HVAC companies will have to adapt to the quickly changing needs of consumers, and that means updating your marketing strategies. If you beat the competition to this, you will have a better chance of getting the phone calls and leads first.
Old school methods are no longer effective as a marketing strategy. We understand running a business is your main focus; if you need help with your HVAC marketing strategy, we can help. However, if you want to know more about increasing your leads, scheduling jobs, and revenue, below are 14 proven methods to get started. In fact, they are the same strategies used by our team to help existing HVAC companies.
How To Convert Modern HVAC Consumers
Jobs are no longer easy to land simply through word of mouth like in the past. Also, consumers are no longer remaining with a company simply to be loyal. Today, people have become impatient and expect fast and professional service; they want instant gratification.
Consumers live in an era where the ‘I want it now’ perspective is a reality. That means they expect you to respond immediately about scheduling appointments, phone calls, top quality service, and next-day services.
Below are some facts about the reality we live in now:
- Over 49% of consumers changed companies because of poor or slow customer service.
- Over 90% of people admitted customer service is a deciding factor.
- Studies show users create an opinion about new companies within .05 seconds – that’s fast!
- On average, consumers spend over 8 hours per day engaging digital content
- Over 41% of users expect companies to offer live chat on their website, 50% expect it on mobile sites.
- Over 85% of adults believe it should look equally appealing or better to a desktop website design.
Let’s get into the best HVAC marketing strategies for lead generation.
Your Website Design
We’re in a digital era where people tend to judge a book by its cover all day, every day. That means you can be the best in your profession, but if your website looks like it was designed in the 1990s and never updated, you will lose out on a ton of leads and jobs. With digital technology being the new normal, people associate visual appeal with service quality.
It is not just the design that people look at thought, they want to know their security, and again, they are impatient.
SSL Certificate
More than half of the results that make it to the 1st page of Google are secured websites with an SSL Certificate. People will often look to see if you’re taking their security important. In addition to building trust, having an HTTPS in your URL instead of just HTTP will help you rank better too.
Page Load Speed
When we say that people are impatient, we mean it. Way back when, a 5 second, even a 7-second page load would have seemed fast. However, if your website takes 5 seconds to load, you will lose a bunch of business. Research has shown people expect a website to load almost instantly, within 1-2 seconds. They take less than 1 second after loading to judge if they want to navigate or scroll around, or close the tab and keep searching.
Mobile-Friendly Design
If you have not already updated your website to be responsive for mobile devices, you really need to get it done. More than 75% of local searches for services were done on mobile devices. It is also another ranking factor implemented into the Google algorithm during 2015.
When people visit your website on a mobile device, they have much less space available, so it needs to allow them to easily navigate to the important areas and needed information. They will not want to search for the basics, and the font should be big enough to read without zooming in. Finally, you want your contact information to be easily found, such as a phone number or contact form.
Responsive vs. Made For Mobile
There is a difference between a website just being responsive and a website made for mobile devices. When you focus on a website design for mobile, it should leave the user thinking how easy it was to use and makes them want to use your website again over the other guys.
If you updated to a responsive website over the past few years, it might be time to consider looking into how it looks on modern smartphones and tablets. Does it still load quickly, do all the elements look right, or could things be improved?
SEO & Search Engine Marketing
When it comes to generating leads and landing new jobs, search engine marketing is arguably the best strategy to implement. It provides the opportunity to connect to local homeowners when they need your services most.
Search engine marketing includes several different areas, including:
- Local Service Ads
- Pay-per-click (PPC) Campaigns
- Local SEO
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
HVAC Marketing and SEO Basics
Homeowners that need solutions to their HVAC issues often go online first. However, if your website does not rank high enough to appear on the first page, you could be losing out on a ton of traffic. Most people do not go past the first page, and most of them click the first 1-3 links.
Search engines use over 200 different ranking signals to determine the position. The following are the factors with the most impact on SEO:
- Page speed
- Content quality/length
- Optimized images
- Security (SSL Cert.)
- Quality backlinks
- Schema markup
- Mobile-Friendly Design
- Social signals
- User experience
- Domain age
Each page of a website provides an opportunity to target a different set of keywords and phrases. Therefore, the longer your content length, the more keywords you can use, and the higher chance of ranking better.
