Experience More Love With Video Marketing

Have you considered Video Marketing to sell your paint service or product? You should!

A recent survey that includes 230 marketing professionals and online consumers showed over 60% of businesses said they use video marketing. Over 90% said they will start using or increase their video marketing. An average of 61% of consumers said they would be more likely to share a video over text post. While these numbers sound enticing keep in mind that 61% said they were turned off due to poor video quality, not enough information or the video was poorly designed.

 A few reasons why you should consider using video to post on your Facebook pages and other social platforms.

• Video stimulates activity with conversation, Likes and Shares. The more activity with your post the more opportunity for a potential customers to view it and make contact with you. I would go as far to say it will increase your activity by at least 100%. From my personal experience Video marketing increased my organic activity by 300%. Over 60% of those businesses in the survey said video increased their organic activity.
• Videos provides a powerful connection with your prospects while increasing your value. I have found it is much easier to close a high dollar sale with the groundwork of video marketing. Whether it be a video testimony or action shots of your projects. Videos will build trust and excitement with potential and existing clients. I can testify that customers have been more excited using Ewing Painting as a result of video marketing. Over 90% in the survey using video said it helped prospects understand their service or product.

Let’s talk specifically about our industry. How many Paint Contractors do you see using video marketing? I would venture to guess that over 95% of Paint Contractors do not use video as a marketing tool. Most likely that leaves you somewhere between zero to three of your competitor are using video marketing. In this day and age I am baffled of how many Painting Contractors do not have a website let alone using video marketing.

Do you think using video will separate you from your competitors?

I went searching for video marketing tools while being heavily involved in local politics. I wanted to grab attention to create a following. Video marketing was successful in that arena so I decided to take it to my business. I tried a number of free video marketing tools and boiled it down to one called VideoShow due to the easy learning curve.

VideoShow is an app you can download to your device and start creating marketing videos right away. There is a free version of VideoShow but I would highly recommend you purchase the Pro version, It is less than five bucks. Remember the 61% of users that said they were put off buying a product due to video? 25% of those said it was due to poor quality. By purchasing the Pro version it unlocks themes, fonts and many other items but most important, it allows you to create the video in HD format.

VideoShow seems to be the most practical and user friendly while using it on your smart device. Like anything it just takes practice. The learning curve is little to none. Specially if you already use a photo editing app. Once your video is created sharing your video is a walk in a park. Straight from the app you can save the video to your device or post it instantly to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social sites.

I save to my device (Note7) and manually post directly to Facebook and Instagram. I do this for better control of my content. Along with that I create a YouTube video of every video I make. I then use the YouTube version to post on my site and other blog sites. Understanding Google loves to promote it’s YouTube videos.

Ideally you want to keep your marketing video under 60 seconds. 21% of those that were turned off was due to videos being to long. Creating an average 60 second video can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Depending how detailed you want to get. I can spend two hours just because I enjoy it. I spent 20 minutes on this video.

Facebook video is one of the most effective attention grabbers. Facebook default has auto player on, many users don’t shut this feature off. Instagram is another effective platform for Video Marketing. Like Facebook Instagram has an auto player too. You will experience more Love and Likes with your video than pictures.

The end results, helping you close your deals.

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5 Facebook Ad Targeting Tips For Painters

Successful Facebook Ads Start With The Right Audience

If your goal is to repaint residential homes would you spend money marketing to people who live in apartments? Running Facebook without building a specific audience using Facebook ad targeting is no different than marketing house painting to apartment tenants.

Facebook ad targeting gives painting contractors the ability to show their ads, offers, and posts to Facebook users based on a huge range of criteria – including whether or not someone lives in a single family home or apartment. Below are 5 great targeting options painting contractors can use to reach the right Facebook users. Combining these targeting options with a Facebook carousel ad is a surefire to get drive more Facebook leads.

5 Facebook Ad Targeting Tips

1. Location: You want to work near your office correct? Within Facebook’s Ad Manager, it is very easy to geo-target an area. Options include targeting cities, counties, or a street address. Just pick your initial targeting point, set a radius, and your ads will only reach people in your service area.

