beingconsistent and you're pivoting
and you're pushing and you'repulling and you're keeping your
brand forward and you stay thecourse and you don't buy into
all this new flashy stuff that'shappening all the time.
Right, that's not what you do.
You are a rock star, right?
(19:57):
This is no promo and no mojo.
So we got to get our mojo back.
Right.
Bad ads happen to goodcontractors.
All the time.
I see it all the time.
Good contractors are doing badadvertising work, bad marketing,
bad messaging, bad structure,right.
And so, guys, trust theprofessionals, get some support.
(20:18):
You don't have to live thislife alone, right.
Get you a marketingcollaborator, someone like
Lemonsie, that'll sit down andtalk with you about these things
.
Don't feel like you just gottakeep doing it, right.
You just.
You need some support, andthat's what we're here for Help
you build brands, help youorganize your strategy and, more
than anything, help you guyskick booty.
Hey, if you love this episode,I'd love for you to give us a
(20:40):
review.
Follow us on social media.
Thanks so much for sippinglemonade with us guys.
We will catch you next timeright here at From the Yellow
Chair.
See you later.
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome back to another episodeof From the Yellow Chair.
I'm Crystal and today we'regoing to talk about how, you
know, we like to sip on strategyand squeeze out the sour spots
of branding and marketing.
But today, specifically, we arepeeling back the top three
mistakes we are seeing homeservice companies make and,
trust me, they're a little zesty, a little messy, but, guys,
(00:23):
they're totally fixable, right?
So you're going to want tobuckle up, grab your lemonade,
because today's episode iscalled promo, but no mojo.
So let's talk about what we seepeople doing wrong and how
we're going to fix them.
Let's sip some lemonade, allright?
(00:53):
So I just wanted to come backin here and say there are so
many cool things going on inmarketing right now.
There's all these ideas and allthese trends and everybody's
doing everything and all thethings.
Well, we just need to take adeep breath, right, because you
know what's out of control rightnow the amount of knowledge,
the amount of ideas, the amountof vendors, the amount of
strategies.
You should be doing this.
Why aren't you doing that?
That is going on in ourindustry right now so much.
(01:17):
It's very noisy right now.
So here's what we're going todo and what Lemon Seed's job is
normally to be is.
Let's get organized andstructured with our thoughts and
realize we cannot do everything.
We can't be everything toeveryone.
But there are three advertisingmistakes that I have seen.
My account managers andstrategists and marketing
(01:37):
coordinators have seen that weknow contractors are not doing
this on purpose.
It's just the lack of bringingit to the surface and bringing
out some attention to it.
So let's start with number onespray and pray marketing.
Spray and pray.
We just throw all kinds ofstuff out there and be like dear
Lord Jesus, if you can, pleasemake this work right.
(01:59):
Guys blindly posting socialmedia stuff.
Guys blindly posting socialmedia stuff, blindly running ads
with no target or no tracking,no tracking, um, doing things
just because you've always doneit, not measuring it, relying on
generic run-of-the-mill ads.
If you look at your ads andanyone that does your same
(02:24):
service could run that same adand have that same graphic.
That's not it.
Look at your graphics and godoes this look like any other
company could use this?
You should not be using suchtemplatized things, if you can
help it.
But more than anything, I'mtelling you the spray and pray
method here.
(02:44):
But more than anything, I'mtelling you the spray and pray
method here.
That mistake is because youdon't have a strategy for what
you are doing and some of youare just like praying and hoping
that something sticks.
But let me tell you, the issuehere is that you're flying blind
.
You probably don't have goodtracking.
You listen to any little guruthat throws out something new,
(03:04):
like you should do this, andlike sometimes, if I throw in
like cool sneakers and some cusswords, y'all are like here for
it.
Y'all are like sign me up Right, but at the end of the day you
could not, it's not, it may notbe a good decision for your
style of business or your pricepoint or your market or your
brand, and so you got to stopdoing things so blindly.
And let me see your brand.
(03:26):
And so you got to stop doingthings so blindly.
