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July 2, 2024 14 mins

In this episode of the United States of Small Business podcast, we sit down with Tom from RoofingOptimize.com to uncover the secrets of successful digital marketing in the roofing industry. Tom shares his journey from licensed builder to digital marketing expert, discusses the unique challenges roofing companies face online, and reveals the innovative strategies RoofingOptimize.com uses to help roofers dominate their local markets.

Tune in to learn how to elevate your roofing business through effective website design, SEO, and targeted marketing solutions. Don't miss these invaluable insights from an industry leader!

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(00:00):
Welcome to the United States of Small Business, a podcast where
the essence of American entrepreneurship is celebrated
in every episode, with host JohnQuick at the helm.
Join us as we embark on a journey through the heart of the
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(00:20):
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Each episode brings you face to face with the dreamers,
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(00:40):
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(01:01):
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(01:22):
Begin your journey of inspiration with us today.
Welcome everybody to the United States, a small business
podcast. I'm your host, John Quick.
Today we explore the stories andstrategies of an entrepreneur in
a very niche industry. We're excited to have Tom from
Roofing optimize.com join us. Tom's expertise in digital
marketing website design for roofing companies has helped

(01:43):
many businesses thrive online. Stay tuned as we dive into Tom's
journey, the unique challenges of the roofing industry and the
innovative solutions that Roofing optimize.com has
offered. So without further ado, Tom,
welcome to the United States of Small Business Podcast.
Thank you so much, John. I'm glad to be here.
Well, this would be fun to hear a little bit about your story

(02:05):
and kind of some of the niche markets that you help out in.
But first tell me about what gotyou started to thinking, man
roofing companies need help at marketing.
Tell me that story. Sure.
Well, a little background of even how I got into it is when I
was 19 years old, so this is in the the early to mid 90s, my dad
encouraged me to get my builder's license.

(02:27):
I went and got my builder's license, him and I, he was a
Carpenter. We partnered up, started an
exterior remodeling company and what ended up happening is most
of our projects were roofing projects.
There's a lot of roofs, they need to be replaced.
And we did a lot of roofs over 20 years, my dad and I working
together. And then after he retired, it
was kind of his business really.I went into some other

(02:49):
industries, did some stuff, but marketing.
I built our company website in 1999 for our our remodeling
company. So that's where I kind of got
into building websites. And then I needed a job change.
I was a senior manager at a FourSeasons resort in 2020 and I
decided I want to switch. And one thing that I always

(03:10):
loved doing was building websites.
So in 2020 I started my own company and at first I was
really focused on people in the skilled trades.
I was a builder, Carpenter, kindof focused on those people.
But what happened was again, just like when I was in the
remodeling business, a lot of mymarketing projects ended up
being for roofing companies. So I decided recently to just

(03:32):
focus specifically on roofing companies and helping them with
their marketing and their website design and that they
just need a lot. I just what happened is they I
found a lot of people would cometo me roofing business owners
and they would be feeling like they were scammed or didn't get
what they paid for with other marketing agencies.
So I just wanted to be real transparent and make sure that I

(03:53):
was able to help them out to expand and grow their business
through marketing. That's awesome.
So, you know, historically, you know, I just know I have friends
that have construction businesses and one of the last
things they think about is websites or social media or any
of that stuff. They're just kind of word of
mouth. If I get a job, I get it.
And so tell me what it's like kind of bridging that gap for

(04:17):
folks and the aha moments maybe that they experience when they
see some of that fruit come in from having a website.
Yeah. Well, you know, today it's hard
to find a company that doesn't have a website unless they're
brand new because that, you know, I mean, even just the
recent pandemic, we had made even more people that didn't
have a website get online. So so we really don't find that

(04:39):
as much anymore. But what I do find that aha
moment is after we get a proper,properly optimized, you know,
they had a website before they had somebody design it,
whatever, they paid $500 to get it designed.
And it's, it looks nice, but it's not serving a purpose.
You know, it's not helping them generate leads.

