Category Archives: Marketing

One Way to Use the Decorative Concrete Idea Book from Engrave-A-Crete

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The Concrete Engraving Idea Book is full to the brim with examples of beautiful decorative concrete. There is a wealth of information about the colors and techniques used. The Idea Book, in pdf download format, is a gift to you and customers from Engrave-A-Crete.

Use The Idea Book to help your customers get a vision for their own concrete.

When your customers want brick, they can see pages of projects using brick in every imaginable design along with examples of popular brick colors. The same is true for borders, cobblestone, Ashlar slate, flagstones and more.

Engravers can print out The Idea Book and use it as a portfolio of possibilities, and change pages in their portfolio when updates are entered, add their contact information on the closing page.

When you have a visual marketing tool as vital as The Idea Book, your credibility with customers increases. They know that you’ve seen what they want; that you understand.

In some markets, decorative concrete engraving is an unknown concept. Customers just do not understand how their project will look when it is finished. The Idea Book helps them bridge the gap of the unknown. You and the customer get on the same page earlier in the planning and stay on the same page using the examples in The Idea Book.

“Ideas won’t keep: something must be done about them.”
- Alfred North Whitehead

The Idea Book isn’t going away. Nor is it going to ‘spoil’ — it will keep. You are the key to “something must be done.”– you must make use of the Concrete Engraving Idea Book to increase your business.

Three Secrets of Engrave-A-Creter, Super Hero | Decorative Concrete Engraving Success

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Landing lightly on the patio, cape flowing over his shoulders, you see Engrave-A-Creter! A super hero who owns a successful and ‘off the charts’ decorative concrete engraving business.

How does he do it?

By treating customers and leads appropriately, connecting with them and building trust.

It’s not hard to be a decorative concrete superhero yourself.

Just be sure to follow through with three things in regards to those who’ve initiated contact with your business:

  •  Return phone calls.
  •  Follow-up on website contact forms.
  •  Answer emails.

A decorative concrete superhero doesn’t look at any of these actions as chores that get in the way of actual staining and engraving. He knows that the lifeblood of any successful business is a constant stream of new leads coming in.

Thankfully, these three tasks are easy to manage as part of your work day.

Returning calls is essential to good business. A decorative concrete superhero returns them as soon as possible to acknowledge the call and get the conversation started. He’s ready with some preliminary information that callers will want before they decide to become a customer.

He follows-up on submissions to the website contact form. This is made easier when the information goes directly to his cell phone so he has less risk of missing an inquiry. The forms are secure and often have a space for the user to leave a message or some questions. Better yet, the form could be connected to an auto-responder which takes care of immediate contact for him.

Answer email promptly. Be on the ball about checking email frequently so that messages don’t gather dust.

You know the secrets now, and you know that you could apply them to market your decorative concrete business, using online tools to provide greater service to prospects and customers. You had better begin thinking about what color you want your cape to be when you become an Engrave-A-Creter, super hero.

If you are at the prospective stage of a decorative concrete career, call 800-884-2114 today to learn how you can begin a your own business. Someone will answer your call. Or use the convenient online form available 24/7 on the Engrave-A-Crete website for your convenience. Someone will call you to get that information on the way.

Crowing Over Twitter Possibilities | Marketing Decorative Concrete

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Don’t be chicken about using Twitter to market your decorative concrete business.

In the fast-paced, useful guerrilla marketing session included in the Engrave-A-Crete Discovery and Training Seminar, Paul (Our marketing and web development guy) tells students about the benefits of social media marketing.  Twitter is a valuable social media marketing tool. 

With only 140 characters to state your message, you will have to learn to write concisely, without rambling.  It helps to think in headlines instead of long descriptions.

There are tools to help you manage your Twitter use. Some services that are popular and work easily include:

  • Hootsuite.com.
  • SocialOomph.com.
  • TweetDeck;com.
  • Ping.fm.

All four have free versions geared to small businesses just like yours. Tutorials walk you through specific tools.  These services want you to win.

The greatest appeal of these Twitter tools lies in their capacity to let you schedule the update (tweet) into the future.  You might have 20 minutes in the evening when you could set up  posts for the next day.  The post would update automatically while you are engraving.

The people who follow you are invaluable — they talk about you offline.  Posting consistently with information about you and decorative concrete will attract followers. When followers “re-tweet” or repeat your post, it helps to expand your reach.  When you receive a re-tweet, you should reply with at least a thank you. From these exchanges, relationships grow.

But the Twitter benefit that impresses me most is the way search engines (Google) use the posts as content.  Suppose you work around Memphis, Tennessee. When a homeowner or business searches for “decorative concrete in Memphis Tennessee“, your Twitter post will join your other Internet activity, drawing attention to you.

