HVAC Marketing Pitfalls

When it comes to marketing for HVAC companies, it’s easy—like, stupidly easy—to make simple mistakes that waste a ton of money.

Sure, every once in a while you might get some attention from a Facebook ad or you may see a boost in website visitors thanks to a Google Ads PPC campaign. But I have two questions about those “every once in a while” situations:

1. Did you get all that extra attention because of some intentional, strategic moves? Or was it a happy accident?
   
2. What happened as a result of those extra website hits? Did you gain any additional qualified leads? Anyone actually convert to a paying customer?

Now, I don’t mean to burst your bubble. Getting more visibility for your company is good. But it’s not as good as getting more customers for your company. So let’s talk about that HVAC marketing pitfall—and five others that are just as problematic.

When you invest marketing dollars in Facebook and Google Ads, it feels amazing to see a boost in social impressions and website hits. But if not one of those impressions earns you a new customer, you’re wasting your money. To maximize your ad spend, you’ll need to think beyond that initial click—which leads us to pitfall #2.

Listen, I like nice-looking websites, and I’m certainly not advocating for ugly ones. But when it comes to growing your HVAC business, it’s critical to think function over form. What’s that mean? Your website should, first and foremost, do its job: Convert leads into customers. The ins and outs of how to best accomplish that are complex, for sure, but all the tactics boil down to two things:

• Google has to know about your website and deem it worthy of showing to potential customers. It’s more cost-effective to invest in keyword research and mobile responsiveness than in a fancy-looking website with a bunch of useless bells and whistles.
  
• Potential customers have to understand your website. Within about eight seconds of landing on your site, customers should know what you do, how engaging your services will make their life better, and how to hire you. Hire an experienced designer to make your site look nice, but hire a qualified copywriter to create the content.

One of the fastest ways to waste money is to put your HVAC marketing on auto-pilot. The digital marketing space is in constant flux, and if don’t take the time to check in on your efforts, you’ll lose potential customers. To avoid this pitfall:

1. Set goals. It’s tough to know if something’s working if you don’t know what “working” looks like.
   
2. Decide what metrics to use. Digital marketing analytics can be overwhelming to HVAC contractors. I recommend keeping an eye on the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI):
   
   1. Website: total site visits, acquisition channels, bounce rate, conversions, top landing pages, dwell time, and lead generated
      
   2. PPC: clicks, click-through rate, quality score, conversions
      
   3. SEO: keyword rank, domain authority, page authority, total links built
      
   4. Social media: reach, engagement
      
3. Assess progress toward your goals. I recommend looking at your data at least once per month. Set up some simple spreadsheets so you can look at progress over time, and block out a couple of hours on your calendar to make sure you enter and review new data.
   
4. Adjust your tactics to improve progress toward goals. If your marketing doesn’t seem to be bringing the results you’re looking for, adjust your tactics not your goals.
   
5. Assess progress again. Although digital marketing is quantifiable and measurable, it’s also a bit of an art form. Try something, measure its effectiveness, make adjustments, and then measure effectiveness again.

Whatever you do, do not take a set-it-and-forget-it approach to your marketing! Even if you’ve hired someone to help you, don’t just assume they’re taking good care of you. Ask to see data.

Reviews are a critical component of any digital marketing strategy. These days, people don’t care—not one little bit—about how great you say you are. They do, however, care how great (or not) other people say you are.

Personal recommendations convert at a 1:1 ratio, and as far as prospective customers are concerned, online reviews count as personal recommendations. The overwhelming majority of people—90% of them—say they’re influenced by positive online reviews when making purchasing decisions.

So, if you’re not already:

• Start asking your customers for reviews today. Make this a part of your post-sales process.
  
• Find out what’s already been said about you. Check for reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and the Better Business Bureau.
  
• Respond to every review. Even to negative ones. (Nicely!)
  

Wayne Gretzky, the famed ice hockey player, once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” The same applies to business: You’ll lose 100% of the service calls you don’t ask for. For HVAC companies, “asking for the sale” includes things like:

• Having one, clear call to action on your website.
  
• Making sure your website is easy to navigate, including having a clickable/tappable phone number.
  
• Being ready for an increased number of leads. If your website started to generate twice the number of leads tomorrow as you have today, do you have enough staff to answer the phone? Do you have enough techs to handle the work? (Wouldn’t that be an amazing problem to have?)
  

The best marketing strategy for HVAC companies is this: Be the best HVAC company in your service area. A million-dollar marketing budget won’t save you from foul-mouthed, rude techs. The most clever Facebook Ad campaign won’t outweigh sub-par workmanship. Be good at what you do. Offer valuable services—and that doesn’t mean “the cheapest” either. Customer service will make or break your business. I’ve seen it over and over again.

As you might expect, there are several more pitfalls I could’ve addressed today. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I get it. Even when you know what you should be doing, it can be tough to know how to get it done. I’d love to help. Let’s get started today!