And Lemonseed's whole goal hereis to help people be more
intentional with a strategy.
So even if you're not usingLemonseed to help you build out
your advertising strategy andwhat vendors to use and how to
do those things, you still canbe strategic.
You just need to stop prayingthat things stick.
Listen, if you're aggressive,things aren't going to stick
right, you're going to be boldand you're going to try new
(03:47):
things that don't work.
But the only way that we getout there and find some cool,
unique things is to try thingsthat are cool and unique and
risky.
So we don't want to have thespray and pray method.
What we want to have is a riskyyet strategic approach to being
active and out of the boxthinking for our marketing
strategy, to being active andout of the box thinking for our
marketing strategy.
So the fix to this that mistakeof spray pray ideology here the
(04:11):
fix to this is dial in thatideal avatar.
So again, a lot of you knowthis, but Lemon Seed performs
ideal avatars and brandingaudits for a lot of our all of
our clients.
When you onboard with Lemon Seed, that's part of what the
process is, because if you'rethinking that you're going to
market to everybody andeverybody's your customer, I
know where you're going withthat, like I understand your
(04:31):
thinking.
But really, at the end of theday, everyone cannot be who we
direct and curate your marketingstrategy around.
We have to pick a lane and whenI say that we have to
understand who we are writing adcopy for, who are we creating
promotions for?
Who are we doing these socialmedia trends for?
Who are our emails written for?
(04:54):
When we design our culture bookor our sales book, who are we
designing it for?
Well, you can't design it for a20-year-old male and a
60-year-old female.
Their design preference, theway they think, their
terminology, all their verbiage,all of that's different.
So dial in that ideal avatar,understand really who you are
talking to.
Use data tracking.
(05:15):
Use data to guide your adplacement.
So if you're on a CRM that doesnot have tracking in there,
please look at CallRail, addCallRail, get you some phone
numbers, attach those phonenumbers and then that at least
lets you know call amount,quantity of calls coming in.
Because right now many of youare like, hey, you know what I
want to do, Fly this airplane,but hey, let me cover your eyes
(05:38):
and so just guess, are we closeto the imploding or not, right?
So you have to stop doing thatand then be intentional with
your timing and your messaging.
So you know, at Limit Seed wedo everything in a quarter
because that's like the easiestkind of visionary way to see
your ad calendar for the year.
You can shift it up and down amonth, but overall seasonality
(05:58):
is kind of where you want somechanges, right, but be
intentional with that timing andthat messaging.
So marketing is not like a watersprinkler, it's a laser beam.
It's a laser beam, so we don'twant water spraying everywhere.
We want to be laser focused onwho we're talking to.
So number one mistake thatwe're making spray and pray.
(06:20):
Throw it out, see if it works,pray that it works and go on
about our business and reallynot have a plan.
The fix to that is getstrategic, get an organized plan
of when and how you're going todo it, and while you're
actively needing to do it is notwhen you should do it.
I encourage you, I reallyencourage you, to do this at the
end of the year.
Plan out your whole year from avery 30,000 foot view.
(06:42):
Then a quarter of the time, getdown in the weeds and get down
in those numbers and pivot whereyou need to pivot, based on
data.
All right.
Number two my little fun namefor this one is called promo
sapiens syndrome.
Right, promo sapiens syndromeis being stuck in caveman
marketing, just like $49 tune-upright In every ad with no brand
(07:07):
, voice story, no value beyond.
Hey, it's $49.
Come on, call me.
We cannot live in this cycle ofeverything's a tune-up, right,
so get it.
That's a really good strategy.
We actually deploy thisstrategy quite often because
it's a low barrier of entryoffer.
It is affordable.
So when people know something'swrong and they might not can
(07:29):
afford $49, if your ideal avataris an affluent double income
home, $49 doesn't matter to them, right.
So it's not a race to thebottom of a pile of cheap
contractors.
We don't really want to be thebottom, but it depends on the
intentional strategy, right.
But we have got to get morecustomized offers and campaigns.
