Spa Pool Marketing Success

No matter how good or bad you were at marketing and promoting your pool and spa business in 2020, most of the dealers and manufacturers listening to this podcast probably had a significant increase in sales in 2020 and are forecasting a pretty good 2021.  So even though in today’s podcast we’re going to talk about the pandemic, it’s going to be more in the context of why some dealers were more prepared and faster to adapt to the changing retail landscape and do so more efficiently and with less stress.   In addition, we’re going to discuss what manufacturers did to help their dealers adapt and succeed and what they should be doing now to build their brand and increase market share. Then we’ll talk about what dealers and manufactures should be doing now to prepare when the hot tub buying “feeding frenzy” eventually settles down. Questions for Dave1 - Why were some dealers more successful during the pandemic?2 - How critical a role did systems and automation play for successful dealers in 2020?3 - You mentioned more and better communication options for consumers – what do you mean by that?4 - What do you think pool and spa buyers expect now from dealers?5 - How and where should dealers be marketing and advertising their business now?Questions for Megan1 - What did Spa Retailer do in 2020 to help their subscribers adapt and grow?2 - What were dealers asking for most from you?3 - Since manufacturers aren’t looking for new dealers, what messages is it important for them to put out right now?4 - What manufacturer(s) do a good job of communicating with the industry? 5 - What are some ways manufacturers can use this time to gain market share, even if they can’t ramp up capacity right now?6 - What struggles are dealers telling you they’re having right now?Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

Most dealers know they should do more to get more referrals; they just don’t have time to do it. In other words, it’s common knowledge, not common practice. By creating a referral marketing system, valuable, money making referrals will happen in a more systematic, reliable and predictable way.  In this podcast, I discuss the huge difference between Word-of-mouth vs. a referral marketing system Want to improve customer service and get more referrals?  Here are a few lists I’ve put together that might help:· The 12-point customer complaint checklist· 11 things you can do to really make a difference· 9 great customer service ideas Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

Most dealers make the mistake of thinking that once they build a new website, deploy a new AdWords campaign, start sending out a newsletter or start posting to Facebook, that they’re done with that part of their business. Nothing could be further from the truth!Consumer preferences change, competitors get smarter and search engines like Google get “smarter” in terms of the results they provide their users.There are many different things you can change, update or modify to generate more traffic, clicks and leads. Some are related and cross over into other areas like website copy, headlines and keyword placement.  Others like Facebook ads and AdWords are similar but require different strategies.  You’ll learn test you can run on your website, on-site SEO & content, e-mail marketing, AdWords, social media and much more. Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

You’ve spent a lot of time, money and resources to generate a lead, so you want to be sure that your follow up is quick and effective.  How and when to follow up with a prospect, what makes a good response good, the role of automation and email marketing hacks, tricks and tips.Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com 

Google Analytics is a free service provided by Google that provides detailed statistics about your website traffic. Reviewing specific sections once a month will give you a good overview of how your website is performing in terms of traffic and user experience. Google Analytics provides information on traffic channels, breaking stats down between organic, direct, paid, referral, social, and display and tells you the most visited pages.  Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

Push notification marketing is an advertising, communication and re-engagement strategy that will let dealers send messages to customers and through clickable browser notifications even when they are not on your website anymore. Marketers can use these notifications to send promotional, informational or educational messages. Push notifications are a great vehicle to inform users about new products, current sales or even recently published blog posts.  In addition, many companies use them as reminders that specific promotions are starting or almost ending giving the readers the motivation to take advantage of the limited savings available to them. This relatively new marketing strategy allows you to reach out to your previous website visitors even when even when you don’t have traditional contact information like name, email and phone number. Please note however that these notifications can be sent only to people who have specifically subscribed to get these web push notifications directly from your website. Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

In a “perfect world” you would offer live chat 24/7 with customer service agents always available to answer customer and prospect questions.  Unfortunately, that’s not a real option for most dealers.  Messenger marketing is an effective way to communicate with prospects and customers either in real time (via live chat) or through an automated chat system 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The rise in popularity of messenger, the pros and cons of live chat versus chatbots, strategic ways to use chatbots to engage customers and generate highly qualified leads.  Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com 

There is only one main purpose for your website and that is to convert website visitors into leads.  The only way to verifiably do this is to capture their contact information.  As mentioned in podcast 2, website “surfers” behave rather impulsively on the Internet, so much so that many times they easily forget where they were even a few website pages/clicks ago.  That’s why it is so critical to convert as many first-time visitors as possible…and quickly!  And the best way to convert a visitor to a lead is by offering some useful information or something of value that will help a prospective buyer make an informed buying decision.   Best practices for creating winning CTAs that get the click.Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

