Kasra Dash: So if I have a window blind and shutter business and I want to try to grow that and get a consistent flow of inquiries every single month what do you recommend.

James Dooley: So on this the first major player I'd be looking to do is teaming up with a lead generation company, so at FatRank.com we do a lot of lead generation in this market, there's so many different nuances of what customers want, so it could be blackout blinds or automation that goes up and down at certain times of the day, some actually use the shutters and blinds as an alarm clock so it starts slowly opening and the light comes in, others want absolute blackout blinds, you've got motorised shutters and blinds for shop fronts, and there are so many bespoke designs you can create, so I would definitely head on over to FatRank.com, fill in the form and see whether you qualify, we generate leads nationwide throughout the UK and you should not throw all your eggs in one basket, I would also use other lead generation companies and make certain you're getting a return on investment, because at FatRank you only pay on conversion where others charge per lead and may sell the same lead to multiple companies which harms ROI, but if you track KPIs and measure cost per lead and cost per conversion and your ROAS is strong then you can use several lead gen sources.

James Dooley: The next major player is definitely SEO because there are so many intricate products and services you can rank for quickly through long tail highly profitable terms, and if you're a shutter and blind company unsure what those terms are fill in the form at FatRank.com and we can go down the rabbit hole, we already know the products that drive strong margins and can generate those exact enquiries, so I highly recommend SEO, not only for lead generation but also for branding and reputation because when you generate your own leads or pay a lead generation company your conversion rate is higher when the brand looks strong.

Kasra Dash: What's your thoughts on social media or paid ads for growing a shutter and blind company.

James Dooley: With paid ads we'll start with PPC then move to social, and PPC can work in this industry but it's expensive and if you don't know what you're doing you'll burn money fast, especially if you're not in the ad account daily adding negative keywords, banning IPs, preventing click fraud and stopping competitors wasting your budget, so if you can do all that then great, if not hire someone in house or outsource it, and if you want help fill in the form and we'll see where you're located and recommend a PPC agency based on your area and services.

James Dooley: Then with Facebook and Instagram ads, because blinds and shutters are such visual products the ads can work extremely well, a lot of companies film motorised blinds opening and closing and run that as an ad with offers like 60 percent off or 40 percent off, and the benefit of Facebook ads is you can set a radius so if you're in Manchester you can target only a 40 or 50 mile radius, so that works, and beyond ads you can use social media for trust building by uploading installation videos and photos on Facebook and Instagram which helps convert traffic into customers because traffic without conversion is useless, so case studies, galleries, YouTube videos and content like this all help conversion.

Kasra Dash: On that point a useful tactic we use is to dig into what products you sell and where you make your profit, so if blackout blinds are high profit and customers pay more for zero light, we find the emotional angle of why people want blackout blinds, and sleep quality is the driver, so we create marketing around sleeping better, using stats, testimonials and sleep tracking data, and people who were not actively searching for blackout blinds now want them because we presented a story and pain point, and lack of sleep is a huge pain point, so these small marketing strategies help us at FatRank generate the highest quality leads because it's always quality over quantity, and high quality leads convert into high profits, and we do not get paid until the shutter and blind company closes the job, installs it and makes profit, so we must deliver results, whereas other lead gen companies often focus on quantity because they get paid whether the lead converts or not, so if you're a shutter and blind company I strongly recommend FatRank.com but also make sure you generate your own enquiries through your website and consider paid ads to grow your business online.