How To Grow Your HVAC Business with Full-Service Marketing
Do you have a marketing and advertising plan in place to promote your HVAC business? If you want to grow your customer base and boost your profits this year, you should.
Having a full-service marketing strategy may be just what you need to take your HVAC company to the next level this year. Keep reading for some techniques you should consider adding to your marketing plan to watch your company grow.
Invest in a Top-Notch Website
In order to make the most of any of your digital marketing efforts, you'll want to first make sure you have a top-notch website to grow your traffic and convert website visitors into customers. Your website should have a modern and updated design that allows for great user experience. You should make sure your site is professional and visually appealing to reflect your HVAC company.
A great website will help you appear trustworthy to site visitors, allowing them to feel that they can trust your services and products. You should make sure your site is reliable with fast loading pages. It should also be mobile friendly to maximize leads.
Optimizing your site for search engines can help you rank competitively for those searching for your HVAC products or services. You should also make sure it's easy for website visitors to find the information they are looking for on your site. Make sure your services and products are clearly outlined and that prices are easy for customers to locate.
Consider including customer reviews and testimonials on your site to build your brand trust. This can help you stand apart from your competitors using social proof. It will let potential customers know what they can expect when working with you, which can help to boost conversions.
Utilize Social Media Marketing
Are you using social media to promote your HVAC company? If not, you should be. This is a great way to build customer loyalty by engaging with your current customers and getting in front of new ones.
This can help you build brand awareness, letting those in your area know about your products and services. This is also a great way to promote any promotions or new services you are offering with your customer base. Creating a relationship with your audience can help you retain your current clients while earning new ones.
This is also a great way to show audiences that you provide great customer service. To do so, keep up with engagement by watching your direct messages, comments, and interactions. Responding to your followers shows that you care about them and are there to offer them answers to any questions, comments, and concerns.
Post helpful content on your platforms to keep your audiences engaged. A great way to keep your followers is to provide them with benefits. Posting this kind of content along with your promotional content will help to vary your posts so that your profile is authentic and not too salesy.
Provide value to your followers by posting helpful content such as how to spot problems with their HVAC system. Unique, high-quality, and helpful content will help you get some traction and engagement. This is highly shareable content that can help you grow your audience while also establishing you as an expert in your field to build brand authority.
Pursue PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a great method for attracting high-value leads online. This ad type offers a sustainable return on investment, as you only pay for an ad when someone clicks it. You can set a daily budget to make sure you don't exceed it.
You can run these ads on search engines like Google and Bing, as well as social media platforms. To optimize this ad type, you will want to do some research to target the right audiences. Consider working to target those in your area that are searching for keywords related to your HVAC products and services.
Create a Full-Spectrum Marketing Plan for Your HVAC Business
Creating a full-spectrum marketing plan can be a great way to utilize tons of tools to take your HVAC business to the next level this year. The above marketing methods are just some of the tools you can add to your marketing strategy to reach new audiences and retain your current customer.
Are you looking for digital marketing professionals that can help you create an effective, full-spectrum marketing plan for your HVAC company? Contact us today to get started!
5 Outdated Digital Marketing Tactics to Stop Using Immediately (and What to Do Instead!)
Are you wondering if you're up to date on the latest and greatest digital marketing tactics? In an industry that's constantly changing, it can be hard to keep up.
To learn how to modernize your marketing strategy for best results, keep reading. In this guide, we'll let you know what digital marketing methods are outdated, as well as what you can be doing instead to take your business to the next level by staying ahead of competitors.
1. Content Quantity Over Quality
Just a few years ago, content quantity was of most importance in the eyes of many marketers. While creating consistent content is still a must, it's the quality of your content you should be focusing on. Rather than producing tons of average content to generate leads to your site, focus on creating the right content in a quality fashion.
To create quality content make sure it is trustworthy, and that it establishes your authority in your industry. Your content should not just be well written and researched, it should provide a benefit to online visitors. Providing value to your audience doesn't just boost your search engine rank, it also improves your brand authority which can help you gain more trusted customers.