 

1. User Location: The default option is to target everyone inside the geography, including users on their mobile phones. Just because a user is inside the targeting area, it does not mean they live there. Adjust this setting to “People who live in this location” to make sure your ad is only going to people who actually live in your service area. Here is an example of changing the User Location ad targeting setting:

 

 

1. Home Type and Home Size: These two options are paired together because they go hand in hand. It does not do any good to show ads about house painting to people who live in apartments. Set the Home Type targeting option to “Single” to only target people who live in single family homes. Use the Home Size targeting option to reach users with homes that meet or exceed a certain square footage.

 

1. Homeownership Status: People who rent homes typically do not hire painters, or any contractors for that matter, so why waste money showing them ads? This setting makes sure the people in our audience own the home they live in.

 

1. Purchase Behavior: This is a lesser known targeting option, but one that is very valuable. It will only target your ads to users who have demonstrated they are likely to purchase home improvement services, making this a great targeting option for ads that promote a special offer or discount.

 

Using Facebook Ad Targeting

The audience above would be ideal for a residential house painter. Ads would be served to local single family homeowners looking to purchase home improvement services. This definitely beats apartment tenants.

Facebook ad targeting is done entirely through the Facebook Ads Manager and can be a challenging process. If it is not done correctly, your ads will not go to the right users, meaning every ad impression is a waste of money. Before building your first ad audience, consider contacting the painting contractor marketing experts at AltaVista. They will provide your painting business with a free Facebook ads consultation and explain how to maximize their potential through targeting. They can be reached by phone at 800-313-2168 or by email at aaron@altavistasp.com.

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Aaron

Vice President of Digital Marketing at AltaVista Strategic Partners

Aaron Hockel is a partner and the vice president of digital marketing at AltaVista Strategic Partners, a full service marketing agency working exclusively with commercial and residential contractors. AltaVista specializes in marketing campaigns designed to generate top of funnel sales leads. Their services include email marketing, direct marketing, search engine marketing, and social media marketing. As a proud PDCA member, Aaron and the team at AltaVista currently work with more than 40 painting contractors around the country.

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Should I be creating web content to market my painting business?

If you’ve dipped your toes into digital marketing at all, you’ve probably come across the term “content marketing” before. A technique which now forms the basis of most top performing online brands’ digital strategies, content marketing involves producing, sourcing, distributing, promoting and harnessing content (such as blogs, how to guides, infographics, videos etc.) in order to perform more powerfully online.

From increasing traffic to your website and building up buzz about your business via social media, to helping you get found for more search terms via Google and positioning yourself as an authority in your niche, there are many potential benefits which can be harvested via content marketing.

But can these “wins” be achieved by smaller businesses – like painters and decorators – which choose to explore the technique?

The short answer is “yes”.

A real benefit of content marketing is that it’s incredibly scalable. You may be a one person outfit, but committing to producing and publicizing  just one blog per month could make a positive difference to your digital performance – especially over the long term.

The biggest digital brands at the top of the food chain may invest hefty resources building and running their content strategies, with big in house teams dedicated to masterminding, operating, measuring and perfecting them, but it’s perfectly possible to undertake content marketing at a more humble level and still reap some benefits.

That’s because good quality content is beneficial for a number of reasons:

• It makes your website “thicker” and more authoritative. The more quality, unique subject matter you have on your website which relates to your niche, the more “weight” Google is likely to give your site, helping you boost your ranking.

• It keeps your website fresh. Google also prioritizes websites with plenty of fresh, regularly updated content as this shows your site is relevant, active and up to date.

• It helps you target longtail keywords. The more words you write about your subject on your website, the more likely you are to start appearing for more terms relating to what you do. You can even increase your chances of this by researching the types of terms and questions searchers are looking for, then writing content to fill the gap.

• It gives you something to shout about on social media. If your social presence is getting a little tired, well planned content can help you capture the interest of your followers and drive more traffic to your website.

• It makes you look authoritative. If you want to impress visitors and turn them into customers, content which shows off exactly what you can do will help persuade them that you’re the right painter for the job.

• It’s great for capturing local search. Nobody wants to cover their main website pages with clunky terms like “painter decorator Norwich”. Creating content about jobs you’ve undertaking locally is the perfect organic and natural way to help your pages rank for local keywords, without looking or feeling spammy.

