Savvy contractors know the value of good marketing and how they can leverage it to drive revenue to their shops. Targeted, well-timed revenue-generating campaigns help you:
Stay busy even during shoulder or off-peak seasons
Get into a home to perform services that could lead to an upsell
Increase margins through holiday or seasonal promotions
Marketing works best when you use an omnichannel approach, meaning you’re not using just one method to market to your customers. In fact, marketers who used direct mail in conjunction with email saw leads increase by 53% and ROI increase by 60%.
With those kinds of numbers, you can’t afford to not use both.
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Your campaign success also depends on how well you target your audiences. This can be tricky if you’re trying to combine different campaigns for maximum effect. But it’s crucial that your targeting is spot-on, because you don’t want to turn off customers by sending them campaigns that aren’t relevant to them.
If you’re not sure what type of revenue campaigns to create or how to combine them with other campaign types, we’ve got a few ideas to help you get started.
Coupons
When it comes to revenue campaigns, coupons are one of the easiest to create. You can take advantage of holidays, changes in season, or special events (like Super Bowl Sunday, for example) to create promotions.
If you add coupons to your website (and if you don’t already, you should!), let your customers know. Highlight those deals in your campaigns to nudge them to book. Direct mail works great for coupons—just be sure you’re using eye-catching language and colors to help you stand out in customers’ mailboxes.
Membership Sales
Memberships help many contractors keep a steady revenue stream when business is slower. Once you get into the home, you can look for replacement opportunities or other services the homeowner may need that you can upsell to them.
Send targeted campaigns to customers who aren’t members and tout the benefits of your membership programs with a phone number or link to sign up. You can even combine them with referral campaigns and incentivize customers to not just sign up for memberships, but refer friends, too.
Here’s an example of a drip campaign you can try:
1st email letting customers know you offer memberships
2nd email explaining the benefits of being a member
3rd email or direct mail coupon offering a membership discount when they refer a friend who also signs up for a membership
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Membership Renewals
If you have customers with memberships that are due to expire soon, membership renewal campaigns are a great way to keep them on as members and retain that source of revenue. The most important thing to remember with renewals is to allow ample time to run your campaigns.
Not sure when to start? 45 days is a good time to send the first email or direct mail piece, followed by 30 days out, and then 15 or 7 days out for the last one.
These can also be combined with other campaign types such as:
Coupons: Offer customers a discount coupon as an incentive with their final renewal reminder.
Referrals: Remind customers about your referral program when you send them their initial renewal reminder.
Educational Info: Giving a customer useful home tips? Remind them they won’t have to worry about DIY maintenance with a membership!
Recurring Service Reminders
Make sure your shop is sending reminders when customers are due for equipment tune-ups or other regular maintenance services. Recurring service reminders give you an opportunity to get a technician into a home for a potential upsell, even if you’re sending them to members whose maintenance services are pre-paid.
To further entice customers, include a discount coupon for a repair service, so they can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Plug your memberships to non-members by sending a separate campaign just for those customers. Mention your referral program by adding it in the footer of your email campaigns—you have lots of possibilities!
Cross-Sales
Cross-sale campaigns are great to send to customers who had one service done but could benefit from a different service. For example, if your customer recently had an A/C tune-up, you could send them an email or postcard with a coupon for a duct inspection or cleaning if they haven’t had it done yet. Look for services that pair well together!
Here are a couple of other campaign combinations to try with cross-sales campaigns:
Membership Sales: Drop a reminder about your membership program and how it helps homeowners stay proactive.
Educational Info: Give customers the benefits of the product or service you’re cross-selling in a follow-up email or direct mail piece.
Revenue Campaigns Made Easier With ServiceTitan Marketing Pro
Marketing Pro users, you already have tools at your disposal to create visually appealing, highly targeted email and direct mail campaigns just like the ones we’ve mentioned here. With Marketing Pro’s pre-made templates, you can find just the right message to send your customers and customize it as needed.
There are also targeting tools that let you build inclusion rules and exclusion rules into email campaigns based on how customers engage with them. For example, if you want a customer to drop off a campaign after they open an email and click the call-to-action button, you can do that, so they don’t receive more emails.
If you’re already using Marketing Pro, be sure to check out the Marketing section of our Contractor Playbook for solid marketing tips and best practices.
Not a Marketing Pro user yet? Request a demo today, and learn how to save time creating and managing these revenue-generating campaigns.
ServiceTitan Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and substantially elevate the trajectory of their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, garage door, and chimney sweep shops across the country—and has increased their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.
