Home services marketing – the ultimate guide

The home service industry’s valuation in the United States of America stands at $370 million as of 2021. This represents a massive opportunity for anyone looking to grow their home services business. But if you want to grow, it is essential to identify your target audience and make your business visible to them with the right home services marketing strategies. 

Knowing how, when, and where to promote your home service business is an essential skill in this competitive market. In this blog, we’ll teach you everything you need to know.

What is home services marketing?

Home services marketing is a collection of offline and online marketing strategies that home service businesses that work in cleaning, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping, and home repairs use to promote their business. It includes organic marketing strategies and advertising strategies. 

Some of the most common home service marketing strategies are: 

1. Business listing management 
2. Local search optimization
3. Social media marketing 
4. Content marketing such as blogs, research articles, and guides. 
5. Digital marketing enhancement using website, email marketing, and video marketing 
6. Paid advertising campaigns 
7. Offline marketing techniques such as vehicle marketing, billboards, and posters. 

Why invest in home services marketing? 

Investing in home service marketing holds many benefits, including generating a higher volume of leads, improving conversion rates, improving online reputation management efforts, and increasing brand value. 

Most home service businesses rely on securing future clients from referrals, word-of-mouth recommendations, and the few queries they get from office walk-ins. But with the right marketing strategy, you can amplify these efforts and grow your customer base more efficiently than ever before.

Customer behavior has evolved over the past few years, and most searches for businesses begin online, especially from review sites. 

A recent Birdeye survey discovered that: 

• Customers check online reviews 68% of the time before they engage with a local business
• 37% of customers conducted online searches for local home service providers in the last 12 months 
• The top 3 channels influencing local business choices are – ‘Friends and family,’ ‘Search engines, ’ and ‘Customer review sites.’ 
• 92% of survey respondents claimed they read at least two reviews before forming an opinion about a business, while 50% mentioned they read five or more reviews. 

Keeping these facts in mind, it’s clear that home service marketing can help your business: 

• Build a robust online presence on Google and other review sites so that when a customer looks for the nearest home service provider, they find you. 
• Maintain a positive online reputation by promoting the positive reviews your business gains and influencing clients to choose you over your competitors. 
• Reach customers via social media and expand your reach among your target audience. 
• Become a familiar name in the home services industry. 
• Gain an edge over your competitors that do not actively market their services. 

7 Ps of Home service marketing 

The “marketing mix” is an essential concept of services marketing, especially for the home services industry. It involves identifying your value proposition and deciding which channels will help you effectively market what you have to offer. While marketing mix typically encompasses four “Ps,” below we’ll explore 7 Ps of home services marketing.

The 7 Ps of home service marketing are Product, Promotion, Place, Participant, Process, Pricing, and Physical Evidence. Let’s explore each of these in detail.

1. Product 

The home service industry often has no tangible product. This property means that you can customize your offering depending on customer needs. Businesses need to identify how to describe the product (offering), its unique selling point, and the level of customization they can provide. 

2. Promotion 

Since customers cannot physically inspect or perceive the product of a home service business, how you promote it determines the success of your business. Define what differentiates it from competitors and why clients may want to choose you. 

Leveraging digital marketing for home service businesses on social media, email, and other content marketing channels can help establish your unique selling proposition. 

3. Place 

Your location may give you a significant advantage, but most service businesses must choose flexibility and aim to serve in multiple locations for the best results. 

4. Participant/People 

The participants or people in the home service marketing play a crucial role. They define how you position your services, marketing campaigns, and other strategies to grow your business. Knowing how to cater to different buyer personas or client profiles is essential to every home service business. 

5. Process

Process in the home service industry refers to the process of service delivery. How you work, deliver customer service, and employ customer satisfaction strategies plays a vital role in the success of your business. Defining the process in detail helps your marketing activities by boosting customer communication, setting the right expectations, and building a solid reputation. 

6. Pricing 

In the home service industry, price matters. It determines your target audience; people might choose you because you’re affordable, or maybe they’ll choose you because you offer high-end services. Employing competitive pricing strategies can help you boost your growth in the home services industry. Additionally, allocating your budget effectively will help you make the most out of your marketing efforts.

7. Physical evidence 

Since most home services businesses do not have a physical product for the customers to see, customer experience becomes the physical evidence you can use in marketing. This includes how clients feel when they visit your office, talk to your employees, and while waiting for you to complete your service. 

