10 Home Services Marketing Tips & Strategies for Growth

What Is Home Services Marketing?

Home services marketing is any promotional content you create, from emails to ads and landing pages, that helps get your business name out there.

The goal is to reach your target audience with effective campaigns that promote your services. While there’s lots of general advice about marketing online, home services companies need to take a specific approach.

You’ll need to: 

• Strategically target your service area

• Make the value of your services clear

• Make it easy for customers to book with you

It’s also a good idea to keep a close eye on home services industry trends that might affect your approach. For example, high interest rates and inflation mean fewer people are buying homes than before, so homeowners are more likely to invest in repairs and remodeling.

This type of industry knowledge can inform your marketing campaigns and guide you into advertising the key services homeowners seek.

Why is Marketing for Home Service Businesses Important?

Megan Bedford, founder and owner of Mugyver Consulting, says marketing is about “what makes you unique and different compared to your competitors—and how [you] tell that story to your customers.”

Your marketing strategy can and should benefit customers, the team, and the company by matching your unique value to customer needs. 

If your marketing materials address customer needs, they’ll quickly decide to choose your business. That means more leads and more business.

However, you’ll have to implement marketing best practices to communicate directly to your customer base. From Google Ads to reputation management and email campaigns, each tactic has its own best practices you should follow to make every marketing dollar count.

Let’s look at some of the components of a successful marketing strategy that can build awareness of your brand.

10 Tips & Strategies for Effective Home Services Marketing

Marketing takes careful thought, strategy, and a focus on what works—but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Tips from marketing experts or peers in the field can give you a head start to building a successful strategy. 

NexGen Air CEO Ismael Valdez says that keeping it simple helped him scale his HVAC-plumbing business from zero to $30 million in revenue in four years: “We didn’t overcomplicate anything. And we focused on marketing. It’s the most important thing.”

Marketing and operations software like ServiceTitan can help you get started with clear templates, guidance, and all the data you need to make better marketing decisions. It’s a simple way to generate new leads and get your name out there using all the tools at your fingertips.

Key strategies for home services marketing are listed in the image below:

Below, we’ll cover some specific tips and tricks for each strategy:

1. Invest in local SEO

Consider: 98 percent of consumers use the internet to find out about local businesses, and 97 percent learn more about a company online than anywhere else.

To reach customers in your local service area online, it’s important to maximize your website for local Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

How can you accomplish this? By claiming and optimizing a Google Business Profile and ensuring your business website includes local keywords. People will search for your service plus their location (for example, “HVAC repair Cleveland”), so make sure those words are on your website.

Some of the key ways to optimize local SEO for local search include:

• Set up your own Google 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, the more Google will recognize the company’s credibility and the more chance you’ll have of reaching the 98% of local people who read online reviews.

• 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, but you must complete it:

• Use the actual business name with a local phone number

• Ensure you provide your hours of operation and that they are accurate.

• Write about yourself in a way the average person will understand.

• Include high-resolution photos. Better yet, include videos. Both can give customers a better idea of exactly what you offer.

A complete Google Business Profile is an essential first step. The next step? Getting good Google reviews.

2. Get positive reviews on your Google Business Profile

Let’s be honest: positive reviews are the result of quality work. Start with a customer-first approach and get the basics right. Work done carefully, correctly, and on time is the best way to generate positive reviews.

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,” says 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.

• Have a system for asking for reviews—whether through email, in person when a job is completed, or with your invoice. The customer will happily leave a good review if your work is exemplary.

• Show customers how to leave reviews. They may not know and may appreciate basic instructions.

• Respond to any negative or critical reviews. This shows you’re open to feedback and care about improving your services.

Remember that Google isn’t the only place customers will leave reviews. Make sure you’re checking reviews on other sites like Yelp and Angi.

If that sounds complicated, it doesn’t have to be: ServiceTitan’s Reputation Management feature can help you generate and manage reviews across 60 sites. You can send automated review requests to customers once a job is complete and then manage reviews easily from one dashboard.

