Small businesses: Inbound marketing isn't just for large companies

Inbound marketing using marketing automation software like HubSpot or SharpSpring isn't cheap. Because of this, many home improvement companies that we speak with form the conclusion that HubSpot (and other marketing automation programs) is only for large businesses with bigger budgets, not small business with revenues below $2.5M/year. This is an incorrect assumption due mainly to the fact that digital marketing using great content and inbound tactics is different than any other type of marketing. You see, marketing that is tracked directly to leads and revenue, with a clearly defined and transparent ROI, can never be too expensive. 

Small business owners in home services space—kitchen and bath specialists, landscape contractors, custom home builders, roofing and siding, windows and doors, etc—often have limited marketing budgets. Take a small, high-end kitchen and bath remodeling company with an annual revenue of $1.5M for example. Let's say that because the margins just never seem to go higher than 10%, the owner sets aside only 5% of total revenue for marketing. While this is less than the SBA's recommended 8%, it's still a solid $75,000/year with which to work with. 

Read some more about the SBA and setting a marketing budget here

Because small businesses have a smaller marketing budget to work with, it's super important for owners to know exactly what is working and what isn't. That's where inbound and content marketing come into play and where software like HubSpot is critical to maximizing ROI. With content and inbound marketing, contractors can turn their company's construction website into a powerful lead generating machine. Usually, when we hear that that inbound is too expensive for small businesses and that it's better suited for large corporations, our response usually goes something like this.

Dig deeper into Content Marketing and lead generation for contractors

Too expensive? Would it be too expensive if we increased your website traffic by 400% and delivered you 30 high-quality, pre-qualified, non-tire kicker leads per month? On top of that, what if I told you to stop paying for the SEO guy, all the lead services like Home Advisor, the website guy, the CRM tool, the email marketing tool, the social media company, adwords, the direct mail flyers, and the local magazine ads because you won't need them anymore?