(07:53):
So if you're just throwing outthere, oh well, what is your
campaign?
A $49 tune up?
Well, really, we want campaigns.
Think about Geico, think aboutLiberty Mutual.
Think insurance companies arekilling it right now, but even
like.
Think about Geico.
Think about Liberty Mutual.
Think insurance companies arekilling it right now.
But even like.
Think about Bronco, right, andhow everything is rugged and
tough and cool.
Those are all campaigns.
Those are our vibes.
(08:14):
Nike and the just do it.
Those are like true brands.
But they also launch thesecampaigns around women in sports
and things like that brands.
But they also launch thesecampaigns around women in sports
and things like that, becauseyou've got to kind of change
your story up some in youradvertising verbiage and your
visuals and I learned this wordfrom my graphic design team
(08:34):
iconography, the icons thatyou're using and things like
that in every single thing youdo, needs to reflect your brand,
but also it's got to help youstand out.
So, in a pile of $49 tune-upsgo look at the last time you
sent that graphic out Could anyother company in your market use
that same graphic?
Probably A lot of you are usingcanned things from different
(08:57):
vendors Like well, they designedmy postcard.
Well, you know what?
They have six templates, right.
So you need to like let me see,I'm always trying to rock a
boat, okay, I'm always trying tosay, uh, I want to, let's
change that design around,because I need our things to
stand out, I need them to be onbrand, I need them to be
constantly brand building.
But also urgency to book, bookwith me, right.
(09:19):
So the biggest fix here isevolve your messaging.
Tell stories, showcase yourteam, highlight cool things
about your culture, make thepromo the actual sidekick of the
plan, not the actual headline.
So building out your messagingshould really be all around a
campaign or your brand messaging.
(09:44):
All of that together, right?
So again, if you just got a $49tune-up that's red and blue
with a snowflake and a sunshine,and don't spring into summer,
okay, listen, everybody andtheir mama and their grandpa,
uncle, baby, sister, cousin isdoing that offer.
We have to think outside the box.
We should not say, oh yeah, youknow, I'm so creative, I'm
doing spring graphics duringspring.
(10:05):
You know what?
I was a really powerful thinker.
Here we have tulips on ourspring postcard.
Yeah, that's great andwonderful.
You know what.
Does it get the job done?
Yes, but does it move any realneedles?
Probably not, probably not.
But many of you are afraid tothink outside the box.
You're like but what about thetulips for spring?
(10:26):
I mean, I didn't do Easterbunnies for Easter.
You know what?
You know what never getsanywhere is mediocrity.
All right, mediocrity nevergrows us.
Okay, we just ride right in themiddle.
So for those of you that arelistening, here's a pro tip for
those contractors why can't Iget over a million or $3 million
?
This promo sapien syndrome?
(10:46):
Because what got you here won'tget you there.
And so what's happened is youdon't want to think any deeper,
you're scared of the change,you're worried about the
response.
Listen, broke money don't makemoney.
So we've got to get out thereand invest a little bit in
reinvigorating ourselves andkicking ourselves forward and
(11:07):
kicking our brand,reinvigorating that brand in our
market.
Shake it up.
Let's make people think, hey,where in the heck did they come
from?
And let me tell you whathappens Every time.
This used to happen to me a lotwhen I was at McWilliams.
I would be doing something andwe would do it for six months,
eight months, 10 months,something cool like 777 or the
(11:28):
Seller Mac buyback.
Right, give it six months andsomebody else will like another
competitor.
Well, all of a sudden they'llstart doing it.
Well, they don't have lastingpower.
So what happens is they likebreak a hard blitz for like two
months and they're like this wasexpensive.
I mean it's because there's nointentionality behind it other
than kicking me in the, tryingto kick me in the butt.
So also, side note for those ofyou that struggle with that
(11:50):
everything I do something, theydo it too.
If you're not getting kicked inthe butt, it means you're not
in the front.
So if they're constantlycopying you and following
everything you do, good, there'sa reason they're a follower.
