Why DIY Marketing Can Actually Hurt Design-Build Businesses

We all love a DIY project from time to time, but you wouldn't recommend a novice homeowner to retile their bathroom on their own, right?   

The same principle goes for marketing. Great marketing requires a lot of time and effort. You’ve got to create business goals, develop a marketing strategy, and determine your target markets, all before you can begin using marketing to grow your design-build business. DIY marketing may seem simple and easy, but if you step back, you’ll see that DIY marketing is filled with unexpected pitfalls.

1. Great Marketing Requires Expertise

You know how to send an email, publish a social post, and maybe even determine your business's keywords, but marketing is much more than that. Yes, these are all a part of marketing, but they're just pieces. An effective marketing strategy that yields qualified leads and huge profits are all about using the small pieces successfully. Something that comes from years of practice and expertise.

Do you really want to spend more of your valuable time trying to educate yourself on the ins and out of marketing when qualified experts are standing by?

2. DIY Marketing Doesn't Really Save You Money or TIme

You might be thinking that doing your own marketing will save your design-build business a ton of money, but in reality, it's not about how much you spend. It's about how much you get back on what you spend. 

Great marketing has the ability to get you back more, and sometimes significantly more, than what you spend. You also have to think about what your time is worth. If you kept track of every minute you spent trying to do your marketing yourself and applied a dollar value to that, you’d be surprised at the expense.

3. You Most Likely Don't have a Growth-focused Marketing Plan

As we mentioned earlier, there's a difference between small marketing pieces and an effective marketing strategy. One thing that DIY marketing usually lacks is a marketing plan that is focused on growing your design-build business. 

What is a Growth-Focused Marketing Plan?

A growth-focused marketing plan is a long-term, strategy that helps you to achieve measurable and sustained growth. It is holistic and data-driven so that you can make use of end-to-end funnel tactics to locate, attract, convert, keep, and expand your pool of prospective customers.

If this sounds like something you need for your design-build company then we recommend you check out our Remodeler Marketing Blueprint, where we develop a holistic, in-depth marketing strategy for your remodeling or custom home-building business.

Why Does My Design-Build Business Need a Growth-Focused Marketing Plan?

You wouldn't remodel or build a home without a plan, right? So you shouldn't market without one either. You offer design-build services, which allow you to create the most magnificent, beautiful spaces for your clients. You should do the same for your marketing.

When you have a strong growth-focused marketing plan in place, everything included works together to build profitable growth for your design-build business. 

4. You Underestimate Creating Content

Creating content is a full-time job and while you may have a few great ideas in the beginning, the content well can quickly dry out. A lack of ideas can lead you to rely on heavily self-promoting yourself, which can come across as spammy. 

Instead of taking your chances with losing potential customers, consider partnering with a marketing agency that has the experience and industry expertise to help you keep ideas fresh and flowing. A marketing expert can help you sift through general topic ideas and pinpoint content that is more meaningful and valuable to your clients.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the activity of planning, creating, and sharing content that will reach your target audience and increase brand awareness, sales, and engagement.

Types of Content Marketing

There are seven main types of content marketing that we recommend design-build companies should focus on:

Online Content Marketing

Online content marketing means any material you publish online, but more specifically, it refers to your website. A strong online content marketing strategy will help you rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and get you in front of the right people.

Social Media Content Marketing

There are a number of social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Houzz) to look into and several ways you can create and share content on each of them (photos, stories, videos).

Blog Content MArketing

Here at Builder Funnel, we love leveraging blog content marketing. Blogs are a powerful resource and allow you to get more creative. With a blog, you can do things like promote your other web pages via links, share valuable industry information, and promote your services.

LEAD-GENERATING Content Marketing

We always recommend you create content that forces an exchange of information. Great examples of these are cost guides, eBooks, case studies, floor plans, and checklists. Not only are you offering premium content, but whoever fills out the form in exchange for your content is usually a high-quality lead.

Podcast Content Marketing

Podcasts allow you to be seen as an industry leader and give you the ability to increase your network. You determine many factors related to the podcast such as the episode cadence, who's on the podcast, where you distribute the podcast, and how long the episodes are.

Video Content Marketing

Video content marketing can boost lead conversions, improve ROI, and help you build relationships with your audience. You may choose to share your video content on social media platforms or website pages.

Paid Ad Content Marketing

Paid ads can help you reach a specific audience and position you in all of the places you want to be seen. Paid ads are especially beneficial when paired with other content marketing tactics such as social media or lead generation.

5. There's No real Differentiation in the Market

When you don't know the ins and outs of marketing, then you're likely not going to know how to successfully position your design-build business in the market. Marketing differentiation is about promoting your unique selling proposition and services to attract and retain customers. Companies that successfully leverage marketing differentiation gain a competitive advantage by making it clear why customers should work with them.

What is a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

A unique selling proposition, or USP, is a tool used to communicate the key benefits that separate your service from the competition. An effective USP can be thought of as "what you have that competitors don't". 

Its purpose is to encourage curiosity in your prospect and to bridge the gap between price and value.

Why does my Design-Build Business Need a USP? 

Competition is everywhere, so knowing the right way to position yourself and your services can mean the difference between standing out and blending in. Your USP highlights your strengths and communicates to your audience that you have exactly what they need to solve their problem. It's more than just saying you're "unique". 

A unique selling proposition is NOT a marketing offer or piece of premium content, and while these might be convincing, they're not unique.

Examples of a design-build USP

• Longevity + Success/Proof. If your business has been around longer than most competitors then play on that. Longevity provides instant credibility and receiving a notable award or honor within your local community is something nobody else can claim. Make the most of those opportunities.
• Niche Specialties. Are you in a selective category of work that only a few other competitors offer? Are there certain materials or techniques you work with that other competitors don’t?

6. You may Lack Consistency

One of the biggest challenges that come from doing your own marketing is the possible lack of consistency. It’s incredibly hard to stay consistent, especially if your marketing is an additional responsibility you and your team hold. That one blog a week might seem like an impossible task, therefore it doesn't get done. 

When you don’t have consistent marketing, you’re losing credibility between you and your audience. They stop trusting you because you’ve stopped answering their questions and pain points.