You are the owner of a medium-sized HVAC company. For years, your business has been thriving on word-of-mouth referrals from your loyal HVAC customers.
However, the HVAC industry is expected to grow from USD 65.72 billion in 2024 to USD 89.11 billion in 2029, source with a CAGR of 6.24%.
This staggering rate of expansion clearly indicates there will be an unbelievable increase in competition in your industry.
Questions are bound to faze your mind…
What if your steady stream of new customers drops? What if your amazing skills are no longer visible to your audience among so many competitors?
To ensure your business stays afloat and relevant to customers amidst this situation, you need to armor yourself with effective HVAC marketing campaigns.
And NO, only sending cold emails to your customer base isn’t going to make it!
Instead, you need to craft customized solutions that will establish you as an authority in the industry. So, let’s get started!
First, you must understand the market for HVAC companies in your location. This is especially important for beginners, who often overlook market research.
To build robust groundwork, you must familiarize yourself with current customers and potential customers interested in HVAC services. This will make the overall process much easier.
Here’s how you do it:
If you want to create a robust online presence, understand the importance of keywords, aka the terms that help you become more discoverable online.
Anyone looking for HVAC services will search “HVAC services near me” or “HVAC contractor in ” and choose anyone from the top 5 ranking businesses.
With the right keywords, you can help your business get into the top 5 list. However, to find the correct keywords, you have to understand how potential customers think and search things online.
To find the perfect keywords, follow these steps.
We’ll later discuss where to place these keywords.
Back in the day, if you built a brick-and-mortar store in the most popular business street, it was enough to create a huge buzz about your business. It made sure that everyone knew about the big store in town!
However, times have changed—people are glued to screens instead of checking out the surroundings. And rightfully so, because just erecting a business in a popular zone says nothing about business credibility!
Moreover, it’s not that all of your target audience will visit that street or notice the building. So, one of the most essential strategies in digital marketing for HVAC business is to have your very own business website for the following reasons!
1. You can build a strong professional presence online.
2. The business becomes more visible to potential and existing customers.
3. Best platform to share all information about updates, including new locations, sales, discounts, and other details.
4. You get more visitors and leads.
5. It’s a great place to showcase your portfolio and earn trust.
6. Both product and service-based businesses can advertise your offerings to educate customers about them better.
7. Great space to share customer testimonials and enhance lead conversion.
8. You find insights regarding your consumer base, including their likes, channels they found you through, and other data. This helps you identify better opportunities.
The website for your HVAC company creates the first impression on your potential customers. They get lots of significant information, such as the services provided, whether you’ve helped others and how, about your team, and why you’re way better than any other competitor!
About Us Page
Contact Information and Page
Business Offering Page
Portfolio Page
Video Content Marketing
Testimonials
Service Locality
Business Logo
Business Value Proposition
Navigation Bar
CTA/Call to Action
Social Media Link
Link your social media accounts on all platforms at the bottom of all pages and in About us page. This enhances engagement, connects you with customers, builds loyalty, and urges visitors to share your content and boost visibility.
The average expenses to create a website vary with different factors. For instance, you can create your own platform using platforms such as WordPress and save more money. If you want custom designs and pages, the prices increase.
Some factors that affect the prices are:
1. Website Type
2. Design
3. Content
Suppose you have an awesome website built by the best experts you found. It has detailed service pages with immaculate graphics and concise yet clear information. Everything is trendy and attractive, and it’s sure to convince prospective clients to try your services.
However, when you don’t use search engine optimization (SEO), it can’t rank anywhere on the first page of Google’s search results. This is because there’s a fierce amount of competition revolving around the HVAC industry in the search engine.
Using SEO, you can boost your website rank and visibility on search engine results pages (SERP), such as Google. This digital marketing for HVAC company's strategy involves diverse techniques to boost your website’s content relevance in non-paid, organic search results.
Some more benefits of using SEO and ranking higher are:
However, if you want to implement SEO in your website, you need to consider the following:
To make SEO work in favor of your HVAC company, you must begin with your website and its pages. Take care of square one and only, then try to step out of it.
This implies establishing your online presence by optimizing the HVAC website and other elements on your web pages. The process is called on-page optimization and includes these standard steps:
Off-page SEO includes optimization strategies used outside the website. In other words, you involve other websites present on the internet.
While this sounds complicated, let’s know more about the popular off-page SEO tactics.
Link Building
Link building refers to getting other websites to link to your webpage/site, aka backlinking. A higher number of backlinks from relevant websites with useful content shows Google that your website is highly authoritative.
However, if you have to choose between the two—more backlinks from less relevant content or fewer backlinks from more relevant content and reputable sites—always choose the latter. Remember, too many low-quality backlinks will harm the website!
Blog Writing
If you use your website to promote and sell your HVAC services ONLY, potential customers will visit you when they need your help. While that sounds logical, that doesn’t help your business flourish. You won’t stay on top of their mind at any other time!
