Brand Ranch Media Marketing & Advertising Agency News

Houston Sees Uptick Trends in Home Services Despite COVID-19

The COVID19 pandemic has not only jeopardized the health of millions of Americans but has also taken its toll on the economy as well. With many businesses temporarily closed (and in some cases permanently) the unemployment rate rose to levels higher than the Great Depression in the 1920s. In our hometown of Houston, the same occurred. Many people lost their jobs in different sectors of the economy including restaurant, oil and gas, airlines, tourism, and automotive. There were even layoffs in the healthcare industry as hospitals were not allowed to perform elective surgeries. As businesses can now slowly open and people begin to go back to work, we have seen large increases in demand for local services despite the continued increases in new coronavirus cases. Local services include any goods or services provided by a local supplier. They include services such as HVAC, repairs, plumbers, or any type of home service provider.

The proof is in the numbers. All non-essential businesses were ordered to keep their doors shut in Houston on March 24 when there was a “stay home, work safe” order issued. Previously, on March 16, bars and restaurants were ordered to close. These orders continued through the month of April but orders for certain businesses began to be lifted by Governor Abbott on May 1. In the months that included the closures (March, April, and May) the high temperatures were above average in Houston for about 70% of the days. However, in March and April, HVAC service providers reported much lower revenue numbers than in previous years. This was chalked up to a change in consumer behavior: with more people either out of work or concerned about the virus, the demand for HVAC repairs or replacements was lower even though the temperatures were higher than average. May saw a dramatic increase. In fact, we saw an increase in purchasing indicators such as phone calls and form fills anywhere from 66% to 133% from the previous month!

If you are a home services provider and would like to learn how we can increase your leads and revenue for a lower average cost please contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380.

Weather Resource: https://www.weather.gov/hgx/climate_graphs_iah#2020

Medical Advertising Series Part 2: Social Media, Censorship, Fact-Checkers, and Implications

To fight the spread of false news, Facebook and Instagram have employed third-party fact-checkers to help review and identify any news that might be considered false. These fact-checkers come certified through the non-partisan Fact-Checking Network. Fact-checkers in the United States come from various media sources such as The Associated Press, Reuters Fact Check, and USA TODAY among others. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many medical doctors and professionals have taken to various social media platforms with their opinion on different aspects relating to the virus. It is important for medical professionals to understand what is and what is not being allowed to be posted, how censorship plays a role, and what are the possible short-term and long-term implications.

What is the Policy?

Facebook’s policy for fact-checking is very clearly stated: publishers should not post any type of information deemed “false” by the fact-checkers. If the information is deemed false, the distribution of that content will be reduced, lower in the News Feed, and the author will receive a warning notice. Facebook will also act against Pages that repeatedly post or share false information. Pages will see that their content distribution will decrease and they will also lose the ability to advertise. The only way to regain the ability to post content and advertise is to either change the false content and contact the fact-checker or to dispute the claim directly with the fact-checker. Simply removing the content will not remove the strike against an account or page. As always, Facebook does not allow directly advertising content that contains false information. These ads will be disapproved from the onset.

Legal Ramifications

There has been a lot of talk about free speech and the regulation of social media content. In a legal research paper from the Congressional Research Service, the author discusses how the courts have recognized social media sites as venues for users to express their freedom of speech. There comes into question whether these sites are doing enough to combat false speech or if they are “unfairly banning and restricting access to potentially valuable speech.” As stated in the introduction of the research paper, “Currently, federal law does not offer much recourse for social media users who seek to challenge a social media provider’s decision about whether and how to present a user’s content.” One notable piece of legislation is in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, specifically Section 230(c)(2). This “provides immunity for sites that take good faith action to restrict access to content that the provider or users deem obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.” Furthermore, it can be argued that if a user posts content on social media, is it not also a violation of the First Amendment if the social media site is required to publish the content? So it seems, as the paper concludes, that “social media platforms may be more likely to receive First Amendment protection when they exercise more editorial discretion” thus not violating freedom of speech for users that post “obscene” or “objectionable” content.

Implications

Moving forward it is important that health providers utilize trusted sources when deciding what content to post. With such a sensitive subject such as COVID19, there are too many opportunities for what Facebook calls “conspiracy theories” that could be potentially dangerous if shared with the public. Posting and sharing of that information adds the risk of being flagged with page quality violations. It is not easy for a page to recover after receiving these violations and it is best to check your sources to make sure they are accurate in the information they share. Fact-checking is the new norm and we might also see similar use of them on other social platforms such as Twitter. It will be important to learn to adapt to them as I believe new restrictions will be put into place moving forward.

