Remodeling is a deeply personal business, and getting out of the office and creating relationships lifts you above your competition. Running a booth at your regional home show is one way to do that, but taking your event marketing beyond the exhibit space will differentiate your company even more. You don’t have to look any further than your latest projects.
Hosting a reveal party at the end of a project is a great way to show off your work, no matter whether it’s an invitation-only event for the clients’ family and friends or an afternoon open house to welcome curious neighbors.
A more unexpected strategy is hosting an open house mid-construction—after framing, but before the drywall goes up. Invite neighbors, prospects, and past clients. While seeing the wiring and plumbing before they’re hidden is old-hat to you and your team, it is fascinating to homeowners.
The event doesn’t have to be fancy, but having beer, wine, and soft drinks encourages people to linger and talk. Display building plans and photos you took before demo, along with renderings or drawings of what the space will be when finished. When placing them, consider how you want people to flow through the space.
Prepping for the Event
Take a tip from real estate agents and post a lawn sign in the week before the event to promote it to folks driving by. To avoid it being confused with an open house for a home that’s for sale, don’t hold it on a Sunday; Saturday afternoon is better.
Get the word out. Invite past clients—you’ll be surprised at how many show up, and it will give you a chance to reconnect. Set up an event on Facebook, and promote it across your social media channels.
Invite the neighborhood, too. Neighbors have seen your sign; they probably have a remodeling wish list of their own. Old-school postcards by mail are great for this—use templates on websites like staples.com, or go to canva.com, a great resource for communication designs. Address the cards by name. If you’ve sent “pardon our dust” letters, you already have a mailing list. But consider expanding it to more people. A quick search on whitepages.com for names and addresses is worth the time.
Your team. Even though it’s a Saturday, have part of your team there—especially those involved in the project. That means at least the salesperson, the designer, and the project manager should attend, wearing company-branded clothing or name tags so they’re easily recognizable.
Emphasize to your team that this isn’t a high-pressure sales opportunity; rather, it’s a chance for them to talk to interested people about what they do. Throwing in some compensatory time off helps take the sting out of working on a Saturday and will boost your staff’s morale.
Make It Happen
Not every client is going to be comfortable with opening their house for your marketing purposes. But it may surprise you how many are, especially when you present the idea at the beginning of the process. So set the expectations early. Assure clients that people will only be in the work areas, and make sure that happens during the event. Some clients love to be there; others prefer not to be. Give yourself a couple of hours to prep the space on the day of the event and make sure the site is clean and safe. The cleanliness of the work zone is going to be a big seller for you.
To keep your clients happy, come self-contained with a table or two, beverages, disposable cups, ice, coolers, and your own trash container. Offering only drinks, and not food, results in a lot less cleanup. Have a music source. If you have a video presentation, bring a monitor and play it. Remember extension cords if you’re going to plug in. Have business cards—lots of business cards.
Finally, don’t worry that no one will show up. Relax, they will. But the promotion you’ve done beforehand almost makes that irrelevant. It has given the perception that you and your company are out and about. It gave you an excuse to contact former clients and remind them that you’re still working hard. Your postcard has created another touchpoint with the neighbors. You now have a foothold in the neighborhood—make it your own.
Liz Smutko is a content strategist with Remodelers Advantage, and has worked in content marketing and strategy for remodeling businesses, architectural firms, and real estate interests in North America for more than a decade.
