According to HVAC.com, as of 2017, there were over 105,000 HVAC companies throughout the country. Even when you scale that number down to only ones local to you, your business is still in competition with many other HVAC service companies in the area. So how do you stand out? Part of that is to implement the correct HVAC advertising plan.
Establish an HVAC Marketing Budget From the Beginning
Before you start deciding on your HVAC advertising strategy, have a budget. If not, it’s like going to the grocery store hungry. You may see many types of HVAC marketing strategies that are appealing, and you feel you need for success. This can lead to you having your digital marketing campaign everywhere rather than targeting your local clientele, which means you may spend a great deal more than necessary and reap little reward from your investment.
Usually, those in the HVAC industry classify as small businesses. And companies of this stature should spend no more than eight percent — with six to eight percent being recommended — of their revenue on their digital marketing strategy. For example, let’s say you anticipate your company making $400,000 in your first year. You’ll want to invest between $24,000 and $32,000 to achieve your desired results.
If you’re just starting, you typically want to spend more than that to get your name out there through your marketing efforts. In this case, make an educated guess about how much you’ll make in the future by researching online. Then, decide on how much you want to invest.
Green’s Energy Service is the perfect example of this. When you search for an HVAC contractor in Orlando, FL, they’re at the top of the list, meaning they’ve spent the necessary money on HVAC advertising and taken the steps needed to reach the top.
Understand Your Target Market’s Habits
Nowadays, HVAC advertising, and most companies’ advertising, need to focus on digital marketing efforts. While word of mouth can provide you with some business, it’s not like the old days when that’s the only marketing you require to succeed.
Today, when homeowners have problems with their furnace, they don’t instantly phone a friend or family member and ask for recommendations. Most of the time, they head to their computer or grab their phone and perform a search for an HVAC repair company in the general vicinity.
This is when HVAC advertising online becomes imperative.
Interestingly enough, in the U.S., around 90 percent of citizens have access to the Internet. Many of them are performing online searches to find home service professionals. Statistics show that over 55 percent of consumers performed a web search before they scheduled an appointment.
This makes positioning your business on top of the search results pivotal, especially considering that only a small percentage of internet users are browsing past the first page, less than one percent to be exact.
Use this knowledge to craft your marketing strategy. From it, you can assume that many consumers on the web are looking for service people online. Therefore, you need a strong web presence to fulfill that need. Research in-depth about the target market in your age in terms of their age, gender, etc.
Manzo Plumbing & Heating, Inc. is a perfect example of a company that did its marketing research. Their area is primarily upper-class families, and they took the time to note they even wear booties to keep the homeowner’s residence clean.
Know How Consumers Compare HVAC Companies
Any HVAC advertising you have must keep the target audience in mind and how they compare companies. While not all customers look for the same criteria, some are static, such as a service company technician with the proper credentials.
HVAC technician requirements vary from state to state, but no matter the state, the technician must have the Section 608 Technician Certification at the bare minimum. Other certifications can demonstrate an HVAC specialist has gone above and beyond but isn’t required. Therefore, your first step should include any training and certifications on at least one page of the web copy.
The proper licensure is necessary to practice as a technician. Unfortunately, some individuals operate without one, making it essential to demonstrate you may legally offer this service in your state.
Highlight any special services you offer, such as if you work on a brand that few technicians have the necessary training to handle.
You must also include information about your experience and anything that makes you stand out as a specialist. For instance, note if you underwent an apprenticeship and had any training underneath a licensed expert.
Overall, what this means for your campaign is that you need to highlight these aspects somewhere in your content, possibly even on more than one page. Some of these qualifications may be your keywords too that can help your company rank higher. For instance, licensed or insured HVAC repairmen may be keywords in your area.
Chuba Heating & Remodeling did this well by mentioning the credentials of some of their staff, including licensure.
Research Your Target Keywords
When potential customers search for HVAC companies, they use certain keywords that vary based on your area. Before you put together a website and develop a marketing strategy, research the targeted keywords in your area. You can find programs online that will identify your keywords so you can incorporate them into your web copy.
Besides using a web program to do the tedious work for you, take the time to familiarize yourself with your competition’s digital marketing strategy. Know what types of marketing strategies they use in general. Read their websites and identify what keywords they’ve ranked for.
Ideally, look at the top three or four results in your city. You may find you’re missing out on HVAC clients to your competition over them having a superior online marketing strategy. It’s possible to match and exceed that strategy, though, when you know what your competition is up to and how their marketing compares to yours.
Keep in mind that knowing your keywords is basically an open-book test since it’s easy to find the information right at your fingertips. And it’s not considered cheating. Rather, it’s market research!