Getting started

Your approach to content will depend on how much time you have at your disposal. Some painters and decorators will be able to squeeze in one blog or case study a month, others may have time to create a “how to” guide, a decorating inspiration post, a local case study and an advice piece on a monthly basis. If you want to generate more content but don’t have the time or skills, contact a professional like Tess Wittler.

If you’re serious about getting strategic, investing time or resources in keyword research will help inform your content strategy and help you squeeze more from it. Don’t forget to check out what your competitors are up to, share all of your new content via social channels and set up analytics so you can see which pieces of content are having the best effect.

By Sam Butterworth, blog editor at Regal Floor Paints

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Titan Elite™ 3500 Sealed Hydraulic Professional Airless Paint Sprayer

Titan Introduces the Elite™ 3500 Sealed Hydraulic Professional Airless Paint Sprayer

MINNEAPOLIS — March 8, 2017 — Titan introduces the new Elite™ 3500 gas-powered, sealed hydraulic paint sprayer. Titan’s first sprayer outfitted with PermaStroke Technology™, the Elite 3500 has no piston, packings or clutch to replace, and is backed by a lifetime fluid pump warranty. The Elite 3500 is a versatile direct drive sprayer that delivers a consistent finish and is easy to operate and maintain, keeping contractors on the job.

PermaStroke Technology provides top performance at all pressures, even when using smaller tips or spraying coatings prone to shearing. Maintenance is minimal with only two wear parts, the inlet and outlet valves, which are field serviceable and can be changed with common tools. The Elite 3500 holds less paint in the system, simplifying the cleaning process.

 

The Elite 3500 features a FlatLine Pulsation Dampener™ for smooth operation. It eliminates all pressure fluctuations and deadband in the system, delivering consistent pressure from 300 to 3,300 PSI. In addition, the Sureflo™ pusher valve guarantees the sprayer primes every time it’s started, and a vertical filter keeps residue in the housing.

“Our new Elite 3500 raises the bar for gas-powered paint sprayers,” said Chris Noto, director of products for Titan. “Packed with proven technologies and built to last, maintenance on this unit is minimal and cleanup is simplified. It will easily become the ‘go to’ sprayer for thousands of painting contractors.”

Powered by a Honda® engine, the Elite 3500 comes standard with a Titan RX-PRO gun, TR¹ tip and 50-foot hose. The cart is designed for convenience with a telescoping handle and hose-wrap, and two on-cart tip holders. Large 12-inch pneumatic tires increase the unit’s portability and make travel over rough surfaces easier.

 

The Titan Elite 3500 is available in the U.S. and Canada at professional equipment and industrial supply distributors. MSRP is $3,958. Visit www.titantool.com for more information.

About Titan

As a leader in spraying technology, Titan manufactures and markets a full line of professional-grade sprayers for applying a variety of coatings. Titan products include airless and air powered paint sprayers, fine finishing sprayers, sprayers for applying texture, roofing and corrosion control and protective coatings, and line stripers for sports fields and asphalt. For nearly half a century, contractors and maintenance professionals have relied on Titan products for world-class, end-to-end solutions that are dependable and easy to use. Visit titantool.com.

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Getting to Know You: Nigel Costolloe

 

Nigel Costolloe is both the owner of Catchlight Painting and one of their estimators. Nigel trained as an apprentice painter in California and continues to study the evolving science of coating adhesion and failure. He is active regionally and nationally in the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA) as a leader, speaker and mentor. He has roots in Australia and England, adores being a parent, and ends most days with a CrossFit workout.

Nigel, where did you grow up? What were your favorite pastimes?

I was born in Australia, grew up in the South Pacific islands – Fiji, New Guinea, Samoa, etc., then went to English boarding school before finishing high school and college in California.

I exercise to balance the mental effort work requires; marathons, triathlons, adventure races, Crossfit. If I’m not at work, I’m moving something heavy or myself. I enjoy reading, just about anything well written. Sleep, or its pursuit, has also become a pastime as middle age makes it ever more elusive.

Oh, and I’m delightfully, happily, wonderfully married to a woman of vast patience, forbearance and understanding. We have two sons, terribly spoiled but somehow they have turned out well nonetheless.

