Top 5 HVAC Marketing Ideas To Generate Leads
If you own an HVAC business, then you understand that keeping and acquiring customers is much more than changing out air filters and installing heat pumps.
Even if you’re the best technician in the city, it’s nearly impossible to keep a business running without quality marketing strategies. With technology, social media, and other marketing strategies constantly evolving, it’s tough to keep up with the best marketing ideas. So we came up with a list of current tips that we feel will help your HVAC business take off!
But First...Optimize Your Website For Conversions
We all know how important a good first impression is, right? In an interview, it can be the distinction between getting a job and not getting a job. Well, your website is quite often the first impression of your services, your values, and your reputation. You’re very much so being analyzed by potential customers and considered for their immediate HVAC needs. It’s your job to convince them that you’re the best fit in their area. So what are the ‘must haves’ for your first impression on your company website?
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- Make your site mobile-friendly. Most online searches come from mobile phones especially for emergencies like an HVAC outage. People want quick results and quick solutions for what they’re looking for so they will not have the patience for a site that is not compatible with their mobile device. Things like website width, image, and video load time are things to consider when building a mobile-friendly site. Google’s Mobile Friendly Test is a great tool to use to make sure your site is performing up to standards.
- Display your phone number at the top of every page. It’s important that your phone number is one of the first things they see so when they make the decision to call, they don’t have to hunt for your contact information. Show it in contrasting colors so it’s easy to see and read and use CTA buttons in your services and about us pages to make it more convenient for potential customers to click on your number.
- Make sure your site is loading quickly. You could have a really polished site, but if your high-quality images or videos are causing delays in load time - we have a problem. Online searchers don’t wait long before clicking off a site that’s experiencing load issues and you wouldn’t want all your hard work vamping up your site to go to waste. The best thing to do is to compress all your images or videos before uploading them to your site. This step is crucial to making sure your HVAC website will run smoothly for your potential customers.
- Wear your best attire. When it comes to your website, looks are important. Even something as simple as a color scheme can show them if it hasn’t been updated since the 1980s or it’s clearly kept up with the times as far as a clean, professional, and simple design. Bullet points are always great because it shows your customers exactly what you do and whether or not it’s what they need in a very simple way that’s easy to read. Make sure you’re taking advantage of common keywords that potential clients type in the search bar to help your chances of being clicked on, and help your chances of clients relating to the common issues you’re listing.
1. Search Engine Marketing
When a homeowner is ready to hire an HVAC contractor, it’s common to search for local services on Google. Is your website showing up in the search results? Make sure you have a solid presence in the search engines so you can bring in new customers.
The truth is that most potential customers don’t look beyond the first page of search results. If you want people to see your business, then you need to make sure that your site is visible when someone searches for a related keyword. These are some of the most effective ways to establish a strong online marketing presence:
- Google My Business Listing: Set up a local business listing in Google to optimize the likelihood that customers will find your site when looking for local services. This listing shows up in Google maps, making it easy for potential customers to see contact information, read reviews, and access your website.
- Pay Per Click Marketing: Paying per click gives you instant access to a flow of website traffic. You only pay when people are clicking on your ads. These clicks move people onto your optimized landing page, where you can convert leads to sales.
- Search Engine Optimization: Once you identify the most effective keywords for your business, next it’s time to optimize your website for these target phrases. A good search engine optimization strategy keeps your business high in the search results.
Consider these statistics to see how powerful search engine marketing is for your HVAC business:
- Organic search accounts for 53% of trackable website traffic
- Location plays a role in nearly 1 in 3 mobile searches
- Companies with Google My Business listings are found in an average of 1,009 searches per month
2. Referral Marketing
Word of mouth is a powerful way to bring in vetted leads. When a current or previous customer refers a lead, then this referral already has an established foundation of trust.
- Leads are 4x more likely to make a purchase when referred by a friend or family member
Through referral marketing, social proof is built into the sales process. A potential client receives a solid recommendation from someone they trust. As a result, there is a high likelihood that the person will choose to move forward with these services.
- The lifetime value of a referred customer is 16% higher compared to customers from other marketing sources
- Referred customers result in 16% more profits than other customers
Referral leads not only bring more contracts for your business, but they often turn into life-long customers. Referrals can be one of the highest quality leads you can access, which is why it’s wise to ask your current customers to share their recommendations with people that they know.
- When a customer is acquired through a referral, their retention rate is 37% higher.
3. Email Marketing & Lead Nurturing
Email Marketing has been around for decades but still manages to be the preferred method of communication for most businesses. Why? Because it's quick, to the point, and there’s no room for distractions of photos, videos, or over-the-top sales pitches. Plus, people tend to check their email every day, in fact, 90% of emails get delivered to the intended recipient’s inbox, whereas only 2% of your Facebook fans see your posts in their News Feed. Email marketing continues to be a reliable and trackable form of reaching out to clients and seeing how to improve and get better conversion rates.
