As small business owners, we have to several hats. Because of this, it is often difficult to implement all the ideas you have for growing our businesses – despite best intentions. When it comes to marketing your business, you want to be sure that 1) you aren’t wasting money and 2) you aren’t wasting your time. Both are top commodities these days.
I recently became an Associate Blogger for Blogging Painters (the online resource for the painting industry), and I wrote this article on creating simple project spotlights. In short, I recommend that contractors do something more with their photos than simply sticking them on their website – without explanation. As pretty as the pictures are, it leaves the potential customer guessing at what they are looking at and even more importantly, not connecting with how you changed your customer’s enjoyment of their home through the improvement you made.
If you are scratching your head and thinking, “Tess, will this really work?” Here’s what one Wilmington, North Carolina remodeling contractor had to say about including even the simplest project descriptions with his photos:
“I am finally seeing that come true. Friday I posted a few pictures of a job we completed last month. I have already sold one bathroom remodel from those pics, and have another meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
“I have been rewriting my site’s landing pages as well, and am working on presentation packets to give to designers, and contractors I want to work with. I think I will take this example further and dedicate a page to each project under my portfolio link.”
Make note that writing photo captions should also be applied to your Facebook and Flickr photos, too. Start providing descriptions with each photo, and I can guarantee that people will spend more time looking at your work. We all know that the more time they “spend” with you, the more they get to know you, like you, and trust you. Eventually that leads to new business.
Tess Wittler, Social Media Content Warehouse Creator
Thanks Tess, we are so thrilled to have you on the team, your spotlight article is just the type of information our readers can use to help grow their business.
Chris Haught would like to share a recent blog post..To Tweet or Not?
Thanks for the mention Tess. I just had a team meeting with my new assistant and the focus was on pictures. Was at a consultation last night and really could have used some pictures. In fact the client asked if I have any pictures of what you are describing. Unfortunately I had to send them to the web as I didn’t have a packet to give her.
I am planning on getting a tablet, however we will be working on doing a very professional booklet for our pictures with captions. I will be sure to follow up with a post to show off what we have done, and the feedback we get from clients.
Tommy – I like your idea of getting a tablet and loading your photos into a “gallery” so you can easily show clients examples of your work. Many contractors use this technology. You may want to look into Flickr or some other photo sharing platform online. You can add your descriptions there – and it all helps with SEO. A quick search produced this article: http://photo-sharing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/ which may give you more online options to consider.
Tess Wittler would like to share a recent blog post..Increase your “know, like and trust” factors to close more business
Good piece, Tess. Nice to see Tommy’s success story. He is humble about sharing them himself.
Scott Burt would like to share a recent blog post..Rack and Roll…Here to Stay?
Thanks for chiming in, Scott!
Tess Wittler would like to share a recent blog post..Remodelers: Tips for Managing Social Media
Testing DISQUS to see how it comments and notifies me.