Generating consistent and quality HVAC leads is a vital part of building a successful HVAC company.
HVAC businesses can all benefit from creative ways to generate exclusive HVAC leads to grow their business and stay competitive in their market.
New leads can be acquired through online and offline marketing efforts. Successful HVAC marketing campaigns utilize both measures in their lead generation strategy.
The HVAC industry continues to evolve, and more and more HVAC companies are utilizing online HVAC marketing strategies to market and advertise their HVAC services.
Did you know that 78% of consumers use the internet to find information about local businesses more than once a week (up from 69% in 2020)?
Nowadays, more and more homeowners use online methods to find local HVAC companies. Many are turning to search engines such as Google to find local HVAC contractors and other local businesses.
So, what exactly is an HVAC lead, and how do you generate more of them? Let’s find out.
What is an HVAC Lead?
HVAC leads are possible customers that have expressed an interest in your HVAC services. They may have filled out a form on your website, called you on the phone, or contacted you in some other way.
New leads are a new potential source of revenue for your HVAC business. Generating a consistent flow of quality leads is essential for any HVAC business to grow its sales and scale.
Best HVAC Lead Sources For HVAC Contractors
While you can use many lead-generation strategies to get leads, some have been proven more effective than others.
Below is a list of online marketing lead sources you can use in your HVAC company lead generation and marketing strategies.
- Investing in Your Website
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing
- Social Media Advertising (Facebook ads, Instagram ads)
- Staying Active with Social Media Profiles & Online Listings (Facebook, Nextdoor, Yelp)
- Email Marketing
- Using High-Quality Company Photos & Videos
- Generating More 5-Star Online Reviews
- Content Marketing
- Local Sponsorships
There are many ways to generate new leads for your HVAC business. However, the most effective way to generate HVAC leads is by investing in your website or other forms of online marketing strategies.
Most of these strategies don’t work overnight, but if you consistently invest in them, you’ll see a significant increase in your leads and prospective customers over time.
Here is a deep dive into how you can generate high-quality leads to grow your HVAC business.
Upgrade & Optimize Your Website to Become a 24/7 Sales Person
Since the early 2000s, HVAC businesses have used their websites to provide valuable information about their air conditioning and heating services. Nowadays, it’s more important than ever to get your HVAC website design right.
A modern HVAC website can be more than just a place to list your HVAC services and provide contact information. Your HVAC website can be designed and optimized to serve as your business’s 24/7 salesperson and lead generation machine.
A website built on a solid foundation will be the hub of all of your online marketing efforts. It’s where you will send all of your traffic and potential new customers.
Target Local HVAC Keywords
Your website should be optimized for relevant HVAC keywords. An HVAC company may want to optimize its website for local air conditioning and heating-related keywords. If you’re located in St. Louis, that would include keywords such as:
- St Louis Air Conditioning Company
- AC Repair St Louis
- St Louis HVAC Repair
- HVAC Service St Louis Mo
This is just an example, but you get the idea. Having a website and its pages appropriately optimized to target these keywords correctly with perform better in the search results.
Optimizing for Conversions
It’s one thing to generate website traffic, but it’s another thing to convert traffic into potential HVAC leads online. Converting website visitors into new online leads begins with a solid layout and design to funnel traffic into your desired action.
This may consist of requesting service via a website button, contact form, live chat, or more.
A website built and designed with a good foundation, multiple calls to action, social proof, and fast load times will help in generating HVAC leads for your business.
Using Real Company Photography & Videography
Many local businesses fail to use real company photos and videos and opt for stock photography. It’s not to say that stock photography can’t work, but real company photos and videos will convert more website traffic into more online leads.
Pictures of your team, company trucks, and awards & accreditations can go a long way.
Writing High-Quality Content
This is an easy but often overlooked marketing strategy.
Good content on your website means better results in new leads and more traffic. Potential customers immediately form an impression of your company when they load your website. Content that is poor or has grammatical errors will give website visitors a negative impression of your company and turn them away.
Creating Pages For Every Location You Serve
Another often overlooked facet of a website is not building out service area-specific pages for all of the locations your company serves. This means a dedicated page targeting keywords based on each location speaking to your services and HVAC company.
By targeting keywords outside your central location, you can broaden your service area online to attract more leads.
Generating Phone Calls With Pay Per Click Advertising
HVAC companies can generate leads in several ways, but one of the most effective is through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
PPC advertising is a form of online marketing where businesses pay to have their ads displayed on search engines and other websites, most commonly Google. It looks like this:
This type of HVAC advertising can be highly effective because it allows you to target potential customers who are actively looking for air conditioning or heating services right at the top where they are actively searching.
Depending on the type of leads you are looking for, you can create a PPC campaign to target those same services with service-specific landing pages.
For example, air conditioning companies offer a wide range of services. If you’re looking to attract more leads, whether service, maintenance, replacements, furnace repairs, duct cleaning, or dryer vent cleaning, a PPC campaign can be built to target it.
Running Google ads not only helps attract HVAC leads but provides you with data that can help lead to better decisions in your online advertising campaigns.
The data can be used to identify ad campaigns performing well and ad campaigns performing poorly. Identifying these will lead to a lower HVAC leads cost, better-performing ads, and better use of your online advertising budget.
Learn More About PPC Advertising For HVAC
Generate Real HVAC Leads with SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO or search engine optimization is one of those terms loosely thrown around. We’re here to finally help HVAC contractors understand how it works.
