Your HVAC business was designed to meet the demands of your local area and become the #1 HVAC company in town.

Build it and they will come, right? Not exactly.

If you want to stand out against the competition and get a consistent stream of high-quality leads, you need to ensure you have the right business tools — and one of those critical tools is an effective marketing strategy.

In this guide, we’ll line your toolbelt with six bullet-proof HVAC marketing strategies and show you exactly how to implement them.

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Why Is It Important to Have an HVAC Marketing Plan?

It’s very hard to run a successful HVAC business without marketing. Think about how you look for services in your local area.

Maybe you saw an ad on Facebook for a plumbing company and decided it’s time to fix that leaky faucet. 

Perhaps you took matters into your own hands and searched, “plumbers near me” on Google. 

Or maybe your neighbor had a great recommendation for a plumber that recently unclogged their kitchen sink.

Your target audience is doing the same thing. All of these scenarios involve some type of marketing, whether it be advertising, SEO, or referral marketing. 

A robust and holistic HVAC marketing strategy allows you to get in front of your target audience and convert them into high-quality leads. 

Consider Out-Sourcing the Marketing for Your HVAC Company

“Marketing” is really a complex umbrella term that encompasses dozens of different types of marketing strategies, including:

• Advertising
• SEO
• Social media marketing
• Referral marketing
• Email marketing 
• Direct marketing
• And more

Each type of marketing has its own nuances and sets of best practices. For this reason, many marketing companies specialize in only one type of marketing or have multiple departments that specialize in specific marketing types.

If you’re looking to start implementing and reaping the rewards of effective marketing strategies now vs. pulling your hair out trying to figure out SEO or PPC campaigns — it may be worth it to outsource your marketing efforts to a professional digital marketing agency.

Many digital marketing agencies offer complimentary audits and can help identify which type of marketing strategies will provide the best results for your business.

6 Bullet-Proof HVAC Marketing Tips to Boost Your Leads

#1:Build a Top-Of-The-Line Website

In a digital age, having a killer website is non-negotiable. 

While word-of-mouth and referral marketing are still highly valuable practices, there’s no doubt that your target audience is online. Today, the average American has at least ten connected devices in their household. 

A top-of-the-line website opens up the opportunity for your business to:

• Rank organically on Google for high-value keywords your target audience is searching for, like “HVAC contractor near me”, “HVAC company in [city]”, AC installation in [city], and more.
• Convert your target audience into high-quality leads through online form submissions and effective call-to-actions featured on your website.
• Compete with other local HVAC companies online
• Build social proof by showcasing reviews, certifications, awards, and completed jobs.
• And more

Let’s go over the basic ingredients of a high-quality website below.

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Optimize Your Website for Speed

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Having a slow website can result in losing out on customers.

Imagine you’re looking for HVAC services. You click on a website from the Google search engine page results and wait … and wait … and wait some more for the page to load. Finally, you get impatient and return to the search engine result page to click on a different website.

Web users want instant gratification. Some reports show that 40% of web users will abandon a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load and 47% of users simply expect websites to load in two seconds or less.

If you’re not sure how long your website takes to load, try using Google’s free tool called PageSpeed Insights. This tool can help:

• Report the current page speed of your website.
• Identify issues that are currently affecting your page speed; and
• Recommends opportunities to increase your website’s page speed

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Make It Beautiful

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Your website is a reflection of your brand — and the aesthetics/functionality of your website can influence consumer decisions. 

For example, let’s compare the following websites:

Website 1: Jerry’s HVAC Co. creates its own website in-house. Their homepage is a black background with small, yellow text. Pictures and gimmicky call-to-actions like “CALL TODAY” are sporadically placed throughout the web page. The outdated appearance of the website has you second-guessing the quality and professionalism of the company, so you decide to look for services elsewhere.

Website 2: Harrison’s HVAC Company paid a web developer to create a stunning website. The design is dynamic and aesthetically pleasing. The site is organized and easy to navigate. This company seems professional and trustworthy, so you decide to fill out a form submission to schedule a service appointment.

See the difference?