(04:59):
So what I like to do is make sure that we have a good clear
call to action and, and just nota confusing one and not a whole
bunch of calls to action, but weget that clear call to action.
They start generating more leadsbecause of it.
And that's really where that ahacomes and they go, wow, this is
really different than what we had before because we're

(05:20):
actually getting leads now, whereas before their website was
just a brochure that didn't do anything for them.
So do you think it's been helpful for you to having been
on the other end of that and youknow, with your nail and your
hammers and your construction business and helping your dad
and those kinds of things been able to kind of put yourself in
their shoes a little bit? Well, absolutely.

(05:42):
You know, I can't tell you how many pairs of pants that I wore
out from sitting and, and roofing on a roof and, and shoes
that I've wore out the sides of.But yeah, just by being that I
was in the industry that I was actually did roofing and had my
builder's license for 20 years really helps build that trust,

(06:03):
builds that authority with my customers.
So I think that's what really does it more than anything.
It's just because I can understand their pain points,
what their troubles are. I know what their business is.
If they if they start talking business with me, I know exactly
what they're talking about because I was in that industry
for 20 years. Yeah.
So what's been some of the biggest lessons you've learned

(06:24):
along the way of starting this specific niche of helping
roofers market their business and their companies?
Well, one thing I learned from my business and why I rebranded
recently is because is to niche down.
And the reason that you want to niche down and it's not just in
marketing but even in roofing, you don't want to do everything.

(06:44):
If you are trying to do everything, then you're not very
good at any one thing. So that's kind of what I did
with my business is I made sure to be the best.
I narrowed it down into roofing contractors and I even help some
roofing contractors do that withtheir marketing.
They're trying to do, you know, a newer ones are like, well, I'm
going to do metal and asphalt and flat and residential and

(07:05):
commercial and maintenance and they and they want to do what
storm chasing and all this stuff.
And I, and I say, you know, that's going to be tough to
market, especially brand new andinto a market, especially in
there a big, you know, city areawith lots of competition cause
roofing is a saturated market. So if they can niche down and be
the best at residential asphalt roofing or you know, residential

(07:31):
metal roofing and be known for that instead of trying to do
everything, which is going to behard to get you to be remembered
for that. If you do one thing and you do
that one thing better than everybody else, then that's a
great way. So niching down is probably one
of the best lessons that I've learned and try to carry out
into with my prospects as well. That's awesome.
So customer service is also veryimportant.

(07:54):
You know you had the experience of working at The Four Seasons.
I've been to Kona Four Seasons acouple times.
Probably the best customer service hotel company out there
in my opinion. I've stayed in a lot of hotels.
Tell me how important it is for you to have good customer
service with the folks that you're servicing.
That kind of tend to be probablya little more rough and tumble

(08:16):
than, you know, somebody that owns a skin care company.
Well, they can be, you'd be surprised on the the different
types of people that own roofingcompanies.
But but yes, customer service I think in any industry is
paramount. We need to make sure that we are
providing, you know, customer service starts with just on
empathy, understanding your customers and where they're

(08:39):
coming from. So if you can provide empathy to
provide great customer service. And like you said, I working at
a lot of different Four Seasons or ski resorts here in Michigan,
I have learned tremendous customer service over that time.
I've even when I was a senior manager, developed and trained

(09:00):
customer service programs with alot of new hires and even, you
know, return people because we had a lot of seasonality and
resorts. So, so I try to incorporate all
that into working with those those ideas about customer
service and use them when working with my customers,
making sure that there's good communication, that I understand
where they're coming from. And yeah, you know, customer

(09:21):
service is paramount in any industry.
So what kind of advice would yougive to folks?
There's lots of the, our listeners are aspiring
entrepreneurs, aspiring small business owners, maybe folks
that are just on like, you know,the the first lap around the
track of just opening a business.
What kind of what kind of advicewould you give to somebody in

(09:42):
those shoes? Well, you know really the basics
right? Have an optimized website with a
clear call to action. Have a Google, an optimized
Google business profile, right? And then there's something
that's called NAP. NAP name, address, phone number

(10:05):
is what that stands for. So nap make sure that you start
getting your business listed in directories, Angie's list, you
know, house next door, and make sure that your name, address and
phone number is exactly the sameon all of them.
No difference. So just the basics.
Make sure you have the solid basics.