Local SEO
Local SEO is a very important factor for any company offering local services. You want to target people in your service area the most because the local homeowners will be the ones that hire you. When they search for HVAC services, you want to be the first one they call, right?
Below are a few things to factor in for taking the first page of local searches:
- Ensure mobile-friendly design: Mobile searches now make up more than half of all online searches, especially for local services. That means it will not be going anywhere and likely will only increase over time. Get ahead of the competition early.
- Analyze your website: You want to review your website and find all the small ways to make your site better for ranking than the competition. Do you have an XML sitemap? Have you set the title tags and meta descriptions? Are you using the proper headers and recommended structure? By fine-tuning these small areas, you make it easier and faster for search engines to crawl and index your website.
- Consistent business information on social platforms: You want to provide the same contact information on all of your social media accounts. They also help with SEO efforts when set up properly. This includes having the correct info and regularly updated, including phone number, address, and name(s).
- Ensure proximity to searches: When you target local users, you want to be sure you’re targeting those that are within your service area, obviously. However, the closer you target, the more likely you are to rank well in with local search results.
- Use local directories: When local directories update their list of businesses in the area, be sure your website information gets included and that the contact information is updated and correct. Many people prefer using local directories to find services in their area.
- Ensure your Google My Business page is updated and optimized for your business and local searches.
Of course, with more than 200 ranking factors, there are various other ways you can attempt to take the first page of Google in your area. If you need additional help, just give Sage Marketing a call.
Ranking For Other Cities
With mobile searches becoming more popular than traditional organic searches, it is getting harder and harder to get HVAC services to rank high on Google in cities that you are not physically located. If you offer your services to a wider service area with more than the city you’re in, this can be challenging.
There will be extra steps you need to take for taking over the first page of Google in various cities or even states, but it is possible.
HVAC Blog Increases Lead Generation
Because Google ranks each web page and not the entire website as a whole, HVAC companies can benefit from having a blog on their website. This helps build and expand on existing SEO efforts by building content. Additionally, by answering questions in article format, you can build authority too.
Some examples of articles you could cover in a blog include duct cleaning, emergency HVAC repairs, air conditioning installation, furnace inspections, and many other types of how-to topics.
At some point, you will run out of services to discuss in your blog, so you may be asking what to do then? There are many other ways you can incorporate articles into your HVAC blog. For example, “Do I Need A New Furnace.” Each page can target a different type of quality traffic.
Reach The Top With Google Local Service Ads
Google Local Services ads are a great opportunity for HVAC companies to advertise in their area. Google offers local ads nationwide, and a lot of people use them to find a heating and air conditioning services; after all, they are the first thing shown when a person searches for local services.
To see what we mean, simply Google’ HVAC Contractor in the city’, for example:
You will see that the first thing shown are local ads, followed by a map and PPC ads. Organic search results are all the way at the bottom of the page. If you’re only targeting the first few organic slots, you will be missing out on a ton of potential jobs when it comes to geographical type searches.
Google Local ads give you an advantage; let’s go over the basics of how they work:
- Apply with the Local Services platform and get the Google Guarantee badge.
- Provide the required information, including insurance coverage, business license, and employee lists for Google to do a background check.
- After approval, ads are shown on the top of the search results anytime a local user searches for HVAC contractors.
- People begin calling you, and you’re only paying for the qualified leads.
Use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) For Instant HVAC Leads
Google Local Ads requires vetting, and that can take time. While waiting, you can start getting leads quickly using PPC advertising. It is recommended that a pay-per-click campaign be included in HVAC marketing strategies anyway to get ahead.
What Are Paid Search Ads and PPC?
A paid search ad is essentially you paying to get your ad listed and shown to people using the search engine or platform. It is commonly known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising because it is the most common type.
HVAC companies often use PPC marketing because it provides quicker results compared to the other types of marketing techniques that are more long-term results. Each time a user clicks the ad, you are charged by the ad network. Meanwhile, the long-term organic results are free and worth investing the time to get a high result position.
Is PPC Worth It For HVAC Services?