If you would like to talk to a social media expert regarding fact-checkers and implications, please feel free to contact us or call 713-309-6380.

Medical Advertising Part I – Overcoming Google Search Roadblocks

In September 2019, Google announced that they were going to make changes to their advertising policy and would no longer allow ads for speculative and experimental medical treatments. Treatments included in this policy include, but are not limited to, stem cell therapy, cellular (non-stem) therapy, gene therapy, certain types of regenerative medicine, and gene therapy kits. Due to the COVID19 health crisis, Google updated their medical ad policy once again to allow for telemedicine doctors to promote their pharmacy services as long as they were accredited by an internet pharmacy certification partner such as LegitScript. With so many complexities and updates, it can be difficult to navigate what is and is not allowed in Google advertising for medical practices. Let us review some of these pain points to clarify.

Healthcare Products and Services Certification

There are certain types of healthcare products and service providers that Google requires to hold a certification. These include pharmaceutical manufacturers, online pharmacies, telemedicine providers, and addiction services. To obtain the certification, the provider will need to submit an application with an approved healthcare merchant certification and monitoring program. These certification companies provide a vetting service to ensure that providers’ products and services comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Each website domain must be certified individually and both an application fee and an annual fee is charged per website. Once certified, the provider will need to then apply to be certified with Google by providing the license details from the merchant certification and monitoring program company. Then, the provider will be eligible to advertise their services permitting they comply Google’s other ad policies.

Restrictions on Drug Terms

In the United States, utilizing prescription drug terms in ad text, on landing pages, or as keywords is prohibited unless the provider obtains the certification. In some cases, an ad can be approved but will only be shown on a limited basis because of the use of a restricted drug term. This occurs because of the review process in place. Google’s ad platform will automatically check for ad copy, landing page copy, and keywords that triggers either a disapproval or limited delivery. In these cases, the advertiser can request an appeal to be reviewed by Google’s Appeal Team. If you plan on using any type of drug term, it is strongly advised to obtain the proper certifications.

Restrictions on Unapproved Substances

In addition to the restrictions of experimental medical treatments, Google also does not allow for the advertisement of certain prohibited pharmaceuticals and supplements relating to weight loss, ephedra, and anabolic steroids. They also prohibit dietary supplements that are known to contain any dangerous ingredients. One rule of thumb is that if the products have not been government-approved, chances are that you cannot advertise for it on Google. Making false or misleading medical claims in the ad copy or landing page copy can cause an ad disapproval. It is advisable to place a disclaimer in the footer of the landing page if you claim that the product is as effective as prescription drugs.

Navigating through the certification processes and restrictions is a major factor with medical advertising. If you are a medical provider and wish to start an advertising campaign, it is good to have an expert that can help guide you towards success. To speak with a Google medical advertising expert, please contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380.

How Does Your Marketing Recover from COVID19?

The COVID19 pandemic has not only taken its toll on the health of people worldwide, it has also caused many small businesses to suffer in the wake of partial and mandatory closures. As of March 30, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that “92% of small businesses said they have suffered negative effects as a result of the pandemic.” This leaves many business owners questioning “how can my business recover from COVID19?” There are some simple steps that businesses can take when navigating through post-pandemic recovery.

Assess the Damage

You should run a full assessment of the financial impact that the pandemic had on your business. How much less profit did you make this year when compared to the same period last year? You may find that you will need some extra financial assistance to keep the business running. Also, evaluate your workforce. Were you forced to furlough or lay-off employees? Are you able to bring every employee back that you need? If not, you may need to hire new workers to help with the rebuilding process.

Adjust Your Business Plan

You might find yourself in the situation where you must adjust your business planning for a period before things go back to business as usual. This might cause some new opportunities and new sales channels. For example, doctor offices are turning to telemedicine and virtual appointments for non-emergency situations such as follow-ups. Technology can be applied to expand customer reach. You may also find that there will be an increase in demand for your products or services when businesses can open again. Will you need to hire more employees to help with this increased demand? You may want to increase your marketing efforts in order to stay at the top of mind with your customers.