(10:28):
So tell folks how they can find you and I think they're going to
be intrigued to go look you up, even if they aren't an owner of
a roof roofing company. Tell folks where they can find
you, all their social media, your, your website, all those
kind of details. Yeah, so they can find me and
all the socials under Tom Bartholomew.

(10:49):
And you know, I'm, I'm huge on LinkedIn, got lots of I'm very
active, not huge, I'm active on LinkedIn and that's probably
where the best place to follow, follow me, find me and roofing
optimize.com. That's my website.
And again, I focus on roofing contractors, just helping them
grow their business through the right proper marketing and make

(11:12):
sure that it works. And we're not just, you know,
just throwing out KPIs and throwout KPIs.
We want to make sure that your business is actually growing,
you're getting the leads you need and they're and they're
proper. So roofing optimize.com, that's
the best place. That's awesome.
So you know, there there could be some folks on here that are
also owners of roofing companies.
So tell me real quickly, what does it look like for somebody

(11:33):
to be get on boarded with you? What's that process?
What could they expect? Give us some of those details.
Sure. And that's a great question.
So, you know, I really, I, I like to spend, I only schedule
one on boarding per week maximum.
And I do that because I want to,when I onboard you, I want to

(11:54):
make sure you get my full attention, right?
So right away I'm sending you a gift.
You're going to get a gift in your office, actual mailed, you
know, some kind of gift basket because I appreciate your
business and I want to celebrateus starting together.
Also, I'm going to give you a road map.
I'm going to list out specifically what we're going to
do week by week for the first two months, making sure so you

(12:19):
know when your websites going togo live, you know when we're
going to start your social media, you know when we're going
to put out press releases, when we're going to start posting on
your Facebook and Instagram and Facebook.
You know, it just really lays out step by step when
something's going to happen and you know when you can expect
those results. So really just lay it out, just

(12:40):
try to be over commutative. In fact, sometimes people say,
wow, I've talked to you more than I talked to a lot of my my
employees this week. Well, that's kind of the purpose
because I want to make sure thatyou understand that you're our
priority and we're going to giveyou the best service possible
and we want to understand your business so we can provide what
you need. That's awesome.
So I really appreciate you coming on here.

(13:02):
It's been fun hearing a little bit about your niche and man,
who would have thought? Roofers need help too, right?
That is correct. That is correct.
Well, I and John, thank you so much for having me today.
It's a a pleasure and an honor. You have any last minute
thoughts Tom, before we head offhere?
The floor is yours. Yeah.
You know, people always talk about people do business with

(13:22):
people they know, like and trust.
And there's one that we always forget and I like to add that
in. I've been trying to add it in
lately. So people will do business with
people they know, like, trust and remember, especially with a
roofing contractor, they might know and like and trust you, but
if they don't remember you when the time comes to put your roof
on, then they're not going to call you.

(13:43):
They're going to search Google and they're going to start
calling people that they see right away.
Now, hopefully if your presence is up there, you have a chance
of getting those. But if they remember your brand
because you're active in the community and you've sponsored
that Little League team and you're going to the chamber
meetings, well then they're going to remember you.
So people do business with people they know, like trust,

(14:03):
and most importantly, remember. That's great.
That's a great piece of advice. Well, folks, I would encourage
you if you just got the tail endof this to go listen to the
whole thing, Tom from Roofing optimize.com.
If you are a roofing business owner, give Tom a call.
I'm sure he can help you out. We hope everybody has a
phenomenal rest of their week. And until next time, I'm John

(14:24):
Quick from the United States Small Business Podcast.
Thanks, Tom for joining us. Thanks, John.
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