When you run a local business, your online marketing strategy must target the right people. Whether you’re helping people clean their pools, service their gutters, remodel their homes, or repair their HVAC systems, you have a limited geographic market that you’re targeting. Your online marketing must reach the people in your service area and no one else.
Yet marketing home services is uniquely more challenging than marketing a product-based business. The service you provide feels less tangible to customers, and only a very specific demographic needs what you offer. Lack of time can also be a challenge, and it takes time to learn how to market to a specific demographic. Finally, you may not have the knowledge you need to really capitalize on local marketing.
To overcome these challenges, first, do a thorough analysis of your target market to see who your ideal customers are. Then, identify your local trends, preferences, and interests that specifically matter to your customers. After getting to know your customers, take a look at your local competition and see what they’re doing online. All of this will give you a better idea of how you can reach your target audience with your marketing message.
Once you know your audience and your competition, you’re ready to take on localized marketing to fine-tune your marketing efforts. Here are some proven local search marketing tactics for home services contractors that will help you get where you need to go.
Localized Online Marketing Tactics
So how can you better reach your perfect local customer? Try these tactics:
1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Do you have a Google Business profile? If not, then you need to claim and verify it. Google outlines the steps to do so, but make sure you not only claim it but also verify it using the proper steps. This will increase your chances of being seen both on Google and on Google Maps.
As you set up your profile, check all of the details to make sure they’re accurate. You will need to look at:
- Business hours
- Address
- Contact information
- Services offered
- Service areas
in addition, add photos and videos of your service, and consider adding FAQs. Then, verify that these listings match your website and other online listings.
When you have customers, encourage them to leave reviews on Google. The more reviews you have, the better your online visibility will be and the more validity you will have with your potential customers.
2. Localized Content Marketing
Next, build your website content, but do it with a local focus. Instead of just talking about roofing or HVAC services, talk about local events or the local weather, tying it into your service where you can. Your goal with this content is two-fold. First, you want to create content that resonates with your customers, providing value and creating engagement. Write for people first.
Second, you want to capture search engine traffic through keywords, not just service-specific keywords. You also want local keywords woven naturally into your content. In addition, use local visuals when possible to solidify your geographic reach.
How can you do this without over-using terms like “roofing service in Chicago?” Use local events and news items in your blog posts and social media updates. Follow local trends and write about those as well. Balance this with service-specific content to leverage local content while staying true to your service.
3. Local SEO Strategies
While you’re building your content, focus on implementing SEO tactics that focus on the locations you want to target. Decide which geographic areas, such as cities or counties, you wish to rank best for, and then target your SEO efforts on these areas.
In addition to the keywords in your content, look for high-quality backlinks from locally-specific sites. Local businesses with complementary services can be a great source for backlinks, particularly if they are well-trafficked and rank highly. You can also use community websites, such as the local chamber of commerce or the business directory on the city website, and other local directories to gain these backlinks.
As you work on SEO, remember to work on having a fast, mobile-friendly website. People who are booking services often use their phones to book, so you want your site to look good and load quickly on mobile devices. In addition, Google rewards mobile-friendly sites with higher rankings. Consider responsive web design if you have a different look for your computer-based and phone-based site configurations.
4. Local Online Advertising
Online paid advertising can be a good way to boost your local visibility. Use online ads with a local focus to target potential customers living within a radius of your location. Facebook Ads can be quite successful for local home services companies, and Google Ads are also quite helpful.
When setting up paid advertising, remember that it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it type of job. You will want to test, retest, and adjust your ads to make them work as well as possible for you. As you analyze the performance of your ads, you will want to optimize them to get even better results. Whether that means changing your geotargeting, adjusting the ad copy, or something else, keep making changes until you find the structure and plan that works.
5. Local Branding
As a home services company, you want to ensure that your brand is the one people think of first when they need the type of services you offer. You need to get your name out there. Partnering with other local businesses is a great way to do this.
Find local businesses that complement the service you offer. For instance, if you are a moving company, you could partner with a carpet cleaner to cross-promote your services, as most people need to clean carpets during the moving process. When someone books with you, you can recommend the other service providers they may need, and those providers can recommend you as well.
When you have a cross-promotional partnership, you can advertise through links on your site and posts on your social media. This helps both of you grow your brand awareness, and it may also bring in some new leads.
In addition to cross-promotion with local businesses, you can connect with community leaders and local charities to promote your business. Do charitable giving locally so you can get a shout-out from your favorite charity, for example. You can write off the donation on your taxes, and you can expand your reach.
Be active in local events, but choose carefully. Work with events that have a strong online presence and a good local following. Having your name, link, and contact information on these event pages will help your online marketing efforts.
6. Monitor and Analyze Performance
Determine how you will know if your online marketing efforts are successful, and track your progress. The successes you can track are known as key performance indicators, or KPIs, and they will show you where you are doing things well and where you need to improve. Some common KPIs to track include:
- Conversion rates – How many of your site visitors are converting into customers?
- Local search rankings – How well do you rank for your local search terms?
- Website traffic – Is the amount of traffic to your site increasing?
In order to track these data points, you need to gather them. Google Analytics can give you insight into how your website or your advertising campaigns are working. It shows details about customer behavior, conversions, how people found you, what content is working best, and how much traffic you have.
Once you have data, use that data to drive adjustments to your marketing campaigns. Data prevents you from guessing. It allows you to make educated decisions based on factual data, rather than just guessing what you could do to improve your efforts.
Attract Local Customers with Localized Online Marketing
The home services industry is one of the most highly local industries that exists. The only people you need to find your website are those who live where you provide services. Localizing your online marketing will improve your online visibility to the right people, helping you attract more local customers.
With localized online marketing, you can target specific zip codes and geographic areas, improve engagement with your customers, and grow your business more effectively. Yet, these strategies don’t address the issue of time. As a business owner, you may not have the time necessary to devote to growing your business in this way.
This is where Surefire Local can help. We have a local marketing platform that helps small businesses with their localized online marketing. We create local signals that extend across platforms and profiles so people can more easily find you in your local area. We streamline all of your local marketing efforts into an all-in-one marketing platform, helping you save time and effort. We offer:
- Website and local SEO optimization strategies
- Directory management
- Content marketing
- Social media management
- Local online advertising
- Analytics and reporting
In addition, we provide valuable educational resources, including webinars and blog posts, to help you learn more about effective local online marketing. With our help, you can reach your local market more effectively and spend less time on online marketing.
Are you ready to learn more about how to implement these local search marketing tactics for home services contractors? Book a demo with Surefire Local today to see our local search marketing platform for yourself.