Brand Audit Live: Fixing Real Businesses in Real Time

Most replacement contractors already have a brand. They have a logo, a truck wrap, and a website that looks reasonably professional. What most of them do not have is a brand that actually does anything: pulling leads in, shortening the sale cycle, and letting them charge what they are worth.

On a recent episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, hosts Caitlyn Noble and Meredith Medlin tackled the one piece of marketing that nearly every contractor thinks they understand but almost nobody is using on purpose. Their core message was simple. A brand is not decoration. It is a sales tool, and for a contractor competing against a private equity backed company five miles down the road, it is often the difference between winning a job and losing it.

Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a podcast for home improvement contractors to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. Join us each episode as we give you powerful insights and practical tips on the best digital marketing strategies to help you grow your home improvement business. Let's get started.

Caitlyn: Welcome back to Digital Marketing for Contractors, the show for replacement contractors who want more and better leads without lighting money on fire. I'm Caitlyn Noble.

Meredith: And I'm Meredith Medlin. And Caitlyn, I think this is one of my favorite formats that we've done so

Caitlyn: Oh

Meredith: because brand is the thing that every contractor thinks that they understand, but almost nobody is actually using.

Caitlyn: Nope, and most of our listeners have a brand. They've got a logo, a truck wrap, maybe a decent website. What they don't have is a brand that's actually working for them, pulling leads in, shortening the sale cycle, letting them charge what they're worth.

Meredith: So here's the plan for the next half hour or so.

Caitlyn: Hang tight.

Meredith: First, we're gonna define what a brand really means for replacement contractor, and spoiler, it's way bigger than just your logo. Then we're gonna hit the real reasons it's worth building out with the dollars and cents version. And then the fun part, we audit a couple of realistic companies live right here, and try to fix them on the spot, and we're gonna close with exactly how to use the brand once you've built it.

Caitlyn: And y'all, if you stick around to the end, you should.

Meredith: You should, please.

Caitlyn: If you don't, regardless, we've got a free a free brand audit, and no joke, free tripods that we are giving away.

Meredith: Yeah, buddy.

Caitlyn: More on that later.

Meredith: All right, so let's start by killing a myth right off the bat.

Caitlyn: Ugh.

Meredith: When most contractors hear the word brand, they think logo, colors, maybe a tag line, and that's your brand identity. That's, like, 5% of the picture.

Caitlyn: Okay, so what's the other 95?

Meredith: It's... I mean, it's every single that a homeowner has with your company, from the very first time that they hear your name to the day that the install crew pulls up. Let me actually list all of them out, because I think this is what's gonna make it click for a few people.

Caitlyn: Okay, go.

Meredith: So your Google business profile. Goodness, your Google

Caitlyn: We never, we never record these at a consistent time.

Meredith: Never. Also, I'm sure you guys have never heard of a Google business profile at this point. your reviews, not just the star rating, but how you respond to them, your listings across the entire web, whether your name, address, and phone number match everywhere, the way your phone gets answered. Is it a pro, or is it Hello?" Your website, your truck wraps, your yard signs, the proposal that you're giving your homeowner, and the way that your rep is presenting that proposal at the kitchen table, even the follow-up email after you give a demo, that's all brand.

Caitlyn: So when a homeowner says, "I've heard good things about you guys" that feeling did not come from your logo.

Meredith: It never, no. It came from the accumulation of all of those touchpoints being consistent and professional,

Caitlyn: Consistency

Meredith: consistency is key. And that really is your brand.

Caitlyn: Consistency

Meredith: So when the truck, the website, the reviews, the rep, the phone, when they all tell the same story and they're consistent, the homeowner can relax. When they tell different stories, that's when the homeowner gets nervous, even if they can't say why. It's just an uneasy feeling.

Caitlyn: And I'd add a lot of our listeners are competing in markets where there's

Meredith: Big agency

Caitlyn: yeah, backed private equity funded competitor five miles away with a polished brand.

Meredith: Mm-hmm.

Caitlyn: If the homeowner is comparing you side by side and you look like a smaller, scrappier option, brand is how you close the gap without spending what they spend.

Meredith: Exactly. Exactly. So you don't need a national budget to go up against national competitors. What you need is consistency and intention.

Caitlyn: And on a side note, I mean, we love our clients so dearly. We have some clients with some, I'm gonna say it, some fugly logos.

