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The Future of Blue Collar Marketing
61 Plays1 month ago
Welcome to The Better Contractor, a podcast dedicated to helping you build a more successful and professional blue-collar business. We tackle the tough questions about modern industry challenges, from the rapid rise of controversial data centers to the essential need for professional legal and accounting protection. Our discussions dive deep into the power of social media marketing, showing you how to tell your unique story to attract the right employees and customers. Featuring insights from industry veterans and marketing experts, we provide the educational and entertaining content you need to stay ahead of the trends. Join our growing community of thousands of contractors to network, learn, and elevate your business to the next level.
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Transcript
Using Social Media in Hiring
00:00:00
Speaker
Honestly, this is a little bit of a different take. I would view it as well. If you do your social media right, you may actually even be removing some people from hiring or from applying to you because they don't like your culture.
00:00:13
Speaker
So I think you can actually use it to that advantage as well. I think a lot of people don't realize, hey, if I put my culture and I'm a little bit controversial on a few things, that's a bad thing. Not necessarily. It's going to fight through. You're going to have some people just don't apply because they don't mesh with it.
00:00:29
Speaker
Well guess what? That's a headache you didn't have to deal with now. yeah So that means the people who are applying or meshing with your culture that you're saying is out there on social media. So I would.
Introduction to Podcast Format
00:00:51
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another edition of the Better Contractor. If you're on YouTube, guess what? I'm dressed the same as I was in 81, and that is because we're shooting these back-to-back because my time is limited this week. So don't make fun of me for wearing the same shirt twice. It's actually the same day. So anyway, I am joined by Alex. What's up, dude? What's up? How's it going? Oh, not too bad. Not too bad. ah I would joke about the smell in here that we joked about the last podcast, but it was just 30 minutes ago. I was joking about you smelling bad for wearing the same I'm probably going smell bad in a second. No joke.
00:01:20
Speaker
So what's up, man? Give it that for me. Have you seen all this new stuff about data centers?
Missouri Town Controversy
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, there's a big fight in Missouri right now on one that ah is, I think it actually, i think it's the same town, but there was one. where the town board or whoever votes these in voted all in, and then they just had an election, and every single person on the board got replaced because they voted for AI and the town did not want it. Or not AI, debt data centers. So, yeah.
00:01:45
Speaker
So they all got replaced. because They didn't like the answers. They did not like it. Kicked all the board members yeah off and found Voted all new in. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:56
Speaker
So people are torn about all these data centers, which I totally get. One, we need them just because the way our age is going.
Environmental Implications of Data Centers
00:02:04
Speaker
But two, it's taken up farmland. And is it good for the environment?
00:02:08
Speaker
I don't know. i haven't looked into that. There's so many conflicting things. So I've seen some people say, oh, it does this with your water supply and it does all this. And then other reports say it doesn't. So I...
00:02:19
Speaker
I don't know you know. There's so much fake news out there. There's so much stuff online that is is out there to cause that division and all the animosity.
00:02:31
Speaker
There's good sides to capitalism. 90% of it's positive. If you are against data centers, I hate to tell you, but it's going to happen either way because we live in a capitalistic society and it is wanted, so therefore it will be built. Mm-hmm.
00:02:45
Speaker
The only thing I would really say on it, and it's not just this, we're out of Illinois. There's solar farms being built like crazy Illinois, partly because I believe it's subsidized and and assisted.
00:02:56
Speaker
What I don't like to see is, you know, so I say we're from Illinois. I say that because we're in a farm prime and ag area, meaning that we can pretty much grow anything on the soil here that we would want to, to feed people all over the world. I do not understand building these enormous data centers on this land. I do not and understand putting huge solar farms and taking up thousands of acres on prime dirt.
00:03:20
Speaker
you want to put a solar farm in Nevada in the middle of the desert that can't do anything anyway, I think that makes total sense. I would be for it. think the data centers make sense in areas like that. I don't understand it unless it's a proximity thing. I'm not enough of an expert and I will admit that up front. So i'm not to be one those podcast dudes that has a strong opinion and acts like I'm a genius when I do not know all the facts. I just don't like that.