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Create Killer Copy That Converts

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To compliment your aesthetically pleasing web design, you also need to create copy that inspires users to take action. Your website copy should help:

• Highlight qualities that set your HVAC company apart from competitors
• Provide important information about your business, such as your phone number, services, service areas, and more
• Build trust by highlighting your experience, customer reviews, certifications, community recognition, and more
• Inspire users to contact your business or fill out a submission form on your website for services

To increase conversion opportunities, you’ll want to prominently display call-to-actions throughout the copy on your website.

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Convert Website Traffic Into Leads With Form Submissions

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When capturing leads, incorporating form submissions into your web design is a great idea.

Here is an example of what a form submission can look like:

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Form submission can help:

• Make it easy and convenient for you to respond to leads
• Make it easy to distinguish between spam and legit leads
• Provide a simple way for potential leads to contact you or schedule a service appointment. 
• Provide the opportunity to collect valuable lead information, such as emails, which can be leveraged for other marketing efforts.
• Track conversions from your website
• And more

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Create Location Pages

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Let’s say your HVAC business is based in O’Fallon, Illinois. This is where the majority of your customer leads are concentrated but you also service the following cities:

• Fairview, IL
• Belleville, IL
• Swansea, IL
• And more

If you want to show up in the search engine page results for localized keywords involving all of these cities, you need to optimize your website to target these keywords. 

A really effective way to do this is to create location pages on your website.

How do you create optimized location pages? Start by doing the following:

• Completing keyword research using an SEO keyword research tool to identify the type of keywords your target audience is searching for in each service area. 
• Build out comprehensive location pages with valuable content, such as common neighborhoods you service in the area, the type of services you offer, customer reviews, and more. Use these pages as an opportunity to showcase that you are highly experienced and familiar with providing services to the specific area.

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#2: Use Local SEO Strategies to Dominate the Google Local Pack

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Creating optimized location pages will increase your chances of ranking in the search engine results pages but there’s another area on Google you want to increase your local exposure in — the Google Local Pack.

The Google Local Pack appears at the top of the search engine results pages for 93% of localized search queries.

Here’s an example of what the Google Local Pack looks like:

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This area of Google is affectionately referred to as “beachfront real estate for SEO” by SEO agencies. This is because 50% of users typing in localized search queries into Google will click on one of the three businesses here

To rank in the Google Local Pack, you must create a Google Business Profile.

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Create a Google Business Profile

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Google provides a free business listing feature known as a Google Business Profile. This profile allows you to manage your online presence across all Google platforms.

Here’s an example of a Google Business Profile:

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Creating a Google Business profile is only half of the battle. To increase your chances of ranking in the Google Local Pack, you need to optimize your profile with keywords and comprehensive information, such as:

• A business description
• Your name, address, phone number, and website
• Hours of operation
• Applicable categories
• A comprehensive list of every service you offer
• As many photos and videos featuring your business as possible
• And more

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#3: Invest in Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a great marketing strategy to provide quick lead generation, unlike other marketing strategies, like SEO, that take time to provide results. 

Instead of pouring resources and energy into ranking organically on Google, you pay for your business to populate at the top of the search engine page results for specific keywords.

Be prepared to drop some dollars on advertising. While it can provide quick results, it’s also very expensive depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you are trying to target. Keep in mind that your visibility garnered from ad marketing will only last as long as you pay for ads.

Despite the potentially steep investment, there are many benefits to implementing paid advertising, including: 

• Increase local exposure and visibility
• Increase traffic and clicks to your website
• Measurable conversions
• Targeted marketing; and
• High-value marketing features, such as retargeting campaigns.

Hiring a professional ad agency is the best way to maximize your conversion rate and ensure your ad campaign is set up for success.

#4: Increase Repeat Business With Email Marketing

When it comes to digital marketing, email marketing doesn’t get nearly enough of the attention it deserves.

While often overlooked, email marketing is a great way to:

• Stay in touch with customers and encourage repeat business
• Follow-up with leads from form submissions
• Inform your customers of important events such as sales and deals to help increase repeat sales
• And more

And if that’s not convincing, email marketing has one of the highest conversion rates (15.22% conversion rate to be exact) compared to other digital marketing strategies.

We will share some tips for creating a successful email marketing strategy below.

