As harsh winter weather comes to an end for much of the country, contractors are beginning to prepare for the busy roofing season ahead. Now it the time to update your business plan, refresh your website with the Atlas Web Injector and Atlas Roofing’s new Weebly tool, and promote winter roof inspections before next winter’s snow furies.

Check out these ways to get a running start to ensure a successful year!

Get Ready for Spring

While waiting for the weather to warm up, kick your marketing into high gear and begin prepping for the busy season.

First, if you don’t have an overall business plan for your company, write one. You need to give yourself benchmarks and goals so you can track how your business is doing. Start by reviewing your past year’s sales, and then look for new opportunities in your market and evaluate your competition.

Check out our marketing article to see how to prepare a strategic, action-oriented plan that can help you get results and grow your business.

Once you establish your goals, set reasonable benchmarks for each month, quarter and year, including specific actions such as advertising and marketing efforts that can help you achieve them. In addition, keep track of new business by setting specific, targeted benchmarks for your sales team.

Watch our webinar on building the right sales team to learn more about recruiting, on-boarding and training your professional staff, and download our sales team toolkit.

Second, perform an audit of your online presence and develop strategies to increase your reach. For example, learn how to improve your company’s search rankings on Google and consider using an online advertising service such as Google AdWords or Facebook’s Ad Manager to target your intended audience and generate leads.

When potential customers can find you online, be sure to make a good first impression by having a user- and mobile-friendly website, and keep it up to date. Get some instant help with the Atlas Web Injector, which displays Atlas product pages directly within your website. 

Now is also a good time to optimize your social content and protect your online reputation. Share projects, repost homeowner blog articles such as those on Asphalt-Life.com and boost posts to reach a broader audience. Create a Google Alert to find posts about your company and monitor what people are saying. Respond quickly to negative reviews so customers know you care.

Finally, take an inventory of your current printed materials. Be sure your brand messaging is still on target and think about additional ways to reach potential customers. Utilize the all-new Atlas Roofing Shopping Cart (see how in this video) to stock up on sample boards, door hangers and brochures that can be mailed directly to your home or office for free.

Studies show that sending postcards or coupons may keep your direct mail advertising from going straight into the trash. Hand-delivered flyers and door hangers can also be a way to avoid the recycling bin.

While working on roofing projects, put your sign in the yard. Signs provide instant credibility to neighbors and passersby. But because they can take a week or more to produce, consider using the slower months to place an order and stock up.

Vehicle wraps are another great — and cost-effective — way to advertise. More people will see a truck on the road, or in a parking lot or driveway, than would see an ad on TV or in the newspaper.

Promote Winter Roof Inspections

Drum up some pre-winter business by reminding homeowners about the importance of regular seasonal roof inspections. Explain how investing in prevention and maintenance can save them time and money down the road, especially when a roof is more than 15 years old.

Consider offering this service for free – you might be surprised at the number of one-off jobs you can gain from such a simple gesture.

Continue to promote inspections after storms too. Roofs may look fine on the surface, but hidden cracks, weakened areas and weathered surfaces become more vulnerable beneath the weight of snow and ice. Precipitation can easily build up, resulting in clogged gutters or ice dams, which may require immediate repairs or even an entirely new roofing system.

As always, use the Asphalt Life catalog of homeowner content to educate potential customers on topics such as gutter covers, fireplace maintenance and storm season preparations.

For more seasonal business tips and strategies roofing, visit Asphalt-Life.com. For information about Atlas Roofing products, visit AtlasRoofing.com.