Marketing Across Markets

You’re a home inspector. To grow your customer base, your marketing tactics should always pertain to the home inspection industry, right?

Not necessarily.

When successfully marketing your business and services to potential customers, meeting customers where they are is half the battle. While you may read all the articles and journals out there about the home inspection industry or follow the latest news about detecting mold growths and examining tile roofing, your audience—everyday people who happen to be homeowners or buyers—may not.

So, are there other ways you could make your offerings and expertise well-known to potential customers? Of course there are! Here we share three tips to make your marketing strategy much more creative and tap into new audiences.

With these tips in mind, you’re that much closer to getting your business and services in front of new customers with various backgrounds, interests, lifestyles, and preferences. While it can be daunting to try to reach new markets with new approaches and new tactics, the more uncharted areas you cover, the more clients you discover.

Although many potential customers aren’t researching the home inspection industry online, they likely check their mailboxes and notice flyers around their neighborhoods. They may also be more interested in their local community events, sports teams, and sites. So why not take your marketing strategy there?

Take this example. If you’re based in Ohio, consider placing Bengals or Browns-themed fridge magnets with your business information in mailboxes. Live in a small town? Let the community know, with a flyer, that in addition to the local home inspections you provide, they can also ask you any questions they may have at the annual neighborhood cookout you’ll be attending.

Whichever tactics you decide to pursue, this is an important step in transitioning from a stranger to a neighbor to a potential customer—and that goes a long way.

On paper, home inspection is a very straightforward, focused, specific topic. In reality, when we talk about home inspections, we also have the opportunity to talk about health, protecting your family, the environment, real estate, home ownership, and more.

Sure, we can—and should—talk about the technical aspects of spotting mold issues, but we can also talk about how keeping homes healthy (and mold-free) is part of self-care and wellness. This way, people who are interested in and researching more general or popular topics have much higher chances of stumbling across tidbits of important home inspection information, too. In most circumstances, bridging niche topics to larger, trending ones is a great recipe for getting more eyes on your content and business.

No two customers are the same. While your marketing tactics may work in a particular setting or with a specific group of people, they may not transcend audiences. With that in mind, adaptability is a valuable skill that will help extend your marketing strategy.

For example, customers in a small, rural town may prefer a home inspector who seems down-to-earth and personable, who’s making an honest living by helping people maintain their homes. Alternatively, customers in major cities may simply want to quickly find a professional home inspector who leads with qualifications and expertise. Being able to meet either need is critical because, at the end of the day, customers will consider these factors when selecting someone to trust and allow in their homes.

On a similar note, hyperlocal marketing tactics like flyers and mailings may not reach a young adult in the same way it reaches a grandfather who checks his mailbox every day. And your website and online articles may not reach an older adult as effectively as a younger one. All in all, you should learn how your audiences consume information and what they look for in a home services provider, then tailor your marketing tactics to meet them where they are.