Meredith: Some of them are not the best you've ever seen, no.

Caitlyn: But you know what? We are generating a ton of

Meredith: Mm-hmm

Caitlyn: for them.

Meredith: Yeah.

Caitlyn: And we are so proud of that, and it, to your point, Meredith, it's not because of the logo.

Meredith: Right.

Caitlyn: It's because of the

Meredith: Experience

Caitlyn: I love

Meredith: every single touchpoint. I think the big word here, besides consistency, is intention.

Caitlyn: Ooh.

Meredith: If you're building your company with that intention, that is gonna be winning you some leads, because you have a strong brand.

Caitlyn: All right. So obviously, our listeners, or at least our favorite are results oriented people. They track every lead source in their CRM, so we're not gonna be fluffy. Why does building out the brand actually move the numbers?

Meredith: Well, there's three reasons, and they're all measurable, which we love.

Caitlyn: Okay, so number one, it shortens the sale cycle. A homeowner who already trust your name before the rep shows up is closer to sold on day one, less, "I need to check three more companies." That shows up in your close rate, close rate and your sit-to-sell ratio.

Meredith: Right.

Caitlyn: So they know your brand. You're gonna just close faster.

Meredith: For sure.

Caitlyn: What are the, all the ways that I just could've said that?

Meredith: There's a lot, and you picked a good one. Number two, and I love this one, it improves lead quality, not just quantity. When your brand looks established and premium, the price shoppers self-select out, and the serious buyers are gonna lean in. So you essentially stop wasting your sales rep's windshield time on tire kickers that aren't gonna go anywhere.

Caitlyn: And three, it makes every other marketing dollar work harder. Think about it. You're running PPC. You're paying for clicks. That homeowner clicks on your ad, lands on your site, then, like we said, Googles your name and reads your reviews before they ever fill out a form. If the brand if the brand behind the ad is weak, you paid for a click and lost the lead anyway. A strong brand raises the conversion rate on everything you're already paying for.

Meredith: Right. So brand isn't a separate line item competing with PPC and SEO. It really is the multiplier on all of those things that you're doing.

Caitlyn: So the That's the whole point.

Meredith: Yeah.

Caitlyn: Thank you. Before you pour more money into new tactics, you make sure the foundation underneath them is solid. Otherwise, you're scaling a leak.

Meredith: Yeah, so let's put a good, better, best on this for folks, because we love a good tier. Let's look at good. Your brand is consistent. The name, logo, phone, and look everywhere that a homeowner might find you is consistent. The next version is better, and it's consistent, and it's actively building trust. You have strong review volume. You're responding to those reviews. Your Google Business profile is fully built out with posts and photos and... We just released an episode last if not a couple of, I don't know, what is time? A flat circle. We released an episode about GBP posts. Go listen to that. And then last but not least is best. So you're doing all of that, plus you're using your brand offensively, so content, job site radius marketing, a story that makes you the obvious choice in your service area. You're putting yourself out there in a positive light for your potential customers.

Caitlyn: And most of the businesses we audit are sitting at a, "I have a brand, but I'm not using it," which is the perfect segue.

Meredith: It sure is.

Caitlyn: I'm so glad you can talk better than I can today. Words are so hard. Let's do a live audit.

Meredith: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so first up, we're making up the company

Caitlyn: These companies are totally fake. I'm sure there might be a company already named this.

Meredith: Swear it's not you. We did not find you like that. We're gonna call them Summit Bath Solutions. They're a one-day bath remodeler.

Caitlyn: Who we love.

Meredith: Who we love, and they have about 4 million in revenue. They have one

Caitlyn: Okay

Meredith: a dealer relationship with a big tub manufacturer.

Caitlyn: Love.

Meredith: So the owner of this company came up as an installer, and, you know, they sell a five-star product. Their crews are great. Their customers love them. So looking at this, what is the problem?

Caitlyn: Okay, the problem is nobody outside their existing customers knows they exist. Let me walk the touchpoints. I pull up Google. They've got 38 reviews. Their two biggest competitors have 300 plus.

Meredith: Mm.

Caitlyn: There you go. Their Google Business profile has a logo and an address, and that's it.

Meredith: Oh, Lord.

