I’m excited to share some highlights from a recent podcast interview I had with Todd Jensen on @The Snoball Effect. We dove deep into building a comprehensive marketing strategy for home service companies. It was a fantastic conversation packed with actionable insights, tools, and strategies that can make a huge impact on your marketing efforts.
Here’s a breakdown of the key strategies and tools we discussed during the podcast:
Todd kicked things off by asking me to share something personal, so I revealed a fun fact—I’m a huge Jimi Hendrix fan! I’ve collected eight signed Hendrix albums over the years, but one that slipped through my fingers still haunts me—a signed photo I almost won on eBay. It’s a reminder that sometimes even the best bids (or business decisions!) don’t pan out, but there are always other wins ahead.
When it comes to crafting a successful marketing strategy for home service companies, it’s all about being everywhere your potential customers are. Here’s how I broke down the elements:
- SEO & Search Ads: Any marketing strategy must start with ensuring you’re visible where people are searching. This means running Google Ads and Bing Ads (now called Microsoft Advertising) with a well-structured keyword strategy. Use exact match or phrase match to make sure you're getting clicks that are truly relevant, rather than wasting money on unrelated searches. A properly set up SEO strategy is equally crucial—ensure your website has optimized service pages, blog content, and location-specific pages to attract organic traffic.
- Social Media Advertising: Leveraging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok is critical for local advertising. We discussed the effectiveness of running Facebook Lead Ads, where potential customers can submit their info directly from the ad without leaving the platform. TikTok also allows local businesses to run paid ads, and even though it’s not just about "going viral," it's great for targeting a local audience. These platforms are not just for brand awareness but for generating leads with minimal friction.
- Website Effectiveness: Your website is more than just a pretty online brochure—it’s a conversion machine. It needs to convey professionalism, trustworthiness, and credibility at every turn. This includes using customer testimonials, gold star reviews, and tools like exit-intent pop-ups to capture potential leads before they leave. An example of an exit pop-up would be, “Before you go, grab a free quote!” Simple, but effective. Website retargeting is another must-have, which leads us to…
- Retargeting Ads: One of the most powerful tools we discussed is retargeting. This allows you to follow visitors around the web after they’ve left your site. You can use tools like AdRoll or Criteo to display ads on major news sites and social platforms to keep your brand top of mind. Retargeting can also be done on Facebook and Instagram by installing a pixel on your website, so when visitors leave, they’ll see your ads on their social feeds.
- Offline Advertising: Even in today’s digital age, don’t ignore the power of offline marketing. We talked about tools like Valpak for direct mail campaigns and using PostPilot for triggered postcards that can be sent directly to a site visitor’s mailbox—without them even having to fill out a form. These can be great for reaching prospects after they visit your website but don’t convert immediately.
- Google Local Services Ads: For home service companies, Google’s Local Services Ads (LSAs) are a powerful option. These are ads that appear at the top of Google Search for relevant queries, and you pay only for leads, not clicks. The ads display your company’s Google reviews and allow searchers to directly call or message you, making it easier for potential clients to connect.
- The Power of Reviews: Social proof is everything! Home service companies thrive on positive reviews. Tools like Trustpilot or Google My Business can help gather and showcase reviews from satisfied customers. We discussed the importance of actively asking customers for reviews, whether it’s by phone, email, or automated follow-up systems. Having a high volume of positive reviews can significantly impact new customer acquisition.
- AI Tools: I also shared how AI tools can drastically improve efficiency in marketing. I regularly use ChatGPT for everything from writing ad copy and email campaigns to improving website content. You can even use it to rewrite an “About Us” page with a fresh, engaging tone or generate new ideas for email marketing campaigns. For video content, we discussed using Fiverr to create influencer-style videos or customer testimonial videos that can boost engagement and authenticity.
- Maximizing a Limited Budget: For companies with a smaller budget, we talked about starting small but smart. Begin with Google Ads and Facebook Lead Ads, setting a low daily budget but ensuring everything is managed well. Focus on retargeting with a small budget as well—following people around on the web costs less but keeps you top of mind. Spend about 70-80% of your budget on traffic generation (e.g., search ads) and the remaining 20-30% on retargeting to get those potential customers back to your website.
- Scaling Over Time: We touched on how to increase marketing budgets gradually. As campaigns start delivering results, it’s essential to scale budgets appropriately. Starting small and then growing as campaigns perform helps prevent wasted ad spend and ensures each dollar is working efficiently.
I emphasized how crucial it is for home service companies to focus on reviews and referrals. You should be constantly working to accumulate positive reviews and building systems to encourage referrals. Both of these drive organic growth and help reduce the cost of paid marketing efforts. Consider using automated review solicitation tools to make it easier to collect feedback after each job.
We dove into how AI can refine messaging across ads, emails, and websites. Whether you’re using ChatGPT to write compelling ad headlines or generating more urgent copy to drive leads, AI is a game-changer. You can even use it to analyze data, create dynamic content, and enhance your ad performance with highly tailored messages.
Lastly, we discussed strategies for competing with established brands in the home services space. This includes competitor keyword bidding (carefully!) and emulating their successful strategies but making them better. Whether it’s how they use social proof, present reviews, or advertise on multiple platforms, learn from them and improve your execution. However, remember that innovation is key—find gaps in your competitors’ strategies and do what they’re not doing to stand out.
Whether you're a big or small home service company, the key takeaway from this conversation is the importance of being everywhere your customers are. Using multi-channel marketing, a strong website, and smart budgeting, you can elevate your marketing efforts, even on a tight budget.
If you want to dive deeper into these strategies or need personalized advice, feel free to get in touch. As always, I’m happy to help with your digital marketing efforts and guide you toward success!
Best, Evan Weber Founder, Experience Advertising [email protected]
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Owner at Jay’s Spray Mobile Detailing in South Florida. Committed to learning and growing. I'm not selling anything.
2 个月exceptional
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2 个月wow thanks!
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2 个月Evan Weber, Do you ever think "outside-the-box" regarding using AI? For example, to help get Linkedin Recommendations or to automate the sending out of the maximum number of Linkedin invites in single day so you rely on AI to come to your rescue? There are so many worthwhile things you can do on Linkedin...BUT (there is always a "BUT" is there not?) When everything you want to do you can only do manually, more often than not, the effort is too time-consuming to undertake. Therefore, it appears the best option is either to automate the process or outsource it. What is your favorite "go to" tool? Do you find Zapier beneficial? How about Square Online? Are you creating a library of named AI bots and keeping them in a file folder in your Google Drive? Do you understand why that is even important? to someone else.
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2 个月Amazing info
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2 个月Wow another great webinar!