The statistics of 2021 state that there are over 118,636 HVAC businesses only in the United States. The HVAC industry is growing, and thus it demands a robust HVAC marketing strategy from your end to help your new business grow.
The time is gone when you just had to register your business on yellow page directories to get clients’ attention. To grow your HVAC business in 2023, you got to be innovative and apply modern techniques.
So, to ensure that your business is not left behind by competitors, adapt these varied marketing tactics to make your HVAC services reach more clients.
10 Proven Ways to Grow HVAC Business in 2023
Your HVAC company is undoubtedly destined to offer valuable services. But your clients don’t know that yet. Your HVAC business model needs recognition, and these ten proven techniques will help you achieve that.
1. Build a brand for your HVAC business
No one will care to know your HVAC company if you don’t brand it right. Starting a business and building a brand out of it are two different things. Executing an HVAC business model decides your services, management operations, and earning potential.
On the other hand, branding represents how you present your business to the target audience. It covers the visual style, content representation, and overall impression.
You need to have a catchy name, attractive logo, HVAC website, informative content, graphic visualizations, and much more for branding. When you are done creating your brand, the elements will be used further in all of your marketing materials.
Whether you design a brochure, digital portfolio, and business cards, the content you add to the website should have a specific tone to get the customers’ attention. And the same tone and flow need to be carried out over all the marketing channels you use, such as social media and paid Google ads.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When the HVAC business owners start their own HVAC business website, the content fed into it should help the brand become recognizable to the online audience. And SEO is quite important for that!
Every time someone searches online for HVAC services on a search engine, it crawls through the relevant company websites to see if the searched phrase matches the keywords within the content of a website or not.
The HVAC companies that have used keyword analysis know which phrases are mostly used by the target audience to look for the services they offer. And this is how they rank up the order in the result pages of search engines.
The best way to find relevant keywords is through Google Keyword Planner. It will help you identify what your ideal customers are usually typing out over Google or other search engines for finding the best HVAC company.
With this SEO strategy, your website will be findable by the target customers over the top results of search engines. Target Google as a priority when you impose SEO and keyword analysis because many of your target customers are using Google to look for new brands and businesses.
3. Collect data and solve problems for your existing customers
You have got your first bunch of HVAC business projects. You have successfully delivered the service and taken the feedback. Your job is to refer to that feedback and retain your existing clients.
You need to analyze the reasons why your customers are happy or why they are sad with your HVAC company. Try to improve your strong points and solve the problems that resulted in negative feedback.
It is more like a personalized marketing technique where you would use social media and websites to launch polls and take customer opinions. For instance, you should ask a poll on whether your price seems right for the AC to repair solutions or should it be a little less in comparison to the market value.
If your customers request you to lower the price but think you have priced the services based on the value you offer, then share your side of the story over those posts. Collect the data and, if possible, act on it. When not, you can always share testimonials of satisfied customers to help build a positive rapport with your potential or new customers.
Hence, this will help you manage existing customer relationships and retain them for more business opportunities. Along with that, you will also be opening up windows to acquire new customers.
4. List your HVAC business over local directories
The best HVAC marketing strategy widely adopted by most HVAC business owners through which they can be easily found by local customers is to list your business over online directories. Most of your city’s audience will look for a local company to whom they can reach out easily at times of need.
So, by listing your business online over the directories, you can impose local SEO and be found by the regional customers.
Google My Business is an optimal platform to create your primary listing for the business. Create your profile, add legit information, share your website URL, add Google maps location and fill in all the asked details to help your potential customers reach out to you.
Apart from Google My Business, you can also list your HVAC business over Yelp and Bing, as a small group of potential clients will use them. To grow your HVAC business, you must be open in all possible areas to welcome leads and opportunities.
5. Keep collective customer reviews for your HVAC business
The next advisable thing for you is to gather online reviews as much as possible. Your quality of services will speak for your brand, and most of your customers will surely leave positive feedback. Upon completion of service, you can request the customers to leave a review over Google listing or any other reviewing platform if it doesn’t bother them.
In most cases, the customers will make an effort to leave a review if they are impressed with your services. And for a good review, you might have to train your HVAC technicians to serve the customers beyond a standard installation, repair, or maintenance job.
Another way of acquiring good reviews is asking your customers to follow your social media platforms and leave feedback on your business page. A business card with QR code or a digital link to a reviewing portal will help save their effort. Hence, the chances of getting more reviews will be higher.
6. Social media marketing
Around 58.4% of the world’s population is on social media today. As of January 2022, the average social media usage per day is 2 hours and 27 minutes. You have endless possibilities in reaching out to your audience when you are marketing your HVAC business over social media.
Every successful HVAC company has active social media platforms that greatly contribute to its overall business performance. Moreover, it is also one of the most crucial digital marketing strategies that help enrich customer loyalty for your brand.
Having a reputation on social media will help the customers know you better as they can regularly see your ads, profile videos, posts, and other such service offers. As a result, they will not just avail of your services but will also praise your business processes over social media by tagging your brand page, sharing video feedback, and recommending your services to their followers.