Keep innovating, keep thinkingoutside the box, keep doing
things first.
Believe me, consumers noticethat more than you think.
But again, on the promo sapiensyndrome, get away from those
(12:12):
basic promotions.
Think outside the box, Thinkmore campaign style and think
about things that are justdifferent.
They're just different.
Again, this is what Lemon Seedexcels at, but you also can be
great at this, all right.
So the third thing is thevanishing brand act.
Right, that's going to be ourthird mistake.
(12:33):
So, like abracadabra, right,your logo is there, but ain't
jackass happening?
You're not consistent.
You've got weird taglines.
You don't even have a tagline,or you're using someone else's
tagline.
Your fonts are all different,because you know what.
You just felt like using acurly font today.
Or I felt like using somethingthat looked like graffiti.
Isn't this cool?
(12:53):
No, okay, it's not cool.
It might've been fun to do, butit confuses the consumer.
And let me say this You're likewhatever.
That's not true.
Listen, it is true.
It is true that you will havethe an issue with what you're
doing.
Okay, you're going to havepeople are going to know you for
(13:18):
who you are, but when you haveno taglines and no fonts, you
can use it.
It looks fun, it looks cool, itlooks great, but it's like your
brand is just there.
People are not making theconnection Right, and so, no, we
don't need to have it melting.
You know your logo all of asudden, going from block font to
cursive, and listen, there'sthings that you can do to really
(13:41):
like.
If you want to do something forpink out for breast cancer
winners, there's cool things youcan do.
But altering your actual logo orjust sticking your logo on
things is not a branded approach.
Remember, brand is more thanthe logo.
It's the overall perception,it's how you make people feel,
and so let's stick to brandstandards.
(14:01):
So I'm going to take a pro tipright here.
If, right now, you were to callLimit Seed, I want you to think
this is one of the things I'mgoing to ask clients for, and
they do not have it, even thoseof you that have been rebranded
and branded by professionalcompanies.
I need a brand guide from you.
So, right now, if you do nothave a brand guide meaning you
(14:21):
can't tell me what your exactcolors are, what your fonts are,
what your logo actually lookslike, and have it in multiple
formats, so listen, if you havea format of your logo that ends
in jpeg, as in a JPEG.
You do not have a brand kit.
You have a picture of a logo.
Okay, and listen, you can'tscale that up.
(14:42):
You know, listen, you know.
I had to learn this becausedesigners would be like Crystal.
You've lost your mind.
We have a whole team ofdesigners and they'll be like
girl.
We can't do anything with thisbecause it doesn't, it distorts
and it gets pixelated and it'snot the best quality and
designers take a lot of pride inhow good and clear and crisp
things look, and so for us tolike throw a JPEG in there.
(15:05):
So odds are most of you that arelistening do not even have a
brand guide.
You have a logo that yourcousin from you know, your
cousin's college roommate fromsix years ago was getting into
graphic design.
He designed it and he sent itto you.
That's cool, but we ain't.
That's not what we got.
We have to start actuallyhaving brand standards of how we
(15:26):
use our logo, because you knowwhy that is important for
consistency, it is important forexposure.
Consistency.
It is important for exposure.
It is important that peoplereally know who you are and they
experience the look of yourlogo all the time and it's the
same.
So this is my pet peeve whenpeople have five different band
wraps driving around.
Now there is some strategicways.
(15:49):
Remember strategy.
Is it culture?
Each strategy for breakfast?
I'll tell you that.
But strategy is where mostpeople place no importance.
And so I'm like man, if we werestrategic and while we were
doing these five different bands, so we wanted to do a different
band, a different color, but wekept the layout the same.
(16:11):
Graphic designers are experts inknowing kind of how to bring a
vision to life out.
The same Graphic designers areexperts in knowing kind of how
to bring a vision to life.
But some of y'all, on one logoit's got two different names,
and then one area it's likegraffitied, and one it looks
like spray paint, and then one'sa whole different color because
we were in a black and whitephase.
Like no, that's not consistent.
