Source: www.TurfMagazine.com
Houzz is a social media platform with offerings that are revolutionizing contractors’ marketing efforts.
Houzz has more than 35 million users using the site and apps to update their homes from start to finish, including a professional directory to help these users find qualified pros, such as landscape professionals, to bring their projects to life.
Contractors are finding Houzz to be an invaluable tool in getting quality, targeted online exposure to homeowners needing services, on top of using it as a communication tool with clients throughout a project.
“Not only have we seen an increase in leads, but also solidification and validation of who we are as a brand, and the level of service and expertise we can provide,” says Houzz Pro+ member Matt Breyer of Breyer Construction and Landscapes, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Check out these eight tools to help you market better and build credibility:
- Create dynamic profiles with examples of your work: Create a free profile to showcase your project photos, design style, collaborate with clients using ideabooks to make every project more successful, and get customer and colleague reviews.
- Easily get reviews through the “review me” feature to build credibility: Positive reviews help you gain social proof and credibility and are a must in today’s social world. Customers can easily submit reviews through the “review me” feature.
- Get targeted, guaranteed exposure to local, area-specific prospects with Pro+: Houzz has an advertising program that assigns you a dedicated account manager who will help optimize your profile for maximum exposure. They also guarantee exposure of your work to people in just the areas you want to target, and it’s all incremental to what you get organically.
- Piggyback on Houzz’s credibility with awards to display on your website to boost your credibility: Houzz is the most respected online community for home design. You can easily grab a Houzz button or badge for your own website that will link directly to your Houzz profile. If you’ve won a Best of Houzz award you’ll have special access to that badge for your site. Once you have three reviews, Houzz also provides a review widget that you can embed in your own site, and you can choose which reviews you want to display.
- Offers great marketing support: Because the platform is specific to the home remodeling and design industry, Houzz seems to have a handle on the underlying needs and gaps that many design and construction firms experience. In order to assist with that, they are continually rolling out new support services to the professional community. You can find all resources at Houzz.com/pro.
- Photography services: As we discussed in previous articles, Houzz thrives on compelling images of design elements. To help business owners achieve this, they have introduced their “Photographer Network” where you can hire vetted photographers in your geographical area to provide visually inspiring photo’s to showcase your work for an affordable price.
- Free mobile-optimized websites: Houzz first introduced free websites for pros to make it easier for any pro to have a professional- looking website that is easy to maintain. Using “Site Designer” pros can easily create a stunning, mobile-ready website for free. Many contractors weren’t prepared for the new Google algorithm change penalizing non-mobile sites, so the fact that Site Designer websites are already optimized for mobile Web makes it even more compelling a tool for pros.
- Houzz-branded marketing merchandise: Houzz offers “Find Me on Houzz” T-shirts, window decals, lawn signs, business cards and more that you can customize with your company’s logo to help customers easily find you.
Houzz also offers a variety of ways to learn about how best to use the platform to your marketing advantage through educational tools such as webinars, tutorials and in-person workshops, providing an additional level of support and human interaction to make it user-friendly.
How are you using Houzz to step up your marketing efforts?