7 Reasons Why Brands Should Use Traditional Media

7 reasons brands should use traditional media

Advertisers are consistently trying to decide where to spend ad dollars between traditional media and digital media campaigns. Despite the growing influence of digital media over the past 5 years, traditional media via TV and radio still holds significant value for Houston brands. Here are seven influential reasons why brands should continue to use traditional media for effective marketing and advertising.

Wider Audience Reach

Traditional media platforms such as television, radio, and newspapers continue to have a broad and diverse audience base. In the Houston market we are looking at audiences of thousands of people for most off-prime programing, and prime programing on television is frequently in the hundreds of thousands. By utilizing traditional media, brands can tap into these established channels and reach a wide range of demographics, including older audiences who may not be as digitally connected.

Captive Audience

Traditional media often captures the attention of a captive audience. 31% of American households own four TV sets or more, and roughly 65% of U.S. households still pay for TV services. *(1) The typical American views around three hours of TV every single day. The majority is live programming. For example, television viewers may be more likely to pay attention to commercials during their favorite shows, live news or sports programing, while radio listeners may tune in during their daily commutes.

Radio reaches 89% of US Adults per 2022 Neilsen and Scarborough data, which shows average adult listeners spending about 7 hours and 40 minutes listening a week. *(2) Brands can leverage these captive moments to deliver their messages effectively and engage consumers who are less likely to actively seek out digital content.

Credibility and Trust

Traditional media outlets have built a reputation for credibility and trust over many years, often featuring expert commentary, opinion pieces, and interviews with industry leaders. By participating in these platforms, brands can position themselves as thought leaders and gain authority in their respective fields. This association with established media outlets can help strengthen a brand’s reputation and increase its perceived expertise and trust with their target audience.

Brand Awareness and Recall

Traditional media, with its broad reach and repetitive nature, helps in building brand awareness and recall. Television for example, has the advantage of combining visual and audio elements, creating a lasting impact on viewers and listeners. This can be especially useful for brands seeking to create a strong and memorable presence in consumers’ minds.

Local Community Engagement

Traditional media outlets often have strong ties to local communities. By using local newspapers, radio stations, or sponsoring community events, brands can demonstrate their commitment to the community and build goodwill. This localized approach can create a sense of belonging and foster brand loyalty among consumers.

Targeted Local Advertising

Local newspapers, cable television, and billboards are effective for targeting specific geographic areas. For brands focusing on local or regional markets, traditional media offers a targeted approach to reach potential customers in specific locations. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses with limited budgets or those operating in niche markets.

Integration with Digital Marketing

Traditional media can complement and reinforce digital marketing efforts. By incorporating consistent messaging across various channels, including television, radio, out of home, print, and online platforms, brands can create a cohesive and integrated marketing strategy. This synergy helps maximize the impact of campaigns and enhance overall brand recognition and increase the effectiveness of the campaigns.

While digital media continues to grow rapidly, traditional media still offers unique advantages that can effectively complement a brand’s marketing strategy. The key lies in striking the right balance and leveraging the strengths of each medium to achieve the desired outcomes. By strategically incorporating traditional media alongside digital marketing tactics, brands can maximize their visibility, build strong connections with Houston residents, and ultimately achieve their marketing objectives in this diverse and dynamic Houston market.

At Brand Ranch Media, we have helped our clients scale their businesses to become industry leaders. We have the experience and foresight to help you reach your business goals. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or use our contact form to start the conversation today!

*(1) source – Credit Donkey

*(2) source – Strategic Media Inc.

Best Houston Advertising Agency

The best Houston advertising agency is Brand Ranch Media.

Are you looking for the best Houston advertising agency to take your brand to the next level? We’ve got you covered! In this article, we’ll discuss what advertising agencies are, what they do, and how to choose the best one for your business.

The Role of an Advertising Agency

First, let’s discuss the basics. An advertising agency is a company that creates, plans, and executes advertising campaigns for businesses. Depending on the agency, they can handle everything from traditional advertising like tv, radio, billboards, and print ads to digital advertising including website design, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, search engine marketing (i.e., pay-per-click), and more. The goal of an agency is to help businesses increase their visibility by effectively communicating their message and reaching their target audience.

