If you are a flooring business, whether a retail store or installer, there is a serious need to make sure that you have a strong presence online so that you can attract the attention of the people looking for you. Unless you are the only flooring company in your area, then chances are there is going to be some competition, and if you do not take action to make sure you are being seen by potential customers, then you are losing out to those who are. Now, you may already be investing some advertising dollars into Thumbtack, Angis, Houzz, or Yelp already, which is great! The problem is that these leads are shared and at the end of the day, you do not own any of the assets that are created for you. And that is not so great!
In this guide, we will break down the fundamentals of a solid digital marketing strategy and how you can implement it to help grow your flooring business so that you generate exclusive leads, and improve digital assets that you own. Today we will cover the traditional digital marketing strategies, websites, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and SEO.
So let’s begin…
Building a Website that Converts:
It all begins with your website. If a website is slow, confusing to use or navigate, or lacks engaging content or design, you are going to lose out on potential business from those who visit.
A well-designed and user-friendly website is crucial for flooring businesses (or any business for that matter). By incorporating clear calls-to-action, engaging content, and intuitive navigation, you can enhance the conversion rate of your website, turning more visitors into leads and customers. When someone visits your website, they are subconsciously asking themselves the following questions: “Do these guys understand my needs?”, “Do they have a solution for said needs?”, “Can I trust them to provide that solution?”. Most websites skip right to answering the third question and talk mostly about how great their business, product or service is without first taking time to show the visitor that you understand them.
In addition to the basic conversion rate optimization (CRO) techniques, it is important for flooring businesses to also make sure their website has an online booking platform, lots of images and videos of your work (before and afters are great!), includes relevant reviews and case studies, and has some sort of flooring visualizer tool (we love Roomvo). If you sell specific flooring products or brands that people are looking for, you may also want to consider setting up the website for eCommerce, so people can find those flooring products and add them to their cart.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Analyze your site on https://pagespeed.web.dev/ to see what your site speed is
✅ Check to make sure that you have prominently displayed calls to action and it is easy for someone who is interested in your flooring products or services to get in touch
✅ Read the first few lines of each of your main pages. Does the content evoke emotions for the visitor or does it talk mostly about you and your business?
Google Pay Per Click & Local Service Ads:
Google’s Search, Display, and Local Service Ads are powerful tools for flooring businesses to increase their online visibility and gain traffic immediately. Google offers Pay Per Click (PPC ads) which are the most traditional forms of paid Google Ads. Now they also offer Local Service Ads (or Google Guaranteed) where you have to apply to be accepted, and then pay only per qualified leads.
By setting up ad campaigns, focusing on relevant keywords and local customer targeting, you can drive qualified traffic to your website and generate valuable leads. Just be prepared to spend a good amount on ad spend (we suggest $50/day minimum) for the first few months, especially if your ad account is new and has little trust in Google’s eyes.
The biggest mistake that we often see when taking over Google Ad accounts is not actively and consistently adjusting keywords, adding negative keywords or testing different keyword types, bidding strategies or ad types. For example, if you offer flooring services in Chicago, and you add the keyword flooring chicago to your list as a broad match type, chances are you will get lots of clicks for searches related to flooring in chicago, but lots of them will likely be for people looking for flooring from costco, home depot or other competitors. In this case, you have 2 options…. 1) continue to add negative keywords on a daily basis for search terms that you deem irrelevant or 2) shift your focus to exact or phrase match keywords so your search only shows up for “flooring chicago” instead of something loosely related. In option 1, you will spend less on clicks, but will need to wait longer for Google to understand the types of searches you want to show up for. In option 2, you will get fewer irrelevant clicks, but will need to be willing to pay much more per click as you are paying to be more selective.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Set up a basic Google search ad campaign and test out exact match vs broad match keywords (start with $50/day). Make sure you have your location targeting down too, or else you will be paying for clicks from people outside of your service area.
✅ Apply for Google’s Local Service ads program and start receiving more qualified leads direct to your business
✅ Do a regular purge of irrelevant keywords by adding them to your negative keywords list.
Targeted Social Media Ads:
I often like to say that Google is the best traffic source online because you are getting in front of people who are actively searching for flooring, so you know that they are interested. But targeted social media advertising allows you to expand your reach beyond what people are searching for on Google and offers immense opportunities for reaching and engaging your target audience – whether that be homeowners, property managers, designers, architects, or builders. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn provide robust targeting options to deliver your ads to the right demographics.
