Facility Management Marketing Podcast

Unconventional Marketing Techniques for Facility Management Growth

• Javier Lozano, Jr. - Facility Management Marketing & Sales Expert • Episode 191

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Ready to uncover some marketing secrets? This episode promises to level-up your facility management business, as we dissect my fascinating encounter with a Facebook group sponsor pitch and its potential to revolutionize your approach to brand interaction. You'll discover how this innovative method mimics influencer marketing, placing the right person with the right message before the perfect audience. To illustrate, I'll take you through my experience with CMI Mechanical, where my active participation in an online forum led to significant growth in our podcast. We'll dig into the potential of these online communities to elevate your brand image, foster meaningful conversations, and enhance your business.

Moving along, we'll navigate the realms of email lists, webinars, and courses as powerful tools to connect and build relationships with potential customers. Drawing from my personal experiences and successful strategies, I'll guide you on how to find and engage with the right groups for your facility or property management companies. Remember, the goal is not just to promote your business, but to initiate and contribute to valuable discussions. This episode is designed to inspire you to think differently about your audience engagement, driving growth in your business. Join us and learn how to make the most out of these marketing techniques to amplify your facility management enterprise.

Speaker 1:

So you're probably asking yourself how to successfully grow a facility management company in today's digital age while still remaining profitable. You know that marketing should probably be in the mix, but you may not know the best approach, the new strategies or which digital platform is market on. So how do you use marketing to grow your effort business today? That is a question and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Haver Lozano Jr and welcome to the Facility Management Marketing Podcast. What's going on everybody? Welcome to another episode of Facility Management Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, javier man.

Speaker 1:

Alright, so today what I want to dive into is a pretty interesting conversation I had with someone that was trying to make a pitch to me to be part of one of their Facebook groups as a sponsor. So I won't go into who the Facebook group is, but it's in the home services space, very large group, like 55,000 contacts in there, very active. I think. They say they have like 40,000 people active and I'm like man, that's like 80% of the folks in that group, which is impressive, and so what we're discussing was being a sponsor in there, and we don't typically pay for sponsorships, like we don't find value in it, but it's different whenever you're like hmm, like this, this is different. Now, where things got interesting and I want to talk about this for you guys is they want to have the right audience I'm sorry the right sponsor be inside that audience. So what they don't want to do is they don't want to be like doing what's called a traditional affiliate kind of partnership, where an affiliate deal is where you might be promoting a certain product or service to everybody in your group and then you get like a kickback and everyone knows how that works and no one's shy about it. It's fine, it works fine, and they're like we want to do a sponsorship kind of deal. I'm like, okay and so, but we're the thing kind of and this is where you know was a positive is they want someone to be active in the group and be very educational, where they're giving, giving, giving knowledge, and you position yourself as the authority, you position yourself as the brand, the person, the company that everyone goes to.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and they're like you know, have you ever tried influencer type marketing? And I go, we've done a couple, but it fell flat in his face and, quite frankly, I don't know exactly how I said it. But for influencer marketing to work, you need to have the right person speaking to the right audience with the right message. If you have the wrong person, you know, speaking to the wrong audience with the wrong message, it all falls flat and everyone's pissed off. So I was like, listen, like the best example is like Deion Sanders, like everyone's watching college football now. He's the right person, he's speaking to the right audience, okay, and he's got the right message and everyone's on board, right? So, and maybe I should do a podcast episode about Deion sometime, but we'll save that one for a little bit.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, where I'm diving into here is that he really resonated with that, you know, and they're like this is kind of what we're looking for, is we're looking for someone that is willing to put time and effort into this Facebook group, where they're going in there, answering questions, replying to comments, engaging with the audience, just doing those sort of things, and then, on top of that, they're just kind of helping people out and then sharing that. Hey, we do, you know vehicle graphics and we do vehicle wraps, and if you're interested, you know, let us know, and so they're part of the community. Whoa, how weird is that Be part of a community that actually engaged people instead of saying like you wanna buy, you wanna buy, you wanna buy. And posting links about buying your shit all the time, because we see that in so many groups, people just post a bunch of garbage spam, like crap, and they expect everyone to just be like, yeah, let's just. They expect people to just buy it because they think their shit doesn't stink, okay. And so, in reality, what you need to do is you need to plant your roots very, very deep into this space and just really just go at it when you're giving knowledge and you're helping people and you're sharing and you're doing webinars and you're giving feedback and you're commenting and you're laughing and you're doing these things and they're like man, this guy is great. When I need a wrap, I'm gonna go do this. And so you, as a facility or property management company, should be looking for groups like that, and they exist. I just don't think people are doing it to the level that I think it can be done.

