Home services marketing – the ultimate guide

The average cost for home maintenance is between $2000 and $2500 per year – and that number is rising. For customers, it’s worth the time to research home services providers that are affordable and do great work. If you own a home services business, it’s important you’re visible on popular search engines like Google and Bing. With a home services marketing strategy, you can attract new customers and start to grow your business.

What is home services marketing?

Home services marketing uses a blend of modern and traditional marketing techniques that are tailored to customers looking for home improvement services. Common tactics include outreach on social media, online paid ads, and business listing management.

Benefits of home services marketing

Over 90% of people use online search engines to find information. Taking steps to improve your company’s SEO ranking will help you stand out when customers are seeking your services. But the benefits don’t stop there. Home services marketing can also help your business:

• Attract more customers: By promoting your business online, you’ll be able to increase traffic to your website and store.
• Increase brand awareness: By getting your brand out there, you become more recognizable to potential customers in your service area. This will keep your business front of mind when services are needed.
• Generate quality leads: By focusing your marketing toward local customers, you’ll make sure that leads are more likely to convert into actual revenue.
• Grow your business: With increased sales opportunities, you can expand your operation.

Common marketing hurdles for home services businesses

If you’re struggling to get a home service marketing strategy in motion, don’t be too hard on yourself. Marketing and advertising your business is a full-time job. Small and multi-location businesses are already stretching their budgets very thin, and adding a marketing initiative to the mix requires time and money. Below are some common issues keeping home services businesses from incorporating an effective marketing strategy.

• Limited marketing knowledge: Marketing tactics are always changing. It’s a field dominated by digital methods that require constant research. Keeping up with evolving trends can be challenging for busy business owners. 
• Seasonal peaks: Because of the changing seasons, businesses in the home services industry have a limited window to get jobs. If you’re a company that installs air conditioners, you might only be fully booked a few months out of the year. This can make it difficult to justify marketing expenses. 
• Competition: You’re not just competing against rival home services companies in your area – you’re also competing against national brands with bigger budgets. Finding ways to differentiate your business can be difficult.

Home services marketing strategies

Coming up with a home services marketing plan can be tricky – but understanding the benefits and hardships is a good place to start. Home services marketing strategy is a unique marketing strategy because it’s flexible, and there are both online and offline approaches your business can take.

Online approach to home services marketing

• Create your business listing: You’ll need to create at least one online business listing if you want customers to find your business on the internet. Listing accurate business information and keeping it up-to-date will also improve your local SEO ranking.
• Get customer reviews: When you have a business listing, you can start accepting customer reviews. Customer reviews are a powerful way to build social proof around your services and improve your business’s online reputation. Check out our previous post for a list of the top review sites in the home services industry.
• Social media: A home services business should have a social media presence to interact and engage with customers. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook create opportunities for answering customer questions and sharing valuable content, like events or sales. Also, if your company doesn’t have a website yet, your social media page can act as a temporary solution.
• Build a user-friendly website: Every business, no matter what size they are, should have a website. Make sure to have effective website navigation that allows your visitors to get to what they want. Other things to keep in mind are mobile compatibility and fast load times for your web pages. When people are looking for home services, they want to be able to quickly find the information they need. If your website is a mess, visitors won’t stay long on it to connect with you.
• Add website chat to your website: One of the quickest, easiest ways to respond to customer questions is with website chat. Website chat gives customers the option to ask you real-time questions on your website. In just seconds, website chat can turn leads into customers. 
• Boost your local SEO: Local business SEO strategies can help market your home services to local and nearby potential customers. For more information on this topic, check out our Local SEO Strategy Guide.
• Paid advertisement: By paying to place your listing at the top of popular websites, you’ll make sure potential customers see your business first. Setting up paid listings through a service like Google Local Service Ads is easy and affordable. Plus, you can cancel at any time if you’re unhappy with the results.

Offline approach to home services marketing

• Print 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. 
• Direct mail: Brochures and fliers can act as a personal invitation to your store or website. You can increase brand awareness and attract new customers by mailing them directly to people in your service area. 
• Word-of-mouth: Word-of-mouth marketing is still effective – especially in the home services industry. In fact, it’s almost five times more effective than paid ads. Word-of-mouth marketing is personal, free, and usually comes from a satisfied customer. People tend to highly value word-of-mouth referrals.

Other than word-of-mouth, most offline marketing strategies will cost your business money. They’re also difficult to track, and it’s hard to know if you’re getting a return on your investment. However, they shouldn’t be ruled out entirely. A good home services marketing strategy blends both online and offline methods, so experiment with different combinations and see what works best for your business.

Collect customer reviews and feedback

We mentioned earlier that customer reviews are an important part of promoting your home services business. Customer reviews are also an easy way to collect feedback about what you’re doing well and what needs improvement.

Let’s say you run a plumbing company, and a customer writes a review. They praised the quality of your work, but they were also unhappy with how long it took to finish the job. You can use this feedback to improve your turnaround time for future customers.

We recommend asking customers to write a review right after each job is finished. It’s important to reach out while the experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind. Also, make it easy for them to leave a review by adding links to email, text, or social media communication. Encourage customers to add pictures to the review so potential customers can see your work. Lastly, be sure to respond to your reviews, whether they are positive or negative. A simple response shows customers you value their input.

Convenient customer experience with Text to Pay

Speaking of customer feedback, many people say they’re looking for more convenient ways to pay for home services. Providing your customers with digital payment options, like text to pay, goes a long way toward improving the overall customer experience. Text to pay is also a great way for your business to get paid faster and win more customers.

Home services marketing statistics

Marketing your home services business can be challenging – but research says the end justifies the means. If you’re still on the fence, take a look at these statistics:

1. About 80% of local searches on mobile devices lead to a purchase within 24 hours. (Source: ComScore)
2. 55% of customers conduct a search before making an appointment. (Source: LSA)
3. Nearly 78% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses. (Source: DoLocal)
4. 82% of consumers find reviews valuable. (Source: G2)
5. 8 out of 10 consumers read reviews for local businesses. (Source: BrightLocal)

FAQs on the topic of home services marketing

Birdeye: All-in-one online reputation management

As a home services business owner, devoting time to managing your marketing efforts can be difficult. Without the proper knowledge and team in place, your efforts might feel pointless. With Birdeye you can easily increase your business’s online visibility by creating multiple business listings and generating customer reviews all from a single platform. Watch our free demo to learn more about our first-class products.

Originally published Jan 10, 2023