Pro tip:Share the video of you as an HVAC technician performing a common HVAC job, like repairing or installing an air conditioner. This can be a kickstart of marketing your different HVAC services.
If your website design has a ‘blog’ section with informative contents in it, then consider sharing the blog links as social media posts to get more views. People who land on your blog page will be keen to learn about the HVAC industry. And there is a high chance people would remember your brand name if they find the blog informative and useful.
The most effective way to grow your HVAC business over social media is by posting seasonal deals. HVAC maintenance and servicing needs arise mostly during the change of seasons. For instance, the air conditioning system might need a gas refill or a new filter before the summer hits.
Therefore, push some seasonal offers through social media to the minds of your followers or potential customers. Tell them there is a discount on a seasonal service that lasts for a limited time.
7. Impose email marketing
HVAC companies need to use their website to the maximum potential. A newsletter subscription form on your website will help you acquire an email list. To motivate the website visitors to sign-up for your newsletter services, propose a welcome bonus, sign-up incentive, or a service discount.
It will motivate them to sign-up and give your HVAC business a chance with their requirements. When you are ready with the email list, you can now choose an email marketing platform and create informative newsletters, sales discount offers, business backstories, and other crucial details for the customers.
But remember not to spam their inbox with rigorous emails and set a periodic duration to send them the newsletters. It should feel like information rather than a sales email to force your customers to buy your services.
Your content in the emails should be engaging so that they don’t end up unsubscribing you. You need to convert those subscribed website visitors into potential leads and, eventually, your customers. So, give them time and instruct your sales reps to time the emails right.
To grow your HVAC business long-term with this digital marketing strategy, you should clean up the email list periodically. With the right service provider, you will have insights into who opened the email and clicked on the links. The members on the list who are unresponsive to your emails can be removed, and the space will be freed up for the new sign-ups.
8. Use word of mouth as a powerful marketing weapon
Positive word of mouth is still the best digital marketing strategy that can help you grow your HVAC business quickly and without any additional investment.
If you believe you are offering great services to your customers, then you must start a referral program. The existing customers will get a reward or complimentary services if they spread positive word of mouth about your HVAC business and get you paid clients.
Along with online reputation, verbal feedback is also important for a successful HVAC business to maintain the flow of clients. As an HVAC business owner, you should work on attaining customer satisfaction in the first place, following which you can use their positive verbal feedback for your company’s future growth.
9. Improve your networking with other businesses
The HVAC companies should get in touch with the appliance manufacturers or retailers to be recommended by them to their customers for any repair or installation jobs. You need to build professional relationships with other businesses to get recommendations.
You can also promise to do the same for them in return, which will eventually build rapport. Referral works as a give-and-take process. You give them the customers, and they will help you get yours. Most HVAC companies use this technique to get more leads and customers.
You can email appliance manufacturers, electronic goods retailers, and other HVAC contractors. Tell them about the services you offer and the business that you have just started. Let them know the purpose of your email, and make them aware of how this professional relationship will also help them grow.
10. Try traditional or print marketing
Even today, many businesses post ads on local newspapers, flyers, billboards, flex prints, and direct mail. These print marketing ideologies are old but effective in giving you impactful sales.
You will build a connection with them by giving them physical flyers and brochures. You can verbally tell them about your business in one line. You can hand over a business card to the customers who inquire about your business when you hand them over a physical brochure.
It will improve the customers’ access to your contact details as not everyone is too convenient with searching through the internet for your number or address over Google maps. A business card in their wallet would do the needful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you become a millionaire from running an HVAC business?
HVAC businesses have owners who are young millionaires. This industry will never run out of demand as the technology of electronic appliances is evolving. And modern technologies need modern repair solutions that come at a good service cost.
Hence, if you are an HVAC business owner with appropriate marketing strategies, you can be a millionaire.
How can one get more customers for their HVAC business?
HVAC marketing ideas are listed above for you to follow. You can hire an SEO agency to help impose digital marketing for your website and add brand value to your business. Following that, you can also run paid ads over social media channels and search engines to get better search rankings.
Is it difficult to run an HVAC business?
HVAC companies are easy to run if they are approached through an optimal business plan. Your business plan is your informative document or blueprint that guides you through the process of achieving your pre-set goals.
Apart from that, this blueprint will also help you seek funds from investors and banks by explaining to them what your business is all about.
Summing Up
HVAC businesses need an optimal HVAC business plan to grow and thrive in this career path. The first thing you should always emphasize after starting your HVAC business is to get a good online presence. Let people find you and know about you, which will eventually increase the chances of your success.
Following these ideas above will help you leave a reputable and strong digital footprint above your competitors. Get more professional and personal recommendations through networking and good customer reviews.
Keep learning new skills over time and be ready at all times to attend to the repair solutions of modern appliances in the industry. It will help you in targeting people and have increased sales and profitable revenue. Also using the best HVAC software can make your job easier with its advanced features, whether you are into a startup business or already running a successful HVAC company.