Branding a Roofing Company: Practical Guide for Roofers

What is Branding?

Branding is the entire experience that your customers associate with your business. It encompasses everything from how they found you online to how they feel after installing a new roof.

As Dan Antonelli from KickCharge Creative puts it, “Branding defines how people feel about your company, what they say about your company behind your back.”

It includes everything from the design of your roofing website to the tone of voice used across your advertising and marketing materials.

Many mistake branding for brand identity. These two terms, while similar, are not the same. Brand identity refers to visual elements like your logo, fonts, and colors, while branding includes your local reputation and how you communicate your company values.

Ryan Kettering of Prolific Brand Design explains, “...just being present, just being frequent on its own does something—it builds trust.”

Roofing contractors should consider branding an investment in building trust with clients, growing their business, and, most importantly, creating ‘branding consistency’ across their business that people will come to know and love.

Why is Branding Important for Roofers?

Branding is important for roofers because it helps build that all-important trust with potential customers and sets your business apart. 

Today’s customers expect professionalism, reliability, and efficiency, with branding playing a large role in meeting and putting these expectations on display. 

Karen Edwards, executive director of the Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3) says, “Today’s customers are very tech-savvy and expect [efficiency and reliability] from the people they choose to do business with.”

Homeowners prefer a brand they can rely on, as roofing services are considered significant investments. A strong brand attracts new customers, retains existing customers, and secures your long-term profitability.

Here is how good branding can benefit roofing companies:

• Its consistent messaging and high-quality design boost customer trust.

• It drives more roofing leads via Google Business Profile and Google Maps.

• Targeted marketing strategies mean strong customer retention and nurtured relationships. 

• Homeowners remember your business when they need roofing services.

What Branding Elements Should Roofers Know?

Branding elements are the building blocks of a trustworthy and recognizable identity. When applying these elements to your cohesive brand image, roofing contractors should be consistent above all else.

Here’s what you need to focus on:

1. Logo

Your company logo is the face of your roofing brand. Your customers see it every time they see your trucks on the road, visit your website, and open emails containing your marketing content.

A good logo should be simple, unique, and memorable. It should also embody the core values of your company.

Think about the logos you have seen from your competition. Bold and simple designs tend to indicate reliability and precision. Logos that are softer, more rounded, and feature familiar designs are likely to be used by more community-focused roofing businesses. 

2. Color palette

To illustrate how impactful color palettes can be, imagine your business trucks driving around painted fluorescent pink with yellow highlights. Sure they stick out, but the color combination choice will likely put off your target audience as they won’t take your business seriously.

Softer colors are more likely to signify trust, safety, and reliability—key traits that homeowners are seeking in a roofing service.

You’ll also need to choose and stick with a color palette, displaying the same colors on your trucks, business cards, and websites. This consistency will help solidify your brand identity.

3. Shapes

Shapes are just as important when considering your branding and identity. The shapes you use across your entire business will convey different meanings, especially when used in your logo. 

Rounder shapes make customers think of trust and friendliness. Angular shapes with sharp edges will remind them of the levels of precision involved when replacing a roof. 

Mixing up the shapes across your business signage will only lead to a confusing message for potential customers. So, keep your shapes consistent across all facets of your business—website, logo, and advertising. It will create a more unified and professional image.

4. Slogan and tagline

We are willing to bet that when you see the words, ‘Like it never even happened,’ you instantly think of Servpro. That’s the power of a memorable slogan and tagline; it should instantly capture the essence of what you do and offer.

No roofing company would ever make their slogan, ‘Just another roofing company.’ Why? Because it doesn’t even hint at what you offer that your competitors don’t. 

Your slogan should state what makes you unique. It could be reliability, affordability, customer service, or the fact that you’ll be there for the life of the new roof. This (plus a little help from ServiceTitan’s Marketing Software) helped Guardian Roofing develop its ‘Customer for life’ motto. 

Catchy slogans help homeowners remember who to call when they need roof repair and installation. 

5. Tone of voice

Take notice of these words as you read them. At ServiceTitan we have a particular style that lets the reader know that we are a professional and resourceful business. When you look at our website design and read our content, it’s obvious we aren’t a scientific journal, or a website for children—that’s tone of voice (TOV) in action.

Your TOV is how your brand communicates with customers in emails, marketing campaigns, and social media. It’s important to choose a ToV early on and use it consistently.

