Are you getting ready to launch a flooring solutions business?

This is an interesting time for the flooring industry. Sales have been steady, but the middle of the market is shrinking. That’s because customers are either looking for inexpensive or luxury flooring solutions.

How can you promote your company to succeed in a challenging market?

Here’s everything you need to know to promote your flooring business.

Write a Marketing Plan :

Many small business owners market their business the wrong way. The hear about the latest marketing gimmick, try it for a few weeks, decide it doesn’t work. They’ll move on to the next shiny marketing buzzword and repeat the same cycle.

To have a real chance at marketing success, you need to have a marketing plan. This document details your goals and shows the path to get there. Here’s what you need to have in your marketing plan.

Goals :

This is usually related to sales numbers and written as a SMART Goal.

Target Market :

Who is your ideal customer? What is their main problem when it comes to flooring? How can you solve it?

Positioning :

How do you compare to other flooring businesses in the area? What sets you apart from them? Here, you’ll want to write down what market segment you’re targeting (commercial flooring, luxury, price-shoppers).

Product :

What are the products you’re selling? Commercial flooring, tile, carpeting, residential flooring, stone, are just a few of the options. Be clear and specific about your entire product line.

Price :

How much will these products cost and how do they compare to your competitors?

Place :

Where will the products be sold? In a retail location, online, or both?

Promotion :

How will you let people know your business exists?

By having this marketing plan down on paper, you prevent yourself from chasing marketing tactics. This is a document that will guide your marketing decisions.

Branding the Business :

When people think of a brand, they think of a logo. That’s only half of the story. The difference is that a brand is the emotional connection people have with your company. A logo is a visual representation of that brand.

When you build your brand, think of what you want people to feel or think when they think of your company? That’s really what you sell. You don’t sell flooring, you sell an emotion.

Two classic examples are Volvo (safety) and Coke (happiness).

This is an important step because your brand will influence your marketing, logo, website design, and any copy that’s written.

Networking in the Local Area :

When you have your brand and marketing plan down, it’s time to let people know about your flooring solutions business.

A great place to start is by networking in your local community. Get involved in your local chamber of commerce or other networking groups such as BNI.

Networking usually leads to great opportunities, especially in cross-promoting businesses. For example, contractors or real estate agents would offer great opportunities to promote each other’s business. People tend to replace flooring when they buy or renovate their home.

Direct Mail :

Direct mail still has a lot of value for local businesses. It’s highly targeted nature allows you to have campaigns to welcome new homeowners to the neighborhood.

It is cost effective and when used with other methods of marketing, solidifies your brand in the prospect’s mind.

Build a Website :

These days, when someone gets a piece of direct mail, they’re going to look up that company online.

Studies have shown that it takes about two seconds on a website to form an impression of a company. You want to make sure that you give a good impression of your website.

Is your marketing budget stretched? You can use services like Squarespace or Wix to build a website, no programming required.

Setting up your website with WordPress is another easy and inexpensive way to build a website.

If you do have a budget, you might want to consider hiring a web designer to take care of that for you. That will save you time and energy to focus on your business.

A good example of a flooring website is Floors USA. They show all of the products and services they offer and what sets them apart from the competition.

Invest in Local SEO :

Once your website is built, you want to make sure it gets found by search engines such as Google. Here’s why:

• 81% of people shop online before buying.
• 50% of people who do a local search on a phone visit a store within a day.

There’s a lot that goes into SEO. You have to have the right content and your website needs to be fast and responsive. Plus, you need to have directory listings and know how to do keyword research.

You could learn all of this yourself, but in the case of SEO, it makes sense to hire an SEO expert.

Nurture Your Prospects :

Not everyone will be ready to invest in flooring solutions immediately. Some may not be ready for six months or more.

That’s why it’s important to stay in front of your potential customers

It’s also true for past customers. They may not purchase flooring for a while, but they may know someone who will.

You’ll want to have a strategy around nurturing past customers and potential customers alike. Email and blogging are two great ways to do that.

With a blog, you can offer valuable tips on choosing the right flooring and flooring maintenance. You can then email the new content out to your list, along with events and promotions happening at your store.

Anticipate Trends :

As a flooring solutions provider, your job is to anticipate what your customers will want. You need to stay on top of design and flooring trends.

That’s another level of service and expertise that can set you apart from the competition.

You can do stay on top of trends by visiting trade shows, talking to your flooring distributor’s sales reps, and reading industry magazines.

Promote Your Flooring Solutions Business :

The key to a successful flooring business is consistency. Consistency in your message, customer service, marketing, and delivering a quality product.

The more consistent you are, the more people will trust your brand. They’ll trust your business enough to go with your flooring company over all the others.

That’s what creates a consistent stream of customers. Once you have that, you can scale up by opening other locations.

That’s what creates a Real Wealth Business.

For more tips on starting a business, check out our blog on entrepreneurship.

Read Also :

• 6 Ways to Use Twitter to Market Your Business
• Easy Steps to Start Building Your Business Brand