Caitlyn: No photo of finished bathrooms, no post. The last update, well, there

Meredith: Yeah

Caitlyn: an update

Meredith: No And so for a bath remodeler, that situation is brutal because the product is a visual product. Homeowners want to see the before and afters. Homeowners love before and afters, by the way. If you're not doing those, please do.

Caitlyn: Yes.

Meredith: They've got hundreds of gorgeous installs that are sitting on installer phones or rep phones, and nobody has ever uploaded one to anything for anybody to see.

Caitlyn: Right. Okay, next touchpoint, the website. It's a template, and we do love templated websites, but it loads slow, and the phone number on the site is the owner's cell phone, but the number on the truck is the office line. Two totally different numbers.

Meredith: Oh my God, stop. Okay, that is classic. And that inconsistency is gonna hurt you in multiple ways.

Caitlyn: Yes.

Meredith: One, it confuses the homeowner, and two, it actively damages your local SEO because Google wants your name, address, and phone matching across every listing. And I'm not just talking about Google listings. I'm talking about the entire internet listings. So mismatched numbers are gonna tell Google that you might actually be two different businesses, or you just don't have your stuff together.

Caitlyn: Okay, so here's the fix for our friends at Summit. In priority order, and notice none of this requires a big budget.

Meredith: Right. Number one, pick a phone number, just one, and make it match everywhere: website, truck, Google, every directory. This is a free fix, and it's gonna help both your brand and your local SEO and rankings.

Caitlyn: Yes. Number two, fully build out that Google Business profile. Upload 30, 40 of those before and afters, real photos, y'all. Turn on Google Post for the monthly promo. This is where a bath company brand lives, and it's free real estate that they're ignoring.

Meredith: Exactly. Number three, a review engine. So you are clearly doing great work, but you're not asking people to talk about it. So your crew finishes a job, and the homeowner is thrilled. That is the moment when you should be taking action.

Caitlyn: Yes.

Meredith: A simple, systematic ask after every completed install. So you're gonna get from where you are at 38 reviews to 150 reviews over the next two quarters or so, and watch what that happen... or watch what happens when you do that to your lead quality. It's, spoiler, going to increase.

Caitlyn: Sure, 100%. And then four and this is the brand as multiplier point from earlier. Then turn the marketing back up because right now, You are running more PPC. You'd be sending clicks to a site with two phone numbers and 38 reviews. Please fix that foundation and then scale.

Meredith: For sure. So this Summit company is a good company with no brand kind of situation. You know, the work is excellent, but the story just isn't being told anywhere that your potential customers can find it.

Caitlyn: All right, Meredith, why don't you kick off the second live audit of

Meredith: Number two

Caitlyn: fake company, but I'm sure there's a company

Meredith: I know. This is not based on a company called Heritage Exteriors, but that is the fake name that we gave it. So Heritage does roofing and siding. They're about 20 or 12 million in rev. They're growing quickly. They have multiple crews, a real call center with scripts, and the owner is a sales and marketing guy. He's not a tradesperson by nature. So they're a little bit more sophisticated in terms of their marketing situation, but what is their issue?

Caitlyn: Yeah. The issue is absolutely the opposite of Summit. They actually invested in a brand. They have a nice logo, a real brand guide. That's fonts, logos, colors, et cetera.

Meredith: Mm-hmm.

Caitlyn: and they have professional truck wraps. But the brand falls apart the moment you go past that truck wrap.

Meredith: Okay, so like what? Give me an example.

Caitlyn: Okay. The website uses the new logo and the new colors, but their proposals, the thing the rep hands the homeowner at that kitchen table, those are still on an old template with the old logo. Their email follow-ups go out in plain text with no branding at all, and their Facebook page has a third version the logo from years ago.

Meredith: Okay, so the homeowner meets three different companies, essentially. One going through an evolution of sorts. But they have a beautiful truck. They have a decent website, a pretty generic proposal, a cryptic, possibly anonymous email. By the time they're deciding, the premium impression from the truck has completely worn off, and they're probably confused.

Caitlyn: And remember who Heritage is competing against. This big agency player, they have big consolidators. They've got lots of big budget. Those companies are relentlessly consistent because they have brand standards enforced top-down.

Meredith: Mm-hmm.

Caitlyn: Heritage has the assets to compete on brand. They're just not deploying them across every touch point.

