There will always be a need for home services industry, as the pandemic proved. Consumers are always in want of HVAC, electrical, plumbing and other services, and/or maintenance from home services companies on these items in their homes.
That stresses the importance of getting a business’s name in front of the public, whether it be about landscaping, plumbing, or any other trade. Marketing a company’s services, values and culture helps that company grow. There’s no need to fear marketing; it’s part of every successful venture.
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Why is Marketing for Home Service Businesses Important?
Marketing, said Megan Bedford, founder and owner of Mugyver Consulting and founder and chair of Desk Free Nation, is about “what makes you unique and different compared to your competitors – and how do you tell that story to your customers.”
Basic approaches and strategies can and should grow the business and benefit customers, the team and the company.
People typically go to home service companies because they have a need. A business website may be the first time people see information and details about a company. Often if a consumer feels comfortable with the web site or has been impressed with digital marketing, the consumer will make a quick decision to choose that business.
Marketing can lead to more leads, and more business. It follows logically that there are ways to best implement marketing best practices, especially in the era of burgeoning social media and digital marketing.
Let’s take a look at some of the best components of a successful marketing strategy that can build your brand awareness.
10 Tips & Strategies for Effective Home Services Marketing
Marketing does not just happen. It takes thought, strategy and a focus on what works. It can come via marketing campaigns, marketing experts or marketing tips from peers in the field. If the software you’re using offers integrated marketing help and data, all the better for generating new leads in the ongoing effort to attract prospective customers.
It’s all about getting the business’s good name and culture in front of the public.
“If you don’t know how to make the phone ring, nothing else matters,” said Ismael Valdez of NexGen Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing in Southern California.
1. Invest in local SEO
Almost half of Google searches are local searches with a consumer seeking local information. Given the local impact of the home service industries, it’s therefore important to maximize your website for local Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Because most home service businesses are local entities, it’s important to get the business fron of mind with customers, past and potential. That can be done by ensuring the business appears on local searches.
How can this be accomplished? By claiming and optimizing a Google Business Profile, and ensuring the business website includes local keywords. People will search for “HVAC repair Cleveland,” so make sure those three words are on the web site.
Consider: In 2021, 99% of consumers used the internet to find information about a local business, and 78% used the internet to find local business information more than once per week.
Some of the key ways to optimize local SEO for local search include:
Set up your own Google My Business profile, a free and easy way to help your business become noticed.
Ask for reviews, especially Google reviews. The better your work, the better the reviews and the more Google will recognize the company’s chops; 98% of local people read online reviews for local businesses.
Get involved in the community. Local efforts to help youth baseball, veterans groups, Make A Wish or any worthy cause help put your name in front of the local community.
A Google Business Profile will make a difference. Here are keys to maximizing it:
Use the actual business name with a local phone number
Ensure you have hours of operation, and that they are accurate.
Write about yourself in a way the average person will understand and appreciate your business, people and approach.
Include high resolution photos. Better yet, include videos. Both can personalize a business and help connect with the customer.
The Google Business Profile is one of the most important ways to introduce yourself to the community. Your good work leads to the next tip.
2. Get positive reviews to your Google Business Profile
Let’s be honest: Positive reviews are the result of quality work. Start there. Ensure the team has a customer-first attitude, and that work is done carefully, properly and on time.
Once you do that, customers will start generating online reviews that lead to four- and five-star ratings, which consumers notice when they search.
“Reviews are everything. There's not a person who doesn't check a review now,” said Brian Choate of Choate’s Air Conditioning, Heating, and Plumbing.
Google Business Profile reviews are a local search ranking factor, so the more positive reviews a business receives, the better its organic visibility. The three ways to generate these reviews are:
Ask for a review. Perhaps the tech asks when a job is completed. Perhaps an email is sent requesting a review. Perhaps a request is included with an invoice. If your work is exemplary, the customer will listen to the ask.
Show a customer how to leave a review. He or she may not know and may appreciate basic instructions.
Remind people to leave a review. Just make the request friendly.
The Reputation feature in ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro will help generate reviews. Reputation sends customers a text message requesting a review of a job. The text comes from the same number the business uses to call customers, tightening the loop between company and customer. Marketing Pro also lets companies log into multiple review sites and manage them all from one dashboard. Reputation captures all reviews, and provides a linkable blog on best practices for responding to bad reviews.
3. Leverage social media marketing
Social media is about connecting. To a business, social media marketing means connecting with the market through the many and varied social media platforms available.
Social media marketing lets a home services provider tell its story with social media posts that can be compelling and even humorous.. That builds a brand, drives business and growth and forges a bond with the community and with the individual homeowners.
Focus on content that is authentic and real. Be free to be offbeat or quirky. Make sure the content is generated for social media, not to merely link to the company website. The entire effort builds a community around the brand, which helps increase leads.
To gauge the impact, consider these insights into social media use from SproutSocial.com: There are 4.89 billion social media users worldwide, and the average person uses seven different social media networks each month and spends 151 minutes per day on social media.
Because social media is about engagement, it helps to have an individual dedicated to responding to comments, both positive and negative. Fast responses to questions or concerns are vital.
4. Harness the power of email marketing
The best email marketing campaign gets your company’s name in front of the most customers with the most relevant message at the right time, Bedford said.
The main advantage to email marketing: The business has the email addresses. Social media is connection-driven. Email marketing involves the business reaching out to make special offers or point out promotions to past or potential customers.