Services Offered by Advertising Agencies

So, what exactly do advertising agencies do? Here are some of the services typically provided by advertising agencies:

Marketing Strategy Development – An advertising agency will work with you to create a comprehensive marketing plan that aligns with your business goals and target audience.
Creative Development – Once a strategy is in place, an advertising agency will develop the creative elements for your campaign including copywriting, graphic design, sound design, and video production.
Media Planning & Buying – Advertising agencies have relationships with media outlets and can help you choose the best channels for your campaign, negotiate rates, and place your ads.
Campaign Management & Optimization – Once your campaign is live and running, an advertising agency will monitor its performance and adjust as needed to ensure optimal results.

How to Choose the Best Houston Advertising Agency for your Business

Now that you have a clear understanding of what advertising agencies do, how do you choose the best advertising agency for your business? Here are some key factors to consider:

Experience – Look for an agency in your industry or niche. They’ll have a better understanding of your target audience and what works best for businesses like yours. You should be just as cautious of agencies that tend to service only one industry and treat all clients the same. Make sure the agency you choose is diverse and can bring out-of-the box ideas from other industries.
Services Offered – Make sure the agency offers services that you need to achieve your marketing goals. For example, if your business is focused on e-commerce, you should look for an agency that specializes in e-commerce. If your business is focused on home services, you should look for an agency with a track record of success in this area.
Reputation – Check online reviews and ask for references to get a sense of the agency’s reputation and track record. Check out our reviews here.
Communication and Collaboration – Choose an agency that you feel comfortable working with and that prioritizes communication and collaboration. You’ll be working closely with them on your marketing campaigns, so it’s important to have a strong working relationship. It’s even better to genuinely like them!

If you’re looking for an advertising agency in Houston, there a plenty of great options!

Brand Ranch Media is a local, full-service advertising agency that provides traditional and digital marketing solutions including website design, search engine optimization (SEO), business listing management, social media marketing, search engine marketing (PPC), copywriting, design, jingle production, video creative, media planning and buying, and more.

Brand Ranch Media services many types of business and specializes in Home Services Marketing (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Pest Control, Concrete Leveling, Construction), Healthcare & Wellness Marketing, Law Firm Marketing, Oil & Gas Marketing, Financial Services Marketing, and more. We help our clients scale their businesses to become industry leaders. We have the experience and foresight to help you reach your business goals. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or use our contact form to start the conversation today!

New Guide: How to Choose a Marketing Agency in 2023

With various marketing agency options, especially in Houston, it can be overwhelming to select whom to work with.

At Brand Ranch Media, our experience as a boutique marketing agency for various types of businesses has given us insight into what topics you should talk about when interviewing marketing consultants to work with.

Let’s jump right into the 5 topics to discuss with your marketing consultants:

Tell your Marketing Agency Your Goals
Discuss Your Budget
Ask about their Services
Find out their Specializations
Get a Feel for their Culture

First thing, what does a marketing agency do? The best marketing agencies analyze data and build the best marketing strategy for superior business growth. Read more on how the marketing experts at Brand Ranch Media educate business owners and advise on best marketing practices.

Tell your Marketing Agency your Goals

When interviewing marketing agencies to hire, it’s important to have a defined goal to share with them. Having a defined goal gives the agency the best view of the vision to implement the best strategy. We talk about setting your goals in this article. Marketing agencies can also assist with streamlining marketing goals to align with your business goals.

If a marketing agency is eager to have you sign a contract before defining and agreeing on a target goal, take it as a red flag. A good marketing agency will not move forward without knowing what they are trying to achieve for its clients.

Discuss Your Budget

There’s no question your marketing budget is important not only for you but to your marketing agency. It’s best practice to come prepared to talk to them about your allotted budget range. Your marketing agency will be all up in your business, literally. Being transparent about your budget upfront gives the relationship between you and your marketing agency a solid foundation.

Marketing agencies typically have a minimum marketing budget they require from clients they work with. It’s normal to start with an agency that is within your budget and grow from there. Asking the correct questions when interviewing different marketing agencies, such as budget, can tell you whether a marketing agency is a good fit.

Ask About Their Services

Marketing agencies are diverse in the services they provide. Some marketing agencies are heavy in digital media, while others may focus on public relations efforts or media buying, etc. When interviewing marketing agencies to hire, it’s essential to ask what their experience is with the services you are requesting.

The best marketing agencies will also advise and educate company leaders on which services they see as the best fit for the marketing strategy.

