Telemarketing Tie-In Leads are usually the name of the game. Far fewer home improvement marketers use TV to build image or brand. American Siding and Window Systems, in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, Iowa, is one that does.
“If the leads come in, that’s great,” says general manager Pat Pagano. “But we’re more concerned about name recognition. We want people to know who we are so that when we do telemarketing, they may have heard of us, and the name recognition might turn that cold call into a warm call.”
The company, which generates most of its leads from telemarketing, started TV advertising last February. American Siding and Window chose 30-second spots, which lend themselves to frequent repetition. What Pagano has noticed is that, although the primary purpose of the ads was to build recognition and thus enhance telemarketing, the leads that came in from TV close at a far higher rate. “Television’s been very effective for us,” he says.
Broadcast vs. Cable What you want to accomplish with your television dollars will determine not only the content and length of your ad but when and where it appears. Generally, cable lends itself to a traditional “spot” approach that builds recognition using shorter commercials, Osborn says. Certain cable channels also enable you to target a particular demographic.
But many home improvement contractors find broadcast more effective for generating leads. Broadcast channels continue to reach many more people in a market than cable, Sherman says. If you’re going for volume leads, that’s key.
Atkinson runs both cable, for name recognition, and broadcast, for leads. “We don’t do any call-to-action on cable,” he says. “You’re absolutely wasting your time.”
Choosing when and where to run is another critical decision. “The learning curve for someone just starting out can be very expensive,” Dunagan points out. That’s because what works in one market may fall flat in another. Some categories of programming, however, do stand out. Local news, for instance, is often effective because lots of people watch it. Daytime programming also works well, although there are big differences in how a particular program delivers. In one market, “Judge Judy” may be a great choice and “Oprah” a bust. In another, the situation could be exactly the reverse.
Buying TV time is not like buying print. Rates vary widely from station to station, by program, time slot, day of week, season, and viewers delivered. Sherman estimates that it could cost anywhere from $10 to $3,000 to run a 30-second ad, depending on the market. Prices are often negotiable. For these reasons, many home improvement companies use ad agencies or media buying services. Maine Window & Sunroom, for instance, uses creative supplied by Betterliving Craft-Bilt, a media buying service, and an inbound telemarketing company to process calls.