Most home inspectors fail at marketing. It’s true. They get sold on a marketing tactic, use it for a little bit, and then give up when they don’t see an immediate return. Their business doesn’t grow the way they want and it ends up controlling them instead of them controlling it.
Here are 3 reasons why home inspectors fail at marketing and what you can do about it.
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No true way to track return on investment (ROI).
Most systems and softwares out there that are marketed to home inspectors do a terrible job at tracking data. There are tons of little nuances and issues for data trackers like Austin (co-owner of WolfPack) and I.
So what do you do about it? Well first, you should fully learn the ins and outs of the system you use. Understanding what your software system does will help you understand where the holes are. Second, you need to build out ways for you to track the ROI from your marketing campaigns. This means, if you put in X amount of dollars towards real estate visits, how many inspections are you getting from those visits?
There’s a way to track this, it’s just honestly too long to type out in this article. Reach out to me and we can talk more about it.
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You don’t stick with it.
Have you ever had a bad experience with an SEO company and they just tell you it’s because you didn’t stick with it? (I know I have). Well, that is like half true. Yes, you did not stick with SEO, but at the same time you should have set goals and met them. You see, a lot of times when we begin marketing we do not set goals and after 6 months we ask ourselves, “why did I start this?” or say, “this isn’t working!” Here’s why: you did not understand where you wanted to go, what was reasonable, and how much it was going to cost you in the first place! That’s the issue. When I create a marketing plan for example, I do research into what area we are going to market to, research into the expected ROI from different marketing strategies, and then finally make budget estimates, projections, and goals.
I think you will find that if you actually take the time to plan and figure out where you are going and how you will get there, you will see it is easy to stick with something. By the way, people stick with SEO because they understand the long term gain. By building website credibility over time, you simplify your marketing efforts in the future and make your business worth so much more.
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You do not know when to fold.
While the first mention was on tracking data, and the second was on sticking with something, now we reach the point where you do not know when to fold a marketing tactic. You have the data and you are sticking with a marketing tactic, but can you attribute your business success to your marketing strategies? It is truly giving you the best ROI? Are you with the right SEO, social media, or Google Ads company? These are all questions you need to ask yourself…
The only way to understand when to fold is to ask yourself a few questions:
What does the ROI data show?
What’s my relationship with my marketing company if I’m paired up with one?
Have I re-evaluated my marketing plan just in case I find something new or better?
Concluding
Unfortunately, I do not have the time to expand into more. However, if you have more questions, I would love to answer them. Although I run an advising/marketing company for home inspectors, I am a licensed home inspector AND I am the marketing manager at Waypoint Property Inspection in Tampa, FL. Reach out to me if you need anything
here. I am happy to discuss this stuff over a phone call!
