31 May How to Stand Out in a Competitive Market May 31, 2022 By sma Business Tips, Marketing, Social Media business growth, digital marketing, inspection industry, networking, small business 0 HOW TO STAND OUT IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET May 31, 2022 | Business Tips, Marketing, Social Media | inspection industry, business growth, small business, networking, digital marketing It’s easy to feel intimidated by the competition—maybe they’ve been around for 20 years and you just started last month. You know everyone has to start somewhere, but while you’re building your business, how can you make sure that you stand out from the rest? This question has several answers—there may not be one simple solution, but it turns out there’s a lot you can do! A Job Well Done There’s much to be said about job performance. A job well done can create a good relationship between you and your consumers and keep people coming back to your business. It can also help you build a referral system based on good word-of-mouth. That being said, bad news travels fast, as is the same with negative reviews. In these cases, being an amazing inspector is not enough to offset a disparaging review or to generate the business you want. This requires the usage and management of social media accounts. Social Media One of the easiest ways to see an uptick in business and to encourage customer engagement is to create social media channels for your business. To market your franchise, the three most important social media outlets are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Each platform is free, although there are options to run ads on each at an additional cost. Each targets a slightly different segment of the market and allows you to share valuable information with your clients, such as upcoming promotions and discounts. Through each channel, you are also able to interact with your customers in a way that will aid you in building up your referral base and reply to reviews. If you are unfamiliar with these platforms, there’s no need to fret. The Marketing Team at NPI is more than happy to help with a plethora of social media marketing and management ideas to aid you in taking your business to the next level. Use Your NPI Resources If you’re not social media savvy, there are other options to explore before dismissing the idea entirely. While some inspectors prefer to hire marketing firms or choose to onboard staff for the specific task of social media account management, as an NPI inspector, you have better, more affordable options. Before you spend a lot of money, time, and energy trying to create social media content for your franchise, remember that as an NPI agent, you have a wealth of resources readily available to you. Our marketing team is more than happy to help. As an NPI inspector you can also opt into our Marketing Tech Suite. The Marketing Tech Suite is a combination of three programs that will help you manage your business in a more efficient manner while increasing traffic to your webpages. Networking The last avenue you may want to consider to stand out from the crowd is networking. Networking is huge in the inspection business, as it provides a way to meet prospective clients and create important relationships with others in the business. There are several ways to network online and in person. If you prefer the online option, you may want to consider creating an account via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. That way, you can host or attend seminars to gain new knowledge or simply meet others that can share their experiences in the field. If you favor in-person events, you may want to consider attending trade shows in your area. Finding tradeshows is relatively easy. You can even inquire as to how to obtain a booth at conferences for REALTORS® or Home & Garden Expos to gain a diverse mix of clients with the same goal of obtaining services from your franchise. If you have any questions on this process or about any of the items mentioned in this blog, please feel free to reach out at marketing@npiweb.com. Comments are closed.