13 Popular home service marketing strategies in 2023 

Home services marketing strategy is unique because it’s flexible, and your business can take both online and offline approaches. Some of the popular home service marketing strategies that you can employ include: 

1. Business listing management 
2. Local SEO
3. Social media marketing
4. Website design
5. PPC 
6. Local service ads
7. Chatbots 
8. Email marketing
9. Video marketing 
10. Referrals 
11. Review marketing 
12. Direct marketing
13. Out-of-home advertising

Business listing management

Most searches for home service businesses originate on the internet. Clients like to know who they are dealing with and often verify word-of-mouth recommendations by checking business details online. 

Home services businesses can make sure that clients choose them over their competitors with business listing management on Google, listing directories, and other niche contractor review sites. 

Best home service marketing practices with listings include: 

• Make sure that your business has a presence on the most crucial listing directories such as Houzz, Porch, Angi, and so on. 
• Check for inconsistencies across all listings and make sure that your business NAP (Name, Address, and phone number) is the same for all locations. 
• Maintain an active presence on all listings by updating the latest information, project photos, and important announcements. 

Accurate information on all business listings helps customers discover your business and understand your service even before they engage you. 

Local SEO 

Home service marketing strategies must focus on generating leads for your business from specific locations that you serve. This process makes sure that your campaigns have a high ROI and boost brand awareness in the right audience segment. 

Investing in Local SEO strategies can help market your home services to local and nearby potential customers. Being visible to local customers or clients in your service locations is possible by optimizing the following:

• Business websites for local keywords with location-specific pages 
• Updating and maintaining your Google Business Profile to reflect your service locations, list of services provided, client reviews, and other relevant information. 
• Profiles on location-specific listing and review sites where clients are more likely to search for a home service business. 

For example, Mr. Electric of San Antonio could feature higher local searches by updating the Google Business Profile and improving review volume by automated requests sent from Birdeye. 

Ready to dive deep? Check out our Local SEO Strategy Guide for more information on this topic.

Social media marketing

A home services marketing strategy must leverage social media management techniques to popularize the business and help interact and engage with customers. Platforms like Twitter (now X), Instagram, and Facebook help connect with potential clients and share information on events or sales. 

Home service businesses’ social media profiles can serve as a mini-website, providing customers with essential information like: 

• Store location
• Service areas
• A small introduction to your business with the list of services you provide 
• A link to verify reviews, testimonials, and other forms of social proof 

Social media is undoubtedly one of the most important channels to fully leverage. You can also invest in social media ads to attract clients and position your business as the solution to their needs. 

Website design 

Every business should have a website, and that website needs to be user-friendly. Ensure you have effective website navigation that helps your visitors find what they’re looking for. Other things to remember are mobile SEO compatibility and fast load times for your web pages. 

When people are looking for home services, they want to be able to find the information they need quickly. If your home service business’s website is messy, visitors won’t stay long to connect with you.

You can also implement lead generation forms with automated responses, as Sunburst Shutters did, to connect with visitors meaningfully. 

Mobile searches are growing year-over-year in many home services verticals. Among the fastest-growing search terms are “HVAC repair,” “landscaping near me,” “plumbers near me,” and “roofing companies.” (Source: Google)

Pay-per-click ads 

While organic marketing strategies are essential, it is also important for home service businesses to invest in paid marketing campaigns such as pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. With PPC, your home service website will appear ahead of the organic search results and help clients find you faster.

• PPC also provides a significant advantage to home service companies looking to generate leads during a particular season. 
• The ideal home service marketing plan has a healthy mix of organic content and PPC investments. While organic content can help you slowly build popularity and generate leads throughout, PPC can come in handy during the off-season for your business. 
• Pay-per-click campaigns also help home service businesses target a specific target audience, boosting the ROI of the marketing campaign.

Local service ads 

If you want to boost your home service business listing, you can also explore Google’s local service ads. They are similar to PPC ads because they also help your business appear ahead of the paid search and organic search results. 

But, with local service ads, your business name and the Google Business Profile rating (compiled with customer reviews) appear instead of a website or listing. This ensures that businesses can leverage their Google Business Profile and the corresponding reviews they have generated there. 

Local service ads are also easier to use, allow lead dispute, and allow businesses to generate leads cheaper than most PPC keywords.

