I am fascinated by the possibilities of digital marketing. It enables us, as small business owners, to vastly extend our marketing reach without breaking the bank. However, the sheer number of options available to us can seem overwhelming: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, the list goes on and on. I’ve spent a good bit of time researching the various marketing methods and options available to inspectors, in order to give me the best chance of making the right decision when it comes to my digital marketing.
From a cost effectiveness standpoint, one of the best methods of digital marketing is the podcast. For a relatively small up-front cost, business owners can have a pipeline directly to their target audience. Podcasts are also a great tool for inspectors. They provide an easy (and often free) method to advance our education. A quality podcast offers insights that can benefit our life as well as our business, and the best part is we can listen while riding back and forth to work.
My intent is not to spout off about the benefits of podcasting (although there are many), but rather to expand on an idea that occurred to me after listening to a recent podcast. The host and his entrepreneur guest were discussing the struggles that small business owners have when they first encounter digital marketing. Most inspectors, new to the marketing game, are confounded by the number of decisions to be made regarding their marketing strategy. Overwhelmed, many choose to do nothing, ignoring one of their most valuable options for growing a fledgling business.
Others begin an impossible quest, attempting to learn, in one lifetime, how to do everything. Unfortunately, with all life’s other demands pulling at their time, they end up knowing very little about a lot of different things, and end up proficient in none. It’s a lot like trying to herd cats. Try to catch all the cats at once and you’ll end up with none. Go after one cat at a time, and it’s much more likely that you’ll have success.
In marketing, it’s important to pick one thing and get started. We shouldn’t try to stick a toe in the waters of every different marketing channel available. We can’t be good at Facebook ads, Google pay-per-click, Instagram stories, run a TikTok and YouTube channel, and be the LinkedIn wizard all at the same time. There’s simply not enough hours in the day.
If we try to do everything, we end up doing nothing. Version one is better than version none. Pick one thing, give it a shot, see what works and what doesn’t, and make changes as needed. If we keep doing this over and over again, eventually we’ll find success.
While this is excellent advice for marketing ourselves, it also tells us something about running an inspection business. All too often, new inspectors try to offer every service under the sun. In an (understandable) attempt to become immediately profitable, they fall prey to every marketer promising limitless income to those inspectors brave enough to add their special service to their inspections. Whether it’s thermal imaging, mold testing, indoor air quality, video pipe inspections or any of the other ancillary inspection service “certifications” marketed to new inspectors, many find they can’t resist these “guaranteed to succeed” promotions.
While no one can be blamed for wanting to increase their income, we need to guard against looking like a “jack of all trades and master of none.”
It seems that the idea of herding cats applies here, and we should pick one thing that we’d like to do and work our hardest to become an expert at it. Once we become the “go to” authority in a particular area, people will seek us out for our knowledge, and we’ll begin to gain their trust.
We’ll end with a quote from Albert Einstein, who said “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”
If we start out by nurturing our business relationships, cultivating the trust of our clients by becoming their go-to authority in one area, that earned trust will soon expand to all areas.
Then we’ll have a successful business.
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Thanks, Joe
