How to Choose the Best HVAC Marketing Company

Did you know that 87% of American homes use air conditioning equipment? If you have an HVAC company, you need to boost your marketing to appeal to the remaining prospective clients. You might want to hire a marketing company as the competition is relatively high.  

The right agency will help you gain visibility and attract new customers. A business marketing company has the resources necessary to grow your HVAC company. 

Keep reading to know how to choose the best HVAC marketing company. 

Define Your Marketing Goals 

A typical digital marketing process comprises a range of strategies, platforms, and channels. You have to be clear about where you're going to choose the right digital marketing company. Once you identify your motives or marketing goals, it will be easier to filter out the identified agencies.

You can start by meeting your team to see the actions needed to achieve your goals. Draw a realistic action plan and establish the gaps that need to be filled. If your goal is to increase sales, the approach taken might be quite different from a firm seeking brand awareness.

Hiring a marketing agency blindly might not bear the results you desire. A marketing company wouldn’t know your specific needs, and a broad approach to digital marketing isn’t recommendable. 

Specialized and Experienced Team Members 

A marketing company has a team of professionals to work on your HVAC company. It is crucial to ensure that the team working on your campaigns is highly skilled and experienced. Vet a company to know if its team has members qualified in logo design, content marketing, web development, SEO, and PPC, among other services necessary in digital marketing.

Probe the team further to ensure that the team isn’t using outdated digital marketing tactics. Check a marketing company’s website to read more about the team members and their competencies. You might also want to check LinkedIn and then click the option ‘People’ to see the members working there and their qualifications. 

If the website doesn't provide adequate information about the team members, you can ask questions during the consultation phase. Ensure that you get sufficient information about every member who will be working on your project.

Similar Company Culture and Core Values 

Your ideal marketing company should have a culture and core values that compliment your HVAC company. While the primary aim of outsourcing your digital marketing is attracting customers, ensure that you work with an agency that has the right values. Working with such a company makes it easier to mesh the outsourced marketing with what your team is doing internally.

The agency will be an extension of your company. If you choose a marketing company that doesn’t regard your values, conflicts are likely to ensue. Check out the phrases and words an agency uses to establish if it’s the right fit. Do they align with what you believe in? 

A Marketing Company That Offers a Range of Services 

Digital marketing is quite comprehensive. You need to know the marketing services your HVAC company needs. If you're outsourcing, you need to consider services such as public relations, social media marketing, content marketing, and SEO, among others.

A marketing agency should be familiar with the best social media for business. It should also know how to go about Google marketing from SEO to PPC. You'll need to work with a company that can utilize a range of marketing tools seamlessly.

With digital marketing, one tool is hardly enough to get your desired results. Choosing a company that has different services will help in scaling your marketing agency.  

Prioritize Transparency 

Your identified digital marketing agency should be transparent. If a marketing company doesn't have a business address, service page, customer testimonials, contact information, or a functional website, that's a red flag, you don't want to ignore. Avoid engaging further with such a company as it's not transparent enough.  

Transparency is a mark of professionalism. If a company isn't being upfront with its dealings, there's no point in further engagement. The chances are that you'll be dealing with a team that doesn't have the competency to offer professional business marketing.

It would be best if you also were wary of a marketing company that guarantees your SEO success. Avoid such a company since the promise is unfounded. With SEO, even the most competent marketing agency can't guarantee you result within a specific period.

Reviews and References 

About 91% of consumers between 18 and 34 trust online reviews the same way they trust personal recommendations. You can check reviews and references to know what past customers are saying about your identified marketing company. The reviews will be a great way to see the success rates of an agency.

The reviews help establish a company's credibility. Take note of the customer's negative reviews as they can show you some of the company's shortcomings. However, you might want to research more about the company as not all reviews are genuine. 

An Agency That’s Easy to Get in Touch  

Your identified digital marketing agency should make it easy for prospective customers to get in touch. The website ought to be easy to navigate through. Their contact information should be a click away on all pages.

Avoid companies that make everything complex. If you're struggling to get the contact button or understand the pages, consider an alternative. Digital marketing is hard enough; the last thing you need is a marketing company that is hard to contact.

The Right Marketing Company Is a Resource for Your HVAC Business

The success of any business depends highly on the marketing efforts. It would help to employ a marketing company to boost your success. The choice of a marketer for your HVAC business matters. 

You can start your search online as you vet each of your identified marketers. The right marketing company will grow your HVAC business a notch higher. Conversely, a marketing agency's wrong choice can jeopardize your whole business.