Because you are now getting in front of people who are not actively looking for your services, it is important to understand that these ads will not convert as much as a Google ad at first, but are great to bring more brand awareness and exposure online. In order to generate as much traction as possible from these social media ads, we often use the following strategy.
Start with either some educational ads about the benefits of different types of flooring or flooring services you provide (make it more about the service and the user and less about you) or an offer/promo to opt-in to (financing, $ off installation, free refinishing or cleaning, etc.). Then after a few weeks start to retarget people who have interacted with these initial ads with ads that are more personal – something about you, your business, your installers, a previous case study/testimonial that shows the human side of your business and allow people to connect with your brand.
In order to do these multi-levels of targeted ads, you will need to have a bigger budget. If money is tight, then consider just running some promotional ads, and use either Facebook’s built in lead generation ads or messenger ads to directly talk with people there who are interested. If you want to target a younger audience, then consider being active on TikTok. If you want to target a specific commercial audience, then consider advertising on LinkedIn – just be prepared to spend more on ad spend.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Set up Facebook Business Manager account if you do not have one already. Then set up a great initial top of funnel ad campaign targeting the right people in your market. Start with either an engagement campaign, or lead generation or messenger ads
✅ Consider some sort of promo or offer that you are comfortable with to get more people to opt-in
✅ Once you have a good amount of interactions with your initial campaigns, set up a retargeting campaign that is more personalized and shows a more human side to your business
Improving Reach with Local SEO:
If you are like most people who search on Google, you will likely skip the ads (Google is getting better at hiding them), and skip ahead to the organic results whether that be the Google Map Pack of relevant businesses near you, or the website results below those. If you are not visible in either of these places, then your business is surely losing out on dozens, if not hundreds of visitors or leads every month to your website (depending on the market you are in).
That is why investing in a solid local search engine optimization (SEO)strategy is essential for flooring businesses to improve their online visibility in their local market. SEO is simple, but not easy. Unlike what some people may have you think, it is also not a set it and forget it type of thing. In fact, Google rewards websites that are active and continue to add relevant content to their website, Google Business lodging and other branded profiles online.
Any good SEO strategy begins with the website. If you do not have relevant content and pages on your site for all of the flooring products and services you offer, as well as pages for each area you serve, then you are going to be at a disadvantage. The more thoroughly you cover these topics, the better your website and Google listing will perform. In addition to your website, it is important to fully optimize your Google Business Profile (formerly GMB), by completing as much of the information as possible, continuing to add relevant images and posts to it, as well as drive traffic and reviews to it. The more people engage and interact with your listing, the better it will perform in maps. Finally, you want to actively build up your brand by submitting it on relevant niche and local directories to grow its authority and trust in the eyes of Google to ensure your business appears in relevant local search results.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Audit your website’s content to see if you have unique pages for each flooring type, service and area you serve. If you were Google, would you grade your website as an authority in the space, or is it falling short?
✅ Check out your Google Business Profile. Is it fully filled out? Is it being engaged with? Is it actively getting reviews? Are you replying to those reviews? Do people request driving directions to the showroom? If not, do you have a strategy for generating more reviews? Do you have a button on your website or a link in your appointment reminder with driving directions to your store?
✅ Do a Google search for your brand name (usually need to add your city too). What comes up? If the first 2-3 pages are not full with branded profiles or business listings that belong to you, then chances are Google is not taking you seriously. Easy fix though! Order yourself some local business citations and branded profiles.
Leveraging Marketing Automation & AI to Increase Lead to Customer Close Rate:
Have you ever noticed that you convert more leads into clients when you are able to support them right away? This makes sense right? If you are shopping around for a quote and one of them gets back to you quicker than the next, you are likely going to move forward with them (unless the price difference is way off).
With marketing automation and AI technologies you can revolutionize your lead nurturing and customer relationship management processes. This means that any leads that reach out can automatically be responded to instantly via email, or SMS so that they have no time to go to your competitor. Also once they are a lead, you can nurture them throughout the sales journey with automated follow-ups, updates and reasons why they should choose you. You can also set up automatic reminders for quotes, installs and reviews for when the work is complete.