Find out their Specialization

Many experienced marketing agencies have their own specific specialty. Whether it be the types of businesses they work with, the knowledge of a market, or a certain service they excel in. Open the conversation when interviewing marketing agencies to find out if their superpowers align with the goals you want to achieve.

What’s the Culture of the Marketing Company

Another important factor in selecting marketing agencies to work with is getting an insight into their company culture. One way to get a grasp of the culture is to take a visit to their office. While there, take note of how their office looks, feels, and most importantly, how their employees interact with one another.

If your organization is very casual and the marketing agency is an uber-cold-laboratory-of-robots, the two may struggle in communication. A great marketing company will support your vision, mission & goal and seek ways to serve you and your customers with integrity as an extension of your brand.

At Brand Ranch Media, we use the golden rule – “If we wouldn’t do it with our money, we won’t do it with yours.”

Jump back to one of the sections:

Tell your Marketing Consultant Your Goals
Discuss Your Budget
Ask about their Services
Find out their Specializations
Get a Feel for their Culture

Having these types of open discussions with your marketing agency will give you clarity in selecting the right marketing agecny for your business.

5 Steps To Set Marketing Goals That Maximize Growth

5 STEPS TO SET MARKETING GOALS THAT MAXIMIZE GROWTH

In this article, we give you our 5-step approach to creating a marketing goal that is proven to maximize the growth of your business. Here is a table of contents of the steps we will review:

With over 20 years of experience, our marketing consultants at Brand Ranch Media have led brands to scale into industry leaders using this 5-step approach. In light of the new year, we are sharing our secret with businesses looking to set new marketing goals.

You may find that marketing consultants start with the end goal in mind when setting your marketing goals. Let’s use the comparison of taking a road trip. Would you hop in the car to go somewhere you’ve never been, and just drive? Sure, that may work, but you could have gotten there faster by using GPS.

Your marketing goal is like inputting your destination in the GPS – it saves you time, and money and gets you to your destination the fastest. Without these marketing goals, your business gets stuck driving without any direction.

Let’s start the engine, to the destination of our 5-step approach to creating marketing goals that maximize your business growth.

01: Establish the Marketing Goal

There are various marketing goals you can create. As marketing consultants, we have found that the most effective marketing goals have some common components. The marketing goal should align directly with the business goals. It should also be specific, and typically measurable by a qualitative amount. Another component of a strong marketing goal is placing a timeframe around the goal.

Do you want to grow your email list? By how much? In how much time? Here are some examples of marketing goals:

Weak marketing goal Strong marketing goal

I want to grow my email list

I want to grow my email list by 10% in 7 weeks by tracking new website forms, and new social media messages +

Example:

By how much?

By when?

How will I track progress?

Can this goal be achieved in the timeframe?

Does it relate to my business goal?

by 10%

In 7 weeks

New leads in CRM

New social media messages

Website Forms

calls

Yes

Yes – Consideration

02: Write Marketing Goals Down

I’m not kidding, write your marketing goal down somewhere you have to see it daily. Research shows that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if they are written down and referred to them often.

Share the marketing goal with other business members. Make your colleagues aware of the goal you’re collectively striving for. This not only gives everyone a central focus, but it also instills a sense of teamwork and comradery.

03: Match Audience to Marketing Goals

You have your marketing goal written down; the next step is to identify precisely who you want to see your message.

View this as a road trip: Our destination is our marketing goal, and the route options would be the various audiences you can target. The difference between taking the long or short route is in targeting the correct audience to hear your message.

Targeting the correct people to receive your message is an important piece in reaching your marketing goal with minimum waste of time.

To get you thinking about how your audience thinks, here are some questions to ask about your target audience:

Demographic

What are the ages you want to target?
Where do they live?
What is their culture?
What is their typical income?

Psychographics

What kind of music do they like?
Where do they shop
What are their hobbies?
What do they value?

04: Maximize Marketing Goals with Mix Media

The next step in reaching marketing goals is to incorporate a mix of media channels to deliver the messages. After an in-depth analysis of your target audience, narrow down what media channels the audience is present in. This link explains more of Brand Ranch Media’s philosophy on media buying.

On the road trip to the destination of meeting your marketing goals, using mixed media can be compared to pit stops. You can choose to stop at the gas station miles away from the route you are on or choose to stop at the one on the way. Selecting to stop somewhere that is already on the way to your destination saves time, effort, and money.