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Determine Your Goals

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To ensure your email marketing campaign is a success, you first need to establish your goals for the campaign:

• Is there a specific service you’d like to get more leads for?
• Do you want to increase leads in specific service areas?
• Are you looking to simply increase your overall leads?

You may be thinking that all of those considerations spark several goals you’d like to tackle. However, it’s best to identify one goal first so you can track your campaign results more effectively.

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Collect Emails and Build Out Your List

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You can’t build an email list without emails! It’s important to identify how you will collect emails from your customers and potential customers. Here are some ideas:

• Require an email to submit forms on your website
• Train your employees to collect emails on the job when collecting payment from a client
• Have the option for users to opt-in for a newsletter on your website
• And more

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Create Email Copy

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Like content on your website, you want to create email copy that is engaging and designed to convert. Start with these tips:

• Make sure your copy is formatting for both desktop and mobile devices.
• Make sure you are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act, which requires an “unsubscribe” link on every email you send. Failure to do this could result in being reported to the Federal Trade Commission and being fined.
• Avoid clickbait or misleading subject lines that can turn off potential customers and stifle your repeat business.
• Make sure that your brand voice is reflected in emails and that you come off as a trustworthy, genuine company.

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Measure Your Success

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Many email marketing platforms generate reports and insights that allow you to measure the success of your email campaign. Some of this data includes:

• Click-through rates
• Open rates
• Bounce rates
• Number of subscribers and unsubscribers
• And more

Tracking these analytics will allow you to see what email campaign strategies are working and which strategies aren’t producing results. This data can help you make decisions that strengthen your campaign results.

#5: Get Direct With This Oldie But Goodie — Direct Mail Marketing

You may be thinking, “Seriously, you’re suggesting snail mail?” 

But direct mail marketing has proven to be a mainstay in effective HVAC marketing strategies over the years. One study found that direct mail marketing can produce 5x the purchase rate of email marketing campaigns.

And the best part? Direct mail marketing is incredibly affordable and easy to implement. You can make branded postcards in minutes with printing companies like Vistaprint and Canva for a reasonable price.

Here are some tips for creating high-quality postcards that promote conversions:

• Mimic your brand style but keep your design simple and clean so your message can stand out. 
• Take advantage of the front and back of your postcards to make your message clear.
• Stick with the standard card size of 11 x 6 inches.
• Use high-quality paper and images.
• Have a strong call-to-action

#6: Collaborate With Other Businesses

There is something you have in common with every other trade business — your target audience.

New home development. 

Homeowners. 

Property management companies.

Offices and small businesses.

This is the same target audience that electricians, plumbers, and other trades businesses are also servicing. 

Take advantage of this. Networking and partnering with willing businesses can help:

• Further establish your brand as a community provider
• Increase your client base through referrals
• Make your business more competitive against local competition
• And more

Here are a few tips to help you connect with potential partners.

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Join a BNI Group

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BNI (Business Network International) is a great starting point for networking with local businesses that have a similar target audience to yours without being a direct competitor. Only one business per profession is allowed in a single chapter. 

You can join BNI by following these steps:

1. Visit a free local chapter meeting to see if you’d be a good addition to the chapter. 
2. BNI members will decide on whether you’ll be a fit for the chapter and then invite you to apply for a membership.
3. Pay your initial application fee ($249) and your participating fee ($599 for 12 months, or $999 for 24 months).

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Create a Business Card Sharing Program

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Exchange business cards with other trades in your area. 

Who knows? The plumber you partnered with may have a client that also needs an AC repair. Similarly, you may have a customer that is looking for a plumber to fix a leaky faucet. 

Look for a few local businesses to partner with to widen your potential referral pool. 

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Reach Out to Local HOAs

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Get in good with Home Owners Association (HOA) boards and you could stumble upon a landmine for potential businesses. HOA board members typically have a healthy line of communication with neighbors and wouldn’t mind having a reputable HVAC company to direct homeowners to. 

If you live in an HOA, your own neighborhood is a great opportunity to test out making this connection, especially since you likely already have the trust of your fellow neighbors based on your personal reputation.

Compile a list of HOAs in your service areas and reach out to see if they have a recommended services list that you could be added to.