How is the painting industry evolving, and how is Catchlight responding?

The industry is bifurcating – on one side the traditional business model of owner and employee building a reputable and steadfast company on merits, good work, and integrity. On the other, the business broker model – the Paintzens and others that simply subcontract work to others and skim the profit off the top. This disruptive model lacks integrity in my opinion and will be short-lived as the traditional company owner becomes more social media savvy and thus competitive in the electronic marketplace.

You’re a member of your local BNI chapter. Is joining BNI something you’d recommend to other painting contractors?

Absolutely, but shop around and find a successful chapter with members who will help elevate your profession. BNI corporate culture can feel cult-like but most chapters have their own character that supersedes the boilerplate cheerleading that can be a turnoff for many business owners.

Out of all of Catchlight’s awards and accomplishments, what are you most proud of?

Our reputation, of course. Our relationships with employees, customers and the community, is based on mutual trust, respect and integrity. As a contractor friend puts it, you never want to bump into a past customer and feel uncomfortable – feeling anything but pleasure when you see them means you have failed to do the right thing.

Let’s talk about the Catchlight Painting team – the people that work with you on a daily basis and help transform your vision for the company into a reality. Any tips you’d be willing to share on how to create an environment that keeps employees happy and motivated?

Hire slowly, fire quickly, invest in your people – training, conferences, bonuses, acknowledge good work and set clear expectations and a high bar. Beyond this, we make sure to remember everyone has lives of significance outside work – we are fortunate enough to make more every year and so we offer excellent benefits like maternity and paternity leave, bereavement leave; we’ll even help someone fly home for significant family events if they need the assistance.

Catchlight Painting is heavily invested in the training and education of their employees.  Talk to us about the return you’ve seen from this investment?

One word – retention. Maslow talks about the hierarchy of needs – everyone covers the basics but helping people become better at what they do is key; it leads to more income, promotions, responsibility and recognition. Never underestimate the impact giving a newly promoted foreman keys to a company van has on their self-esteem.

Describe your hiring process. How do you find painters that are a great fit?

At this point, recruiting and hiring has become more important and challenging than finding new customers! We look for good people year round, offer $500 finder’s fees to employees and vendors who bring us a new painter. We love finding someone with skills but always choose aptitude and attitude first – our attrition rate is close to 95%  during the trial week; the process, practice and art of hiring is consuming more and more of our time. Since the recession ended, our growth has been limited by our inability to meet demand – a nice problem to have.

Talk to us about a time you failed, what did you learn?

I fail every day, multiple times. If I don’t fail it means I haven’t stretched myself.  Every failure is an opportunity to learn and evolve –  at work, in the gym, on the trail, at home, in relationships.  Sometimes failure simply means I’ve overcommitted and run out of time or energy to do something well. Looking back, just about every failure is related to a miscommunication. Since my day seems to be filled with email and phone calls, there is ample opportunity for failure; it’s good exercise to recognize as quickly as possible when something goes sideways and then it is a pleasure to intervene and correct the problem. In some ways, fixing a problem is more gratifying than having another boring, perfect and mistake-free day.

What tools would you consider vital to your company’s success?

Humility and pride in equal measure, a passion for learning, and a deep drive to improve constantly.

Catchlight has completed numerous charity projects over the years. What impact, if any, do you feel this work has had on the business?

It’s part of our DNA at this point – we give back because we can and because there is so much need. We are fortunate to live in a time of prosperity and peace; we have a moral obligation to make the world a better place for others less fortunate. This character runs through the culture of our company – and our customers notice and comment on it.

What’s one thing you would like to see Catchlight do better? What’s your plan for improving?

We can do everything better – we seek improvement every time we meet as a team. My favorite business aphorism – your company is running exactly as you designed it – if you don’t like the results, change the design. Hearing this freed me from an emotional response to criticism and failure, and helped me embrace the philosophy of seeking constant improvement in every aspect of the business as well as in my life.

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Brian Jensen

Brian Jensen is the CEO of Congruent Digital, a full-service online marketing agency that provides cross-channel marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes. Congruent Digital proudly partners with A David Creation to provide painting contractors with results-driven digital marketing services.

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