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Get your own copy
Fill in the [brackets], keep it to one page, and put it where you will see it; the original stays unchanged so you can redo it next quarter.
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A RocketLevel worksheet for restoration owners, backed by decades of experience in the trade. The companion to Build a Marketing Plan on a Contractor's Budget. Fill in the brackets and you get a plan you can actually run.
You do not need a 40-page marketing plan. One page will do if it names who you serve, the few channels you will actually own, the rhythm you will keep, what you will spend, and the one number that tells you it is working. Fill this in, keep it to one page, and review it once a quarter.
1. Who you serve
2. The 2 to 3 channels you will own
Pick a few you can actually keep up with. Examples: referral relationships, repeat-and-referral outreach to past customers, a strong local online presence and reviews, agent or property-manager relationships, a focused outbound effort.
Two of the channels restoration companies pick most often carry rules worth knowing before you write the action next to them.
If a channel is referrals, decide right now whether money changes hands. A plumber who sends you work, an agent who gives out your card, a property manager who routes a job. Asking for referrals and earning them is the backbone of this business. Paying for them on an insurance claim can be a crime rather than a marketing expense. California Insurance Code 750 makes it an offense to offer, deliver, receive, or accept a rebate, refund, commission, or other consideration as compensation for referring clients to anyone engaged in processing, presenting, or negotiating claims. A first conviction carries up to a year in county jail or a term under Penal Code section 1170(h), a fine up to $50,000, or both; a second or subsequent conviction means a term under Penal Code section 1170(h). The civil side runs through Insurance Code 1871.7, which reaches employing runners, cappers, or steerers to procure clients and carries $5,000 to $10,000 per claim plus up to treble damages. Other states write their own anti-runner and referral-fee rules, and the details differ enough that you want your attorney's answer for your state in writing. Write "no payment" or "cleared by counsel on [date]" next to any referral channel on this page, and mean it.
If a channel is reviews, ask for them and stop there. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, bans fake reviews outright at 465.2. Section 465.4 bans paying or giving an incentive in exchange for a review that expresses a particular sentiment, positive or negative, which rules out the gift card offered for a five-star review. Section 465.5 covers reviews written by your own officers, managers, employees, or their relatives, which need the relationship disclosed. Section 465.7 bans suppressing reviews by threat and bans displaying a filtered set while implying it is all of them. A generalized ask sent to every customer, with no strings on what they say, is clean. Anything conditioned on the rating is not.
3. Your monthly rhythm