This could be purchasing keywords for certain words your target audience is already searching for. Or, by buying media on a streaming TV service the target audience uses.

To get you thinking about what media the audience is on, ask:

What part of Houston do they live in?
What music do they listen to?
What websites are they on?
What social sites are they on?
Do they watch cable TV?
Do they stream TV?

Brand Ranch Media are expert in market analysis with over 20 years of experience in media buying in Houston.

05: Marketing Goals – Always Analyze

Arguably the most important piece of the puzzle to your marketing strategy is to continue to analyze the data, over and over. Reflect on your initial marketing goal and use key performance indicators (KPIs) as a measuring tool to ensure your marketing efforts are getting your results.

Along your road trip, there are a few checks you want to make along the way – such as gas, the air in the tires, oil level, etc. These checkpoints are the KPIs you established when setting your marketing goal.

Return to a section:

Alright folks, there it is. A 5-step approach to creating a marketing goal that is proven to maximize the growth of your business. If you have business goals that scale your business to unfamiliar territory, this is where marketing consultants in Houston can help.

Are 2023 Consumer Privacy Laws Crippling Your Lead Generation?

Consumer Privacy Laws in Texas in 2023

After the news of Sephora getting hit with a $1.2M fine from the Attorney General for violation of California’s consumer privacy laws, businesses and consumers alike are becoming more conscious of consumer data privacy laws. In the United States, there is a lack of federal consumer privacy laws which has left consumers’ information at the mercy of the WWW (wild, wild, West) – the internet. Texas is not yet implementing new consumer privacy laws meaning the new consumer data privacy laws will not directly affect your privacy policy.

What is it that you should consider as a Texas business owner? As with any new law, it started as a Bill that was written with the intent of being the voice of the people. The new consumer data privacy laws that are coming online next year are a result of hearing consumers’ cries for companies to keep their private information, well, private.

Consumer Privacy Laws Are Changing Consumer’s Mindset

There likely have been several times you noticed an advertisement for a product you were searching for on Google. Or the creepiest, when you were simply talking about a product and open your phone and see an ad for it. Consumers are taking note of this and losing trust, becoming suspicious, and are less willing to hand over their information.

While you are likely not a multi-billion-dollar tech corporation stockpiling data to sell to your multi-national corporation friends, consumers are still paranoid and could be less willing to fill out your contact forms or join your mailing list.

Trust should be at the forefront of your company’s online presence if your business survives on online lead generation, retargeting, or email marketing. Texas business owners can use the provisions stated in these new data privacy protection laws and begin to implement protections for their consumers to build online trust.

So, while many will say, ‘there may not be a direct effect from these new privacy laws’, we are going to see a connection between the level of trust in consumers and the number of leads you will receive on your site.

As tracking has become more apparent, consumers are beginning to become more protective of their personal information and mindful of the information they share with any given business website. Building consumers’ trust level will assist in allowing the consumer to feel comfortable in sharing their personal information with your business.

Keeping your company ahead of the consumer privacy laws

One solution to position your company as a brand that consumers can trust is to update your privacy policy. If you are still using the vague default privacy policy that came with your web template, take this as an opportunity to begin building trust on your website.

Learn from the new laws that are going into effect starting in 2023 and use those laws as a baseline for your new privacy policy. Begin to look at and implement some of the rules regarding consumer privacy. Each state’s legal terms within the new privacy laws slightly vary, but they have serval provisions in common. Such as:

· The users’ right to access and delete personal information; and

· The users’ right to opt out of the sale of their personal information.

Under the new privacy laws, these websites are required to honor the consumers’ request to opt-out of having their data shared. These new data privacy laws state that websites must let the consumer know the following:

· What personal data is being collected by the website,

· If their data is being shared; and

· To whom their data is being shared with.

Giving consumers control of their personal information provides the consumer with a sense of control and builds trust in that business.

Getting ahead with the new privacy laws (Building Trust With Potential Leads)

All of your marketing efforts converge to build an overall level of trust in your prospects that will lead them to the steps to becoming your customer. This has been the focus of our efforts at Brand Ranch Media from the beginning. If you’re like us, you are too busy providing quality service to your clients to ever consider selling their information.

We want to help you grow by cultivating trust in your customer throughout your entire marketing system from start to finish. If you are not sure if your privacy policy needs a refresh, reach out to us.