Meredith: Right. So the fix with this situation is not, okay, build a brand. They have one. The fix is how to

Caitlyn: I'm

Meredith: Operationalize. Good day. That can't be a real word.

Caitlyn: It is.

Meredith: Okay.

Caitlyn: Sure is

Meredith: operationalize it. So customer-facing document needs to be rebuilt with the current brand, the proposals, the contracts, the leave-behind card. Take a look at your email templates. Get those branded, header or footer. Every social profile that you have alive and out there should get the current logo and a matching cover image. Make it consistent.

Caitlyn: Yeah, I'm just gonna say, you know, this is the reason a lot of companies just don't update their brand either, you know? Because you do have

Meredith: It can be a heavy lift

Caitlyn: it's a huge lift.

Meredith: Yeah.

Caitlyn: You have to go in and update all of those things, and if you don't, this is the horror story we're talking about.

Meredith: Mm-hmm.

Caitlyn: So I'd like to push Heritage to one step further into the best territory. Heritage has the in-home presentation as a touch point. That's a huge brand moment most contractors do waste. A polished, consistent, branded presentation at the kitchen table on a platform like Engage, we love

Meredith: We love Engage

Caitlyn: instead of a paper folder is brand, and it's the highest leverage one. It's the highest leverage, one, because it happens at the moment of decision.

Meredith: For sure, and, you know, you don't have to have a more sophisticated software like Engage. Even having a paper

Caitlyn: Yeah

Meredith: having that all look nice, branded, and cohesive is a huge step up, and the homeowners are gonna appreciate that. So Summit's lesson is tell your story.

Caitlyn: yep.

Meredith: Heritage, the brand we're talking about now, their lesson is tell the same story everywhere.

Caitlyn: Yes

Meredith: two different problems, both solved, though, with consistency and intention rather than just a pile of money.

Caitlyn: And honestly, those two cover most of our listeners.

Meredith: For sure.

Caitlyn: Either you're invisible, or you're inconsistent.

Meredith: Exactly. All right. So let's say you listening right now, you decide to do the work. Consistent name, address, phone, built-out profile. You have steady reviews coming in. Everything is branded consistently. Now what? How are you supposed to use a brand instead of just having a brand?

Caitlyn: Three plays, and they build on each other. Play one, make the brand do the pre-selling. Point your reviews, your finished project photos, and your story at the exact moment homeowners are deciding.

Meredith: Mm-hmm.

Caitlyn: That's your Google Profile. That's the proposal. That's the follow-up after the demo. The brand's job is to answer, "Can I trust these people?" before the rep even brings it up.

Meredith: For sure. So play

Caitlyn: Ooh

Meredith: is gonna be job site radius marketing.

Caitlyn: Yes.

Meredith: So when you finish a beautiful install, that neighborhood is your warmest audience, so a branded yard sign, geo-targeted social to the houses around the job, a door knock or a mailer that matches everything else that you're putting out there. Now the brand is generating leads. It's not just supporting them, and because it's within your defined service area, it's also efficient.

Caitlyn: Definitely. I love that plug for the Site radius marketing

Meredith: Mm-hmm

Caitlyn: We don't talk about that

Meredith: If you're interested, we do have a job site radius marketing package. So, just reach out. We're happy to tell you about it.

Caitlyn: Yes, exactly. And then last but not least, play three, and this is where geographic exclusivity comes back in. Own your market's brand recognition so thoroughly that you become the default. When homeowners in your service area think windows, they think your name first. That's the long game, and it's the thing the big consolidators can't easily buy their way past, because you're local and they're not.

Meredith: Exactly. And the through line of all three of these points is that a brand is not decoration.

Caitlyn: Mm.

Meredith: It's a sales tool. Every dollar and every touch point should be pulling a homeowner closer to that sold step of your pipeline.

Caitlyn: If people remember one thing, build it consistent, then point it at the moment of decision.

Meredith: Boom. Mic drop. I'm not gonna drop the mic. It's too far from the ground. All right. Here's the thing. Everything that we just did for the live audits on Summit & Heritage, we do that for real companies.

Caitlyn: Sure do.

Meredith: We just launched a brand support service that was built exactly for the contractor who's listening right now and thinking, "Okay, yeah, I think I have a brand, but now I don't know if I'm using it right."

