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ApplianceWhat is Local Marketing?
Local Marketing is a term created by digital marketers to explain how detailed you can get with your targeting online. As a small or medium sized HVAC business, all of your marketing is local. It always has been. What is important to discuss is what does Local Marketing mean now in 2021 with everything that’s just happened?
When marketers talk about the importance of local marketing for a service-based business, they really should be referring to the targeting you should be utilizing to speak to the right customers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to focus locally for marketing, but that has always been the case. That hasn’t changed, it’s just not the full story anymore. We really need to look at local marketing + demographic targeting + audience intent + marketing funnel segmentation. With data being so accessible now, there’s no reason not to utilize it. I know there are restrictions coming, but we can use similar strategies to accomplish the same targeting as before.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into how you can build a targeting strategy for your HVAC company in 2021 and how to amp up your Local Marketing game.
Update Your Customer Persona Data Based on What They Will Likely Need Soon.
I have been having a lot of discussions lately with HVAC and Plumbing companies pertaining to data. We collect and curate so much data, it’s hard to sometimes know how to make sense of it all. Where the conversation usually ends up is "business units" (service + market). If we can determine your ideal customers in each business unit then we will better know how to target the right customers at the right time.
Determine the customer persona based on what they need. It’s easy to know if you’ve been to their home. You should also target new customers using this method as well through digital marketing, and direct mail by analyzing your database, and average profit returned from ads.
Funnels Aren’t Just for Keg Parties
After you install a new Air Conditioner for a customer, you aren’t going to need to replace that for a while. However, that doesn’t mean they should fall out of your marketing funnel, it’s important to determine which funnel they get added to after each purchase. Once they leave the install funnel, they go directly into the “Sell them a membership” funnel. Here’s a full breakdown of all the marketing tactics you can utilize to reach each customer along with your sales and marketing funnel. We also wrote a description of each customer's mindset and potential triggers to know how to properly target them at each stage. (Full Eguide download available here).
Transition Your Tactics
I know it’s really exciting to see your ad on the boards at your local hockey stadium or your logo on a team’s practice jerseys.Guess what though… no one is going to these games (or practices), so now what? They might not be sitting in those seats anymore, but they all are online and they are still sports fans.
If you're a business that likes to sponsor sports teams in your community, try keeping that tactic for targeting, just rethinking how you reach those same people.If you have someone in your organization that is a die-hard sports fan, ask him to go on Facebook Live or Instagram stories and create a funny “Recap of last night's game” - brought to you by (your company).This is a cool tactic that starts driving people to your content to build loyalty. Start creating content for sports fans that have absolutely nothing to do with HVAC repair. But always include “brought to you by (your business name)”. This tactic is great because it allows you to build your own fan base and user audience which means you can start paying less for media on other platforms.
Local SEO for Home Service Businesses is so Much More Than Google My Business Optimization.
It’s important to optimize your Google My Business page and keep adding posts to ensure engagement and proper SEO for local keywords. But everyone is doing this. All your competitors are racing to get the most amount of reviews possible and trying to get ranked #1. So what else can you do while you’re waiting for your SEO to rank you?
Hyper Local Platforms
It’s going to be more important than ever to sign up for platforms like “Nextdoor”.This platform allows hyper-local interactions with neighbours directly living in your area. Sign up for all of the neighbourhoods you want to work in, and ensure you’re active on the posts. If you’re doing community advertising or team sponsorships, this could be a great way to reach out to let people know you’re looking for a team to sponsor.
Facebook, TikTok and Instagram
These platforms are very useful especially if you utilize the groups and hashtags properly. If you’re not sure how to use hashtags for your home service business check out our latest E- guides. We really like to ensure a good combination between social media ads and authentic content. ADHOME has a membership that includes a social media library inclusive of ready-to-use images for Plumbers, Roofers, Electricians and HVAC companies. We find this to be a good way to get started with social media platforms. Once you see value with our self-serve option and want to step it up, we will recommend adding one of our custom social media strategy programs, where we keep you fully aware and in control, but a strategist does all the work for you.
YouTube
I love YouTube for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of how user-friendly the platform is. We have created a few videos that help Home Service Businesses learn more about marketing like this one which teaches HVAC businesses how to build a holistic digital marketing strategy for growth.
YouTube is great for targeting users that just conducted a search on Google for one of your keywords “new air conditioner in Miami” or “Furnace Repair in Vancouver”. Google allows you to target your videos to people who just conducted one of those searches on Google. This type of targeting is incredible for businesses to save budget and only target homeowners at the bottom of the sales funnel.
Conclusion
We aren’t having the right conversation when we only talk about “local” marketing. With the amount of data we have available, we should be using it to target the right customers. The right customers are the most profitable ones. First, determine your target customer (per business unit), then determine all the stages in each ProfitFunnel (marketing funnel + sales funnel for each business unit). Once you have drawn out each ProfitFunnel and determined the budget you have for each customer, then you can choose the right messaging for each customer along each stage of each funnel.
I know it seems like a lot of campaigns, but that’s what we’re here for. ADHOME has a membership designed to get you started for only $1,000/month. We will analyze which tactics are the best and most effective for your company per business unit. This allows you to throttle your budget down when your schedule becomes full (per schedule) or up when you have open capacity. Book a demo with Amanda Wilhelm, our CoFounder and the Lead Strategist for our Home Service Members.
We can discuss anything and everything digital marketing and it is relevant to you because we only work with HVAC, Plumbers, Electricians and Roofers.
To Your Success!