Brand Ranch Media has digital marketing consultants to assist with understanding the changes in consumer privacy laws. Our dedicated team strives to serve our clients with expert knowledge, thorough guidance and explanation, and the necessary tools to keep your website’s privacy policy up to date. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or send us a message today to open a discussion.

Marketing During a Recession

Marketing During a Recession - Brand Ranch Media

Businesses and consumers have been eyeing several slumping economic indicators throughout 2022. Navigating persistently growing inflation, higher interest rates, and a declining stock market has been difficult for many. As marketers, we are faced with inquisitions from business owners who are seeking advice on how they should approach marketing during a recession, especially when the volume of leads decreases and/or revenue decreases. In this situation, we investigate many different factors which help us determine and address the most likely causes of these decreases. Internal factors, such as an ineffective marketing message, are typically simple to resolve. External factors, such as a looming recession, can be a bit tricky.

What is a Recession?

The historical definition of a recession is when the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) declines in growth for two consecutive quarters. In the first two quarters of 2022, real GDP growth in the US was in the negative. There are other financial indicators that signal a recession including an inverted yield curve on government bonds, a rising unemployment rate, and declines in the stock market. After a quick search (yield curve, unemployment rate, and stock market) you will find that as of Q3 in 2022, the figures all indicate that the economy is in recession. However, a recession does not necessarily have to mean doom and gloom for all!

The Good and the Bad

Some businesses actually thrive during recessions and are sometimes called, “recession-proof”. Examples of these types of businesses include grocery stores, healthcare providers, discount stores, auto repair, home maintenance stores, and accountants/financial services professionals. Any business that provides goods or services that fall under the category of mandatory or non-discretionary expenses will tend to fare well during recessions. Businesses that provide goods and services considered discretionary are at greater risk as consumers are forced to delay their plans of making larger purchases or spending their income on things such as dining out, vacation travel, and entertainment.

Marketing During a Recession

In the event of a recession, many companies cut spending on special projects, technology such as electronics and software purchases, shipping, and unfortunately, workers. In addition, marketing budgets are typically cut or altered in some way. Part of our job as a marketing firm is to advise our partners on how to best allocate their marketing spend. During the COVID-induced economic recession in 2020, our overall client sales grew 26% (2020 vs 2019 sales) for all industries. For our clients in the home services industry, we saw sales growth of 300% over the previous year!

So, what do we recommend when marketing during a recession?

Create a Plan

The most important thing you can do when marketing during a recession is to already have a plan in place long before a recession hits. All businesses should create a contingency plan for external economic events that may impact the company’s bottom line. Without a plan, you could be left scrambling for a solution causing additional stress and potentially missing opportunities.

Know Your Top Performing Channels

Marketing attribution can help you distinguish your top performing marketing channels from your lower performing channels. Understanding which marketing tactics are contributing the most to sales and conversions is crucial because it can help identify where you are able to cut spending as well as how much you should cut. Cut back on underperforming channels and either shift budget to the better performing channels or keep the savings.

A caveat to temporarily cutting marketing budgets is that it can be difficult to recover market share once the economy improves. This gives your competitors an opportunity to swoop in and take what you left behind. We rarely advise a business to completely cut out a channel and we don’t suggest going “all in” on one channel. The goal is to continue to hit all the touchpoints with the right message throughout the different stages in the marketing funnel.

Personalization and Brand Trust

Customers in today’s marketing landscape want a more personalized marketing experience. The ability to understand your customer and relate to them and their needs is how you can stand out against your competitors. In addition, businesses and brands need to connect with their customers and provide them with relevant messaging. During a recession, the messaging should try to invoke feelings of sentiment and also show empathy. A “hard sell” approach is going to give off the vibe that the company doesn’t have the customer’s needs in their best interests. Brands will come across as out of touch and can lose consumer trust. The best approach is to try and think like your typical customer and craft your messaging based on that mindset.

Stay the Course

Overall, the best plan of action for marketing during a recession is to stay the course, don’t make any drastic changes, and understand that recessions eventually end. Assess if your business is recession-proof and if you can afford to keep all your marketing efforts alive. You will find benefit from going above and beyond your customer’s expectations. Providing quality customer service should already be a standard for your business and won’t cost you anything extra. Lastly, remember that most everyone is feeling financial stress. Figuring how you can help ease the stress of your customers will send a positive message and strengthen those relationships long after the recession is over.