00:03:43
Speaker
And like with any new industry industry, It seems like they come out, they're not as regulated, which is common sense, I guess, in a way, meaning that you create regulation once you have had an issue that you need to correct. So I think regulation will come. yeah My fear is that a whole bunch these are growing up at such a rapid pace.
00:04:02
Speaker
that there's not quite enough regulation there right now as they are just booming everywhere. yeah I think there will be issues, and I think then you'll see more regulation. You'll probably see it slow. But at the end the day, people are using it, and if they're using it at a rapid pace and it can't keep up, guess what?
00:04:19
Speaker
They're going to keep building them. yep But I think we just need to kind of just take a beat and think about, is this what we want? Is this the future? What are the pros? What are the cons? Factually, what are the pros and cons?
00:04:31
Speaker
And then where do these need to be built? Do they have to be built right near, like if you know we're near St. Louis? Does it have to be built near St. Louis to to help St. Louis? Are there abandoned lots that have no other purpose that these could be built on? Does it have to be on, like a couple of the ones I know that are being built are on prime farmland. Mm-hmm.
00:04:49
Speaker
Does it need to be there? Or could we somehow repurpose some of these other sites for this kind of stuff where there's blight and stuff anyway? So that'd be my thought. Again, I'm no expert. I don't know enough about it. I i just think it's one of those things that's happening so quickly and people need to just process it, think about and get some facts. Yep.
00:05:06
Speaker
I'm totally with you. I think that makes sense, but yeah there's no point in taking up primely informed. land form yeah Let's talk about social media.
Social Media in Blue-Collar Industries
00:05:15
Speaker
you Social media is always changing as you've seen in your past 17 years of the company. um I feel like when I do research and marketing and look at companies, a lot of times the blue collar industries are some of the last to hop on trends. It's not always the case, but most of time they're the last ones and always following everyone else in social media trends. um why do they, one, either ignore it or, two, not want to make that change and hop on the social media trends? and
00:05:47
Speaker
I'll speak generically here. So I think some industries, I think contracting may be that way a little bit. I think if you have an older population that is running those companies, there's a little bit more pushback against doing this, which they view as more like, oh, that's my grandkids are doing this. I don't understand it.
00:06:04
Speaker
Or there's a lack of understanding of its value. And I think that's probably part of the issue with contracting is there's a little bit of that value not being understood. And I think a lot of them feel like they don't have a story to tell.
00:06:17
Speaker
What they're doing is not cool enough to put on social. What they have to say isn't worth being on social. And I would challenge you on that one to think outside the box and think, you know what, how many people know how to do what you do?
00:06:29
Speaker
and Chances are, if you're a contractor, you're doing some kind of trade that I'm willing to bet 80% plus of people do not know how to do. Could that go viral on YouTube if you simply showed people how to do it? Would people find it interesting to know, hey, this is actually how you hook this up or this is how you do that? I had no idea. I just know it works when I use it.
00:06:49
Speaker
I think you'd be surprised at how many people would find that kind of stuff interesting. The other part of that is, you know, a lot of people follow people on social media for educational purposes. Most likely, if you're a contractor, you're in business, you're probably doing something right now that someone has not done yet. So, no, you may not be that $100 million dollar business, but maybe you're running a $1 million dollar business and maybe someone else on social media is wanting to run a $1 million dollar business.
00:07:15
Speaker
Someone wants to be in your shoes, whether you realize it or not. Will it become viral? Maybe not. Could you get several thousand followers and help a bunch of people? Probably so. And think you've got to realize that there's a lot of opportunity out there. there's probably more people that want to hear what you have to say.
00:07:33
Speaker
You just got to tell the story in an intriguing, engaging, and educational way that helps other people. I think most i think most social media really comes down to either need to, one, be educational and help people, or two, who need to be entertaining.
00:07:48
Speaker
So if you look at a lot of the social media, maybe it's my feed. Maybe it's what I see and hear. But, you know, I follow lot of fitness stuff, and I follow a lot of entrepreneurship stuff. So it makes sense that those two are in my feed a lot. yeah But I notice the...