Caitlyn: And we made the first step free.

Meredith: Free 99.

Caitlyn: Free 99. Two ways to start, y'all. If you're a DIY-er and just want to grade yourself, we've got a free brand awareness checklist. It walks you through every touch point we talked about today and shows you where your brand is strong and where it's quietly costing you leads. You can download it at fatcatstrategies.com, which if you can spell that, congratulations, backslash brand.

Meredith: Brand.

Caitlyn: B-R-A-N-D.

Meredith: Just remember brand.

Caitlyn: I wanted to spell brand 'cause that was easier than our website.

Meredith: It is. But, you

Caitlyn: We'll also link that in the show notes

Meredith: You will have a link to it. Don't you worry. I still have to copy and paste when

Caitlyn: Oh, it's

Meredith: typing our domain. So, if you don't wanna go that route, or maybe you do and you're excited after that and you want some expert eyes on it, like the audits that we just ran on this podcast, we are doing free brand audits that us, the experts, are gonna do for you. It is a 30-minute

Caitlyn: Yes

Meredith: where we will review your actual digital presence, tell you what's working, what's not working, and we're gonna hand you a priority action list that you can run right through right after you get it.

Caitlyn: would not do that?

Meredith: I mean,

Caitlyn: Time?

Meredith: Nope, I can't think of any. I'm sitting here like, why would you not? It's for free.

Caitlyn: It's free. Y'all do it

Meredith: no charge. And you can schedule that from the exact same page that Kaitlin just spelled out so beautifully.

Caitlyn: Fatcatstrategies.com/brand.

Meredith: B-R-A-N-D. Or give us a call, so either way.

Caitlyn: And then the tripods.

Meredith: Oh my God

Caitlyn: don't

Meredith: now the tripods.

Caitlyn: We so many cute tripods.

Meredith: We do. Okay, this is, this is actually fun. We are mailing free Fat Cat branded phone and camera tripods to help you start recording your own content.

Caitlyn: Please.

Meredith: We're talking about those before and afters, install videos, the stuff that's going to feed your brand. So, the first 10 companies that fill out the form on the brand page get one of them shipped straight to your office, your home, wherever, so don't just sit on it. Be one of the first 10. They're actually cute, and they're super helpful.

Caitlyn: Oh, they're so cute. Checklist if you're a do-it-yourselfer. Free audit if you want help. Tripods if you're fast. I mean, like, come on, we're giving so much away. And guess what, y'all? It's all at fatcatstrategies.com/brand.

Meredith: Right.

Caitlyn: bring it home.

Meredith: I'm bringing it home. Home base, home run, whatever your sport is. Your brand is not your logo. It is every touch point that a homeowner hits, from Google search to the kitchen table. Build it consistently, and it's gonna shorten your sales cycle. It's gonna lift your lead quality and multiply every other marketing dollar that you're already spending.

Caitlyn: Yeah. Most of y'all are either Summit, you're an amazing company, but you have no brand, or you're Heritage, great brand, but it's used inconsistently. Both are fixable, and most of the highest impact fixes are free or close to it. Pick up... Pick one phone number. I don't know what I was gonna say. Pick up the phone and call us,

Meredith: You can also do that

Caitlyn: pick one phone number, build out your profile, ask for reviews, make every document match.

Meredith: Exactly. Then go and use it. Point it at the moment of decision. Run around your job sites. I mean, you can run around your job sites. Put it everywhere,

Caitlyn: Run around with new free tripod around your job site

Meredith: Yes. And own your service area.

Caitlyn: Yes, please. And if today's episode was useful, do us a favor. I know we got a little silly, but you know, we love what we do. Follow the show. Send it to a contractor who you know needs to hear it. This is how we grow this thing, and y'all, it is growing. We are reaching hundreds and hundreds of listeners every week, so we

Meredith: So

Caitlyn: appreciate you guys. Thank you.

Meredith: So, go ahead, grab your checklist, book your free brand audit.

Caitlyn: Tripod.

Meredith: Tripod. I'm Meredith Medlin.

Caitlyn: And I'm Caitlyn Noble. Thanks again for listening to Digital Marketing for Contractors. We will see you next time.

Outro: Digital marketing for contractors is created by Fat Cat Strategies. For more information, visit fatcatstrategies.com.