It also captures insights into which customers, jobs, and technicians are driving positive or negative reviews for your business, so you’ll know exactly what you do best and where you can improve.

3. Leverage social media marketing

Social media is all about connecting with customers and communities. From YouTube to LinkedIn, you can choose a wide variety of social media platforms to market your services.

Many of your customers probably spend a lot of time on social media. 

Social media marketing lets you tell your story more informally, and you can even inject some humor to show a little personality. That builds a brand, drives business and growth, and forges a bond with the community and individual homeowners.

Focus on authentic content. Be free to be offbeat or quirky. Ensure the content is generated for social media and not merely to link to your company website. This builds a community around your brand, which helps attract leads.

Because social media is about engagement, it helps to have a team member dedicated to responding to positive and negative comments to keep your community engaged.

4. Harness the power of email marketing

Email marketing is a great way to create personalized campaigns for an audience of qualified leads—and best of all, it’s cheap. Targeted email marketing can earn your company, on average, $40 for every $1 spent.

Chances are, you already have a list of email addresses from past customers and new leads. Reach out to these contacts with emails that tell them about special offers, promotions, and news. 

You can also segment your email list into different demographics to create more personalized messages. For example, you could send a promotional offer to customers who may need maintenance on jobs you’ve completed.

ServiceTitan’s email marketing features allow you to segment your audience by ZIP code, equipment age, date of last service, new homeowner, and more for hyper-targeted campaigns.

Using data already collected in ServiceTitan, you can target previous customers with a “We Miss You!” email campaign, follow up on unsold 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,” says ServiceTitan Strategic Project Manager Heather Donaldson.

5. Advertise with PPC ads

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads get your name and business at the top of Google searches. They require research on specific keywords to use, as well as a budget for ads. But the payoff can be worth the expense.

If you’re using Google alone, you can track impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost per lead. However, ServiceTitan’s Ads feature allows you to see the ROI of your ad spending to determine which ads generate the most revenue for your business.

This marketing data feeds into your campaigns, training Google to target higher-quality leads for better results each time.

6. Run Google Local Services Ads

Google Local Services Ads cost money, but only if a customer calls, books, or messages through the ad. 

First, you’ll need a Google Guaranteed badge that tells potential customers you’ve been screened and verified by Google. 

Applying for the badge involves a screening process that includes a background check, insurance checks, license checks, and other verifications—but once you’re done, it adds an extra level of credibility to your ad. 

And credibility from Google can be a huge bonus: “Just understand Google is God when it comes to home service,” says Tommy Mello, The Home Service Expert.

ServiceTitan integrates with Local Services Ads to let customers book directly with you through Google. When they see your ad at the top of a search, they can pick a date and time right from Google and just click “Book.”

With faster booking, you’ll be able to secure more customers who don’t want to waste any time getting a contractor to their front door.

“With GLSA customers you don’t have a shopper,” says Shane Jaeger of Ben Franklin Plumbing in Dallas, “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.”

7. Engage users with video marketing

The up-and-coming generation grew up on videos. Targeting them with informative or helpful videos is key to grabbing their attention. Videos can educate, inform, or entertain—or all the above. 

More importantly, videos show customers who you are in a way that text can’t. You can tell your story in person—for example, if your business is involved with a local charity, you can highlight what that means and why you do it. People who watch your videos will better understand what it might be like to work with you.

“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’ll get back value.”

8. Get referrals

Word of mouth is a time-tested way to generate new business. 

When satisfied customers tell their friends and neighbors about you, it can have a strong impact because the story comes from a trusted person. Think of referrals as mini-testimonials from someone whose opinion holds value within their social circle.

Of course, the better your work, the more referrals you’ll have. So, this effort starts with quality, professional work. Ask happy customers to keep a few business cards to pass on or offer incentives to existing customers who refer others.