00:08:02
Speaker
Entrepreneur ones are primarily going to be a little bit entertaining. Some of may flash some cars and some watches and stuff like that, whatever. Most of the ones that are popular that I follow anyway are helpful, meaning they're teaching people stuff.
00:08:15
Speaker
Some of the fitness ones are educational, meaning they're showing you how to work out how to how to what to do to get like them. Some of them are entertaining, meaning it's just butt pics all day long and stuff like that, which people do follow and people do like. so But I think most of those go down to two things. With the blue collar industry, you're probably going need to be educational, just saying, unless you've got a lot of hot guys working for you But probably needs to be educational. So I think you need to realize you do have value there and you need to be doing it.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yep. I agree. And you hear a lot of guys complain, I can't find quality work, I can't find this, I can't find that. But they're not marketing.
00:08:54
Speaker
They're not advertising in the new trends. Why are they ignoring that? Yeah. I think they don't realize that that is also part of marketing, is also hiring. I think forever, and I can go back to when I was in college, and that was a much different world back then. There was no social media that existed. We were literally on MySpace back then. So that shows you my age.
00:09:14
Speaker
But I'm not so old that we didn't have any social media, though.
The Dual Role of Social Media Marketing
00:09:17
Speaker
See what I mean? so But I think they don't realize that marketing is not just selling to a customer. It is also putting your values, your culture, all that stuff out there, making what you do look cool to not only retain employees but also attract new employees. So I think – they need to realize that social media now is really telling your story and telling your culture, and that's going to attract the right people for your employees. It's going to attract the right people as your customers. And I would view it a little bit. Honestly, this is a little bit of a different take.
00:09:49
Speaker
I would view it as well. If you do your social media right, You may actually even be removing some people from hiring or from applying to you because they don't like your culture.
00:10:01
Speaker
okay So I think you can actually use it to that advantage as well. I think a lot of people don't realize, hey, if I put my culture and I'm a little bit controversial on a few things, that's a bad thing. Not necessarily. It's going to fight through. You're going to have some people just don't apply because they don't mesh with it.
00:10:17
Speaker
Well, guess what? That's a headache you didn't have to deal with now. yeah So that means the people who are applying or meshing with your culture that you're saying is out there on social media. So I would personally, i would put more of it out there because I think it's going to actually help attract who you want to be working for you. And I think it'll actually help your hiring issue.
00:10:33
Speaker
I've never thought about that. That's actually a very good point. You're eliminating people when you do it that way. Cutting out that potential cancer. That wasn't going to ever like it anyway, but you, but you let them know about it before they applied. Yeah.
00:10:45
Speaker
That's a very good point. I've heard you say you spend a lot of money on accounting, attorney, and marketing. I feel like for a lot of contractors, those three things are set to the side. They're like, I need this equipment. I need to put money to get this job done. i don't care about my accounting, my attorney, or marketing.
00:11:07
Speaker
How has those three things helped you find your success and grow?
Legal and Financial Business Precautions
00:11:12
Speaker
So for me, so i mentioned the last podcast, my wife was in law school the years we started this business.
00:11:19
Speaker
So that did help because she was being told in law school, all these, what if scenarios and all these different lawsuits against companies and stuff like that. So it made her be like, Oh gosh, we let's make sure we do this. So we cover ourself here. yeah So there was a guy I mentored a few years ago, still do a little bit. But the one thing I told him was he,
00:11:39
Speaker
Also, it's little bit this way on this on these topics of like, I'm gonna save the money. I don't really see the need. Most all of this exists to protect you. So what I would challenge you with if you're listening to this is okay, you're gonna skip on marketing or you're accounting for a little bit. you're goingnna skip on legal. You may not have the employee handbook in writing.