2. Organic Social Media Marketing
If you've noticed that you haven't gotten as much social media traffic as you used to, it may be because you're still relying on organic engagement. That's because, in 2018, sites like Facebook changed their algorithms, putting posts from the user's friends ahead of those by businesses to boost the social goal of these platforms. Now, businesses need to put marketing dollars toward advertisements to optimize their social media marketing efforts.
Luckily, this form of advertising is still affordable in comparison to other ad types. Boosting a social media post or creating an advertising campaign can cost you as little as $5 a day and can be a great return on investment.
Figure out what your social media marketing goal is and put your budget on these channels towards these goals. For example, if you want to get more leads to your website, use tools such as Facebook's Website Conversion Ads. You can also use Brand Awareness Ads to reach your target customer or Local Awareness Ads to target potential customers in your area.
3. Keeping an Outdated Website
If you're putting effort and marketing dollars towards your digital marketing methods but your website is outdated, your efforts are somewhat pointless. An outdated website can deter all those website visitors you've been trying so hard to get. If you're keeping your outdated website in hopes to save money, investing in new website design is an investment that will seriously pay off.
An updated, visually appealing site that is user friendly will help you build trust with website visitors, allowing them to feel good about making a purchase with you. If you have an eCommerce site, you want to make sure your checkout page is secure to let customers feel that their information is safe with you. You should work to keep all the information on your website, such as your location and hours, updated to make sure you're giving your site visitors accurate information.
Update your site regularly, by adding products, content such as blog posts, or creating new pages to keep your website fresh while also ranking competitively on search engines.
4. Winging It
Do you have a digital marketing plan in place or do you just wing it and hope for the best? Without creating a plan and strategy, you may be throwing valuable time and money down the drain. To make the most of your marketing efforts, you need to be prepared.
To make a successful digital marketing plan, start by doing some market research. You should also create a buyer persona based on your ideal customer and map out your customer journey or sale cycle. You need to know as much about your customer as possible to successfully target them online.
Your buyer persona should be unique to your business. Narrow down demographics, such as age, gender, and location, as well as details such as your ideal customer's interests, wants and needs. This will help you create content that will appeal to groups that are more likely to be interested in your products or services.
Not only will this make targeting your ads a breeze, but it will also help you when figuring out what content and platform types you will use to reach this particular buyer.
5. Blogging Without Promotion
If you've created a blog to improve your search engine ranking but you haven't been promoting these blog posts, there is a good chance not many people have seen them. If you're taking the time to write these blogs, or are paying professionals to do so, you should work to promote them. Market your blog by sharing your posts to your social media platforms, or deliver them to your customers in your email newsletters.
Let your customer know where they can find this informative content on your site. Sharing educational content with your audiences can help to establish you as an authority in your field. This can boost your brand authority.
Digital Marketing Tactics You Should Update
To make the most of your marketing efforts, make sure you've updated your digital marketing tactics for the best results. With digital marketing, it's out with the old and in with the new. Stay on top of the latest trends to stay competitive in your industry.
Are you looking for professionals who can help you stay on top of the best digital marketing tactics? Contact us today to get started.
This Is What You Need to Know About Connected TV Advertising
Did you know that 80% of the U.S. population, or 260 million people, have at least one connected TV device in their home? As a business owner, this can be a great way to get the word out about your company, driving leads, and sales.
But what exactly is connected TV? For many, this is a new term that's a little confusing.
Don't fret. In this post, we'll outline everything you need to know about connected TV advertising and how it can benefit your business. Keep reading to learn more.
What Is Connected TV?
Let's start with the basics. What is connected TV?
Here's a good definition: connected TV (otherwise known as CTV) is television-style content that's streamed over the internet instead of a cable or satellite service.
As you probably know, cable and satellite TV subscriptions have been declining for a few years now. On the other hand, CTV usage is going up.
Say hello to an amazing advertising opportunity.
Connected TV Advertising Explained
Now let's talk through connected TV advertising: what exactly is it?
Basically, advertising on CTV means you're purchasing video ad space that displays on internet-powered streaming devices and apps.