So, a great HVAC marketing strategy and off-page SEO tactic to help this situation is blog writing. This not only makes potential customers check your website more often for teeny-tiny solutions but also perceives you as an industry leader and enhances brand authority.
Make your website even more valuable to customers by writing blogs on:
Based on your business experiences, think about all the different ways you can educate people!
Blog Commenting
Within the HVAC industry, there are several other relevant and informative blogs. In blog commenting, you add valuable and knowledgeable comments to those blogs.
Generic comments, such as “Informative” or “I learned something from this,” won’t work. It must include something more interesting.
In some cases, you can leave your website link in the comments and earn a backlink. As more readers come across the comment, they might click on the link and, thus, earn a new visitor.
Local SEO
Local SEO is an important HVAC Marketing step for businesses that work within a given geographical region. The best way to use local SEO is to build a Google Business Profile, which we’ll explain in detail in the next pointer.
Another option is NAP SEO, which includes using the correct business Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) for online listings. We’ll discuss NAP more in the fourth pointer.
In this digital era, whenever you need professional services, you look up online. Google helps you find services around your locality. You get the names of a range of trusted and reputable businesses around you depending on your search terms.
Your business can also be one of these suggested businesses if you claim your Google Business Profile (GBP) or create your own GBP account. This strategy in digital marketing for HVAC companies also helps your business get discovered on Maps and ensure credibility with Google Reviews.
Step 1: Set up the account
Create a new Google account specifically for business (if you don’t have one yet). Go to google.com/business and sign in using this account. To start setting up the process, click on the “Manage now” button.
Step 2: Add all business details carefully
Type in the following information about the business:
Step 3: Fill out contact details
Add your business phone number, professional email ID, and business website URL. This ensures that everyone can easily contact you from the Google Business Profile.
Step 4: Verify
Send a verification request to verify your business. You can do it using a postcard (Google sends a postcard to your listed address with further instructions). However, options like email and phone verification also exist.
This step ensures that your business details are accurate and only you can access them.
1. Business Hours
Add operating hours for each working day throughout the week. Mention the days the business stays closed. This will keep customers more aware about when to contact you if needed.
If there’s a sudden change in working hours, edit the working hours and post an update (from Add update section) on the page to ensure visitors know.
2. Photos
Add actual images of your business at work. If you have a physical store, add a picture of the store. If not, add images of professionals being at work. If you work with specific machines, add pictures of those in use.
3. Service Zones
Mention which areas in which you offer HVAC services.
4. Miscellaneous Information
If you have a physical business establishment, mention Wi-Fi availability, seating zone availability, wheelchair accessibility in the entrance and car park, payments, and other details.
If you want to know how to get commercial HVAC leads, this HVAC marketing strategy is your answer! Citation sites are general online directories or industry-specific online directories.
They are also called NAP citations, as they show the following information about your business.
Some common citation sites include Yelp, Yalwa, Manta, and Yellow Pages. However, if you’re seeking some free citation sites, here are some of the most promising ones:
1. Better Visibility on Sites
Citation sites are quite popular among individuals looking for reliable sources of the best service providers.
Whenever someone searches for an HVAC contract near me, these sites always rank on the top. So, local businesses like yours can boost visibility just by getting listed there, i.e., creating your listing or claiming your profile.
This strategy for digital marketing for HVAC businesses helps you grow your business presence in SERPs. Thus, you don’t have to compete with these top-ranking articles for the same search results.
2. Easy to Find Website
As your business website is present on these citation sites, potential customers find the direct link to your website. This makes you easy to find, as nobody has to manually look you up.
3. Diverse Link Profile
Being on citation sites helps you get features on general and specialized directories, local community sites, and review platforms. So, they also let you build a diverse link profile, which boosts your local presence.
However, this depends on the citation site’s reputation, distribution network, and quality.
4. Builds Reputation & Trust
Being on quality citation sites is a renowned HVAC marketing tactic as it indicates that your HVAC business is reliable and trustworthy. Potential customers perceive your offerings as more credible.
If satisfied by your service, you don’t just gain loyal customers but also receive word-of-mouth referrals as they already have a great impression. Thus, the listing can also work as an endorsement for your business.
5. Improved local SEO
This HVAC marketing approach also tells visitors and search engines that your business is relevant to a particular locality or geographical area. Thus, search engines can verify the accuracy of your business information using them.
Higher consistency in the citations and more citations enhances your presence in local search listings. Thus, you have a higher chance of gaining customers.
6. Targeted Traffic
Citation sites also help you reach audiences who are actually looking for HVAC services in the locality. This ensures that you attract targeted traffic. Visitors from there have a higher chance of converting into customers, enhancing sales.
7. Competitive Edge
Being on a citation site offers a competitive edge to your business to competitor HVAC service providers who aren’t on those lists. Thus, their visibility diminishes, and potential customers choose you over competitors.