As a result of geo-fencing, the right customers see the right ad at the right time. Geo-fencing works by drawing a virtual line around an area (like your competitors’ showroom).  When a potential customer with a smartphone or tablet enters a geo-fenced location, GPS technology captures their mobile device ID. You can then show them ads while they’re in the store and for 30 days after they leave.  This is very cool technology and an under-utilized strategy. Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

9 reasons why Google My Business is so important to your business and the 10 best ways to optimize your GMB listing. I'll also discuss responding to Google reviews and how to get Google My Business support when you need help or solve a problem.Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.comNotes:GMB Helphttps://support.google.com/business/?hl=en#topic=4539639GMB Insightshttps://support.google.com/business/answer/7069123?hl=enFlag Inappropriate GMB Reviewshttps://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en&ref_topic=6109360

Now that you’ve created an amazing blog post, press release, video, etc., you want to amplify your message, extending it beyond just your website.  I’ll show you 9 different types of on-site organic content you can use and 10 different paid and organic SEO strategies to promote it. Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com Notes:https://answerthepublic.com/https://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator

Content marketing not only helps educate and attract customers it also improves your chances of showing up on page one of Google and other search engines.  Plus, it helps you engage readers and drive more traffic to your site.  I’ll discuss different types of Education Based Marketing, User-Generated Content (UGC), Video Content Marketing Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

For Facebook ads to work, they must be relevant to the user and really stand out.  An effective Facebook ad is one that drives traffic to your website and generates leads containing detailed contact information.  This episode will focus on the best Facebook settings to use and the various types of Facebook advertising I've used effectively. Dave Carletonhttps://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.comNotes:Facebook ad detailshttps://www.facebook.com/business/ads

In this episode, I’m going to review settings that dealers often miss when setting up their AdWords campaign, measuring, testing and improving your results and common mistakes that can cost you a ton of money.Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

I’m going review one of the main sources of paid traffic sometimes referred to a PPC or pay per click – Google AdWords (now called Google Ads). You’ll also learn: 3 critical things you need to do before getting started, what to include on an AdWords landing Page, structure and targeting options and developing a keyword strategy that gets results Dave Carletonhttps://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com Notes and LinksMatch Typeshttps://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7478529?hl=en Keywords versus search termshttps://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2472708?hl=en

A brief introduction to step 3 of the 9 Steps to Internet Marketing Success for Pool and Spa Dealers including the 3 main goals of any successful Internet marketing strategy and a quick breakdown of the pros and cons of both Pay Per Click advertising and Organic Content Marketing.Dave Carletonhttps://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

One of the newest and most under-utilized SEO tools is website Schema markup. This podcast is a crash course on what it is and how you can benefit from it. The Schema markup code essentially tells the search engines more specifically what a specific website page is about, beyond just what your meta tags and content says. By leveraging schema markup on your website, you can increase your chances of ranking well with search engines so that more potential customers find your business. I know some of the information in this section may get a little “geeky”, but hang in there as the end result of using schema markup is well worth it and besides, you can just hire someone (like us) to implement a schema strategy for you.Dave Carletonhttps://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

I’m going to continue the discussion “How to Use SEO to Get Your Website Lead Generation Ready” and talk about some SEO fundamentals providing tips and tricks to help you rank higher, optimize better and get more out of your search engine optimization strategy.Episode Notes:H1 header tag code example: <h1>Hot Tubs Chicago</h1>You can check your website speed using this site - www.pingdom.com Alt image tag html code: <img alt="descriptive text goes here">SEO WordPress PluginsYoast - https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/All in One SEO - https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/Dave Carletonhttps://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

On-site search engine optimization (SEO) are the things that you do on your site or to your site to make it easier for the search engines to find your business.  On-site SEO involves implementing a lot of little things that over time add up to something much bigger. It can involve optimizing your site for specific keywords and updating titles and descriptions to be sure that you are telling Google what every page on your website is about.  While onsite SEO is a critical part of developing your online presence for search engines like Google, you also want to be sure that you have informative content on the “front-end” of your website for visitors to consume.Dave Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.comNotes:If you go to Google and type the word S-I-T-E, then a colon, and then your website address… (site: http://yourwebsiteaddress.com) the search results will show you how many pages Google has indexed related to your website

Building a successful keyword strategy isn’t complicated but does require that you master a few basics.  Here are a few unique strategies to consider and others to avoid.Dave Carletonhttps://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com