For example, say someone is watching Hulu on their iPad. One example of a connected TV ad is the commercial that comes up during a break on the show.
The best part about CTV is that it takes traditional TV advertising and takes it to the next level. Because it's internet-based, you have access to the same precise targeting methods available on other digital channels. It's a win-win.
Here are some of the most common devices that can handle CTV content:
- Desktop computers
- Laptops
- Tablets
- Smart TVs
- Amazon Fire Sticks
- Apple TVs
- Playstations
- X-Boxes
And that's just some of them. Each year, more and more devices are capable of streaming connected TV content, expanding your potential reach from an advertising perspective.
How Connected TV Advertising Works
At the core of CTV advertising is automated software. These programs will send out our ads to viewers as they're watching CTV, all while gathering and tracking data.
Say goodbye to the days of airing a TV commercial with no real idea of how it performed or who saw it. With connected TV, you can understand how your ad performs.
Here's a breakdown of the process.
First, you create an ad that markets your product or service. Make sure it's engaging and attention-grabbing.
You then decide on the characteristics of your preferred audience, which could include age, gender, location, interests, device type, and more. The software will then find people who fall into those categories and show your ad to them. As the ad is viewed, important metrics are captured, like reach and frequency which will help you understand performance.
It's also important to understand that your ad can run at different times during the program. Pre-roll ads come on before the main content begins streaming. Mid-roll show throughout the show.
Typically, mid-roll is seen as more popular and competitive, making it more expensive.
What are the Benefits of Connected TV Advertising?
Now let's talk about the benefits of using CTV to market your company. What are they?
It's Huge with Millennials
If you're going after millennials in your marketing, then CTV is a no-brainer. It's super popular with them.
In fact, in the U.S., millennials are 67% more likely to be in connected TV-only households. This means that you'd have an incredible opportunity to get your message in front of this age group.
You Can't Skip Them
In today's digital landscape, skippable video ads are a common thing. Youtube, for example, often allows viewers to skip through ads they aren't interested in.
One of the benefits of CTV ads is that viewers can't skip them. They must be watched all the way, which means you're able to convey your full message.
And thanks to its targeting capabilities, your message will get sent to the right people at the right time, in its entirety. What's not to like?
It's More Affordable than Traditional TV Advertising
Another great benefit is that CTV is usually more affordable than traditional TV ads. This is because you can more precisely target your ads to people who are interested.
With regular TV ads, you'd have to spend a lot more money to achieve the same impact per viewer. In other words, you have to get your commercial in front of more eyes to have the same impact with normal TV ads. And this adds up.
CTV is Growing
Last but not least, connected TV is continuing to grow. More and more entertainment is being created for connected formats and people are using it more and more as well.
For example, let's think of all of the CTV options available these days:
- Netflix
- Hulu
- Amazon Prime
- CBS on Demand
- NBC's streaming service
- Disney+
- ESPN and other sport streaming packages
- And many more!
Plus, this trend will continue to grow. So why not get in now?
Connected TV Advertising: Next Steps
There you have it: the ins and outs of connected TV advertising. We've gone over what it is, how it works, and the main benefits.
What's left is for you to make a decision. Is this advertising format a good fit for your brand?
If so, great. Let's get working. We'd love to help make your vision a reality.
Get in contact with our team today for more information. We can't wait to help!
Here's How a Good Advertising Agency Can Transform Your Business
When you think about your marketing strategy, what springs to mind first? Is it running social media ads, or sending emails?
They're both valid options. Yet there are still other forms of advertising open to you.
Look at podcasts. 37 percent of Americans listen to at least one podcast. That's up 5 percent from 2019.
Connected TV (CTV) offers another opportunity. Fewer businesses currently advertise on the platform.
That means less competition and lower viewer fatigue. So you stand a better chance of converting viewers into buyers.
A good advertising agency can transform your business by adding these media forms to your advertising strategy. Read on to learn how it works.
Why Advertise on Podcasts?
Far from being radio's lesser-known cousin, podcasts are a booming form of content.
