Internet Marketing Basics for HVACR Contractors

Whether you’re starting from scratch with your Internet marketing or wondering if your current strategy is effective, Blue Corona has extensive experience helping HVACR contractors get more leads and sales from the Web. Need proof? ACHR News recently featured our President—Ben Landers—in its NEWSMakers podcast, where he offered tips on how HVACR contractors can more effectively market their services on the Internet.

You can check out the podcast here. If podcasts are too hipster for you or you simply can’t stand the sound of Ben Landers’ voice, read his tips below:

Building Your HVACR Company’s Online Presence

Before you even begin to think about building your online presence, Ben suggests you adopt the following overarching framework for how you approach your marketing:

1)Track everything and make data driven decisions.

If you own an HVACR company and you’re looking to improve your advertising ROI, the first step is measurement and tracking.

2)Think of your website as an extension of your sales team.

Too many HVACR contractors think of their websites as if they were a digital brochure. Your website is NOT a brochure; it’s a virtual sales rep with a built-in sales funnel. Your goal should be to cost-effectively drive more qualified visitors to your website and continuously improve the percentage of those visits that turn into leads and sales.

3)Recognize that the Web is a big real estate game.

Some of that real estate is undervalued, some is overvalued. Your goal should be to cost-effectively build, develop, and maintain as much real estate as you need to achieve your business goals. This can include your website, social media profiles, directory listings, etc.

4)Always be testing.

When it comes to marketing your HVACR company, there are no silver bullets. But there is a process that, if followed and repeated, will allow you to measurably improve your marketing performance. It goes: TRACK > TEST > TWEAK > REPEAT. Before testing any advertising and marketing strategy, you must set up accurate tracking and collect baseline data.

5)You want to be the authority for what you do in the markets you do it.

If you’re a small company, just narrow your focus. Establish yourself as THE HVACR authority in your county.

What Does a Good HVACR Internet Marketing Strategy Look Like?

Now that we’ve got the basic framework down, let’s get you found online:

• Build a website. WordPress is a great platform to build your website on. According to Ben, if you want to hire someone to build your website, a reasonable investment for most HVACR companies is between $3-5,000. He also recommends you model it off a successful HVACR contractor in another market if you’re unsure of what you’re doing.
• Make sure that the right tracking tools are on the website. Google Analytics and call tracking at the very minimum.
• Create content for the website. If you can’t do it on your own, hire someone to do it for you. This content should include a home page, about page, services page, testimonials, resources, FAQ page, and more.
• Have a blog built into the site. Content creation helps you get ranked on Google and get more traffic. Writing blog posts is an easy way to have more content on your website.
• Try email marketing. Take the inquiries you get from your website and create an email newsletter with a cheap service like Constant Contact. Take your current clients and create another email newsletter targeted towards them. Take a third list of people who DIDN’T hire you and make another email newsletter geared towards them.
• Create a Facebook page. Think of it as a customer service desk, a source of referrals and testimonials, and, of course, as marketing.

How Can Blue Corona Help Your HVAC Company?

In 2013, we built a software that examined over 10,000 local and regional HVAC and plumbing websites. We know what the most successful HVAC and plumbing contractors are doing to market their businesses online and we use this insight to help our HVAC clients get more leads and sales from the Internet.

If you’re annoyed that you don’t know exactly what you’re getting from each of your marketing strategies, we can show you the sales, revenue, profit from each of those marketing channels that you invest in—including the Web.

In addition, if you have a website and aren’t getting the leads and sales you think you should, or if you need a website, we can help there, too. Contact us today for more information.

Check back on Monday for an overview of the second part of the podcast—common marketing mistakes that HVAC companies make.

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