Account for Funding Assistance

You might find that you will need some extra marketing dollars to help push your message. If you find your business hurt financially from the COVID19 pandemic, there are many financial assistance programs available to small business owners. Some of these services are provided for free such as remote mentoring services provided by SCORE though a partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA). Other services you might have to pay for like business lines of credit, credit cards, and loans. You should create a repayment plan if this is the case and repay as quickly as possible to avoid high interest.

Rebuild

Once you have a clear picture of the financial damage and the path to recover, then it is time to rebuild. Set into motion all the action items needed to proceed and be successful. You will be happy that you went through all the work of creating a plan. This plan is your roadmap as you navigate through a business world after COVID19. Consider your customers. You may find that you need to adjust your marketing messaging. Many people will be wary and fragile when coming out of quarantine. Taking an overly aggressive tone could deter customers from using your services. Instead, try to relate to them and let them know you are there to help.

Create a Contingency Plan

Living in Houston, we are no stranger to adversity. The entire city went through Hurricane Harvey and had to endure a disruption in their everyday routines. The same is happening around the world with COVID19 with measures to keep as many people safe as possible. These things happen and unfortunately may happen again. That is why it is incredibly important to have a contingency plan in place. You want to be prepared so use knowledge gained during this time to ensure success for the future.

Stay Safe!

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/04/30/6-ways-to-rebuild-your-small-business-after-covid-19/#7bdea4fd16cc

https://www.dexcomm.com/blog/4-ways-to-help-your-business-recover-from-covid-19

Natural Language Processing and SEO

On October 21, 2019, Google started to roll out the BERT algorithm in its search network. BERT is designed to better understand voice searches by utilizing machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). About a year ago, we published an article about voice search optimization and the future of voice search where we explained what voice search is, how widespread it is used, how to optimize your website for voice search, and where it’s headed in the future. Let’s investigate how natural language processing actually works and then apply it to SEO for a website.

A Great Analogy

Google uses neural matching and natural language processing to help understand conversational English. More specifically, when people talk, what are they talking about. I recently read a great analogy for how Google uses Natural Language Processing, or NLP, for language searches:

“…if someone is experiencing the soap opera effect on their TV. If you’ve ever seen a soap opera, you’ve noticed that they look kind of weird. Someone might be experiencing that, and not knowing what that’s called they can’t Google soap opera effect because they don’t know about it.

They might search something like, “Why does my TV look funny?” Neural matching helps Google understand that when somebody is searching “Why does my TV look funny?” one possible answer might be the soap opera effect. So, they can serve up that result, and people are happy.”

Salience: Core Component of NLP

So, how does NLP relate to websites? In order to understand how, we must introduce the term “salience.” Salience attempts to understand a voice search query, website content, and whether a web page’s content is a good example of the topic of the voice search query.

In our previous analogy the voice search is, “Why does my TV look funny?” The web page is about the soap opera effect. The content on the page might mention that it makes the image on the screen look “funny” or any other related synonym. This is how natural language processes help determine what results to provide in its search results.

NLP and SEO

In our article published last year, we discussed keeping your Google My Business listing updated, utilizing long-tail keywords, and having a mobile-friendly website. There are other important content features to consider when optimizing for voice search. First, understand the audiences needs and wants and provide it. A website should be a valuable audience resource that provides relevant information and answers questions. This will work well with the function of voice search and the BERT algorithm. Second, utilize Schema Markup. Available since 2011, only about 20% of websites use schema markup. It can help Google understand the contextual relevance of a website using microdata by creating a more enhanced description that can appear in search results. These are also known as “rich snippets” and can be used for business name, business type, address, hours, telephone, etc. Search engines are prone to process this type of data faster with the use of schema markup.

It is estimated that in the next couple of years, 75% of households will have some kind of smart speaker and 50% of online searches will be voice searches. For more information, feel free to contact us at 713-309-6380 or send us an email to grow@brandranchmedia.com.

Sources:

https://moz.com/blog/better-content-through-natural-language-processing

https://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/10-natural-language-seo-tips-help-gain-edge-examples.html

Traditional Media and HVAC, Better Together

With homeowners and business managers often taking indoor comfort for granted until there is a problem, it is easy to fall into the trap and focus solely on the time when consumers NEED a new unit. Some believe that is the best time to target and influence a consumer to use your services to fix their problem. But it isn’t always that simple… That consumer’s moment of need (the narrow bottom of the marketing funnel just before the time of purchase) is also when your HVAC competition is most aggressive. This late in the game may be the hardest time to set your company, brand’s services and equipment apart!