SEO is the process of influencing the online visibility of a website in a search engine’s “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Leads are most commonly brought in when company websites rank high in organic listings. Typically the higher they rank in the organic search results, the more leads they receive.
This is done by identifying and targeting relevant keywords real customers search online every day. SEO includes creating relevant content for your industry, services, and location.
It also includes building your website’s authority through backlinks (references of your website on other websites).
There are a variety of ways, such as:
- Online directories (Yelp, YellowPages, BBB, Thumbtack, etc.)
- Local sponsorship or donation opportunities (Local Chambers, BNI groups, local websites)
- Guest posts (Writing content for another website with a link back to your site)
- And many more ways
SEO’s real value is in its sustainability and cost-effectiveness. The most significant benefit is that there isn’t a need to pay advertising platforms such as Google, Bing, and Facebook to get HVAC leads if your local SEO campaign is successful. This way, you control all of your digital marketing assets.
Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing
Another component of your local SEO campaign is optimizing your Google listing. This consists of creating a listing and filling it out as much as possible with relevant company information and photos.
This includes filling out:
- Main category and subcategories
- Service areas
- Business address
- Hours
- Phone number
- Website URL
- Appointment Link
- Services
- Products
- Description
- Company Photos & Videos
- Logo
- Opening Date
Keeping your Google listing up to date once a week is a great idea too. Once this is finished, consistently generate positive reviews for your listing for the best results.
Staying Top of Mind with Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising includes a variety of marketing initiatives that use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to build relationships and interact with potential and current customers.
HVAC contractors can benefit from social media advertising in a few ways:
Increased brand awareness: When you advertise on social media, your brand is exposed to more people than just those who follow your company on social media. Ads are displayed to people who don’t follow your company, as well as their friends. This increases the reach of your ad and the potential for new customers.
Increased website traffic & leads: Traffic from social media advertising can result in more website visitors and valuable leads.
With social media ads, you can specifically retarget potential customers who have already engaged with your business online.
Let’s say a homeowner was searching for a local HVAC company in their area, and they landed on your website. Maybe they didn’t convert the first time, but now you can position ads on their favorite social media channels with an offer they can’t refuse.
You can additionally advertise on platforms such as Yelp or Nextdoor. These online directories can play a part in the equation and drive additional leads for your local business.
Using Email Marketing to Touch Base with Lost Leads or Existing Customers
Email marketing is a great way to stay top of mind with your leads and current customers.
This strategy includes building an email list of any leads or current customers who have already expressed interest in HVAC services. Hopefully, this list would consist of names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, etc.
With email marketing, you can reach a lot of potential new leads with minimal effort. You can share helpful tips, offers & promotions, reviews and customer testimonials, and more.
If you already have an existing list of prospects, try using one of the many email marketing companies to run your first email marketing campaign.
Utilizing Company Photos & Videos
Adding high-quality photos to your Google My Business listing, website, or other online material is a great way to show prospects what your company is all about. Using company photos establishes a difference between you and your competitors. It also gives a personality and face to your business, increasing trust and conversions.
Generating More 5-Star Online Reviews
Reviews are critical because they are one of the first places potential customers learn about your business. They can help influence a customer’s decision to do business with you or not.
More consumers are reading online reviews than ever before. In 2021, 77% ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read them when browsing for local businesses (up from 60% in 2020).
This is why it’s essential to have a system to generate more positive reviews. You can do this by asking customers to leave a review after having a positive experience with your company by sending them a link to your Google, Yelp, or Facebook listing.
Not only do reviews increase your overall online presence, but they also assist in increasing your company’s credibility and online reputation leading to higher conversion rates.
You can manage online reviews directly through your Google listing account dashboard and make sure to respond to any positive or negative reviews consistently.
Sponsorships with Local Organizations
An often forgotten opportunity amongst small business owners is partnering with local sponsorship opportunities in your area. Not only do you get to tap into their customer base, but you can also get a relevant and authoritative backlink to your website.
Sponsorship opportunities can be cost-effective and make a sizable difference online.
Are Commercial HVAC Leads any Different?
Commercial HVAC leads are similar to residential leads. What makes them different is the buyer and intent. Commercial HVAC buyers typically want to purchase or repair equipment for commercial property or businesses.
All of the marketing strategies explained in this post can generate commercial HVAC leads in the same fashion. In this case, you would optimize the content on your website and other online material to represent commercial services.
This would include targeting keywords such as
- Refrigeration repairs in St Louis
- Commercial HVAC St Louis
- Commercial Refrigeration Repair Near Me
- St Louis Commercial HVAC Service
Commercial HVAC companies can also benefit from utilizing digital marketing strategies to generate new leads.
Are Leads for HVAC Companies Overhyped?
HVAC lead generation companies such as Home Advisor, Angie’s List, and others get HVAC leads and send them to a pool of contractors. These lead generation sites offer shared leads that have to be fought over.
You can buy HVAC leads this way, but other online solutions allow you more control of your lead flow. Working with a company that can help establish a sustainable exclusive lead flow and online presence is the way to go.
Does Your HVAC Business Need a Digital Marketing Makeover?
Could your website or marketing use a makeover? At HVAC Marketing Engine, we offer online marketing services focusing on generating leads and establishing a hands-off approach to marketing strategy for yourself.
Our marketing team is trained and experienced with the latest online strategies to establish a legitimate and credible online presence that generates leads in your sleep for your company.
Want a free consultation? Contact us online NOW!
