This is the ideal time to review your business. Things have changed, your perspecives may have changed, your customers’ priorities may have changed. Here are a few tips to help you think about things you can freshen up.
Update your website
As people start booking decorators again, you want to stand out. Refresh your website with new pictures, new services, new testimonials, new videos.
One of the easiest things to do is to write a few new, simple blogs and put them out once every week or two. They don’t have to be long or complicated, just relevant to your potential clients. Blogs improve your website’s SEO and help to show your expertise to people looking for a good decorator.
For inspiration, go through the pictures you’ve got of jobs over the past couple of years and write a bit about them. It may be a window repair, a nice papering job, the glossiest front door in town. Every part of your process can be turned into a blog – from protecting floors, to masking up, rubbing down, filling, the kinds of tools you use, your recommended paints…
It’s all content that could persuade people to book you, and not Barry The Painter on the other side of town whose website hasn’t been updated since 2003.
Where do you want to be?
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Despite current uncertainties, you need some kind of direction in your business. Treat this like a business SatNav – you can only choose a route if you’ve decided where you want to get to. So where do you see yourself and your business in a year, in five years, or even in ten years time?
Identify what you want to do in the future, work out how you’re going to do it, and break it down into manageable chunks and 90 day targets.
- What’s your favourite kind of work
- Do you want to specialise?
- Do you want to get off the brushes and manage other decorators?
- Do you want to work for higher paying, more demanding clients?
- Perhaps you want to change career, and become a lumberjack?
- Or move home and business to be closer to grandparents or grandchildren?
Get some video content
Videos are people’s favourite way of consuming content on the internet, whether it’s on websites or social media.
If you upload a few relelvant videos onto YouTube you can embed them into blogs or other pages on your website – making your website more attractive, useful and improving its ratings on Google.
Posting videos on your social media is more effective than just text and pictures, as people’s eyes are drawn to videos.
Ideas include – describing some of your techniques, your favourite paints, brushes, rollers, sprayers, papering tools. Don’t worry if you think it’s nerdy, customers will see nerdiness as expertise.
You can do it all on a mobile phone, even simple editing. It’s a skill worth learning, and not rocket science. I recommend buying a cheap tripod and a phone mount – it’s a business investment.
Get testimonials
Testimonials are the next best thing to word of mouth recommendations. If you can get them on video, that’s great. If you can’t, just get people to write them. Ask customers to leave you a recommendation on Facebook and a Google review. They really help to make you more visible and trusted. Why not ask all your clients over the past two years? I bet loads will help you out with a testimonial.
Update your social media
Now is the best time to get yourself noticed on social media – so many people are stuck at home, just scrolling to pass the time. So get some content in front of your potential customers’ eyes.
Are they on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok…? Choose just one or two platforms to concentrate on, post and interact regularly.
It’s no good sitting there just waiting for the phone to ring, you need to do something about it.