For instance, you might find that customers are most often searching for “HVAC repair Austin” as one of the top keywords in your region. You then want to use that in your content and weave it in as natural as possible. You want it to flow.
Long Beach Heating & Air, Inc. demonstrated their ability to hire an HVAC marketing company that helped them rank highly for keywords associated with their location.
Tailor Your Plan to Your Region
As noted above, the competition for HVAC service companies is great when you’re trying to rank against over 100,000 others. But, when you narrow it down to your area only, you slim the competition tremendously, allowing you more of a chance to rise to the top. Plus, a local HVAC advertising campaign makes sense since all your potential customers will be local.
Looking for new customers using a standard HVAC marketing strategy with basic keywords may fall short, and it’s also wasting money. By doing this, you’re targeting individuals who aren’t prospective customers, which is only wasted money, time, and effort.
A local search engine optimization plan uses geo-targeted keywords, meaning ones specific to your area. A digital marketing plan with geo-targeted words may include the name of your HVAC company’s city or a popular town within the general area that’s obtaining all the search results.
Charleston HVAC company might be one of the top keywords. You then need to work that into your text. Remember that you’ll want to rank for a few keywords, not just one. For this reason, variations on that keyword also work well on the search engine’s algorithm. Reiterating the example, you might want to use words like “HVAC in Charleston” or “HVAC near Charleston.”
Using the example from above, Charleston Heating + Air ranked highly for geo-targeted keywords well.
Consider Utilizing a Writer to Produce High-Quality Content
You may be one of the skilled HVAC contractors in the area. Your skills may outshine all the other HVAC contractors in the city. That doesn’t mean you have the chops to translate those skills into words that will list highly on search engines.
As a general rule, all content needs to be written well and be free or have minimal errors to rank highly. The content should have meaning and provide value to gain a top spot on search engines. It’s no longer enough in this day and age to generate piece after piece with a high keyword density.
For this reason, it may help to have a writer who understands SEO, including local SEO, to write your content. Often, digital marketing companies will have writers on staff to assist. You then receive flawless content for your HVAC company that won’t trip the algorithm and lowers your ranking due to poorly written content.
If you find you need a writer to produce your content, post an ad on a reliable freelance website or consider hiring a marketing agency. Often, an agency will have writers on staff to generate content.
In a case where you’re searching yourself, look into the writer’s background. Does he or she have experience? Is the experience in your niche or at least in web content and marketing copy? Ask the writer to provide examples of previous work in your area of interest.
Make a list of any qualifications you find to be beneficial, and look for writers who meet those criteria.
While we can’t know for certain which companies used writers and which had their own staff write for them, we bet Precision Heating & Air had a writer create both their web content and blog. Everything is well-written, clear, concise, and has a unique voice.
Start a Blog for Your HVAC Advertising
This may seem like an HVAC advertising method that’s too time-consuming for your business. But, it can be a vital HVAC marketing strategy worth every minute. Not only does blogging attract new HVAC customers, but it also targets existing clients.
When you create blogs regularly, you give new and previous clients a reason to visit your site and discover who you are, what your company offers, and how it can benefit them. The blogging efforts are a continuous reminder for former clients and a way to target new ones.
While this does take time and content needs to be relevant and well-written, and provided routinely, you don’t have to tackle this part of your HVAC business market plan on your own. Often, you can add it as another service for digital marketing campaigns.
If you plan to tackle this HVAC advertising strategy yourself, the goal is to not only rank high on the Google result and with other search engines for that subject but also to provide content of value. You then can attract new customers and keep the existing ones engaged.
Do your homework before every post to ensure you’re posting material your current clients will read and new ones will be interested in. You can find new topics by looking at Google search results and seeing what your competitors are writing about. You could also find Google search results about specific HVAC subject areas or take some time to brainstorm on your own.
Blogging aims to find a way to connect with your target audience. Once there on your blog, you also want to keep them reading. For this reason, add links to other pages to keep visitors on your site for as long as possible.
You can take it one step further and monitor your progress. Let’s say you posted three blogs in the past two weeks. See which ones perform well by checking your analytics. Then, as you create content, keep that in mind. That’s the kind of material your target audience enjoys.
Mitchell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling has a blog that they’ve continuously updated to keep prospective and current clients engaged and informed.
Purchase Google Local Service Ads
As previously mentioned, though briefly, a large number of individuals search online for assistance, though not mentioned, with their HVAC systems. They’re looking for companies and reading reviews. Instead of relying on organic search results for your HVAC website to rank up on the page, run local services ads on Google.
In addition to any HVAC marketing strategies you’re using on your website, your Google ads will automatically pop up. These Google ads are specific to what potential clients are searching for, so these individuals will see your ad at the top of the page when they search. There’s no wasted money on advertising with this HVAC advertising strategy because it’s targeting only those who are interested in your service, and it’s relatively specific to your area.