If you want customers to feel like they’re working with experts who will listen to their needs, project a TOV that is friendly, professional, and always clear.

6. Font

Fonts are another important (but often underappreciated) part of business branding. They are an extension of your brand identity. When customers see your emails, website, and marketing material, the font should be just as familiar to them as your logo and the color of your uniforms.

When making that all-important decision about which font to use, pick one that is clear and easy to read from a distance (say, from a passing truck). Steer clear of serif fonts (letters with fancy lines and tails) and formal fonts you would expect to see at a restaurant.

7. Brand image

Your brand image is the perception customers and potential clients have of your roofing company. Brand image must be worked towards by providing a good service that gets people talking. 

Yes, we’re talking about reputation. Our roofing industry report identified it as the one thing that 71 percent of exterior contractors are concentrating on this year to boost customer lead generation and return on investment (ROI).

Brand image is shaped by word of mouth, testimonials, referrals, and online reviews. Reviews can be a double-edged sword, and brand image can suffer massively (and very quickly) if you don’t stay on top of them with reputation tools and reply when applicable (especially to negative reviews). 

8. Brand positioning

How is your roofing company known in the local community? As an expensive business but the one to wait for when people want absolute quality? Maybe you’re the budget-friendly company always available at a moment's notice when a freak storm rips off your roof. 

The answers to these questions make up your brand position, or how your business stands out in the marketplace.

Clear brand positioning helps you define and hit the right audience and position your unique value proposition more effectively. A lot of this positioning depends on your image, but it is also something you can define through roofing marketing. 

Once it has been established, be consistent with the messaging across all platforms your business uses, this will help you attract your ideal customers.

What Are Some Roofing Company Branding Tips?

Pretty logos and catchy slogans aren’t all it takes to nail your brand awareness and set yourself apart in the roofing business. You also need to know how to apply them.

Here, we have brought together some tips to help you make the best of branding elements for roofer marketing:

1. Keep brand voice consistent across all marketing channels 

Your brand is the personality of your roofing business, so it needs to show on every single platform you engage with.

Voice consistency doesn’t mean saying the same thing on every single platform. It will require some tweaking when working between SEO and pay-per-click ads, like Google and Facebook ads, but it should always feel like you. 

Using marketing services and a tool like ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro means you can maintain the same voice and branding in all your email campaigns.

2. Monitor your brand’s reputation

We might use fancy tools like roofing SEO and content marketing, but one aspect of success is the same today as it always has been: reputation is everything. Unlike the days before the internet, it’s much easier to keep tabs on what people say about you. 

Tools like ServiceTitan’s Reputation Management make it much easier to monitor and respond to those business-busting reviews as they happen.

Automated review requests help you consistently achieve five-star ratings, put your business out there with boosted visibility, and build that all-important trust.

 You can even track your individual technicians and see which jobs are getting the best feedback. 

3. Position your brand to match your target audience

Whether they’re high-end homeowners or budget-conscious clients, you already know which customers you want to attract to your services, so all that’s left is to target them directly. 

Casting a wide net isn’t the best marketing technique here. Create and deliver your targeted messaging to reach and resonate with those customers you actually want. 

Tools like ServiceTitan’s data-driven marketing solutions do exactly that. They offer insights into which paid campaigns work and drive the most revenue. 

With features like the Marketing Scorecard and trackable phone numbers, you can fine-tune your strategy to attract the leads that you actually want. 

4. Use the same color palette in all marketing materials

Do you have a blue and green roof on your logo? Then your roofing company's colors should be blue and green across all materials. From your website to your physical mailers, be consistent so your customers know it’s you before they even read the content. 

Drafting marketing materials like emails and ensuring they retain your color palette is a lot of work—but with tools like ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro, it’s quick and easy. 

With ServiceTitan you can automate your direct mail campaigns and know for certain that all your marketing content colors are unified and in line with your business branding.

Your Turn

Now it’s time to take action and start refining your roofing business brand. 

Remember that consistency and reputation management are how you create a unique roofing brand that is as recognizable as Tecta America’s blue and red roofing logo, or Nations Roof’s Red star. 

If you’re ready to define your brand, reach the right people, and scale your roofing business, ServiceTitan is a field service and marketing platform made for tradespeople, by a team that lives and breathes home services. ServiceTitan empowers your business to drive real results and create a unique business image.