The home services industry consists of a wide variety of industries that begs the question: Is there just one correct way to implement a marketing for home services campaign? The answer is certainly not a one size fits all approach that covers all marketing for home services initiatives.
What works for a pest removal business probably does not work for a kitchen countertop installation company.
The key principle for implementing a successful home services marketing program is to use the right tactics that meets the unique needs of your business. Since you have to go toe to toe with much bigger companies operating in your niche, you need to minimize expenses, while generating as much revenue as possible in terms of new customers. How do you accomplish this?
By turning marketing for home services into a model exercise of digital marketing.
Build Trust through Email Marketing
You might have heard the phrase “Reach out and touch someone.” It was a marketing slogan used by AT&T to personalize advertising messages.
Your business should “Reach out and touch someone” by using proven email marketing tactics.
The beauty of running an email marketing campaign is you gain permission from what you hope will be a long list of subscribers. There is no cold calling and certainly none of the annoying spam that overflows in your email inbox.
Emails represent the ultimate marketing for home services tactic. All you have to do is think automation.
That’s right, you do not have to actively manage an email marketing program. By using email automation, you can establish an email sequence, as well as write emails weeks or even months in advance of a promotion. Email automation is also an effective way to ask for feedback after the successful completion of a home improvement project.
When you segment your marketing emails to reach the right target audience, you maximize the rate of return generated by sending your marketing correspondence out electronically.
Your Business Website Must Shine
As a home services company owner or operator, you probably do not spend much time at an office. In fact, most of your work is conducted in the field. You might even balance the books for your home services business, well, at home. This means you do not market your business through a brick and mortar establishment.
Marketing for home services companies should be done primarily through the business website.
The home services industry is ripe with opportunities to help clients and customers improve their lives. For example, a plumber can teach a customer how to prevent drain backups. An outdoor living space company can educate clients about how to maintain a pergola or a gazebo. If you run a chimney sweeping company, you can help clients maintain a high performance chimney.
In the world of digital marketing, helping clients and customers improve their lives is done by writing useful content on company blogs. Even better, you can enhance the credibility of your business by uploading videos to your website that instructs viewers how to perform simple home services jobs that are relevant to your business operating niche.
One important note: with more than 50% of online browsing now conducted by using mobile devices, you have to make sure your business website is 100% optimized for mobile device use. This means uploading smaller images and formatting content that is mobile device friendly.
Home Services Businesses Thrive on Positive Customer Reviews
For decades, word of mouth advertising fueled growth for the home services industry. Mom told grandma about a great home services company, and then grandma passed on the good news to everyone living on the same block.
Word of mouth advertising now sits online, and boy, does it have a loud voice.
Customer reviews represent the bread and butter for any successful marketing for home services strategy. What you have to do as a home service business owner is to encourage your clients or customers to take a little time to leave positive reviews on popular sites such as Yelp and Google.
You can offer incentives that include free project estimates and the bundling of services at discounted prices. When you motivate your clients or customers to leave positive reviews, the results will be a search engine reward when Google ranks your home services company higher in its powerful search engine results (SERP).
At little more than 90% of consumers read at least one review of a business, before deciding whether to buy from that business. Make the staggering high number work for you by promoting your home services business via online customer reviews.
Interact with Your Customers on Social Media
Participating in social media conversations is a highly effective way to connect with your loyal customers, as well as meet potential customers that have an interest in your home services company. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook allow your home services company to announce upcoming projects and promote limited time specials. Instagram offers the ideal social media platform for uploading before and after photos of the project your home services business has just completed.
Here are a few other ways to leverage the advantages of going social with your home services company:
- Run a blog that offers helpful information
- Explain the different stages of a home improvement project
- Present the bios of everyone on your team
- Use client and customer testimonials to build trust
There is a social media platform that targets the businesses operating in the home services sector.
It is called Houzz.
About Houzz
If you run a home services business, you have to become active on Houzz. Considered the LinkedIn for home services professionals, Houzz allows you to promote your home services business online by using a platform that showcases your finest work.
Houzz caters to the following home services companies:
- Remodelers
- Homeowners
- Realtors
- Home improvement contractors
- Pest removal businesses
- Interior designers
- Roofers
- Siding companies
Homeowners are the most important category for home services business, as they search on Houzz to find the right company to complete a project. Just like LinkedIn, you set up a profile on Houzz that presents a list of your services and the contact information for your company.
Getting the Most Out of Houzz
Attracting the right clients and customers involves completing an accurate profile. Then, you use the keywords your customers use to find companies like your home services business. For example, if your company specializes in remodeling kitchens, you want to use keywords such as “kitchen remodeler,” “kitchen remodeling company,” and/or “highly rated kitchen designer.” The important thing is to come up with the same keywords your customers type into the Houzz search engine. You also need to tag every image accurately to optimize keyword placement.
Houzz offers a powerful marketing tool for home services companies called ideabooks, which allows you to upload photos that you can share with customer prospects. By developing ideabooks that showcase the work performed in your operating niches, you give potential customers a better idea about your style and creative vision. Houzz also has a section where customers post reviews, which is another way to market your company online.
How does Houzz determine the order of home services companies in its directory? Just read what Houzz has to say about it: “based on an algorithm that takes into account several factors, including the number and quality of photos in your profile, the number of questions you’ve answered, whether you sport a Houzz badge on your own website, and whether you have reviews from past clients or other professionals with whom you have worked.”
Refer to the Houzz tutorial page to take advantage of the social media networker for home services professionals.
Go Local with Your SEO
You probably have heard the term “search engine optimization,” which is otherwise referred to as SEO. Optimizing your home services business online means getting it ranked high in the search engines operated by Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. Local SEO differs from the SEO tactics you use for your company website.
For example, local SEO starts by claiming and verifying a Google My Business listing, which is an online directory that gets your company started on the path to acquiring as many online citations as possible. Online citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP). Google in particular rewards businesses that upload accurate and consistent NAP information across all online channels.
Local SEO also involves incorporating local landmarks and points of interest into your website and social media content. A home improvement company out of Dallas can work photos of AT&T Stadium into its online content to associate the business with the Dallas metro area.
One of the most important local SEO tactics involves getting your home services business in online directories. Although the goal is to list your business everywhere that makes local SEO sense, you should start by concentrating on becoming part of the online business directories offered by Yelp, Foursquare, Trip Advisor, and Yellow Pages.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of where you operate in the United States, the home services industry in your area is highly competitive. Gain a competitive edge by marketing for home services digitally.