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THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO MARKETING FOR HOME SERVICES

TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

Below are some guides to help you grow your business and start making the web work for you instead of against you.

Now is the time to start taking your online presence as seriously as any aspect of your business. Consumers want easy, and their smartphones are the pathway to their business. Learn more on how to capture their attention and get their business below.

GET SOCIAL

A recent study showed that over 75% of all new business for the home services industry comes from word of mouth.

While there will always be a word-of-mouth component to your business, expanding that reach is absolutely crucial to gaining customers outside of your core set of clients. Incorporating a robust social media marketing plan extends well beyond simply having a page for your business on Facebook™ or Instagram™.

To get the most from your social media marketing, you need to market your services to targeted geographic areas at specific times of the day and week. This approach has shown huge returns in new business for our clients. Learn more about what it looks like.

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“There is now far more content being made than there is time to absorb it." 

Increasing the accuracy in how you're reaching your target audience has never been more critical.

The number of followers your business has can have a direct correlation to converting business. Learn how to get more followers the right way. 

SHOW UP IN SEARCH.

The global home services market is set to top $1.6 trillion dollars and has shown no signs of slowing. So, how are your customers finding you? In fact, over 55% of customers will run a search for your business before converting into a client.

Most home services businesses are aware of the fact that they need to rank as high as possible in search results to have the best chance of potential customers finding them. However, SEO, or Search Engine Optimization isn't the forte for most of our clients.

Getting your business on the first page of search results, especially mobile search isn't a part time endeavor, but the payoff is huge. We can take the mystery out of SEO for your business and get the internet working for you instead of against you.

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What area of home services are you in and looking for marketing help with?

 Choose a service area below to see tailored marketing solutions made specifically for Home Services

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Blackhat techniques that were once common during the infancy of SEO have severe consequences today. 

Learn the rules of good SEO for home services businesses and use them to rank higher on Google naturally.

Some of the SEO tactics you're using right now could have the potential to negatively affect your search ranking. Make sure you're not hurting your online visibility

ADVERTISE SMART.

On average for home services, Google Ads cost close to $40 per click due to the highly competitive landscape of the industry. Also, the cost per lead can exceed $100 especially for highly competitive fields like Plumbing, HVAC, and Electrical.

You know that you need to advertise, but the immense costs can make it difficult to compete with larger competitors with higher budgets. We'll help you maximize your advertising budget for platforms like Google or Facebook and actually compete against your competitors.

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YOUR WEBSITE.

Almost 97% of home service businesses have a website. However, those websites range from strictly banner content (I simply have a website with a phone number and some pictures of my work) to functional (My visitors can schedule appointments and get real-time project updates).

No matter what kind of site you have, your customers and potential customers are judging your capabilities based on its look and performance. You owe it to yourself and your business to make sure your website is as functional and good-looking as it can be. We understand that you're most likely not a seasoned web designer, but we're expert website developers that specialize in home service websites and we can help.

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OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER.

86% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase, and they read an average of 10 before deciding to trust a home services business or not. We can help you understand where your online reviews are coming from, where you should be getting them, and what ranking you have relative to your competitors. This is essential as online review management is often one of the most misunderstood components of an effective digital marketing plan. 

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DIGITAL ON-DEMAND SERVICE: IS IT WORTH IT?

The rise of apps such as Thumbtack and Home Advisor over the years has provided a new way for home services customers to access hundreds of specialized contractors at any given time with clear and mostly fixed-rate structures. Often the challenge in using these methods is a measured loss of control in your business that favors the provider and the end-user, or high costs for leads. If you're considering it as a means of getting more business, here are some key highlights to consider:

THUMBTACK

  • Free access to millions of customers, provided you have at least one review and have set up customer targeting

  • Pay per lead. Leads are defined as a call, message, or booking

  • You are required to respond as quickly as possible to "win" the job or risk losing it to another competitor

  • Lead "Budgets" follow PPC very closely, and can be very expensive

HOME ADVISOR

  • Prescreening process to join pro network involving criminal and credit history

  • Pay per lead. Leads are defined as a call, message, or booking

  • Leads are shared amongst thousands of providers and are extremely competitive

  • Leads are not "vetted" and could be wrong numbers or even worse, customers who have no idea how Home Advisor got their information

WHAT YOU CAN DO INSTEAD?

Avoiding average yearly fees of $300 plus variable fees of $15-60+ per lead will definitely free up your home services marketing budget for activities that solely benefit your business. Investing into targeted Home Service Industry Specific PPC campaigns, boosting SEO for your Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical, Landscaping, or other Home Services business, and making sure that your Pool, Roofing, Solar, or other industry website is optimized for mobile will give you higher returns overspending for leads that may or may not result in anything other than revenue for a home services broker.