At Brand Ranch Media, we have helped our clients navigate through both busy and slow seasons as well as stronger and weaker economies. We have the experience and foresight to help you reach your business goals. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or use our contact form to start the conversation today!

How to Transition to GA4 in Google Analytics

If you’re not quite sure how to transition to GA4 in Google Analytics, this article is for you! Back in March 2022, Google announced that on July 1, 2023 it will sunset the Universal Analytics (UA) property and all new website analytical data will collect in the Google Analytics 4 (GA4) analytics property only. This means that businesses and marketing teams currently using UA need to devise a transition plan to help ease into GA4. Since UA data will eventually cease to exist within Analytics, waiting until the last minute to make the switch is not an option. In our previous article about GA4, we provided a little insight into the newest analytics property so we’ll keep our recap within this read brief.

What is GA4?

The GA4 analytics property uses event-based tracking to provide user behavior insights for visitors of a website. These insights provide business owners and marketers valuable data metrics indicating performance signals for advertising campaigns both on and offline. Changes surrounding user privacy online and in apps created a need for an alternative analytic tracking method and GA4 was born.

What is the difference between UA and GA4?

The main difference between UA and GA4 is that UA uses session-based metrics while GA4 focuses on event-based metrics. You will no longer see visitor statistics within GA4 that you may have become accustomed to viewing in UA such as bounce rate and average time of website. Instead, you will see event actions that users take such as clicks, scrolls, and other engagement actions. These events are designed to give you a better understanding of user behavior. The verdict is still out on whether the GA4 platform is going to provide marketers with a satisfactory level of quality data once data stops flowing through UA. From the time of writing this article, Google still has about 10 months to get it right.

Creating a Transition Plan

Since historical data will no longer be available from the UA property and the data reported in GA4 slightly varies from what business owners and marketers have become accustomed to over the past 10 years (released in 2012), the need for a transitional plan that will help ease into the use of GA4 is vital. If you have already set up the GA4 property, then you’re off to a good start! However, you want to be sure that the property has been configured properly and that your conversions are properly recording within GA4. If you’re using a 3^rd party tracking application that integrates with Analytics, unless there is a GA4 integration update available, conversions will not track in GA4 the same as they did in UA.

Once you configure the GA4 property, you will need to create a timeline including a learning period to become acquainted with the differences in the types of data metrics reported in GA4 versus the metrics in UA. Figure out what data you will no longer have access to, what data is new, and any comparable datasets available. There will be differences in data visualization so it’s important to understand how that might affect the charts and graphs in your reports. If you use Google Data Studio or a 3^rd party reporting platform, you will need to ensure that they are configured properly to account for the changes.

The final piece of your plan as you transition to GA4 is to take all of your historical data in Universal Analytics and archive it so that you can access it to compare future advertising performance to past performance. This piece is crucial. Google says it will only keep historical data from UA for 6 months and has not provided a turnkey solution for this type of data storage or integration with GA4 data. You will need to decide what data is important for your business, how much of it you want to keep, and how far back in time you might want to reference in the future.

Data is the most important piece of the marketing puzzle. If you allow yourself enough time to configure GA4, learn the differences between the metrics in UA versus GA4, make updates to visualizations in your reports, and backup all historical data in UA, you will be well-prepared come July 1, 2023 and can avoid any last-minute scrambling to organize your data.

If you are a current or future client partner of Brand Ranch Media and would like us to help you formulate and execute a plan to help with your transition to GA4, don’t delay! Put your mind at ease and let’s start the discussion today! Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or shoot us a message through the website.

Traditional Marketing for Home Services

If you are in the home services industry in Houston Texas, you already know how competitive the market is! Many multi-million-dollar brands of renown have been born in our local Houston Market. You also face challenges from large national companies that have jumped into the sprawling Houston market with their deep pockets of marketing funds. Many of these you may see or hear nearly every day.

With over 6.6 million people in the Houston market, and homes that sprawl across 665 square miles, reaching and influencing the large diverse population at scale is what good traditional marketing is all about. Don’t let the market size daunt you… with a little strategy and planning you can cost effectively build a successful brand name and grow your customer list.

