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 ..read more

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 r ..read more

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 an ..read more

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   ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Carle ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com Notes: Facebook ad details https://www.facebook.com/business/ads ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Carleton https://SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com ..read more