2025-06 - Your Marketing Isn’t Broken — It’s Evolving. Here’s How We’re Staying Ahead.

Marketing has changed more in the last 18 months than it has in the past 10 years. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s new AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) are reshaping how homeowners find, vet, and choose contractors — and if you're not showing up clearly, consistently, and credibly across multiple platforms, you're getting left out of the conversation.

Your DBM team hasn't been watching from the sidelines — we’ve been in the thick of it, testing, adjusting, and evolving our system to make sure our clients stay ahead.

🔍 What’s Changed (And Why It Matters to You)

We’re not just in a new season — we’re in a new era. Here's what that means:
  • AI and zero-click searches are transforming how homeowners get answers — they often make decisions before even landing on your website.
  • Google is showing AI-generated summaries that may not link to your site unless your content is structured and credible.
  • Inflation, tariffs, interest rates, and election year distractions are slowing down big home project decisions.
  • Ad costs are up. Competition is tougher. Homeowners are more selective than ever — and reputation matters.
  • Speed-to-lead and trust-building are now as important as traffic and rankings.
This is just like when smartphones first changed how people searched locally — only this shift is bigger, faster, and happening in real-time.

Then (2018–2022) vs Now (2023–2025)
THEN
NOW
SEO & traffic
AI-ready content & structured data
One-time website build
Ongoing updates & Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Manual lead response
Automated follow-up workflows
Posting pretty photos
Showing proof & building trust
Volume of leads
Quality of leads & conversions

What We’ve Already Been Rolling Out

Over the past year, we’ve been proactively testing and implementing:
  • ✅ Rewriting & restructuring old pages with FAQs, schema markup, and smart headings
  • ✅ Enhanced brand strategy and rewritten website content to speak to your brand's unique story over SEO, along with authentic images of you and your team and stats of your work to help you get chosen, not just seen.
  • ✅ Exit-intent popups to convert more site visitors
  • ✅ Google Business Profile posting across all programs
  • ✅ Local Service Ads across all programs
  • ✅ Physical leave-behind Google review cards
  • ✅ A/B testing & heatmapping to learn how people actually use your site — and where we can improve
  • ✅ Education & updates via the new Client Success Hub — including a Marketing State of the Union, how-to content, and checklists

What’s Coming Next

Starting in Q3 2025 we are preparing to:
  • Triple content production in all programs to meet AI’s appetite for helpful, structured answers
  • Landing pages to better support ads and campaign targeting
  • Audience Growth Campaigns on Facebook — included in Growth to build a warm audience (before wasting effort on organic posts)

What We're Preparing for in the Future

To keep you ahead, we’re ramping up:
  • ➕ Smarter follow-up systems:
    • We have an expert joining the team this month to help improve CRM performance, lead routing, and automation based on your feedback
    • Client interviews to identify better tools and features that serve you. Speak up! We've got you!!!
  • ➕ We're considering concierge services:
    • Qualified leads booked straight on your calendar
    • Review replies written based on streamlined info provided
    • Manufacturer submissions handled for you
    • Transcripts of phone calls automatically stored and summarized inside your CRM
    • Call to connect on form submissions for speed to lead
    • A lot more sales enablement!

🎉 Are You Still Ahead?

If you’ve been with us a while, you’re already ahead of most of your competitors.
Why? Because visibility compounds. You’ve built authority in your market, and this system continues to push it forward. But we still need your help to keep it moving.

📋 What We Need from You

The builders getting the best results are the ones who:
  • Follow up with leads no more than 15 minutes — or better yet, instantly. Speed to lead is still one of the biggest differentiators.
  • Use Sales Jumpstart: Mark leads as won/lost, add notes, add closed deal value, and keep us informed so we can optimize.
  • Check your missed call rate: You can see this inside the Call Report section within “Reporting” in Sales Jumpstart. Aim for under 10%.
  • Give us new photos and reviews regularly. Trust is built through real work, consistently displayed.
  • Provide lead feedback. Tell us which ones are qualified and which aren’t — it directly impacts ad targeting and conversion improvements.
  • Tell us when a job closes (or doesn’t)
  • Use Sales Jumpstart to mark lead sources, update deal values, and leave notes
  • Show up for quarterly meetings — so we can:
    • Confirm sales numbers
    • Review close rates
    • Update your site with new project images, awards, team photos, etc.
    • Discuss what’s working and what’s not — and fix it
  • Stay active in coaching calls and performance reviews
  • Answer when we ask for feedback — we’re building this with you

If you can’t dedicate at least 15 minutes to an hour per month toward your marketing system — you don’t have a marketing department. You have a vendor. And in this environment, that’s not enough.

Integration means departments talk to each other — and we can only be that kind of partner with your participation.
Also: those who show up to biweekly coaching calls get more out of their program. These aren’t just updates — they’re opportunities to test new ideas, get strategic feedback, and adjust together.
🛠️ Reminder: We’re not just your marketing agency. We’re your outsourced growth department — which means we need your leadership, not your micromanagement.

Perspective Shift: Why More Isn’t Better

We spoke with a builder getting 60–80 leads a month — but closing only 5%. Why? Poor fit, no follow-up, and no system.
That’s not success — that’s chaos.
The goal isn’t volume. It’s:
  • Right leads
  • Right timing
  • Right follow-up
That’s what our Deck Builder Growth System is built to deliver.

📣 Introducing the DBM Growth System

In 2025, marketing isn’t just about leads. It’s about:
  • Sales automation
  • Review strategy
  • Content structure
  • Retargeting
  • CRM hygiene
  • Lead nurture
That’s why we’ve renamed it the Deck Builder Growth System — because it builds real, sustainable growth.
🎯 It’s built in 3 phases:

  • Foundation → Local visibility, automation, and trust
  • Growth → Targeted traffic, reputation, and deeper lead gen
  • Dominate → Full-funnel strategy, advanced retargeting, and high-leverage content

🏁 Final Word

You’re not falling behind — not if you’re here, reading this, and staying plugged in.
We can’t predict exactly what AI will do next, but we’re watching closely, testing daily, and learning from every click, call, and conversion in our system.
If something feels off, we want to hear it. If something’s working, let’s do more of it. If you’re uncertain — let’s talk.
You’re not just buying marketing. You’re building a system that scales with your business and adapts with the market.

“Just like your builds adapt to code, climate, and customer preference — your marketing should evolve with the tools, platforms, and buyer behavior.”

And if you’re not already using AI in your business — now’s the time. (Check out our 99 ChatGPT Prompts for Deck Builders inside the Client Success Hub — it’s a game-changer.)

📬 Want to Talk?

We want to hear from you.
Have feedback? Questions? Reach out to your Account Manager, or hop on a coaching call to learn what’s working across the industry.
We’re not just your agency. We’re your outsourced marketing department. And we’re in this with you.
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