Spotify expanded their offering to include podcasts alongside streamed music. Apple rebranded part of iTunes as Apple Podcasts.
One of the advantages of podcasts is people listen to them in so many places. They might be commuting, walking their dog, or gardening.
Podcasts meet their listeners where they are. This means listeners are primed and ready to consume content when they hit play.
Another advantage of podcasts is there's something personal about the listening experience. It can feel like a personal conversation between the host and their audience.
This helps to create a bond between podcasts and their listeners. By advertising on those podcasts, you build trust by association.
Listeners are also consumers and almost half of them are very affluent. 45 percent of podcast listeners enjoy a household income of more than $75k.
How Should You Advertise on Podcasts?
Podcasts offer several ways to run adverts. These may vary depending on the show format or the preference of the host.
The podcast host may read your ad during the podcast, or they may weave the content into the episode itself. This has the advantage of feeling more organic.
Some hosts may even discuss their experience with your product or service. This is helpful if you want a more personal recommendation from a trusted host.
Other podcasts play adverts as a separate piece of content. This is closer to the way radio runs adverts. That said, podcasts won't have several ad breaks through the episode.
They may only include three ads per episode or less. That means less competition for you, and it's easier for listeners to remember your ad.
Hosts usually run ads at three points of an episode. The pre-roll slot runs at the beginning of the podcast, while the outro runs at the end. Mid-roll ads run during the podcast.
Which Slot Is Better for Your Advert?
The mid-roll slot is usually the longest, running up to 60 seconds in length. This gives you more space for the creative aspect of your ad.
Pre-roll slots are up to 15 seconds, yet it feels the least intrusive. It can set the tone for the episode and doesn't interrupt the content.
Outro adverts have the benefit of being the final thing listeners hear. This can turn them into a call-to-action, turning listeners into buyers.
A good advertising agency can approach the right podcasts and secure the right slots. They can also craft a professional advert to reflect well on your business.
What About Connected TV?
Connected TVs let users watch TV, access the internet, and stream services on the same device. They may also be known as smart TVs.
They're a hybrid between traditional television and internet services. These TVs are favored by those who had abandoned more mainstream services. 10 million viewers have cut the cord with traditional cable TV providers since 2012.
Unlike traditional TV advertising, connected TV advertising offers a high degree of targeting. An advertising agency will create your advert and ensure it reaches the right audience.
Choose time slots, programs, and viewer demographics for more success.
Viewers can't skip ads as they can on platforms such as YouTube. They need to finish watching the ad in the stream to access their content.
That sounds intrusive, but because ads are shown less often, people pay more attention. Viewers are also more likely to watch them because they're so highly targeted.
Your advertising agency will choose the right slots and streams to suit your target audience. They can also get real-time reporting on the ad's performance.
That tells them how many people watched the ad in full, and how many viewers would recognize the brand.
Traditional TV advertising can't offer this level of precision or reporting.
Create Multi-Platform Campaigns for the Best Success
The best way to approach your advertising strategy is to think in terms of campaigns. That means you create a concept to share in different formats across a range of platforms.
This means you reach different segments of your audience wherever they prefer to be. Some of your audience may prefer podcasts while others watch hours of on-demand TV.
Rather than running an ad on one or the other, a campaign lets you reach both. You can repurpose parts of your ads as static ads for print, or targeted social media ads.
Using this approach has another advantage. It turns each advert into a touchpoint. Every time a person sees or hears your ad, they build a stronger awareness of your brand.
It can take seven touchpoints to make a sale. Instead of running seven ads on one platform, you can make those touchpoints across different channels.
An Advertising Agency Helps You to Access These Platforms
Now you know how a good advertising agency can transform your business. They can craft professional content for a range of platforms.
An agency also targets your audience on the right platforms. That means people who are more likely to buy will see/hear your ad. You won't waste money reaching people who aren't interested.
All this experience turns your approach into an advertising strategy and not just marketing. You can see a swift return on investment when you advertise on these mass media platforms.
Do you want to advertise across mass media? Contact Optic Marketing Group today and find out how we can help.