What area of home services are you in and looking for marketing help with?

Choose a service area below to see tailored marketing solutions made specifically for Home Services.

THE ISSUES FACING HOME SERVICES BUSINESSES RIGHT NOW

Due to levels of demand not seen before with the rise of the recent pandemic, more and more home services businesses find themselves at a disadvantage when it comes to available talent. This shortage makes business growth difficult even in the face of a $1.6 trillion dollar market. To attract and maintain skilled talent, home services firms need to look at their web presence as a means of recruitment marketing. If customers aren't able to find you easily, Plumbing, Electrical, Landscaping, HVAC and other candidates will have a difficult time as well.

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There's no time for, or limited involvement with marketing. While this isn't always the case, especially in some larger organizations, smaller firms have all their efforts focused on completing jobs and scheduling new work. This leads to no, or slow growth as there simply is no time to oversee marketing efforts and limited knowledge on how to effectively market products and services to a larger home services audience. The use of a knowledgeable home services marketing firm can help drive leads, convert more of them, and capture a larger market share.
Due to increased competition because of demand, an environment of price undercutting to win bids leading to poor workmanship by the rule of the lowest bidder now exists. Home services business owners without established marketing and sales plans and practices are forced to subsist in this environment where margins are low and more work is required to turn profits as a result. Home Services marketing activities that establish differentiation are especially important to creating a niche even in extremely competitive industries like HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing, and Roofing just to name a few.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

These are the top 20 questions that we're asked the most by Home Service Businesses:

Leads are the lifeblood of your business, see how you can bring them in and get them to convert in the article below:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/marketing-bringing-in-leads

Many home service companies experience seasonality in their business, but that doesn't mean that you can't stay busy even in non-peak periods. Learn how here:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/how-ppc-can-sustain-cyclical-home-service-businesses

Cutting wasteful advertising spend is absolutely essential for home services businesses that need to spend smart to compete in a highly competitive PPC environment. See if you're wasting money:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/how-wasteful-ad-spending-can-hurt-your-home-services-business

Where your leads come from can help you understand much more than where your next customer comes from. See why it matters:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/lead-attribution-for-home-service-businesses-heres-why-it-matters

Differentiating your business from your competitors is critical for any business, and even more so for Home Services. These two tactics can help immediately:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/overcome-home-services-competition-with-these-2-digital-marketing-tactics

Potential customers often are won or lost during the initial phone call, and these home services absolutely must have phone agents to win business:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/the-3-home-services-that-must-have-phone-agents

If you're considering Amazon Home Services, here are a few things you need to know first:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/amazon-home-services-is-it-worth-it-for-your-business

If your website, PPC, and social media messaging aren't in alignment, it can cause more than confusion for potential customers:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/how-not-being-optimized-for-multichannel-affects-your-home-service-business

Google My Business is an absolute game changer for lead generation if you know how to leverage it the right way:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/how-google-my-business-can-bring-you-leads

Your website is often the front line to begin converting potential customers into new business, but it could be holding you back:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/website-speed-heres-why-it-matters

Digital processes are valuable for every business, but these processes are especially valuable for home services:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/digital-processes-for-small-businesses

Offering advice for free can actually have huge upsides for your home services business, here's why:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/how-to-leverage-video-tutorials-in-your-digital-marketing

As a home services business, you understand the necessity for social media, and here are some dos and don'ts that you should be following:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/top-5-social-media-dos-donts-for-2021

Customers need to be able to find your business online, and these tips can help them find you easier:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/seo-basics-the-6-most-important-things-you-need-to-know-right-now

Sending emails is a necessary component of running a home services business, and if you want to improve your results, try these suggestions:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/what-are-the-best-ways-to-improve-emails-results

When done correctly, social media can bring a massive audience to you, but it takes a tactical approach to do it right:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/top-6-tools-to-write-better-on-social-media

Getting on the first page of Google is the goal of every business online, and using these techniques, it can be much easier:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/finding-keywords-that-put-you-on-the-first-page-on-google

If your home services business isn't already using a CRM, you should be, and there are some very important reasons why:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/your-business-needs-a-crm

Over 80% of home services business is initiated from a mobile device, so your website needs to be ready to help convert:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/are-you-mobile-first-ready

Uncovering these hidden marketing costs can end up saving you precious monetary resources that can help your bottom line:

 

https://www.ontargetagency.com/ask-on-target/the-hidden-costs-of-marketing

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LEARN WHAT IT MEANS
TO BE ON-TARGET!

Whatever you're up against, rest assured that after 20 years we've probably seen it. Let's connect and get to know each other.

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