Local Traditional Media Options

Home Services customers interact with many types of traditional media on a daily basis. For example, many homeowners start the day with the local broadcast TV news, then find themselves turning on some music on the car radio to get pumped up for the day as they commute. While sitting in traffic they find themselves checking out the billboards along the highway to the office. After work, homeowners find themselves sorting through print publications and magazines along with the mail in the mailbox when they get back home. Each of these traditional media can be very effective tools in building your brand awareness and activating customers when used appropriately.

Many Houston home services companies have had success cost effectively reaching consumers via broadcast radio thanks in part to the long commute times Houstonians face daily. In 2019 the average commute time one way was 29.5 minutes according to Educated Drive.org. Looking at a two-way trip, that’s almost an hour a day in the car. Despite the significant dip in traffic in 2020 due to the pandemic, Houston still remained one of the worst congested cities in the U.S., coming in at No. 3 behind only New York and Boston, according to recent urban mobility report and the Houston Chronicle. Perhaps because of the sprawling size of city itself and these commute times, local radio stations maintain strong listenership numbers, and commuters have plenty of time to take in billboard messaging.

Consumers working from their home offices often had a renewed focus on their surroundings at home, and they often kept a TV while they worked as well. This change in behavior has been reflected in a significant shift in daytime Broadcast TV and Cable network viewership numbers.

A Few Home Services Media Buying Tips

Before jumping into a media buy, it’s important to understand that targeting makes a world of difference in a huge market like Houston. Be aware of the available targeting methodologies for each type of traditional media, and how you can compare local Houston audiences to both your consumers, and to the audiences you can target across other traditional media types.

Houston is one of the nation’s most diverse markets, not just in ethnicity, but in income levels and home values as well. Audience demographics and measurements fluctuate from program to program and time slot to time slot on both Broadcast TV and Radio. To ensure a cost-effective traditional media buy you need to consider the size of each program’s audience, and who is making up that audience.

Audience data fluctuates frequently, so staying on top of rankings and Nielsen numbers for audience measurements from book to book throughout the year is important. As an example, Houston’s News Radio’s 740 AM KTRH often has a surprisingly strong listenership, similar to total numbers you would find in an FM station. These audience numbers may spike significantly during a political year.

If you’re trying to tell a visual story and stay more local or stay within a more modest media budget, cable providers have the ability to break their audiences up into zones of the city. Again, understanding these geographic zones, and the audience viewing the networks and programs within them is key to ensuring an efficient and cost-effective media buy.

The same is true about billboards and targeted print. TxDOT and census data can add insight to the number of people that drive past a huge billboard, local sign, or that live in that neighborhood you would like to target. There is also available 3^rd party data that can be referenced. Understanding the demographics and target audience you’re trying to influence can help determine both where you’ll find the best marketing performance, as well as which type of messaging and creative you should use to be most effective.

Common Mistakes in Houston Home Services Marketing

With the fast paced, commute heavy lifestyle many Houstonians’ lead, it’s easy to underestimate how many ads a person sees and hears in a day. Frequency matters…Creativity matters…Timing matters… Reaching a Home services consumer when they are receptive and engaged makes a difference. Your marketing should always present your brand uniquely, differentiating your brand and your services from the competition in a way that stands out and will be remembered. Not reaching your target audience frequently enough for your message to take hold across one station or all traditional media, is a common campaign mistake.

At Brand Ranch Media, our team of traditional marketing experts have experience working with home services clients and driving success that is measured in real world leads and bottom-line revenue. We know what it takes to run successful traditional media campaigns of all types, from media planning & buying to producing creative messaging that influences consumers. We grow local brands into market leaders. We would love to chat with you about your home services business and how we can help you take your next steps forward using targeted broadcast TV, radio, cable, billboards and print. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or send us a message to open a discussion!

Best Practices for Home Services SEO

Competition for home services SEO is extremely high. There are many home services companies in large-urban marketplaces – some locally owned and some nationally. Regardless of the number of markets a business serves or where their owners are located, if a home services company doesn’t have a solid local SEO strategy, they are guaranteed to lose potential leads. It’s important for home services company owners to understand the basic components of a quality SEO strategy when choosing to work with an SEO agency as opposed to hiring an in-house SEO manager.

Google My Business Page and Optimization

The most important component of a successful home services SEO campaign is an optimized Google My Business listing. These free listings not only provide general business information to potential customers, but they will also trigger Google Maps impressions, provide customers with a forum to leave reviews, and help with the performance of Google Ads campaigns. However, it’s important to understand that a listing must be optimized in order to work to the advantage of a business. Leaving listings incomplete or not taking advantage of every available listing feature will put a business at a disadvantage compared to competitors that have fully optimized listings.