Speaker 1:

So example is that when I was working at CMI Mechanical, I launched the podcast. That podcast, I was interviewing high level IFMs, all right, so like CEOs, presidents of different facility management companies, and you can find that podcast. I forgot what it was called facility management. What was it called? Facility and Property Management Radio? That's probably what it's called. Yeah, not original whatsoever. Not original whatsoever. Okay, and so you can find it. The episode still exists. They're out there somewhere.

Speaker 1:

And with that, the podcast essentially was grown to the point where people were sending me messages. They were sending me emails, they were sending me LinkedIn messages. They were sending me like calling me, saying hey, I heard your podcast, I wanna jump on. I was like, okay, and it all was grown by me participating in a community for connects. They had this like online forum. I got on there and you know, I started posting some cool stuff. I would engage with people and be like, hey, I've got this new podcast episode, why I interview so and so, if you're interested, check it out. Here's the first part. I'll give you the second part later. It was great, amazing, it was so much fun and it grew.

Speaker 1:

And then people that were listening to the podcast had to go to these events and they're like you're, javier. I'm like, yeah, like I've enlisted into your podcast. I'm like, really, that's, that's kind of cool. Or others that have said how long have you been in the industry? And I'm like, probably like 10 or 11 months, and they look at me like, no, no way. I was like, no, I've. I've been in the industry for like 11 months, like you speak, like you've been in this industry forever and I haven't. And why? Why did it work? Because I was giving to the community, I was contributing. I wasn't asking for people to like, hey, do this for me, hey, do that for me, buy for me, buy for me, buy for me. People were like, wow, this is great.

Speaker 1:

So then what would happen then is that it was easier for me to get facility managers to jump on board, not just on the podcast, but to also like be interested in, like what we had to offer. And I was getting IFM companies saying, hey, we need help for HVC in this part of the country, can you cover it? And we're like, yeah, totally. And so it creates this whole reciprocity thing and it works well. It's amazing.

Speaker 1:

And so the idea is is that you need to think about finding community groups that are online, that you're, that your ideal customer is, you know, ideal customer profile. So, facility facility managers for you, know you IFM companies where they congregate, not just events like connects has all these regional events. I think there's one right now like candidates or something like that, okay, and so I should probably go to one of these at one point. But with that like there's, there's I know for a fact there's online communities out there, okay, and we're facility managers all hang out. You should be in those groups and then you shouldn't just be promoting your business, you should be like a conversation starter. You should be talking about stuff, bringing things up, bringing ideas up, that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1:

The concept here is that you're you're engaging and you're getting people to talk. And when you get people to talk, people start looking at you and be like hey, what do you think about this Anthony, what do you think about this Tom? And they start asking for your opinion because your opinion matters and carries weight. And then, when your opinion matters and carries weight, whenever that, that moment comes where they need to make a decision to buy something guess who they are in contact. They're in contact Tom, they're in contact Anthony, and so that is what you're trying to create. So there's value behind planting the seeds and just sowing it and feeding it and watering it over the course of six months, 12 months, 18 months in different groups and communities.