Specifically, when you purchase ads, have a specific purpose, because if you don’t, you’re just needlessly spending more for nothing in return, which equates to money down the drain. As you purchase ads, know if you’re raising brand awareness, promoting your product, or another goal. Then, tailor your ads around that purpose.
When you search for an HVAC company in Flagstaff, AZ, you’ll notice City Plumber and Rooter is at the top of the list because they purchased an ad.
Add Social Media to Your HVAC Advertising
Having an HVAC website is certainly an important element of your HVAC marketing campaign. It’s where your local audience will most likely search for HVAC companies first, making it a crucial element of your online presence.
With that being said, social pages as part of your HVAC marketing strategy can also elevate your ranking. Think about it this way; you can also use search engine optimization on your page and have two or more high-ranking pages rather than just one, ultimately elevating your online presence.
Plus, using social media as one of your HVAC marketing strategies can help you gain more customers in another way. As you create engaging posts, it works as a customer retention method. You keep previous customers engaged.
On the other hand, your social media posts may also draw in new customers simultaneously as your old customers share your posts. Even those who may have never used your service might recommend you to friends and family who are asking about HVAC contractor services. Moreover, anyone who engages on your social media page may share the content and help you broaden your target audience.
In addition to having a social media page, look into social media advertising. This consists of you running paid advertisements on social media platforms.
Then, as prospective clients scroll through their newsfeeds, they’ll come across your ad. While this does initially cost you money, it effectively enhances your social media presence.
Not to mention, statistics indicate over 70 percent of Americans have social media. And it’s part of many people’s everyday habits. As a result, it’s safe to say that at least some of your local clients are on social media, and running ads there can be an effective way to expand your audience.
When discussing which platforms to use, think about your purpose and target audience. A prime example is as follows; Facebook and Twitter both allow you to create content-filled posts and even share videos. Both have users of varying ages. Conversely, Instagram is more picture oriented and geared toward the younger crowd. In the HVAC industry, Facebook and Twitter reign supreme.
Schultheis Bros. Heating, Cooling & Roofing has a Facebook page, and they have regular giveaways on it. They also post pictures of their projects and keep followers engaged.
Don’t Forget Email Marketing for Your HVAC Marketing Strategy
Long are over the days of email blasts and purchasing a list of recipients. Not only is this no longer successful, but it’s an HVAC marketing strategy that really didn’t make much sense to begin with. It led to wasted efforts all around because those individuals weren’t looking for HVAC services and only a few may have taken notice of the emails being sent.
Nowadays, HVAC marketing using emails requires a business to obtain the email addresses in a more natural manner, leading to more prospective customers receiving the emails and less wasted time and effort.
Collect email addresses for your email marketing campaign in a way that’s non-intrusive to current and new customers. For example, feature a sign-up sheet on your website. Don’t make this sign-up a requirement to enter your site because many viewers will merely leave the site and move on to another one or will provide you with a fake email.
Another way to find individuals who want to receive emails about the HVAC industry and your services is by sending out postcards via snail mail. The postcard should contain words and phrases that draw the attention of prospective clients and request they sign up for your email to keep up with your business. Offer discounts on a first visit or a particular service when a person signs up for your email marketing campaign.
Apart from finding email recipients, the email marketing techniques you use also matter in the grand scheme of the success of this form of HVAC advertising. You don’t want to bombard your prospective clients with one email after another on a daily basis. Like your HVAC website content and social media posts, your emails need to have meaning and provide value.
When email marketing, send out emails to keep prospective and existing clients updated on your latest sales. This may encourage them to use your service when they need routine maintenance or if they’ve been putting off getting a major HVAC repair, such as updating their system.
In your emails, it may also help to write short posts about topics relevant to your HVAC company. For instance, seasonal content, such as preparing your HVAC unit in the spring or how to decrease heating costs in the winter, allow your HVAC company to provide useful content. You can also position your HVAC company as a solution for the prospective clients’ current problems.
Sharon’s Heating & Air Conditioning has a newsletter, and those who want to read previous ones may even find them available online in an archive.
Encourage Feedback
Whether it’s on your website or through your social media page, encourage feedback. Get to know what customers genuinely think about your services and crew. You can then better your services so your customers will be more likely to return.
As one of the HVAC marketing strategies, you’re not only helping your HVAC business better retain customers, but you’re also improving your service in general. This leads to more word-of-mouth advertising.
Plus, if your HVAC business is already supplying a quality service and meeting the expectations of customers, that’ll be noted in the feedback. Other prospective customers may see that as they’re searching for reviews about your company.
