Boosting identity marketing & supporting digital marketing

August 5th, 2021 by

Julia Mann

Rockman Windows & Doors specializes in high-end residential windows and doors. They serve Long Island and the Hudson Valley in New York. They currently have two showrooms with product samples in Elmsford and Bridgehampton.

With over 100 years of combined industry experience, the team at Rockman doesn’t do anything standard. They deliver high-quality, made-to-order windows and doors that offer the right architectural touches to homes. They have high expectations for the window and door manufacturers they partner with, ensuring that every item they deliver to a project looks and functions as it should.

While the company has been in business for many years, they realized there were major gaps in their marketing efforts. Getting feedback and reviews from customers was rare and far between.

Building Trust and Credibility Was Challenging, Requiring Feedback from Customers

Rockman focuses its marketing efforts mainly on architects and builders. These buyers are material recommenders and have the ability to win repeat business. However, reaching consumers was important, too. On all fronts, they were missing key content that would express all the attributes of the brand that they knew to be true. What they needed to do to accomplish this goal was collect reviews, feedback, and testimonials.

So began the journey to build a strategy rooted in identity-based marketing, a philosophy company Vice President Jason Shulman learned from Rich Warsaw of Level 10 Contracting. To begin with, the brand needed to revamp and optimize with social proof the existing content that those looking for windows and doors would find online.

“Instead of us saying how great we are, our customers are,” Shulman said, that vital feedback would come directly from verified customers.

Receiving completed surveys would also provide the company with practical operational feedback. Such insights would help them improve their processes and create more content for their new website. Going it alone wasn’t delivering much response, so they realized they needed support. But what type of company would offer these capabilities? They soon found GuildQuality and tapped them to up their branding game.

GuildQuality Offers Turnkey Survey Solutions and Tools to Solicit Feedback and Retain Actionable Data for Rockman

Shulman was looking for support for his marketing initiatives to improve the reviews and get practical feedback. The first step was to choose 50 previous clients for the survey. GuildQuality then began to design the ideal survey and get responses via phone and email.

“We wanted to start with a baseline then make a survey part of every job upon completion,” Shulman noted.

What was unique about GuildQuality is that they specialize in the home building industry, so they already had the expertise. The complete package they put together for Rockman included helping them ask the right questions, getting responses, learning from the data, and improving their brand image.

Upon commencing the project, GuildQuality developed the survey. Responses started to trickle in, and there were surprises. “It’s been great and eye-opening. One thing I took away from the surveys is that customers didn’t know what we sold. We weren’t getting the message across about all [the] solutions and services we offer, so we knew we [needed] to improve on that,” Shulman said.

This new focus on reviews and building their brand identity has been key to Rockman’s digital marketing strategy, which includes launching a new website, a TV commercial campaign, and new content. “I’ll be writing blogs about projects as an inside look. It’s storytelling from the experiences of the customers, and the surveys are driving this,” Shulman added.

Shulman also started a Brand Ambassador Program. He knew it couldn’t involve the typical canvassing of an area because what the company offers — custom windows and doors — isn’t something everyone needs. He needed to entice his customers to be advocates.

“The requirements to be a brand ambassador is after completion of their first job, whether that be a builder, architect, or homeowner, they complete an honest, quality review. Then if they bring in a referral, the ambassador receives a 10% VIP purchase card that’s a forever purchase, not just a one-time, as long as it’s valid,” Shulman explained.

They also ask the reviewer to provide photographs. If the project is big enough, the company requests a Matterport scan, which creates a 3D virtual tour. Thus far, they have several brand ambassadors on board and more in the works.

With New Survey and Feedback Processes in Place, Rockman Derives Insights to Power Its New Digital Marketing Initiatives

Shulman has learned a lot from the surveys received through the GuildQuality program.

“I read every survey we receive. I appreciate it when people take the time to tell us the details of their experience. Many also say they’ll refer us, and that’s happening,” he said.

For the baseline survey of 50, Rockman has received around 40. They’ve also found the marketing tools that GuildQuality offers helpful, such as analytics. For example, they can use these features to spot trends in customer satisfaction and identify areas that need work and focus.

They also have a search-optimized review page. It includes information about Rockman, contact information, satisfaction scores, customer reviews, and more. The reviews are also published on the company’s Google My Business page. Having such a presentation ensures credibility and that the reviews are genuine.

Shulman also spoke about the GuildQuality Map. It allows users to search by their zip code or zoom in on an area to see what their community is saying about a company. This feature embeds directly into the website. Blue pins indicate published comments and star-rated reviews. It’s another critical resource that builds on the validity of the reviews because they’re right in a searcher’s neighborhood.

They were able to use these tools on their new website with ease. All the tools are simple to plug into a website, and the information flows automatically. It’s not something they have to do manually.

Shulman said of working with GuildQuality, “The experience has been great. The onboarding, in general, was very intuitive. It’s been a good experience; far better than what I would have thought when hiring a third-party surveying company.”