Branding vs. Direct Response Marketing – A Roofer’s Guide

I feel it’s time for a tiny rant… a chance to release some pressure that’s been building up in my head…

About the things some ad agencies do to get you to buy brand advertising (instead of profitable direct response marketing).

I hate the lies that are told about what works and what won’t work to get you, new customers for your roofing business.

To offer you the essential information you must know if you want your business to prosper and grow.

How Direct Response Is Different Than Brand Advertising

First – let me start by saying that UNLESS you run a hundred million dollar per year enterprise that branding will NEVER work for you.

Branding as defined by Webster’s as: “the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand.”

That requires you to have your product or service become associated with a particular brand. Like the Big Mac with Mc Donald’s.

That cannot and will not happen without tens of thousands of repetitions of your specific message. Got a truckload of cash to blow? Branding is for you. I don’t know of any roofing contractors that this will work for.

What triggered my rant was this; the other night as I was turning off the TV I looked for about 2 minutes at the UFC match that was on. And both fighters had ads on their backsides. On the seat of their pants.

The only reason someone is advertising on a fighter’s butt is because someone suggested to them that “all exposure is good.” And you can “get your brand seen by millions”.

Another definition of branding is that you are buying a corner of the consumer’s mind. So when they need your product or service at some point they’ll think of you.

Except the very idea of branding, without a massive ad budget is ridiculous. According to CBS News, the average person sees 5000 ads per day. Unless you have the ability to show your message dozens to hundreds of times per week, for long stretches of time, you have ZERO chance to get your brand remembered.

Direct Response Marketing – The Alternative For Roofing Contractors

Direct response advertising. It’s like the difference between firing a shotgun into the air and hoping to hit an ideal prospect versus using a high-powered scope to lock in on the exact client you want to serve and like an expert marksman, hitting them squarely with your message.

Even better, direct response marketing, done right, is going to generate a return on the investment you make in it. Spend a dollar, get a dollar back while acquiring customers in the process.

Those customers have a lifetime value which can make your investment in the marketing hugely profitable.

Now, as always, the choice is yours. You can sponsor some guy’s backside and run an ad on his butt and hope to get customers or you can do the work necessary to identify the ideal client or customer for your business, craft marketing that speaks to their exact need and get them to respond by taking the steps that lead them to buying from you. You can focus on direct response marketing.

At this point, you may be thinking that this really doesn’t relate that closely to online marketing and to a degree you’d be right. Most consultants like me don’t really have a background in both online and traditional offline marketing. I offer you the advantage of being skilled in both.

If your roofing business wants and needs more customers, let’s talk. What I do for my roofing contractor clients isn’t “cheap” but the ROI is extreme.