With a business rebrand freshly in place, Colour Your Castle in Victoria's Goulburn Valley is ideally placed to step up its social media presence and maintain momentum through the challenges of COVID-19.
Business co-owners and brothers Jason and Alan Collier want to build strong recognition in their local community.
They are posting photos and videos of their work, as well as running competitions. On a tip from a fellow Dulux Accredited member, they ran a Facebook campaign asking friends to 'Support local business during COVID-19' by liking and sharing their page, doubling their followers in a week.
“We are getting right out of our comfort zone," Jason laughs. "I am usually not like that, putting myself on a video, but we knew it was time to step it up. We are trying to make it personal so that people can get to know a bit about us and the quality of our work.”
With very low COVID-19 infection rates in the Goulburn Valley, Jason says clients are not concerned about the spread of infection when deciding whether to book a painting job. But there is some financial nervousness around.
“We’ve informed clients that our entire team is isolating at home on the weekend and following the rules. Most clients have asked us to continue as usual, but some want to hold on to their money for a little bit," he explains.
“I’m not worried as yet because we have some work banked up but it's an unknown situation," Jason says. "That’s why we’re pushing so hard with social media because we are going into an unknown. There is only so much work in regional towns and we want to make sure we have that brand awareness.”
If business does slow down, Colour Your Castle will continue to emphasise its quality and experience. The brothers provide every quote in a presentation folder demonstrating previous work and the products they use, with a small gift of tea included.
“Any little advantage helps. Small things like that show we are professional and that they can trust us to do top quality work.”
Jason and Alan decided to rebrand their business after the Dulux Accredited National Conference in Perth last year. They had bought the business from their former employer a decade ago when they were just 18 and 21, and the business was still named after its former owner. Listening to expert speakers and networking with fellow business owners at the conference, they knew it was time to move forward.
“We go to the conference every year. They've helped us implement ideas and network with other professional painting and decorating businesses."
