It’s 2020, and you have more digital marketing options than ever. New methods are taking the industry by storm, and you can utilize them to boost profitability, increase ROI, and much more. Learn the basic marketing essentials that will propel your contracting business further.
1. Fast, effective, and mobile-optimized website
A website is the first step in marketing your business. If you don’t have a website, how are your customers going to reach you and learn more about your business? This is the most crucial component of digital marketing, and it needs to be modern, fresh, and engaging. Most of your customers will judge your credibility based on your website alone.
Things to keep in mind:
- It needs to be fast: A webpage should load in less than 3 seconds.
- It needs to be functional: Make sure your website meets the proper SEO guidelines.
- It needs to be mobile-friendly: 58% of US online traffic comes from smartphones and tablets.
- It needs to be secure: Across Google, 94% of all sites use modern HTTPS default for encryption purposes.
Also, be sure to make your site user-friendly. It can be highly beneficial to add live chat, a page for reviews or testimonials, or anything that will help your customer as they maneuver through your site.
2. Use SEO best practices
A website is only the first step. You must optimize the site to gain more leads. 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine and 47% click on one of the first three listings in the results.
SEO optimization will help you:
- Reach a larger audience and more potential customers
- Drive leads for services you offer
- Improve the quality of leads you receive
- See what services are the most popular
You won’t see results easily — it’s going to take at least six months before your pages start ranking in Google. However, it’s best to get started as soon as you can.
3. Use email marketing for new and current clients
Email marketing allows you to nurture your prospects and build a relationship with them. It can help you generate sales by allowing you to keep in touch with customers and improve brand awareness. 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase based on a promotional email.
Keep your emails as concise and professional as possible. Be sure that the tone, theme, language, and approach of the email is consistent with your company brand.
4. Social Media
Social media is a no-brainer — it helps you spread the word about your services, sometimes before the customer even visits your site. You would be doing your business a huge disservice if you didn’t take advantage of it. However, if you choose to use it, make sure that you’re updating it consistently to stay engaged with your prospects and customers.
Here are some statistics:
- 3.48 billion people use social media. In other words, 45% of the world population uses social media.
- 90% of brands use social media to increase their brand awareness.
- Seven million businesses use paid advertising on Facebook.
- Two million businesses use paid advertising on Instagram.
5. Google’s Local Service Ads
Google’s local service ads is a new advertising platform that rolled out in 2019. What makes it so beneficial is that it’s specifically for service industries, such as locksmiths, plumbers, electricians, and HVAC services. As a result, it will allow prospects to easily find your company (granted it’s ranked well based on reviews and ratings).
How does it work?
The starting point is essentially the same. For example, a prospect will conduct a search on Google for a plumber in Atlanta. Once the search results are compiled, there will be a section at the top of the page that will show you rankings and ratings for “20+ plumbers nearby” or “20+ plumbers serving Atlanta”.
However, there are factors to keep in mind before you use it:
- It is a pay-per-lead platform; therefore, you’re paying for the leads rather than traffic.
- The platform is focused mainly on reviews. Your reviews and star ratings will affect your rankings.
- You must do a background check before you can become a Google verified business.
6. Video Marketing
Videos are another aspect of digital marketing, and are a great way to capture your brand personality, competitive differentiators, and can increase online engagement. Once your website is modern and optimized, add a video with good content. You’ll increase your conversion rate by 2.1% compared to those without a video.
Take it a step further. Adding in a video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by 80%. If you’re a new contractor that wants to bring in more leads, one of the best things you can do to advertise is add a video on your website. Be sure not to make your videos too long. Limit them to two minutes or less; otherwise, you may lose viewership and prospects.
7. Tracking and Analytics
An important part of digital marketing is tracking. How are you supposed to know whether your website is performing? How do you figure out whether prospects are engaging with your site? There’s no way for you to know unless you are tracking your site and utilizing analytics. While rankings, web traffic, heatmaps, and page views are beneficial, they’re not the essential analytics you need for your website. Therefore, to ensure that your page is performing at peak potential, you need to track the following analytics:
- Sales, advertising, and revenue: These metrics are better indicators of SEO success because they tell you how much money your business is generating.
- Leads: Leads are potential customers. Measuring how many leads you generate is vital — you can drive traffic to your site, but if you don’t convert them, you won’t be able to reach your goals.
- Conversion rate: Measuring conversion rate will allow you to determine whether you’re turning your leads into customers. Utilizing conversion rate optimization will help you eliminate strategies that aren’t working and identify areas where you can improve.
- Call tracking: This metric helps you understand how your business is growing. It will allow you to identify new and existing customers, identify the quality of leads, and determine the lead source (website, email, ad).
If you are a new or existing contracting business, these marketing essentials will take your company to the next level. Not only will they grow your business, but they will also help attract new customers, increase engagement, and help solidify your business as a leader within the field service industry.
