If you’re in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning industry then there’s no doubt you know how important current, effective HVAC marketing strategies are to your business.
The days of naming your company Aardvark HVAC to boost your phone book position are long gone. Nowadays, if you don’t have a stellar online presence and 5-star reviews then you’re leaking sales to your competitors with superior HVAC marketing strategies.
So kick your boots off, grab something to drink, and let’s go through the top strategies today and how to implement them.
Ready to get started?
HVAC Marketing Strategies to Implement Today
1. Dust off Your Google My Business Listing
If you haven’t claimed your company in Google My Business, don’t walk, RUN to do it now. We’ll still be here when you get back.
Google My Business manages the business listings that appear on the right side of Google when people are searching for your HVAC service. It includes the company name, location, hours, phone number, and reviews.
Beyond the basic business information, you also have an opportunity to stand out from the crowd by adding your logo and photos.
Studies have shown that photos of people get the most attention, particularly if their face is showing emotion. That’s why every YouTube video thumbnail shows someone looking shocked.
So, bonus points if you can muster up a pic of a thrilled HVAC tech! Pro-tip: tell one of your techs that happy hour’s on you, then quickly snap their pic. Actually paying for happy hour is optional.
Or you could just upload pics of your work vans, building, or HVAC units instead.
Even our overlords at Google admit that you can improve your search engine rankings by using Google My Business, making it the biggest no-brainer of these HVAC marketing strategies.
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2. Don’t Tell Me, Show Me
HVAC companies with tons of great reviews get more inbound leads.
And I’d bet my bottom dollar that the companies with the most reviews aren’t even always the best. They just have a superior process for collecting reviews.
Relying on your techs or customer service reps to collect reviews never works. As a process nerd, I’m a big fan of using software to automate the review process. Tools like GatherUp and other review aggregators can automatically send a text or email where the recipient can simply click on the 5-star icon and write a few words.
These tools cost more than you’d expect – often about $75 per month – but think of how inexpensive that is compared to how much you pay your sales team. We have clients who now have over 1,000 reviews due to tools like these, and their phones are ringing off the freakin’ hook!
If you’d rather not fork out the dough for a tool, then make it part of your process to email and ask for reviews.
Here’s an email that I’ve sent with much success. The trick is to ask for a favor, keep it casual, and link to where they leave the review.
Reviews are one of the essential HVAC marketing strategies. And verbally asking a customer for a review doesn’t work. They’ll never get around to it.
Use a review tool or, if you prefer, send an email.
3. Your Website is Your 24/7 HVAC Sales Rep
Where’s the first place you go to learn more about a company? Their website!
People are doing the same thing with your website every day, and having an ugly website is like arriving at a first date wearing stinky gym clothes – you ain’t getting’ date #2.
If your website is super old & dated, don’t try to put lipstick on a pig.
Invest in a new website with an HVAC marketing company and consider it as paying a sales commission in advance for the future business it will bring. And don’t cheap out on a template website with cheesy stock photos. That’s like hiring the salesperson who will work for the least amount of money.
Once your website is looking like a presentable member of society, it’s time to go through the HVAC website checklist.
- Your phone number must be prominently in the header so the subliminal messaging can work its magic. If you offer 24/7 customer service, then put that next to the phone number too.
- Create a standalone webpage for each of your services. This will vary by company, but some examples are: AC service, AC installation, heater repair, furnace maintenance, retrofits & rebuilds, etc. This will help your SEO and provide targeted landing pages if you run Google or Bing Ads – and every HVAC company should, but that’s another topic.
- Brag about all your 5 star reviews on your website. This “social proof” is exceedingly effective at enticing people to pick up the phone.
- On every landing page, include a service area map and put your phone number next to it.
4. Nail Your Elevator Pitch
People should know who you are and what you do within five seconds of being on your homepage.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees and we forget to put our elevator pitch front & center on the website! The trick is to keep it short & sweet and avoid clichés like “custom solutions” and “dedicated to our customers”.
Here are a few examples. Notice how we focus on the core service and don’t get overly wordy trying to cover everything? That’s what the rest of the website is for.
- Seattle’s Most Trusted HVAC Company – (highlights the region, reputation, and serving the broader HVAC market.)
- 24/7 Air Conditioning and Heater Repair – (conveys “we’re always available for you”. If you run Google Ads, you may choose to have this text run after hours and a different message run during the day.)
- Southern California Boiler Experts – (covers the service area and the specific expertise for 80% of their business. I love that it’s only four words.)
5. Phone Check
Browse your website on your phone. You WILL find some issues.
- Does it take forever to load?
- Look for text that is cut off or images that display weird.
- Submit the form on your Contact Us page. Did it work? What does the “completion page” say? It should thank you for getting in touch and address how and when someone will respond.
I hope that you found some good nuggets here to help your business.
Interested in additional HVAC marketing strategies and services? We’d love to hear from you! Just drop us a line if you’d like to discuss anything or chat about what it would be like to work together.