Email marketing allows you a one-to-many approach when reaching out to current and potential customers. Set up a pre-designed autoresponder series to nurture these leads and build better relationships with your customers.
- In the construction industry, the average email open rate is 21.77% and the average click rate is 2.26%
- One study found that email ROI is around 28.5%
Build a list of potential clients so you can establish relationships with these people. It’s also helpful to have an email list of current clients to keep your business fresh in their minds. Not only can you set up an autoresponder to deliver predetermined messages to your list. But email marketing is also a great way to send announcements and business updates through your newsletters.
Don’tthink of email marketing as a form of harassing your customers to spend more money on your business. The point of email marketing is to build relationships with your customers by being informative, helpful, and reliable. Here are a couple of tips to help you stay on the right track:
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✅ DO Personalize your emails to your specific audience. Think about your goals for the email. Do you have a percentage of clients that you know are at risk of quitting? If so, think about promoting a special offer or a list of great testimonials, or more information on how they can receive help if they need it. Just as you would tailor a resume to a specific job you want, you should tailor your emails to meet the customer’s needs. So make sure you know your customers well. |
❌ DON’T Don’t send the same email out to every single customer. Not every customer needs the same information. Sending the same email to everyone is bound to bombard customers with irrelevant information that they are not interested in. It takes you one step closer to getting a checkmark in the “unsubscribe” box which surely you don’t want. |
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✅ DO Use marketing automation. Automated emails can be extremely useful as it helps you stay consistent and also allows you to send your emails at the highest click rate times to ensure your customers see and click on the email. Sending the right emails to the right customers at the right time is a huge part of successful email marketing. Using an automation system helps out a lot with that! |
❌ DON’T Don’t lose consistency with your voice and send one-off emails that feel random to your customer and ruin their experience. Establish your brand voice from the beginning, and stay consistent with that as well as sending relevant emails to specific groups of customers. For example, if you’re primarily an HVAC company but you’ve recently added plumbing and have a special offer, you wouldn’t want to send your HVAC customers a special plumbing offer out of nowhere, right? You’d want to make sure you notify them first that your company is starting to branch out to different industries. |
4. Social Media Marketing
Don’t underestimate the power of social media! One of the best marketing tools is social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. The more consistent and active you are on these sights, the more potential customers are able to see how you interact with customers, what special offers you have going on, and what kind of helpful tips you have to share for common HVAC issues. Sharing videos and photos is a great way to show your company culture, values, and professional knowledge on HVAC projects. The more they know about your technicians and business, the more comfortable they’ll be with calling you up!
For example, Facebook marketing allows you to target your ideal demographic, with options for retargeting and personalized landing pages. Facebook marketing is an investment that pays off over time as you build relationships with the people who are following your account.
- 1 billion searches daily occur on Facebook
- There are 90 million Facebook pages for small and medium-sized businesses
- 78% of users in the United States say they’ve found new products and services on Facebook
YouTube marketing is another excellent solution to share video content. Optimize the video description, and it increases the likelihood of your video or YouTube channel ranking well in the search engines.
- YouTube is the second most used social media site among construction contractors
- 95% of a message is retained when users view the information in a video
Social media, including both Facebook and YouTube, are useful for connecting with new leads and keeping your business at the top of the minds of your current customers. When you are posting regularly, it builds your brand and reminds people where to go when they need HVAC services.
5. Pay Per Call Companies
Paying for a lead generation service is a shortcut that connects you with vetted leads. As a result, you don’t have to deal with the headache of managing a complicated online marketing campaign. Instead, you focus on building your business while letting the pros handle the lead generation.
Lead generation is an excellent investment because every lead you receive is a potential customer who is searching for your services. A timely response to these inquiries can result in a steady stream of new business for your company. These results are value-focused, allowing you to tap into a proven system so you can connect with clients in your area. We’re here to help if you are looking for solutions to find local homeowners who need your HVAC services.
Just be aware - not every lead generation company is created the same. Some charge for all leads whether they are spam, wrong numbers, or a lead from months ago that’s been sold dozens of times. Your hard-earned money should only go towards leads that have the potential to turn into real customers, so make sure you find a marketing company that represents the same belief.
Be Consistent And Measure Performance
We hope these tips will help you along your journey of growing your HVAC company. As a small business ourselves, we understand the obstacles of putting yourself out there and making sure people know your name and your value. We’re confident if you give these marketing ideas a try, you’ll be much closer to reaching all your business goals and creating an even better experience for your customers!