9. Provide a great customer experience

You’ve probably heard the adage, “Treat people the way you want to be treated.” That means respecting the customer, which leads to a great customer experience.

Arriving on time and wearing shoe coverings tells customers you value their time and home. 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.

Travis Ringe of ProSkill Services explains that “second-mile” service can be a key way to stand out: “It's looking for ways to go above and beyond the call. It could be as easy and cliché as bringing up the trash can or the newspaper.”

With ServiceTitan’s Field Service app, you can leverage technology to boost your customer service. It gives your customers real-time information on when techs will arrive, with a map that tracks your service vehicles, alerts, and two-way SMS communication.

“Customers absolutely love our live tracking with ServiceTitan. It constantly gets mentioned in our reviews,” says Ringe, who compares it to tracking your Uber or Lyft driver while waiting for a ride. “They know exactly where the technician is en route to them.”

Above-and-beyond services can help encourage customers to return the favor with a 5-star review.

10. Invest in a user-friendly website design

Your website is your digital home base, and it’s the first place customers will go to learn more about your business. A clunky home services website can turn people away; a well-designed one draws them in.

Make sure your website is clear, fast-loading, and mobile-responsive. As you build out your site, keep SEO and lead generation tactics in mind—for example, creating a page for each service area can help you rank higher in local searches.

You could also include a landing page for each service you offer, along with blogs, testimonials, videos, and infographics that give customers all the information they need to make a decision.

Don’t forget to make it easy to book with you. Place “Book Now” buttons in obvious spots and link them back to your contact page.

What Are Some Home Services Marketing Examples?

Here are a few examples of contractors that have leveraged unique marketing strategies to boost their home services profiles on different marketing channels.

• HydroNYC: Plumbing contractor HydroNYC has invested heavily in TikTok social media videos as part of their marketing strategy. They post entertaining videos about their strategies for tackling difficult jobs and include a Linktree to key products and other social channels.

• James River Air Conditioning: James River has invested in SEO by creating a unique location page for each area they serve, helping them rank in local searches and get a high rank in the local map pack. If you’re not sure where to begin, you can always consult a marketing agency for guidance.

How To Choose a Home Services Marketing Agency

A home services marketing agency is a team of marketing specialists that can create marketing campaigns across a variety of channels.

Home service marketing agencies can help contractors by auditing their existing marketing efforts, creating designs and copy that resonate with their audience, and developing strategies that help improve their visibility in their service area.

To choose a home services agency, here are some factors to consider:

• See what services they offer: You may need a complete strategy from scratch or help to boost a specific aspect of your marketing strategy, such as SEO or email marketing. Check to see if the agency's services align with what you’re looking for.

• See if they have experience working with your trade. Agencies with expertise in your service niche—whether plumbing, electrical services, or landscaping—will be better positioned to create marketing content that resonates with your audience.

• Check for reviews: Look at what past clients have said about the agency. Look beyond their overall score to dig deeper into what they get right and if there are any issues you should be wary of.

• Check for testimonials: Testimonials give you a more detailed glimpse into what the agency can do for its clients. If the agency has testimonials, it’s a good sign that former clients will go the extra mile to sing their praises.

• Ask for case studies: Case studies will tell you how the agency handled specific problems and the results they achieved. Ask for case studies on the specific services you’re looking for to see how the agency can support your growth.

You can either work with an agency on an ongoing basis or hire them temporarily to kick-start campaigns that you can continue to develop on your own.

Here’s what you can do next

Marketing can enhance your ability to provide quality, professional services by getting more of the customers you want. Whether through content marketing, PPC ads, or email campaigns, marketing can help you become a household name in your local service area.

Keeping better track of marketing efforts takes the guesswork out of marketing strategy. When you invest in software like ServiceTitan, you can include revenue data in marketing KPIs to focus on the campaigns that drive real growth.

ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution that helps service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and market their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and irrigation contractors across the country.