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The Ultimate HVAC Marketing Toolbox
Here are 20 tools every HVAC owner should have in their marketing toolbox.
Here are 20 tools every HVAC owner should have in their marketing toolbox.
You know first-hand how competitive the HVAC industry has become.
Attracting new leads and closing new customers is an essential part of growing any home services business. That’s why the average residential service provider spends roughly 10% of sales on marketing.
Where are they spending it? Here are some of the top ways HVAC service providers are marketing to beat the competition and grow sales.
They still distribute the Yellow Pages in some places, but you know where people start looking for service providers: Google. Google has a 92% market share when it comes to search, so you’d better have a strong presence there when people go to look for an HVAC provider.
Check out these statistics and you can see just how important being found in search is in the HVAC business.
Your HVAC marketing toolbox must include strategies to improve your search engine rankings, such as content marketing, on-site and off-site search engine optimization (SEM), and a healthy dose of paid search ads optimized with local keywords.
More than 28% of searchers click on the first result and 88% click on a result in the top 10.
Social media should be part of your HVAC marketing tools as well. Using Facebook’s targeted marketing and lookalike audience tools, you can zero in on homeowners in certain geographic locations. Take advantage of the free postings you can do.
Relevant content that educates and informs users can help you establish trust and authority. Troubleshooting and How-to videos can be particularly effective on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube and can also be used on your website.
PRO TIP: If you’re targeting businesses or industrial HVAC jobs, don’t forget about LinkedIn as a good source of business leads.
User-generated content and targeted local content can also help increase your reach and help with social sharing. Encourage satisfied customers to post on social media and tag your business.
PRO TIP: Have your technicians take pictures of your customers at their homes or in front of their HVAC unit with a thumbs up and tag them in the post. Their friends and neighbors will see it.
When people do find your website, they’ll judge your professionalism and form opinions about the quality of your service by what they find. Make sure you have a polished, professional website that also employs SEO strategies, such as:
Simple and uncluttered websites typically work best for HVAC companies. When people visit your site, they want to find the information they’re looking for front and center without having to search. If you’re running a special offer, put it up top.
It sounds so basic, but make sure your phone number is present on every page so it’s easy to find. You’d be surprised how many HVAC providers only put their phone number on their homepage so when people find their blog post about HVAC repairs, they have to hunt for a way to contact you.
Your HVAC marketing toolbox should also include the technical parts of SEO, which include making sure your site loads fast. The average user abandons a website if it takes more than four seconds to load. Your site also needs to be optimized for mobile. The majority of searches happen on mobile these days and Google penalizes sites that don’t format properly for mobile users.
We can’t emphasize how important HVAC service reviews are as part of your marketing tools.
96% of consumers consider online reviews moderately or extremely valuable when searching for residential service providers. Only 1% said reviews were not valuable. One way you can help improve the quality of your reviews is to solicit them from your satisfied customers.
PRO TIP: Have your technicians ask for reviews immediately after service (and making sure customers are happy with your service). Make it easy by handing out a card with your review site of choice. We prefer Google because it feeds into your Google My Business ranking and is shown alongside your business listing in Google’s map box.
Keep an eye on your reviews. If someone leaves a poor review, reach out and see if you can solve their problem. Often, the response from the business to the review can turn a negative into a positive. This lets other customers know if something does go wrong, you’ll take care of it.
Texting can be an effective way to engage with your customers. 98% of text messages are read and have shown to increase conversion rates by as much as 40% more than prospects that have not been sent text messages.
Some of these are aimed at marketing while others focus on customer service. Since loyalty and repeat business depend on providing quality HVAC customer service, it’s all related. No marketing strategy will be effective if you’re not taking care of your customers.
PRO TIP: Before you can launch an SMS marketing campaign, you need to get permission from consumers. Use lead capture forms on your website to get customers to provide their cell phone numbers.
One of the most expensive parts of running an HVAC business will be your cost of customer acquisition. Attracting new customers is essential to growing your business but you know once you get them to work with you the first time, you’ve got a good chance to get their business long term. $99 tune-ups and $250 service calls can turn into a $10,000 replacement job.
That’s why promotional offers are so powerful. They get customers to connect with you the first time. Offering $49 tune-ups or discounts to first-time customers, seasonal specials, or low monthly financing can bring in new leads. Same-day service and no overtime charges can help send customers your way.
Occasionally using online marketplaces like Groupon can also bring in new customers, but be careful. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with bargain shoppers that turn into one-time customers.
Finally, don’t forget all the basics that should be part of any successful HVAC marketing toolbox. Even with the rise of digital, traditional marketing strategies still work.
Anything you can do to improve name recognition and top-of-mind awareness will help when customers are searching for an HVAC provider. If they know your name, they’re more likely to call.
Grassroots efforts are still effective as well. Putting yard signs and distributing door hangers in neighborhoods where you’re working can lead to referrals — one of the most powerful forms of advertising.
Placing stickers or magnets on heating and cooling units with your phone number should always be part of your strategy. Homeowners may forget who provided their service, but when they notice a problem, they’ll remember you and call for service.
Looking for more HVAC marketing ideas that have been proven to work? We’ve got nine specific HVAC marketing strategies you’ll want as part of your HVAC marketing toolbox that are effective, affordable, and practical.
Drew Wilkinson is the Head of Marketing at SimpleTexting. Drew has more than a decade of experience managing successful integrated marketing programs to build brands, raise awareness, and generate demand.
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