Specific tweets on Twitter seem to be available for 4-5 days. Then they ‘fade’. But, they stay in the search engines’ for much longer.

How you work Twitter depends on your interest in marketing. A daily post about your business is very good; 10 posts per day spaced at least 15 minutes apart are effective. At Engrave-A-Crete, the statistics show that most of the response for our updates come in the later afternoon and evening. I like to schedule tweets every half hour, beginning no earlier than noon and going till midnight.

Start where everyone else does, with a Twitter account and no followers. Put “Engraveagcrete” in the search box.  Follow us and we will follow you back. After that — follow your heart. Putting ‘decorative concrete’ into the search box will let you know who else is thinking about what you think about all the time.

Remember recent politics —  President Obama used Twitter to positive advantage for his campaign while Congressman Weiner’s use brought him down.  Use Twitter and other social media wisely for business. Post to the benefit of your business and grow a decorative concrete career worth crowing about on Twitter.

Decorative Concrete Engraving and the 4th of July

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Of course you are marketing your business in the Independence Day Parades. Well, why not?

You are worth a slot on the float list and there is still time to get ready. Even Chevy Trucks and This Old House give mention to parades and parade floats.

The quick and easy parade float includes YOU,  your best walking shoes, a T-Shirt with your Company name and phone number on it (or a sign pinned to your shirt — front and back), and a couple HUGE bags of wrapped candy that you toss to kids along the way.

You could pull your Mongoose around in the kids’ little Red Flyer wagon.

Or get in gear and decorate your truck. Just don’t forget the CANDY. And take your kids, or borrow some.

If you absolutely REFUSE to be a self-contained parade float, you could donate a generous gift card to one of the float theme winners. Be on hand when it is awarded to take advantage of a photo-op with the local paper. If you can’t get together with the paper, be on hand with your own camera, then post the photo on your Facebook page. Present the gift card in a nice greeting card and envelope, signed by your company, of course.

There are other celebration festivities that you SHOULD not miss with your little deck of gift cards. You know the community will have a Miss Parade, maybe even a Little Miss Parade chosen at every event, Independence Day and others. You can get your name mentioned over and over through the events by simply donating a gift card — the larger the amount, the more mention you can expect. But, definitely, getting on the donor list with even a $25 gift card for anything from book stores, clothing stores, restaurants, I-tunes, is good for you.

Donor lists are often acknowledged in local print media (unique advertising), some broadcasting media and on sponsoring websites. You can even add a blurb to all of your internet marketing — website, social media, email marketing mentioning that you were one of the sponsors/donors for the event.

Somewhere in the area that you serve with decorative concrete engraving there is an event with a parade. They don’t charge you to advertise yourself in the parade. If you follow the parade’s theme on your parade float, you may even win a prize. Of course, the best prize is the one that involves embedding yourself and your business in the minds of the people viewing the parade. That is always a winner for you.

Get ready and have a wonderful 4th of July while you are at it.

 

Seven Reasons to Farm the Farmers’ Market for an Autumn Harvest of Decorative Concrete

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As produce is beginning to show up on the summer scene, Farmers’ Markets are kicking into high gear across the country.

What’s nice about using the Farmers’ Market as a marketing venue?

  1. You don’t have to plan or commit months in advance to get a spot as you would for a home show
  2. The spaces are usually quite economical
  3. You get to market to all kinds of people, both shoppers and other vendors, in a relaxed, but buying mood
  4. You will be unique among the garden produce, small animals, poultry, crafts, food (lots of baked goods) and other services who see the venue as a place to contact people.
  5. The markets are usually one day a week
  6. They are open air, but early in the morning before heat makes brains shut down.
  7. You get an early shot at some good produce and maybe a chicken or bunny or puppy or free kitten for your own yard.

    Keep your booth simple and appealing. Bring a lawn chair and umbrella if you aren’t in a park with trees. Be ready to visit with passers-by.  Personal Marketing at the Farmers’ Market is a ‘tested’ method.

    If you make small things like stepping stones, this is a good place to show them off and maybe sell some. Set out your tri-fold brochures; they’ll get picked up.  Print out a few pages of the Idea Book and frame them so people can see what you do.

    Create a guest book that permits people to give you their contact information. You can follow-up with a note or email to help the business relationship grow into business or referrals. Keep it casual and summer-cool.

    Some of the people you contact won’t make a decision this season. By staying in soft contact with them, you will be on their mind in the winter which is fine for finishing their indoor concrete. Many patios and driveways have been engraved after a homeowner had a basement floor beautified.

    Go farming at the Farmer’s Market — grow some decorative concrete engraving business.