Do you want to grow your HVAC business with the right marketing strategy? Optic Marketing Group is your ideal partner in HVAC marketing. Contact us today for a range of marketing services.

by Optic Marketing

8 Tips on Successful Marketing Automation for HVAC Companies

Depending on your industry, marketing can represent up to 40 percent of your budget. If you’re in a competitive industry, like HVAC, then you may end up spending more to compete effectively.

Two of the biggest parts of your marketing budget are likely personnel and tech tools. The more complex your marketing plans, the more time your staff members may need to carry them out. Investing in the right tools can help, but they can also run up the bill.

Marketing automation can help you streamline your costs and create more effective campaigns. Of course, to be successful, you need to make sure you’re automating the right way. These tips can help you automate your HVAC company marketing with ease.

1. Start with Strategy

The first step is to make marketing automation part of your digital marketing strategy. If you don’t already have a digital marketing strategy in place, it’s time to create one.

Why do you need to think about automation as part of your overall strategy? There are many options for automating, and HVAC businesses run the risk of adding automation piecemeal. When that happens, you might spend on a particular tool or automate tasks that you would have been better off handling in person.

Thinking about automation as part of your strategy ensures you leverage it effectively. That means it becomes a key part of every marketing campaign, instead of something you tacked on at the end.

With an automation strategy, you can use the right tools to achieve your goals. You can automate particular tasks and drive your strategy forward. It also helps you outline a budget and measure goals.

2. Build and Segment Contact Lists

Automation started with email marketing. Email marketing is a powerful tool, but it can be tricky to leverage the right way. This is especially true for HVAC businesses and other home services companies.

You may have some customers who are individual homeowners. Others may operate B&Bs or commercial rentals. Yet others are commercial customers.

All have different needs. You need to put effort into the messages and deals you send via email, as well as when you reach out. Miss a key touch point and you might lose the sale.

If you’re using email lists, then think about using tools to help you segment them. You can divvy everyone up into many groups to receive the right offers at the right time.

Also be sure to build your lists, rather than buying them. There are tools to help you collect the information you’ll need. Building your list will give you more room for personalization.

3. Choose Marketing Automation Software Carefully

There are tons of marketing automation solutions out there. They can help you with everything from social media to nurturing leads.

You’ll want to think about the tools you want to adopt. If you use Facebook ads to generate leads, then automating campaigns might make sense. It can save you time and help you manage your ad spend more effectively.

A lead-nurturing tool might also be a smart choice. Once you’ve generated the lead from your Facebook ad, this tool can help people move through the customer journey. When they’re ready, your sales team will have a warm lead to follow up on.

4. Add Chat to Your Marketing Efforts

Chat is an important tool for automation these days. If you don’t already have a chatbot on your website, it might be time to invest in one. You might also think about adding a chatbot to your Facebook marketing efforts, if that’s a channel you use.

Why is chat so important? It gives your customers access to assistance at all hours. When someone’s HVAC system goes down before you open, they can start troubleshooting right away.

That may sound more like automating customer service or sales. People may be looking into systems after your marketing team has gone home for the day, though. The chatbot can help them discover more about the solutions and services you offer.

It can even lead them to get in touch or book an appointment with you.

5. Focus on Dynamic Content

Content should be another piece to focus your automation efforts. As noted, different HVAC clients have different needs. You don’t want to send everyone the same email, and you don’t want to show them the same ads either.

They’re also not interested in the same blog posts or white papers, because they don’t have the same concerns. One person may be incredibly price sensitive, while another is looking to get away from a company that’s delivered bad service.

Dynamic content shifts and changes according to customer preferences and persona. Automation can help you deliver the right content to leads at the right time.

6. Use an Agile Approach to Automation for Marketing

If you want to get all the benefits of marketing automation, then you’ll want to adopt an agile approach. What does that mean for HVAC companies?

It means being platform agnostic. One tool may work for your Facebook marketing, but if it’s not supporting your email efforts, then it’s time to look for alternatives.

If you’re not sure if the tools you’re using are delivering results, then you can talk to a marketing agency. Their team can help you find the right tools and even change between them as your marketing needs change.

7. Remember to Measure

Metrics are one of the reasons digital marketing tools are so powerful. There’s so much data out there, which can provide deeper insights into how your campaigns are performing.

Think back to your automation strategy. What did you want to accomplish? Maybe it was freeing up time, or maybe it was moving customers along via a drip campaign or lead nurturing.

No matter the goal, you’ll need to measure the right metrics to ensure you’re achieving it. Your marketing agency partners can help here too. With the right metrics, you can see how well automation is working for your HVAC marketing.

8. Remember to Keep a Human Touch

Finally, remember that marketing is all about customer relationships. Showing customers dynamic content or nurturing a lead through the funnel is great. Yet your customers will still expect a human touch.