Fortunately, adding this option to your site costs nothing but can boost your campaign immensely. You may obtain reviews on your email newsletters, social media sites, and landing pages.
For instance, you just might find that your service people lack common courtesy and aren’t answering questions efficiently. It’s then you can train your staff on the proper techniques as well as provide tips for helping customers better.
Armstrong Comfort Solutions allows customers to post reviews on the site, which helps them and their potential clients.
Think About Implementing YouTube for Marketing
YouTube is the place where people often turn when they’re unsure how to complete a task. They watch a video of someone who knows how to solve their problem.
Some individuals would rather not read a lengthy blog filled with content that doesn’t pertain directly to their issue just to figure out how to do something or learn more about a topic. They may be visual learners who struggle to figure things out when reading content. In this case, a video may work better for these individuals.
While it can harm your business and be dangerous to give detailed tutorials on HVAC repairs, some safe fixes, like changing a filter or cleaning out air ducts, can be excellent ways to engage with new and potential clients.
Through your videos, you can also educate about topics like routine maintenance and energy efficiency. This not only will provide your audience with useful tips, but it’s also an opportunity for you to connect with these individuals as a person. They get to see who you are, your personality, and possibly why they’d like to use your business.
Climate Masters Heating and Air Conditioning Service has a YouTube channel with a number of posts to help people breathe cleaner air in their homes and reduce their energy usage, among other topics they touch base on.
Don’t Get Comfortable
Your HVAC company may be in a perfect position right now when it comes to your HVAC internet marketing campaign. You may have a website that receives high traffic and a social media page with tons of followers. You might even have an email newsletter that reaches a large number of individuals.
However, the best HVAC marketing ideas aren’t always what’s going to be the best marketing techniques a year from now or even in a few months. Therefore, as a business owner, keep up with the marketing trends. Understand how the keywords and other elements of your marketing will change over time.
Therefore, it’s vital to use Google analytics to monitor your traffic and know where most of it is coming from and which terms you’re getting the most hits on. When there are lulls in your business, get to the root of the problem by seeing how your digital marketing efforts are working.
When you have an agency, they can help you identify the source of the problem and develop a course of action so you don’t steer off course too much and feel the wrath of a poorly performing digital marketing campaign.
Occasionally, you could benefit from a total upgrade of your site. This not only includes revamping the layout but also includes rewriting any of your existing web copy to be search engine optimized for the times.
HVAC advertising isn’t a straightforward, easy-to-explain topic. Various elements affect your level of success when it comes to digital marketing strategies. However, when you use SEO, have well-worded web content and blogs, and use YouTube and social media sites to your advantage, you’ll have a better chance at success in not only your marketing campaign but in business success in general.
Hetter Heating & Cooling have done just this. If you check the company’s site, they’ve implemented various techniques to help them reach the number one spot. And we can assume they’ll continue to make changes to their marketing plan with time to remain that way.
FAQs About HVAC Advertising
If you have questions about HVAC advertising or would rather have a quick breakdown of HVAC digital marketing, here are some of the most frequently asked questions:
1. What Is the Best Digital Marketing Strategy for an HVAC Business?
There isn’t one specific answer to this question. An array of strategies work for marketing, and often work together, to enhance a business’ online presence.
Keeping that in mind, when you’re selecting marketing strategies for your HVAC campaign, know that the entire point of marketing efforts is to separate your company from the competition. Some of the more successful strategies include content marketing/blogging, SEO, social media marketing, and email marketing. Using video marketing can enhance your campaign as well.
2. How Do You Target Homeowners With HVAC Marketing?
Homeowners are your target audience, seeing as how renters will typically have a landlord to assist with an HVAC matter.
As you create a marketing strategy, homeowners are your audience, and you need to consider them at every step of their journey, from the time they start looking for an HVAC company throughout the course of them using your services.
You may target this group with social marketing, blogging, Google ads, and email marketing, to name a few examples. Any efforts, you consider what would pertain most to this group.
3. Should You Enter SEO Into Your HVAC Marketing Plan?
Absolutely… no matter whether you’re in the HVAC business or sell clothing or any other service or product in between, SEO assists you in reaching your target audience. It’s how you rank on the search results and gain exposure. It’s even beneficial for social media and YouTube. Fortunately, an HVAC marketing company or certain online programs can aid in this process.
4. Can My HVAC Business Advertise on Nextdoor?
Yes, you can advertise your business on Nextdoor, and it’s one extra marketing strategy that can get the word out about your HVAC company. With this site, you can find and secure your customers. You’ll be able to become part of the neighborhood hub and link with other businesses in the area that have local customers.
Through Nextdoor, you can share updates and acquire feedback to assist in molding your marketing campaign. This site also allows you to establish and strengthen relationships with individuals in your community.