On-page SEO

Home services business owners don’t have to look much further than their own website when assessing potential SEO shortcomings. Website audits should be performed on a regular basis to ensure any SEO issues are not overlooked, but rather addressed before they result in undesirable organic rankings on search engines. These audits will point out issues with title tags, page descriptions, broken links, images, unnecessary or broken code, site speed, and other critical site errors. In order to remediate these issues, your SEO agency will need a skilled website developer in addition to a knowledgeable SEO specialist.

Content Marketing

Engaging website content is an important element to a successful SEO campaign. Original, new content in the form of blog articles should be crafted and added to a home services website on a regular basis. Topics should center around services, tips, seasonality, and the business’s involvement in the local community. Research should be conducted by the content marketers to ensure that the topic is aligned with both business goals and local search trends. Articles should be shared on social media platforms to reach its target audience and page followers.

Social Media Accounts and SEO

All home services businesses should have accounts on the various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Other platforms to consider are Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. Social media accounts allow businesses to engage with their followers through content posts and provides additional backlinks to its website – a valuable component of SEO.

We hope you can use the information provided in this article to help you select not only a quality SEO agency, but one that has experience with home services SEO. We typically don’t “toot our own horn”, but Brand Ranch Media might be the agency you are looking for!

Our SEO experts have a vast amount of experience working with home services clients and know what it takes to run successful SEO campaigns. We would love to chat with you about your home services business and how we can bring you long-term ROI through SEO. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or send us a message to open a discussion!

Paid Social Media for Home Services

In our last blog, we discussed how digital marketing campaigns can benefit a home services business. As we continue to deep dive into advertising strategies for home services, let’s look at another piece of the digital marketing pie, paid social media. Advertising has thrived on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. If your business does not already utilize social media, you should strongly consider doing so. There is a lot of planning that involved in running successful paid social media campaigns. Today, we are going to break it down for you and answer some questions such as “why it is important”, “how to get started”, and “what are some common mistakes”.

The Importance of Paid Social Media

Social Media is an essential part of business strategy for companies of every size. Traditional advertising such as tv or radio can be very costly upfront. Paid social media is another form of digital advertising that is an inexpensive way to spread brand awareness, target your audience, drive traffic, and bring conversions. In addition, it is much easier to determine what’s working in your advertising efforts with the data you receive from social media campaigns.

Where to Get Started

In order to run an effective social media campaign, you need to determine the campaign objective, target audience, and budget. The objective is your campaign’s goal and how you will measure its success. Objectives of a paid social media strategy include brand awareness, consideration, or conversions. Once you’ve settled on the goal of your campaign, you should determine the target audience. The audience should be tailored based on the message of your campaign. In other words, you will want to be sure that the message of your campaign “speaks” to your specific audience and compels them to take a specific action (your campaigns’ objective). Finally, you will want to select a budget that will be adequate enough to achieve your campaign goal based on the size of your target audience.

Common Mistakes

Your digital campaign efforts need to be balanced in order to achieve your business’s target growth. Campaigns do not necessarily need to target leads and conversions. Prior to making a purchase decision, your customer needs to become aware of your brand, gain interest in your services, and see how your company is better than the competition. An unbalanced advertising effort can often lead to money out of your pockets instead of a positive return on your investment.

Another costly social media advertising mistake can be ending campaigns or making campaign changes without allowing them adequate time to perform. Ads run off of algorithms that require time for them to optimize. They need a few weeks to go through a learning period during which time the algorithm will determine how to best serve the ad to the individuals who are more likely to interact with it. If ad changes are made too often without allowing them to go through learning or optimization, performance can suffer.

Popular home services CRM, Service Titan details the complexity of social media in their blog saying, “One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when devising a social media plan is assuming that it will be quick and easy. Signing up may be quick and easy, but maintaining a robust, engaging social media presence is time consuming and requires thought and consideration.”

Brand Ranch Media is Houston’s most experienced home services marketing agency. We have helped countless home services providers grow their businesses exponentially, consistently driving record-high revenues for our business partners. Get on the path of exponential growth today. Call us at 713-309-6380 or reach out via contact form and let us know how we can help you!