Chatbots 

If you haven’t already, add website chat to your website. One of the quickest, easiest ways to respond to customer questions is through website chat. Website chat allows customers to ask you real-time questions on your website. In just seconds, webchat software can turn leads into customers. 

Consumers searching for plumbing, appliance repair, and fencing services will most likely call after searching. Since many home service purchases are urgent or considered, consumers often prefer to speak to a live agent rather than fill out an online form. (Source: LSA)

Email marketing 

If your home service business has run a recent event, has an existing client database, or has completed a recent advertising campaign, you might be sitting on gold. When you receive client information, especially email addresses, the best thing to do is to start engaging with them. 

Email marketing is a highly successful form of home services marketing because: 

• Clients are already aware of your business and services 
• You know that clients want to hear from you and can tailor your messages accordingly
• The intent to purchase and engage is high in this medium, leading to a higher conversion rate and ROI

Home service businesses can share project photos, educational videos, social media content, and discount campaigns via emails for the best results. 

Video marketing 

Home service marketing has the challenge of having to promote a non-physical product. While businesses can attract clients by providing exemplary service and word-of-mouth recommendations, marketing campaigns need more to attract potential customers. 

Videos are one of the most successful tools home service businesses can leverage across platforms like social media, email, website, and landing pages. They are also highly engaging in comparison to other text-based mediums. 

You can use videos to convince visitors to become clients with: 

• Educational videos
• Project tours 
• Explainer video for niche concepts like plumbing, landscaping, roofing, and repair works
• Video testimonials
• Staff interviews

This helps in many ways, especially by putting a face to the business and helping clients closer to the brand. 

Referrals 

Referrals as a marketing tool may seem odd, but it is one of the strongest any home service business can employ. Good customer experience usually means the client would talk about you to their friends and family. But you need something more to make it a steady source of leads. 

You can leverage referrals in your home service marketing strategy by:

• Identifying happy customers and sending them referral requests with a small incentive 
• Helping customers share their referral code on social media 
• Running social media contests and giveaways that reward existing clients who refer their peers to your business 

Need help building a strong referral program? Check out our Customer Referral Guide to get started. 

Review marketing

Your potential clients trust other customer reviews more than your self-promotion messages. So, your home services marketing strategy must leverage review to its fullest potential. 

You can start by:

• Sending automated review requests to all their clients as soon as a transaction is over. This is when the experience is fresh, and they are more likely to leave a detailed review highlighting your services. 
• Monitoring all review sites and listing directories for positive reviews with a tool like Birdeye Reviews to spot any share-worthy reviews
• Setting up automation to share positive reviews on social media every week so that potential clients can know market sentiment about your business directly 
• Responding to all customer reviews across all sites so clients know you value their feedback and are customer-centric. 
• Embedding Google reviews and rating widgets on your website to market your customer reviews. 

Direct marketing 

Direct marketing is the way for your home service businesses if you want to reach a specific group of customers without any intermediary involvement. This strategy employs text messaging, social media messengers, direct mail, and related channels. 

You can use direct marketing to:

• Share exciting updates of the business with their new customers.
• Run location-based or demographic-based campaigns. For example, if a particular location had a recent storm, you can reach out to just that audience segment to offer your services in repair and restoration. 
• Send brochures and fliers to their addresses describing your business offerings. 

This method helps establish a strong connection with potential customers and boost brand awareness in your target locations. 

Reach clients in the channel they prefer with Birdeye Messaging. Birdeye enables businesses to send text messages to clients and monitor and analyze conversations to improve customer experience. 

Like ION Solar, the business drastically improved customer satisfaction online review volume and managed customer feedback with Birdeye’s suite of products tailored to their home service business needs. 

Out-of-home advertising 

Ads and coupons in local newspapers and magazines are a great way to increase awareness of your brand. By purchasing ads exclusively in local publications, you’re targeting only those in your service area – giving you the best chance to generate more leads. 

Running advertisements on cars, buses, and vans is also one of the most effective strategies of home services marketing. 

If the budget permits, you can expand to billboards, standees, and smaller installations in your target locations to spread brand awareness. 

FAQs on the topic of home services marketing

Grow your home service business with Birdeye 

As a home services business owner, devoting time to managing your marketing efforts can be difficult. Without the proper knowledge and team, your efforts might feel pointless. With Birdeye, you can quickly increase your business’s online visibility by creating multiple business listings and generating customer reviews all from a single platform.