With AI technology, you can even train these platforms how to answer specific frequently asked questions so that you or your sales team do not have to be the ones answering repetitive questions, and you can focus on closing the leads that are warmer. Automate repetitive tasks, personalize communication, and utilize AI-powered tools for lead scoring and targeted messaging. By streamlining these processes, you can increase efficiency, improve conversion rates, and close more deals.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Take inventory of your current sales and estimating process. Are there parts that could be improved by adding elements of automation?
✅ Check your lead pipeline and CRM. Are there leads that have gone cold because they were not followed up with in time?
✅ Find a marketing automation platform that works for you and your business so that you can easily respond to leads when they come in, nurture them from cold to hot, and close them with greater efficiency and effectiveness
Video Marketing:
If pictures are worth a thousand words, then videos are worth a million. Afterall, who doesn’t like to see something before they commit to buying it? Video marketing is a powerful tool for flooring businesses to showcase their work, demonstrate product installation techniques, and engage with their audience.
And the best part is that you don’t need fancy equipment or technology to make this work anymore. Each and every one of us has access to a high-quality camera in our pockets, so there should be nothing holding you back.So go ahead and create short, high-quality videos that highlight your expertise, provide valuable insights, and resonate with your target customers. People love seeing transformations or learning about what is involved in the flooring process. So try to document the journey from choosing the right flooring to installing it.
Once you have the videos, it is important to make sure people see them. Share them on your website, social media channels, and YouTube to expand your reach and build brand authority. Luckily for you there are plenty of tools that make this easy to do, so you don’t need to spend hours learning something new.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Film yourself on the job over the next few weeks (it may be awkward at first, but then you will get the hang of it)
✅ Create a video library of topics related to the questions your customers ask you regularly
✅ Share these videos on your website, social media channels and with your prospective clients and customers.
Social Media Marketing for Increased Exposure and Brand Awareness
Social media platforms provide an ideal space for flooring companies to engage with their target audience, build brand awareness, and drive website traffic. Develop a social media strategy that includes regular posting of engaging content, such as project showcases, customer testimonials, flooring tips, and industry/company news. Encourage user-generated content and actively respond to comments and inquiries to foster a sense of community and trust.
At the very least, you should be active on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. If you have a decent following, then your posts will likely get seen by a good amount of people. If not, you will likely have to invest in the paid ads to grow your reach. Again, there are loads of tools out there that make it easy to come up with post ideas, content and even syndication. But if you don’t have the team for that, then just remember to post something every week or 2 so your profiles stay active.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Make sure you have an account on FB, Instagram and Pinterest
✅ Share relevant and engaging content every week
✅ Interact and engage with your audience to develop a sense of community and grow your followers
Advertising on Houzz or Angie’s List:
Advertising on platforms like Houzz or Angie’s List can be highly beneficial for flooring businesses – especially those starting out. These platforms cater specifically to homeowners seeking professional services. By showcasing your work, collecting positive reviews, and utilizing targeted advertising options, you can enhance your visibility among homeowners actively seeking flooring solutions. The problems with these sites are that you often have to share leads with your competitors and pay for exclusivity. Also, if you are using them for lead generation, they are using assets that they own, instead of assets that you own (like your website or Google business profile). Regardless, these are important sites to build profiles on to showcase your work, and can be a great way to generate leads and work as you grow your flooring business.
ACTION ITEMS:
✅ Set up a complete account on sites on the top sites that people are looking at when searching for a flooring company
✅ If you are starting out, consider investing in their lead generation programs
✅ If you are already using them, audit the ROI and value that they are bringing you. Is it enough to justify sharing the leads?
Conclusion:
Digital marketing plays a crucial role in the success of flooring businesses. By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide, including website optimization, utilizing Google and social media ads, improving local SEO, leveraging marketing automation and AI, engaging in video marketing and podcasts, and advertising on platforms like Houzz or Angie’s List, you can enhance your online presence, generate quality leads, and achieve sustainable growth in the competitive flooring market.
If you need any help implementing these feel free to reach out, and book a strategy call.
Partner with Flooring Pros Marketing to access tailored digital marketing solutions designed to propel your flooring business to new heights. Get started today and seize the opportunities offered by digital marketing to thrive in the ever-evolving online landscape.