The search landscape is ever-changing and as consumers become savvier online, companies must evolve their online marketing to ensure that they not only drive traffic to their website but convert that traffic into quality leads. Ultraframe Marketing Director Alex Hewitt, explains what the conservatory and extension specialist is doing to not only enhance its own online marketing, but also that of its customers.

The first port of call for any of us these days when looking for a product or service is to head online, and as over 95% of the UK population currently owns a smartphone, information is never more than a few clicks away. Here at Ultraframe, we have seen continued evidence of this, with the number of online searches for some of our key search terms increasing by around 40% over the last 18 months.

Coupled with this has been an increase in traffic to our website - which can be attributed both to the rise in the volume of searches for our key terms and also our own online marketing strategy - but this does not, unfortunately, translate to a 40% increase in leads, although they have increased. This is because like anything done with practice, consumers are getting better at navigating the internet and using it for what they want and are becoming savvier by the day about who they leave their details with, and so as online activity gathers apace, the fight for quality leads becomes more complex by the day.

The answer to this is to constantly evaluate and evolve your online marketing, ensuring that your website is as informative, interesting and ultimately, ‘sticky’ as possible.

Here at Ultraframe, we have an in-house team of marketing specialists to navigate and address the ever-changing requirements of the online world, but we understand that most of our customers have neither the time nor the budget to do this. That’s why, more so than ever in the last 18 months, we have been producing a range of online tools and support services that can be used by our customers at little or no cost, to ensure their own website is able to set them apart from the competition and ensure they generate and convert a share of the online home improvement market leads.

These range from apps that salespeople can use while on an appointment in a consumer’s home, allowing them to quickly access literature, imagery, videos, and technical information, to virtual reality tours and entire new websites.

The virtual reality tours are available for 12 different styles of conservatories and extensions and can be used, free of charge, by our customers on their own website. Web visitors can look around every aspect of a conservatory or extension, from the walls to the roof, and really get the feel for how this could look on their own home. The longer someone stays on a site, not only does this enhance the SEO of the site, but they are also more likely to convert, so anything like this that we can offer to our customers is a huge bonus for them - and us.

Working in close partnership with leading digital agency, ICAAL, we can also offer our customers fully bespoke websites. A far cry from the templated sites that suppliers often shout about, these sites offer unique, keyword-rich content and are SEO optimised. Minimal input is required from the installer, meaning that the process to achieving a fully optimised site is quick and cost effective.  

Coming soon for Ultraframe customers is a new online marketing portal which will allow fabricators and installers to quickly and easily create a wide range of bespoke marketing materials, all at the click of a button, saving a huge amount of time and allowing our customers to present themselves in a highly professional manner – both online and offline – at a fraction of the cost usually associated with such high quality, bespoke items.

While we believe that our current marketing offering is truly market-leading within our sector, our job is not done, we must constantly evolve and innovate to ensure that we – and our customers – stay one step ahead, and take a share of the consumers with an ever-growing appetite for home improvement projects and of course, in this online day and age, instagram-worthy properties.

 

 

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