Yes, we have some clients that increased ROI by over 1,200% from PPC marketing. The trick is to do everything that you can to reach the top spots of Google and other search engines. Therefore, the question is not if PPC is worth it for HVAC services, but if it makes sense.
Knowing the numbers is the best way of determining if marketing of any type makes sense for HVAC companies or any other industry. To start, you need to understand what your marketing budget is and how much to pay per HVAC lead received.
How Many Users Actually Click Paid Ads?
The short answer is a lot! If businesses that invest in PPC did not get an ROI, there would not be so many that use it. Nearly all the major brands run PPC campaigns, even though they are already popular. It is because they are effective at increasing leads and traffic quickly.
However, it is important to know that it is not a one-size-fits-all type of marketing strategy. Each industry and company will have a different advertising budget and ad costs. For example, attorneys will have a much higher cost per click compared to nearly any other niche.
Social Media HVAC Marketing Plan
Below are some tips HVAC contractors can use for social media.
Incorporating social media into your HVAC marketing strategy is a great way to build leads, but there are some things you should know first. You should engage with your customers, but each platform has a different way to go about doing this for increasing visibility and promoting services.
Should you have an HVAC company page? Of course, most of your HVAC customers are likely on Facebook, and you should be too. This provides leverage for your company and an opportunity to directly engage and reach out to potential clients. Facebook advertising can also help increase brand loyalty, gain qualified leads, and build visibility.
Having a Facebook page alone will not do the trick. If you want to gain leads through Facebook, you need to use paid ads here as well. This will get your ad in front of very targeted, local homeowners. Since you’re already working on PPC Google ads, you should consider adding Facebook ads into your marketing strategy and targeted two different groups of homeowners.
Homeowners searching Google for local services are usually trying to solve a current issue and ready to schedule an appointment. Meanwhile, Facebook ads can help in all areas of the sales funnel.
Nextdoor for HVAC Services
If you haven’t heard of them yet, Nextdoor combines a service directory and social media app. It defines neighborhoods across the United States and allows homeowners to easily find out what goes on in their neighborhood. It can also be a great way for HVAC companies to establish a presence in the area and increase awareness.
Nextdoor is used by 90% of neighborhoods in the U.S. for recommendations and locating services. Establishing your presence can help increase awareness, build trust, and get more referrals.
Nextdoor Local Deals
This is another way that HVAC companies can market themselves locally. With Nextdoor local deals, you can increase leads within a 10-mile area of your location. Include their paid ads and really boost your leads.
Nextdoor Local Deals is a feature offered that lets businesses offer discounts, special offers, and promotions to those within 10 miles. It can be a great way to boost your local exposure. Also, Nextdoor advertising is often cheaper than Google Local Services or PPC ads.
Video Marketing
Video marketing has become a very important part of marketing strategies. Many homeowners have small tasks they don’t know how to do themselves but would be a waste of time and money to have a professional come out for. For example, there are many people that do not know how (or think) about changing filters out regularly.
When they do not know or understand something, they head over to Google or YouTube, search for it and, most of the time, end up watching a video. That is why YouTube has become the second largest search engine and why you should be using quality videos to your advantage.
The key behind video marketing is knowing what type of content to create and then publishing them around to reach your target audience. For instance, sharing them on YouTube, Social Media, your website, even emails.
Before recording, there are some things to consider:
- Video length should be around two minutes on average for quick explainer videos and short how-to tutorials.
- Upload to social media platforms – Facebook prefers direct uploading vs. sharing from YouTube.
- Upload on YouTube to build your channel.
- Add the video on your website – you can embed easily from YouTube.
- Share or upload to popular service pages.
Email Marketing For HVAC Companies
If you have already collected leads, the next thing is to stay in touch with them regularly. The best way of doing this is an email marketing strategy. You can use emails to keep customers updated about special promotions and new products. They can also be used to bring in more leads and sales.
Did you know?
- Emails get over 6x more click-throughs than a Tweet.
- Over 61% of customers opt-in for weekly promotions, while 28% prefer more frequent emails.
- Over 90% of emails hit the recipient’s inbox, while only 2% of your Facebook fans see a post on the news feed.
