Top 10 HVAC Marketing Strategies for 2021

So, have you figured out your New Year’s resolutions yet? Sure, it’s only the beginning of December–but before we know it, we’ll be watching the ball drop and complaining to everyone within earshot, yet again, that Ryan Seacrest is no Dick Clark. (Am I wrong? I didn’t think so.)

Now, if you’re like most folks, your resolutions probably look something like this: Eat less. Move more. Those are great. But I’d like to propose one more: Spend less—specifically on HVAC marketing that’s not working. Like most resolutions, that’s easy to say and tough to keep up with. I’ve talked to a lot of HVAC shops who are sick of wasting money on marketing that doesn’t make their phone ring, but they have no idea how to fix it.

Great news: At Levergy, we do know how to fix it. Let’s start by talking about the top 10 HVAC marketing strategies for 2020.

Before we talk about where to spend your marketing budget, we need to talk about your customers. Specifically, we need to talk about how they go from:

• knowing zilch about your HVAC shop
  
• to knowing you exist
  
• to deciding you’re the right people for the job
  
• to telling everyone they know how terrific you are.
  

• Top of the Funnel (TOFU): Awareness. In this stage, you’re letting people know you exist and that you have some connection to their problem. Potential customers at the top of the funnel say about your company, “I’ve heard of you.”
  
• Middle of the Funnel (MOFU): Interest and Preference. In the middle of the funnel, you pique people’s interest in who you are and what you know, and then you help guide them toward choosing you as a solution to their problem. In the middle of the funnel, customers say, “I’m interested—but only from afar” and then, if you’re successful in drawing them toward you, “I’m convinced you’re the company to help me.”
  
• Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU): Conversion and Advocacy. At the bottom of the funnel, dollars exchange hands and your thrilled customers become a referral source. Here, customers say about you, “Take my money,” and “I’m going to tell everyone I know about you!”

Following are the top 10 HVAC marketing channels for 2021:

1. Your website
   
2. Google reviews
   
3. Customer service
   
4. Recruitment marketing
   
5. Pay per click advertising
   
6. Search engine optimization
   
7. Google Local Services (and, to a lesser degree, other pay-per-lead sites)
   
8. YouTube
   
9. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
   
10. Email marketing
    

Some studies suggest that as many as 97% of people research local service companies online. If people aren’t finding your website, or if your website isn’t helpful to them, you’ll very likely lose them as potential customers. To grow your HVAC business, you must have a good website. From your customer’s perspective, a “good” website is one that’s mobile-friendly, fast, secure, and helpful.

To learn more about a better HVAC company website, check out HVAC Web Design Essentials.

If you’re trying to decide on just one marketing strategy to focus on in 2021, this is it: Get more Google reviews for your HVAC company. The number, frequency, and content of your Google reviews is more important to your search engine results page (SERP) rank than any other factor.

• 24% of a site’s local SEO value comes from its Google reviews.
  
• 92% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
  
• 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

The fastest way to grow your HVAC business is to be a really great HVAC business. Customer service will make or break your business. And I’m not only talking about the quality of your work; I’m also talking about the attitude with which you do it. You’ve got to beat your competitors both online and on the street.

Notice I haven’t said anything about the price of your work. What matters here is how you treat people. If you do well by folks, they’ll come back to you the next time—and they’ll bring friends. Even if you’re not the least expensive option.

Constantly worried about pricing? Read HVAC Pricing Strategies: Price vs. Value.

Since you’re working on your marketing plan for 2021 (good for you!), your shop will undoubtedly start getting more business. That likely means you’re going to need to grow your team, and you need to find the right ones. You simply can’t offer unparalleled customer service with lazy, rude, unskilled technicians.

According to the USG and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction index, 94% of contractors have trouble finding skilled help. Here are 9 Tips for Attracting and Retaining Quality Service Techs.

Lots of HVAC companies wonder if paid internet ads are worth it. My answer? Yes. No question. Done correctly, pay per click (PPC) Google Ads will zip your website to the top of the search rankings immediately— above the organic searches. And here’s the best part: You only pay for the ads when people click on them. In short, Google Ads offer high potential ROI with very little risk.

New to PPC advertising? Check out AdWords 101 for HVAC Companies.

PPC ads will help boost your SERP rank quickly. But what happens if you stop running those ads? You guessed it: Your SERP rank will plummet again. Unless you’ve been smart with your HVAC SEO.

SEO can be complicated, time-consuming, and (to be perfectly honest) a little frustrating. Google changes its algorithms constantly , so SEO isn’t something you can just “fix” and then walk away. It’s critical to have a results-driven, local SEO strategy that lands you at the top of Google SERP for the right customers.

We’ve developed a proven approach that’s helped HVAC companies just like yours improve their SERP rank. We’d love to talk with you about that. In the meantime, read 4 SEO Tips for HVAC Companies.

Sites like Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor are called “pay per lead” sites. If you have oodles of marketing money, these aren’t terrible options to consider. If you need to be cautious with budget, focus on Google Local Services instead.

Now, Google Local Services is also a pay per lead site. However, unlike sites like HomeAdvisor—where you either have to race to the bottom in price or race to be the first to close a deal—each customer on Google Local Services is verified as a lead and then assigned to one company.

Participating in Google Local Services makes you eligible for the new Google Guaranteed program, which lends you more credibility with potential customers. We wrote about Google Guaranteed for plumbersa while back; the same principles apply for your HVAC company.

Videos account for one-third of online activity, and 64% of people make a purchase after viewing a company’s video. If you haven’t made the leap into videos for your HVAC company, 2021 is the year to do it.

Don’t fret: You don’t need to hire a production crew and spend a ton of money. You can create effective videos with your cell phone in decent light and with good audio. What kind of videos? Think educational, DIY videos and behind-the-scenes clips. Post your videos to YouTube, and share them on your social channels.

YouTube ads are relatively affordable (less than $1 per view, typically)—but even if you decide not to invest in advertising, having posts on YouTube can boost your backlink strategy.

What’s a backlink? Here’s Backlink 101.

Social media is a particularly useful tool in the early stages of the coversion funnel. In other words, although Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter aren’t likely to bring you qualified leads, social media is nevertheless a helpful part of your omni-channel marketing strategy—mostly because social is where your customers live.

By posting the right types of content on your social accounts, you can drive traffic to your website. The more organic traffic you get, the more impressed Google is by you—and the higher your SERP rank climbs. And social content doesn’t just boost your credibility with Google; it also shows your potential customers that you’re knowledgeable and trustworthy.

Need some content ideas? Check out Social Media Posts for HVAC Companies.

Despite conventional wisdom, email is not dead. In fact, in the United States, people interact with more companies via email than they do on Facebook. For HVAC companies, email is a particularly effective way to remind your current customers that you exist—so they’re more likely to call you the next time they have a problem (and refer others to you!).

As with all things advertising, there are best practices when it comes to email marketing. We actually wrote a great book on HVAC marketingthat talks about it in depth.

If you add any one of these ideas to your HVAC marketing strategy for 2021, your business will grow. Ready to get started and need some help? Schedule your free strategy call today.