Focus on making your automation less robotic and you’ll see better results. Also use automation strategically to free up your team’s time. With marketing automation, you can take customers through the buyer’s journey hands-free until it’s time for your team to make the service call and close the sale.

Automate Marketing Success for Your Business

Marketing automation is powerful, but HVAC companies need to use it the right way. Following these tips can help you incorporate the right technology to support your marketing goals.

Ready to see what automation can do for your sales? Get in touch with Optic Marketing Group to get started with marketing automation now. Smarter marketing campaigns could be just a few clicks away.

by Optic Marketing

Holiday Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

The Winter season is fast approaching and with that comes the need for homeowners and business owners to tend to their HVAC systems. Your HVAC service is just the kind of company to fit their needs!

The trick is to get yourself out in front of your target market. Believe it or not, your marketing tactics should change with the seasons. There are some alterations to make during the holiday season. 

Presenting your home services is all about advertising in the right way. See below for several holiday marketing tips you can follow to market your HVAC company to your target market.

1. Out With the Old

Much like a child on Christmas day, there are some outdated digital marketing strategies that you need to toss out to make room for the "new toys".

There's no better time to audit your marketing plan than the holiday season. It's a time for you to review the year you've had and make adjustments as necessary. What marketing tactics are you depending on that are killing your ROI?

For example, you might still be depending on organic social media marketing alone for your HVAC company. That no longer exists. If you're looking for results on social media, you need to generate an advertising campaign or throw some money behind the organic posts to promote them. Social media platforms are far too congested to simply post without any budget to back them up.

Even the most successful companies find time to take a hard look in the mirror and change their marketing plan. That starts by tossing out what no longer works to find new ways of doing things.

By throwing out useless tactics, you can make way for such things as marketing automation or funnel ads.

2. Get Festive with Each Holiday

People want to work with personable HVAC businesses. They want to find someone that they can envision themselves building a business relationship with.

The holidays are a great way to show off the personal side of your brand. You aren't just a stick-to-the-script type of company, you're in the business of helping people with their HVAC issues and having fun while doing it.

The best part is that each holiday allows you to show off a different side of your company's personality.

For example, Thanksgiving is a time to (as the name would imply) give thanks and show appreciation for your staff, your clients, and so forth. Christmas is a great time to spread holiday cheer to all to hear... you get the idea!

3. Incorporate More Video Content

Video content is the here-and-now of content marketing. It allows you to be more interactive with your clients and attract your clients to your brand. It also helps ensure that more of your followers/viewers retain the information that you give them.

So, for example, if you're running a promotion for a free in-home check-up during the Christmas season, you can run a video to announce the offer. 

Your clients will remember how to redeem the in-home visit, what they need to look out for, common HVAC issues during the holiday season, and so on.

Better yet, video content can be used on every digital platform you have. You can place customer testimony videos on your website, how-to videos on your Youtube page, live streaming videos on your social media platforms, and so on.

It's important to diversify the content in your marketing plan. Some clients are more receptive to videos. Others are more receptive to blog articles. It takes a healthy dose of many different components to find the perfect balance during this season. That’s why it’s best to work with a full-service marketing agency who knows how to brand your business across all platforms.

4. Push More Giveaways

You might think "We're an HVAC company, what do we have to give away?". It's that kind of thinking that prevents more HVAC services from connecting with their clients on a higher level.

There are several things you can give away to your followers and clients. You could give away Starbucks gift cards, promo items, swag with your company logo on it, coupons on your service, tumblers, gift baskets, and so much more.

Customers love free things. So much so, that they're willing to do almost anything you ask of them (within reason) to put their name in the hat.

Nothing says "holiday spirit" like free giveaways! Simply advertise the items you're giving away, set the guidelines of the contest (tagging three friends, leaving a comment, etc.), and set the date and time when the contest ends.

5. Plan Around the Holidays

Most importantly, you want to make sure you account for all the holidays that are upcoming. There are a lot of holidays in the last two months of the year, so be sure to consider them all.

Circle your calendar for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Eve/Day.

First, you need to plan for giving your staff time off for the necessary holidays if you haven't done so already. 

These dates can also help you heighten your marketing and gear up for all of those holidays. You can think of things like social media posts, marketing ads, and so on based on the holidays that are coming up quickly.

Use These Marketing Tips to Your Advantage

Now that you have seen several amazing marketing tips you can use to spread holiday cheer and make your brand more personable, it's important to use that to your advantage!

Be sure to read this article to learn more about how to make social media posts convert into revenue for your HVAC company's marketing plan.

For more inquiries on Optic Marketing Group and our services, be sure to reach out via phone at (844)-700-4781 and we will be happy to assist you further.

by Optic Marketing

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!

by Optic Marketing

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. 

by Optic Marketing