A promotional offer to past customers who may need maintenance may well pay for itself. Targeted email marketing can earn your company, on average, $40 for every $1 spent.
A company like Nova Basement, which took advantage of follow-up emails in ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro, saw open rates of 75% in one of its campaigns.
Marketing Pro allows a business to segment the email audience by ZIP code, age of equipment, date of last service, new homeowner, and more. Using data already collected in ServiceTitan, the business can target previous customers with a “We Miss You!” email campaign, follow up on unsold electrical estimates, or offer a discount to new homeowners.
“It’s taking your broad audience and applying criteria to it in a way to narrow it down, so whatever message you’re sending out is very relevant and resonates with the audience you are creating,” ServiceTitan Strategic Project Manager Heather Donaldson said.
5. Advertise with PPC ads
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads get your name and business at the top of Google searches. They require specific keywords that customers are using, as well as setting up a budget for the ads. But the potential business could easily pay for the advertising.
ServiceTitan’s integration with PPC ads allow a business to see metrics like impressions, clicks, conversions and cost per lead, among others. Users can easily monitor, track and create campaigns.They also can connect PPC ads to ServiceTitan so they can leverage Marketing Pro features to lower cost per lead and maximize ROI.
6. Run Google Local Service Ads
Google Local Service Ads require payment only if a customer calls, books or messages through the ad. Business owners can be confident it’s a get-what-you-pay-for scenario.
These ads require a Google “badge” that tells potential customers yours is a screened and qualified Google business. The badge is earned once Google verifies the business is credible, with licensing and insurance; the process to earn the badge is not at all difficult. The idea: Google’s backing provides an extra level of credibility.
ServiceTitian provides a strong integration with local service ads, which can greatly benefit a business. Owners cite increased opportunities, a high retention rate, and a lower cost via instant mobile booking as key factors in making the integration beneficial.
“With GLSA customers you don’t have a shopper,” Shane Jaeger of Ben Franklin Plumbing in Dallas said on a ServiceTitan webinar. “It’s someone serious about getting the work done. If you treat them right and give them a fair price, you should get the work.”
The integration with ServiceTitan means potential customers can find and book a job in one or two minutes. If a customer who needs a water heater types “plumber near me,” the first businesses listed—above Paid Search ads and organic listings—are GLSA customers. The Google/ServiceTitan integration then allows customers to book with ease, and even schedule a time and date for the work.
“Just understand Google is God when it comes to home service,” said Tommy Mello, The Home Service Expert.
7. Engage users with video marketing
The up-and-coming generation grew up on videos. Targeting them with informative or helpful videos will spread the word about your brand. Videos could educate, inform or entertain – or all the above. If your business is involved with a local charity, it can highlight what that means and why you do it. That story makes yours a true local business. The ultimate goal is to gain a connection with local customers, to keep existing ones and generate new customers.
“Some people just don’t want to do (videos),” said Josh Crouch of Relentless Digital in Wisconsin. “Yes, it can be a time thing, and some people are nervous about being on camera. But if you can get into the process of doing them regularly, you’re going to get back value.”
8. Get referrals
Word of mouth has long been an ideal way to spread the good word about your business. Professional work from plumbers or electricians is appreciated. Satisfied customers will share your work with friends and neighbors.
Of course, the better the work, the more the referrals, which turn into mini-testimonials. So this effort starts with quality, professional work. Asking a happy customer to keep a few cards to pass on for referrals can help, as does offering incentives to existing customers who refer others.
9. Provide a great customer experience
File this under the adage “treat people the way you want to be treated.” That means respecting the customer, which inherently leads to a great customer experience.
On-time arrival and wearing shoe coverings tell the customer their time and place matter. Bringing a treat if a customer has a dog builds goodwill. If a customer prefers a text to a phone call, don’t call them.
In a ServiceTitan webinar video, Travis Ringe of ProSkill Services explains how his CSRs and techs go above and beyond by always offering to do more, such as helping elderly customers change lightbulbs or smoke detector batteries, or simply bringing the trash can from the curb.
Those random acts of kindness generate the connection between the business and community—and also those oh-so-helpful reviews.
“If you want to drive reviews,” Ringe said, “you have to deliver a full experience worthy of writing a review.”
10. Invest in a user-friendly website design
The website often is the customer’s first exposure to the business. Which stresses the importance of that online marketing. A clunky home services website can turn people away; a clean, clear one draws them.
Make sure the site is clear with information easily accessed. Share your stories on the site to personalize the business. Make sure the online reputation is what you seek.
Your online presence is the online billboard for your brand. Take advantage of that truth.
Here’s what you can do next
All marketing efforts are inherently based on the business’s ability to provide quality and professional services. But marketing can enhance a reputable business’s bottom line through lead generation — whether it be content marketing, digital marketing strategies or an overall marketing plan.
Having a way to keep better track of marketing efforts can take the guesswork out of the customer acquisition equation. Ultimately, this allows for you to better invest your time and money in the right channels. Having a more organized and trackable marketing effort also allows you to adjust methods or messaging that doesn't work — or to amplify those that are working well. This way you can continue to reach the right people who are going to book meetings with your technicians.
A software like ServiceTitan that connects and streamlines your avenues of marketing in one, comprehensive place will make it easier for you to make marketing a part of your workday, and a major part of your success.