That's not doing you any favors.
You're not keeping in front ofcustomers consistently like you
(16:34):
hope you are.
So, from your trucks to yourtelevisions commercials and to
your pieces of material.
So what do you hand out to ahomeowner If you leave something
behind?
What does it look like?
If you are?
A logo goes on a T-shirt, isthat the same?
Are you doing the same lookeverywhere you should.
You should because you'retrying to be.
(16:57):
Every visual touch point thatyou can make with a consumer
counts right.
So seven to ten times they needto experience your brand
visually right For it to startrecognizing.
Well, think about how manytimes somebody might have to
experience your brand whenthere's five different vans and
six different logos.
You have no signage on yourbuilding, your billboards barely
have your logo because you wereworried about co-op dollars so
you stuck your manufacturer upthere but not your own logo.
(17:18):
Or your vehicle has so muchequipment written on it or put
on it that you're building thismanufacturer's brand Like listen
, get yourself a brand and abrand guide.
You don't have to reinvent thewheel to change your brand, to
refresh it.
But then I need you to beconsistent.
Your editorial way, the waythat you write for your brand,
(17:40):
the brand voice you know needsto be consistent.
Your visuals need to beconsistent so that you can
become unforgettable, notinvisible, right.
So I want to tell you somethingwhen you look at these three
mistakes that we see contractorsmaking.
I'll give to you one more timeSpray and pray, throw it up
against the wall, see if itsticks Absolutely not.
(18:02):
Dial in that avatar, starttracking, promo sapien syndrome,
doing the same thing thatyou've done forever and being
against change and things beingboring, with no brand flair and
no campaign to it, and stop it.
Evolve your messaging, get morecreative, grow up, grow past it
.
Right, let's get aggressive.
And, last but not least, thevanishing brand act of well, my
(18:24):
logo's on it and it's fourdifferent ways and every stop
right.
Stick to get some standards,take pride in your brand, be
consistently building that withevery single interaction that
people have with your brand, andyou can really build something
powerful when you invest inunderstanding, when you invest
(18:48):
in the consistency that you needaround this, because I see a
lot of times this is what I wantto say I have a contractor.
I mean, he's in a verycompetitive market, but we know
what his problem is.
He's so scared of everythingthat he won't do anything that
he hasn't done forever, becausewhat ifs right?
What if this happens?
Right?
He worries about the outliersokay, way more, way, way, way
(19:13):
more than the actuals of what'sgoing to happen.
We're worried about the twopeople that might say something
than the majority of people thatare going to experience our
brand.
So let me tell you something.
Lemonsy can help you with this.
So, those of you that listenthis far, I want to tell you
Lemonsy can help you with all ofthese things.
But I want you to remembersomething, lemonheads Do not
just throw your ads out likeconfetti.
(19:37):
Build a brand that sticks.
Stay bold, stay bright andfresh and you know what.
You will grow your companybecause you are sticking to
things and you're beingconsistent and you're pivoting
and you're pushing and you'repulling and you're keeping your
brand forward and you stay thecourse and you don't buy into
all this new flashy stuff that'shappening all the time.
Right, that's not what you do.
You are a rock star, right?
(19:57):
This is no promo and no mojo.
So we got to get our mojo back.
Right.
Bad ads happen to goodcontractors.
All the time.
I see it all the time.
Good contractors are doing badadvertising work, bad marketing,
bad messaging, bad structure,right.
And so, guys, trust theprofessionals, get some support.
(20:18):
You don't have to live thislife alone, right.
Get you a marketingcollaborator, someone like
Lemonsie, that'll sit down andtalk with you about these things
.
Don't feel like you just gottakeep doing it, right.
You just.
You need some support, andthat's what we're here for Help
you build brands, help youorganize your strategy and, more
than anything, help you guyskick booty.
Hey, if you love this episode,I'd love for you to give us a
(20:40):
review.
Follow us on social media.
Thanks so much for sippinglemonade with us guys.
We will catch you next timeright here at From the Yellow
Chair.
See you later.
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