Speaker 1:

Now, if it's like a handful of people, maybe it's not as much, it's not as much, but if it's like a few hundred, maybe a few thousand, that's something that might work really, really well for you. And so I challenge you to find a handful of actual groups, whether it's on Facebook, whether it's on LinkedIn, that are active. Now, if they're a debt group, it is not worth your time. Okay, I promise you, trying to revive a group that is died is damn near impossible, so it's almost as impossible as reviving someone from the debt. Okay, so it so be.

Speaker 1:

Be smart, and if you see there's activity in there and you're like, okay, there's some opportunity in here, and then just start engaging, start commenting Don't just like me, like that was cool, don't do that. Be the person that actually gives some really good, thoughtful stuff. Spend 20, 30 minutes a day doing that, and that will be super valuable for you. You do that more often, throughout. You know the course of several months, and you also post valuable things in those groups on an ongoing basis, not necessarily daily, but maybe it's three or four times a week, maybe it's two or three times a week, maybe it's just on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Whatever it is, figure out the cadence, it doesn't matter. But what you're trying to do here is you're just simply trying to just make yourself not look like you're a sleazy asshole. Okay, that just wants to close a close a deal, all right, you you're. You're just connecting the friends, chit chat and bullshitting, and then all of a sudden, they're like you know what? I do need this. You know some service here. I'm going to contact Jack, okay. Okay, you do that. It's gonna be super valuable for you.

Speaker 1:

And this is something that the person that owns this Facebook group was kinda telling me. I'm like, yeah, I get it. And so he was asking me. He was like you speak, like you know the lingo and the language, what's your background? I was like I ran a company for over 10 years and I sold it in 2018. He goes oh, so you're a business owner, so you understand. I go totally, totally understand. And here's the thing, man, I know how people talk as well too, so I really pay attention, and so I really pay attention to how people talk, the lingo, the style that they're talking, and I really use that in our communication and our style of how we tell things. And they were impressed. And so will we join the group to be a sponsor.

Speaker 1:

I think there's a chance that we have to map out the game plan and how it's gonna look like, cause it's not cheap but it's totally worth it. All you gotta do is sell three wraps for us and it pays for itself. So with that, that's kind of what we're thinking about and what I think for you, for your facility, your property company, you need to just take the time to find some groups out there and then, once you find them, you need to take the time to plant your seeds there and then you need to take the time to sow it and then you can start reaping from it six, 12, 18 months from now. So this message was more about just playing the long game, being patient, not trying to like oh, we're gonna close the deal. We're gonna close the deal Like I get it. We all have goals. Like I get pressure for getting enough leads in the door, but in the day there's more value with the right relationships, because those can yield bigger deals. Okay, so just kind of keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

All right, if you have any questions, let me know. But three things that ask at the end of my podcast. Number one please give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Number two please connect with me on LinkedIn. So if you're not connected with me, it'd be great, like I've responded to my DMs, as long as you're not pitching me something stupid, okay. And then number three is please share this podcast with somebody else. So this podcast has grown organically because of you and I am very thankful because of you for, a you're listening to it, but B you're sharing it and other people are also getting it. You know getting it as well too. So more engaged you are with this podcast, the better it would be for me. So with that, if you do those three things, it'd be great. Other than that, have a great day.

Speaker 1:

All right, guys, thanks for taking a listen to our facility management marketing podcast Secrets. This is your host, javier Lozano Jr. One other ask I've got for you guys is to subscribe to our email list. You can go to boldermediasolutionscom slash email and that way you can get updates on some marketing trends that I'm seeing, some strategies that I'm executing and, more importantly, I'll be actually launching some webinars and training that's gonna help your company use marketing strategies to essentially grow your business. We'll be doing some training, offering some courses, that sort of stuff, so you can always unsubscribe to that email list. It's no big deal, it's not gonna hurt my feelings. This is more for facility managers, I'm sure facility management companies that want to grow their business by using marketing. All right guys, thanks a lot. Have a great one.

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Javier Lozano, Jr.

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