The competition for customers isn’t slowing down in almost any line of business and the roofing industry is no exception.
Winning customers is the key to any successful business – there’s no doubt about that!
If you’re a roofing contractor, you need to have a plan of attack when it comes to your roofing business marketing.
Here’s some of the best information you can use right away to get more visibility and grow your roofing company today!
Proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
The #1 way that anyone is going to find your business is by doing a Google Search.
The Yellow Pages are certainly a thing of the past – but you can use them as inspiration when it comes to thinking about how people find your business. Google is today’s Yellow Pages.
When a customer searches for a phrase like ‘roofing company near me’, you want your business to be highlighted as high up in that Search as possible.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is the process by which you compete with other businesses for that prime real estate.
You need to have proper landing pages, well-written blogs, SEO keywords, and backlinks from other trusted websites. If you have no idea what any of that means, then you probably need to look into hiring a marketing agency who can help you understand what that means and who can put a strategy into place immediately.
Articles still have a healthy place in SEO as well. If a customer searches for ‘specific issue with my roof’ and you have an article about that topic on your website, they will be far more likely to do business with your company as someone who has already helped them with a smaller issue.
Somebody’s website is going to show up on the top of hundreds or thousands of local Google Searches each year – and the more often your business shows up, the more new leads you’ll have that will potentially become new clients.
Managing Your Google Reviews
There are two phases when it comes to managing your Google Reviews.
First off, you absolutely should be encouraging satisfied customers to leave you a Google Review.
It goes without saying that all work you do should be worthy of a 5-star review. Once that 5-star work is complete though, you need to be asking your customer for a review!
Whether this is including a prompt into an employee script or simply having an ‘auto responder’ email go out shortly after work is completed doesn’t matter as much as the simple fact that you are asking the customer for a positive and sincere review!
Secondly, you need to be tracking what is coming into your Google Reviews. You may not reply to 100% of your reviews, but you definitely need to be aware of what is being posted about your business.
You should respond professionally to any negative reviews and you can thank users for any positive reviews they have to share.
The more Google Reviews you have will lead you back to better SEO results when customers simply look for customers that are ‘nearby’ including where you show up on your local “Google Maps” widget as well.
Good SEO is useless if your Google Reviews are a mess – so make sure these two units are working hand in hand together!
Social Media Advertising
Social Media can be an extremely divisive topic among business owners. One thing is for sure – you need to do what works for you, specifically, on social media.
No matter what I write in this space, if you hate Tik Tok, you’ve got an uphill climb to making yourself wake up in the morning and trying to post your own video there.
Now of course, you have some answers available.
You could hire someone to post for you if your roofing business is the appropriate size. You could find someone at the business who is reliable and you trust to post in a professional manner.
Regardless, successful social media promotion is the key to some of the country’s most profitable brands – and plenty of roofing business find success via social media as well.
In a best-case scenario, your business would have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok. These ‘big 4’ social media platforms should allow you to reach almost any customer regardless of what area or what demographics you serve.
One important strategy to keep in mind is to try to tailor content for what platform its on. Posting something that had a lot of success on Twitter may not work as well on Facebook.
Tik Tok specifically has a younger user base so your content there may relate to young homeowners and things that they may not be aware of when it comes to their new home’s roofing.
In any case, you want to be consistent and be creative. Try to measure your efforts as best as you can by asking customers how they heard about you so that you know what’s working and what needs tweaked.
Don’t get discouraged! Social Media efforts can take awhile to pay off – so keep moving and keep improving and you will see leads coming in from these social platforms.
Referrals and Partnerships
Many roofing businesses truly sleep on the value that partnerships can bring their company.
There are so many great ways to be seen while adding value to your local community that people simply don’t utilize. Roofing companies could easily build a partnership with a local hardware store, real estate agents, local youth sports teams, and even ideas that are a bit more outside the box like HVAC companies or even medical professionals.
These partnerships won’t simply appear overnight. You need to be a part of your local community to engage in a meaningful way that won’t come off as ‘sales-y’. It’s never a bad idea to join the local chamber of commerce if it’s affordable in your area as well!
Appear at Trade Shows
Speaking of being in the community; trade shows are an awesome way to get your name out to local homeowners!
Anything like a local trade show, convention, or festival can be a huge networking opportunity that could lead you to more business.
However, you should still be protective of your time! Don’t be afraid to track results from year to year in terms of how many prospective customers you are speaking with as well as larger trends in the event as a whole.
Email Marketing
Do you know what’s easier than finding new customers? Finding more lines of business with previous/current customers!
Make sure you are using your email list effectively (or start building one) to send out seasonal ‘special’ offers to customers who you have already worked with in the past. Remember, it’s easier to work with someone who knows and trusts you already!
Stay Winning!
Remember, stay consistent with your efforts in finding customers! All of this information can seem overwhelming but the best strategy will involve figuring out one part, making sure it is running effectively, and then continuing on to start new tasks.
You can’t do everything included here in one day, but you can continue to improve your marketing efforts over time so that you are winning the customers you need for your roofing business!
