Have you ever wondered if running online ads to promote your home services business is truly really worth the time and money?
It is! It’s extremely important, in fact. You should never underestimate the significance of localized online ad optimization for home service contractors.
But why?
Let’s find out.
The Impact of Online Ads for Small Businesses in the Home Services Industry
Online ads will help you do several things. It helps build your brand, and your brand’s authority in the industry, and it helps establish and maintain trust with your customers. This is because doing so helps you build a recognizable household name. Once your name is out there and seen everywhere online, it leads to brand authority and trust.
But there’s more. It also gives you a wider marketing reach. So all of this will give you an advantage over your competition.
Now, let’s dig a little deeper into this topic.
Understanding the Impact of Online Advertising on Localizing Your Online Presence
The impact of online ads on local search rankings and online visibility is astonishing. It contributes to local visibility in so many ways. We’re going to break it down for you.
Google is a widely trusted resource. Most people see Google as an authority on everything. And remember…authority results in trust. So if your local ads are seen all over Google, you’re golden!
Social Media
Almost everyone goes to their favorite social media sites when they need recommendations and advice. So if they need any given home service, they will go to social media to see what everyone there recommends. If you are active, engaged, and advertising there, again, you’re golden!
YouTube
YouTube is owned by Google, so they are another trusted resource when it comes to advice, recommendations, how-tos, and just about everything else. So you need a local business presence there as well.
Directory Listings
Directory listings are huge – especially review sites like Yelp, etc. There are loads of business directories online. And you should be on as many of them as possible. These directories give your potential customers the information they need at a glance. There are services out there that can help you with this. More about that in a moment.
Targeting Local Audiences with Online Advertising
Just about everyone uses the internet for everything as part of their daily lives. In addition, many people use their digital devices to search for a local home services business before contacting or visiting any given establishment. So using local ads and other local outreach tactics will ensure that your business information pops up when those customers are actively searching.
In essence, your business gains greater visibility, more customers, higher quality leads, and more revenue by employing online advertising strategies in your overall marketing campaigns.
Statistical Proof of the Effectiveness of Online Advertising for Local Businesses
Now, let’s take a look at some statistics for localized online ad optimization for home service contractors. And the importance of including social media ads in your strategy. This is going to be very eye-opening for you.
- 88% of smartphone users searching for a local business end up calling or visiting that business within 24 hours of that search.
- Websites that use SEO strategies get 86% of all online clicks.
- 43% of consumers use the internet every day to perform brand and product research.
- 45% of consumers are more likely to visit a local business that has a strong online presence.
- Online ads have an average return on investment of 200%!
- 39% of consumers routinely purchase directly from social media.
- More than 90% of consumers do research on social media before making a purchase. Yep! 90%. That’s huge. Your local ads need to be plastered all over social media.
The Best Local Home Services Platforms for Online Ads
Now you know why online advertising is so important. But how do you decide which platforms are the best to use? We are going to break it down for you. Here are just a few to get you started.
Google Ads gives you a cost-effective way to reach an unlimited local audience. Literally! And don’t forget about brand authority and trust.
Facebook (Meta)
Remember the statistics we talked about a moment ago? More than 90% of consumers use social media to research a business before making a purchase. So advertising on social media is one of the best ways to get your name in front of a hyper-targeted audience.
Again, social media is a goldmine for local advertising. And each person and every demographic has their favorite go-to platform. That means your ads need to be where your target audience spends most of their time.
There are other platforms that are great for localized online ad optimization for home service contractors as well.
So now we will quickly go over the things you need to consider when selecting the most suitable platforms for your business to advertise on.
Factors to Consider When Selecting a Suitable Advertising Platform
Let’s go over a few things to look at when trying to find the best social media platform for advertising your local business.
- What are your company’s goals and objectives?
- Who is your target audience?
- What platform does your target audience spend the most time on?
- Where are your competitors advertising, why, and should they be?
Research the different social media platforms and determine their uses. Does your target audience prefer video-only research or short and sweet text content?
Budget Considerations for Effective Local Advertising
Your budget will also determine where you can advertise most effectively with what you have to spend.
X (Twitter) and YouTube, as of the time of this writing, have the lowest cost per click. But if that’s not where your target audience hangs out, you’ll waste your ad spend. Facebook (Meta) is a great option for most small businesses because their ads are also inexpensive. And Instagram is part of Facebook, so you get that benefit as well. TikTok is also inexpensive, but because of its high minimum ad spend ($500), it is off-putting to many.
How to Create Targeted Local Ad Campaigns
For the most effective local online ads, you will need to define a specific set of geographic parameters to target. Then you will need to craft ad copy and visuals that are tailored to your local audience. You can include local topics of interest, landmarks, etc. Anything of local relevance that feels familiar and inclusive will help build confidence and trust with your audience. You should also utilize location extensions as well.
Optimize for Local SEO in Online Ads
It’s also important to incorporate location-based keywords in your ad copy, visuals, and any other online content you publish. Make sure you are maintaining consistency between ad content, business information, and landing pages. This is just as important for search engines as it is for your human readers.
Another effective SEO tactic is utilizing ad extensions to showcase your local details. Those extensions could include your location, contact information, recognition, etc.
Collaborate with Local Partners
Cross-promoting is a great way to make an even bigger impact with your ad spend. So make it a point to seek out and nurture local business partnerships and collaborations to take advantage of every cross-promotion opportunity you possibly can.
Monitor and Adjust Ad Campaigns
Running ad campaigns without tracking and testing is a huge waste of time, money, and opportunity. With every campaign, you should set up tracking and analytics for ad performance. Then analyze all your data, so you can make informed adjustments to your campaigns. A/B split test the different ad variations for optimal results. Using an online tool or service is the best way to help streamline your advertising campaigns and performance (more about this in a moment).
Remember These Key Takeaways…
Localized online ad optimization for home service contractors is one of the best ways to build your brand and brand authority in your industry. Targeting a local audience with online ads will broaden your reach and increase your ROI. Just don’t forget to perform your due diligence first.
What are your company’s goals and objectives? Identify your target audience. Then find the social media platforms where your audience hangs out. And lastly, structure your ads based on geographic location, use the proper content and visuals, and always include local details and extensions to boost the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Don’t forget to actively and consistently test and manage your ads for the best possible outcomes. Using software and an online platform like Surefire Local can help you do all of this and more.
What Is Surefire Local?
Surefire Local is an all-in-one marketing platform for local businesses. It helps home services contractors with localized online marketing. They are all about helping contractors establish their online presence by creating local signals across platforms and profiles that make it easier for new customers to find you.
Why Surefire Local?
Here are just a few of the things Surefire Local can do for you.
- Streamline your local online advertising on a single dashboard.
- Get pre-built ad campaigns designed to attract only the attention of customers within your service area.
- Get more customers from every platform.
- Turn more website visitors into customers.
- Track results and optimize performance.
- Analytics and reporting. Provides you with transparency in campaign performance and gives you insight into how much revenue your marketing dollars are generating. This is done by using AI-generated recommendations on specific actions you can take to see significant improvements.
- Provide you with access to educational resources, webinars, and blogs that are designed to help small businesses learn all things about local online marketing.
- Post and manage loads of business directory listings.
- Help track and manage your online reviews.
What’s Next?
There’s no better way to see if something will work for you than to see it in action through a demonstration.
We hope you have found this information about localized online ad optimization for home service contractors helpful. We look forward to working with you!