00:11:59
Speaker
If you skip and all that now and you build this amazing business. But then five, 10 years in, all of a sudden you get handed this lawsuit or you get audited by the IRS or whatever it is. And all of a sudden that nest egg that you thought you had, actually you don't have because now you're involved in this lawsuit. You're involved in an audit and all of a sudden you owe because you didn't know you had to pay this specific tax. So I know for us,
00:12:27
Speaker
It's protected us a lot over the years. Not that we're out there just doing all this stuff wrong, but the more and more business that you do, the more and more states that you're in, the more and more responsibility you have, the more likely you're going mess up at some point. So I know for us, our accountant has saved us taxes that I did not know existed, that I just simply emailed them said, hey, we're going to do this job in this county, this state, blah, blah, blah. Like, oh, well, you need to do this tax, this tax, and this tax, charge your customer for this. This is the amount. This is the percent.
00:12:55
Speaker
I would not have known that if it wasn't for them. I would have probably just assumed, because like some states what we do is taxable as ah as a use tax, some states it's not. yeah I could have assumed a lot of people would do this, that hey, it's not taxed here. When i branch over into this state, it's not either, yeah and the fact that it is.
00:13:13
Speaker
And all of a sudden, you may get by with that for little while, and eventually, it gets found out. And all of a sudden, you can't charge the customer for that tax anymore cause that customer's PO ended three years ago. Guess who has to pay it? You do. So, yeah, it may seem like a decent amount now, but eventually, if you keep skipping it and skipping it and skipping it, it will come back Normally, it will come back to bite you. So I think if you want and your goal is to have a legitimate business for the long term, these are things that may not seem necessary in this moment, but there are things that you will need to be doing and have to be doing to protect your business as it becomes something worth protecting. 100%.
00:13:49
Speaker
hundred percent I feel like a lot of companies or a lot of contractors aren't shooting their social media because they simply don't know how. It might be older, they might just not want to take the time and learn, or they just neglect it for whatever reason. um You've always been very good at putting money into marketing and finding people to help that with. And I think that's shown in your business and the growth in sales. So that's why the Better Contractor just started a media team.
00:14:16
Speaker
So we are filming blue collar industries because we're in blue
Specialized Media Services for Blue-Collar Industries
00:14:22
Speaker
collar industries. We know how well it works and how it yeah helps. um So we're doing that for other companies now. So if you guys want to start marketing, if you want to run ads, if you want real social media photos, we can help out, reach out to the better contractor. Um, we'll come on job on your job site. We'll shoot you guys in whatever reels photos you may want.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah. It's all about telling your story. Um, you know, not all marketing firms understand blue collar. I think that's one advantage we have is obviously that's what we are and that's what we do. um And we do it well. There's a story to tell.
00:14:57
Speaker
It also is a little bit different to be on a blue-collar job site. um I know for our job site, safety is a big deal. The last thing I want is some dude rolling up with no hard hat, thinking he can get super close to a piece of equipment for this cool shot just to get hurt. So that's another thing that kind of is our advantage too, I think, is being able to understand your job site, the hazards that are present, being able to be there, be mixed into your job site without interrupting your crews, but being able to do it safely. So that's another key point.
00:15:25
Speaker
And we know what makes this industry tick. So we understand that we're not a firm shooting healthcare, you know, videos or law firm videos. yeah We do blue collar. So, yeah. Cause that's what we're in. That's what we love. That's what we know. Story to tell, man. For sure. So what else you guys at it? It's all I had for you unless there's anything you need to add. No, this is a good short and sweet podcast. Perfect for your driving then. Perfect. Guys, if you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with others. Otherwise, as I think we mentioned on the podcast today, but we have our Facebook group. So I think there's around 3,000 members.
00:15:58
Speaker
Again, you'll hear me talk a lot on podcasts about networking, about people being in your shoes or someone else has been, you know, there's so much to learn in those situations. Whenever we want a mentor, we have a question to ask.
00:16:10
Speaker
The beauty of these groups is always, whether it's this group or other ones, the beauty is there is someone in that group that if you ask a question, they probably know the answer to it. So guys, jump in that group, get engaged, be involved. Don't just ask questions, also answer questions. So guys, share, like, follow the podcast. See you next time.