1. Consistency is the Key
Stay consistent with all information about the business everywhere. Otherwise, your potential customers, as well as search engines, will get confused by the inconsistencies. This will affect your credibility and potentially your rank and visibility!
This information appears in several places, including online business directories, review websites and social media profiles.
2. Optimize and Update Regularly
A great practice is to conduct monthly NAP audits and optimize the following:
Update the right information regularly to ensure all information is consistent throughout. Additionally, reply to any customer feedback and resolve complaints promptly.
3. Only Use the Best Sites
Get listed in directories that are specific to your industry and niche. This ensures you attract the right clients.
The next best strategy in digital marketing for HVAC is to try paid HVAC advertising. This can offer quick and effective results with minimal effort. It helps your HVAC company reach and attract more clients, enhance business visibility, and boost sales.
To effectively implement this HVAC marketing idea, you must research relevant keywords (with tools such as Google Keyword Planner) and identify other relevant keywords (using tools like Google Trends).
For instance, Google local service ads help you attract individuals interested in HVAC services around you. Your ad appears to the individuals who actually searched for the chosen keywords.
Paid ads also help promote your services and boost brand awareness. Your business will stay on top of their mind and ensure they contact you whenever needed!
In paid ads, ad placement depends on how much you invest in each click. If you invest more, the ad placement improves. You can also choose how much and for how long you want to invest in ads.
Blogging is another significant strategy in digital marketing for HVAC businesses. It enhances your position as an industry professional and helps you engage both existing and potential HVAC clients. Here’s how it works:
If you’re uncertain about the topics, analyze the competitor’s blog and follow suit, research keywords, and create topics accordingly, or address common challenges about HVAC systems.
The last strategy for digital marketing for HVAC business is to get referrals in different ways and boost your business. This can be done in different ways
Customer Referrals/Word-of-Mouth
Request satisfied customers to share and refer your services to someone else who needs HVAC services.
Review Referral
Ask customers to drop reviews about your services on your Google Business Profile, website (if there’s an option), or any other significant platform. This helps attract more customers.
Incentive Referral
Conduct offers where a customer refers your business to a potential customer and ensures conversion into an actual customer. You offer them a discount.
Email Referral
Forward a custom email to the existing customer base and request that they refer you to their circle.
Your next HVAC marketing option is to post a huge billboard advertisement about your HVAC services. They are great ways to grab people’s attention.
The best practices to make this HVAC marketing strategy work for you are:
However, this option also has certain challenges, such as:
Another effective traditional HVAC marketing idea is to create TV commercials with a relevant scenario. Show someone feeling overwhelmed because their AC at home broke on a hot day. Or an HVAC system suddenly broke down on a chilly winter night, and a family can’t sleep in the cold. In either case, your company comes to the rescue and saves the day.
You can also check out other major HVAC company’s TV commercials. For instance, Aire Serv’s commercials are available on YouTube:
The major drawbacks of TV commercials are that they are expensive and only a limited demographic watches TV.
Back in the day, radio advertising was the best way to promote your business to diverse people. A Minnesota-based HVAC company, BWS Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning has grown through the years and won the trust of customers with radio ads.
However, this HVAC marketing tactic has some obstacles, such as:
Even though people can just check the news online, newspaper advertisements still have their charm. Popular HVAC companies, such as Trane and Lennox, also started with head-turning newspaper ads in the ’60s:
[Source: flickr]
You can also add newspaper inserts mentioning reasons for getting regular HVAC maintenance services and a QR code to your website or online advertisement.
The only issue with this HVAC marketing trick is that most elderly people buy newspapers, so you can’t connect with the younger generations.
Another popular old-school HVAC marketing strategy that’s still in use is cold calling. In this, someone from your team contacts people to share your services and any ongoing offers.
Some challenging factors about it are:
Conversions are highly time-sensitive. If you call at the wrong time, your impression will be ruined. Calls between 4 pm and 5 pm source are the most effective.
You can also mail your brochure with discount coupons to everyone at once. This HVAC marketing tactic will save you the time of visiting every house and building to share information. However, it also has some drawbacks:
HVAC installation, maintenance, and repair services are also quite in demand during specific seasons, such as scorching summers, freezing winters, or sudden heat waves and cold snaps.
During these seasons, depending on local weather, special promotions for maintenance and inspections are run. Advertise these promotions on your website, Google Business Profile, and social media platforms to ensure your target audience is well-informed.
Further, these special promotions show your customers that you’re dedicated and updated about their pain points. Thus, they’ll be more likely to choose your services.
As the HVAC industry keeps growing, you must embrace effective marketing strategies and stay ahead of the competition.
Remember, to attain steady business growth, you must experiment with different strategies, including SEO, paid advertising, and a well-designed website.
Study your target audience's actions to notice what works best for you. Be perceptive and take necessary action, and your HVAC company will thrive!