In this portion of our series on HVAC marketing, we want to talk about Traditional Media, its use, and its impact on brand awareness and recognition, which can be crucial for growth and ROI across multiple marketing channels! Let’s discuss TV/Cable, Print, Radio, and Billboard Marketing’s role in your overall plan media strategy and how, when combined, they can have a huge impact on your campaign performance.

When a consumer is looking at potentially spending thousands of dollars on their home comfort, which they probably hadn’t anticipated, who are they going to call for help? With a substantial investment on the line, you need to not only have a strong offer to get their attention, you need to differentiate your HVAC brand from the competition, and that can be incredibly difficult to do!

So, how do you get this brand recognition and separate yourself from your competition? Traditional Media… Telling your story, defining who you are (or want to be), and showcasing what your brand and company stands for (and excels in) is where traditional media shines. Traditional media provides the opportunity not just to activate customers with a strong offer; it allows you to introduce your brand with a style and personality in a memorable way, while differentiating yourself from the competition, to leave a strong lasting impression! Traditionally, there are many ways to reach consumers, so in this portion of our HVAC Marketing series, we will look at TV/Cable, Print, Radio, and Billboard Marketing.

Broadcast Television can have a very strong influence on consumers, but it also has a reputation as one of the most expensive media! Audience sizes are healthy and understanding them by using recent Nielsen ratings is absolutely crucial to selecting the best stations and shows to reach your target audience in a cost-effective manner.

Success through Broadcast TV is also tied to how successfully you can create an ad that stands out and resonates with your audience. If you can make your ad memorable, heartwarming, and funny, then your brand will be remembered very quickly. When you have your brand message nailed down, and its easily recognizable, you can then look at shorter ad durations at less expense.

Often you can get sponsorship through local programing to reach your audience as well. Local talk shows and news sponsorships can quickly get you a spike in credibility with your local consumers.

Dynamic TV ads also work well in the digital space, so planning and producing the ad in social media formats can allow your TV ad to work well on many screen sizes and across platforms. TV ads that have the best impact in traditional media also boost the performance of other aspects of a campaign, such as search engine marketing. A solid media plan and dynamic broadcast ad can prove to be one of the best ways to drive brand recognition, recall and influence consumer action!

Zoned Cable Television has continually proven to be an effective medium to reach and activate the target audience based on demographics and consumer behavior data. Cable TV ads can be targeted to only the service areas where you want to grow your business as well. Those who are concerned with “audience shrinkage” can often augment their buy with additional reach through OTT ads served on smart devices where people are streaming content as well.

In a world where the intelligent use of data can make all the difference, set-top box data allows us to show your ads to people who:

Live in the geography you want to service (not clear across Houston)
Are in your target demographic (Homeowners, ages x-x, with a household income > $ XXX k)
Show interest based on their consumer data and viewing behavior

Print ads are often overlooked in today’s marketing plans, but they can be a strong influencer of your consumers. When used correctly, print can prove itself with a very healthy ROI! If you are thinking about newspapers, I’m afraid Houston just isn’t the market with the best return on your print dollar. Readership is continually down, split between local papers and the big boy in the market. The newspapers often try to tie print back into the digital landscape of their branded websites, but those newspaper websites are often overcluttered with ads… easy to get lost and frustrated with.

Don’t overlook one of this nations’ oldest uses of print, the mail. Highly targeted mail to your best potential and existing customers who have been utilizing your maintenance plans still works. Defining and narrowing down your target audience to the attributes that best describe your customers and potential customers makes sense. Maybe that’s targeting geographically in an area you do the most business, the area where you have the biggest jobs and tickets, or maybe it’s based-on income levels, home values, demographics, etc.

If you create a strong offer with a call to action that speaks to your audience when they need your services, they will respond. A nice postcard with a strong offer is going to get looked at as it is pulled out of the mailbox, likely again as the mail is sorted inside, and possibly saved on the counter, fridge, in a wallet or purse for use when the offer is relevant to the consumer’s needs.

Spring checkup reminders are very helpful. While it may seem that focusing money on low return services like seasonal inspections could be a mistake, this can be crucial to getting your business card in the door and saved with consumers who aren’t in need of a new unit just yet. Once you are called in to perform an inspection, you have the opportunity for your brand and your tech team to build a great relationship with the homeowner. If you have that existing relationship, when the new unit offer is right and the need arises, it’s much easier to be the one the homeowner calls for the new unit.

Billboard Advertising can reach a large audience with a relatively low cost compared to other broadcast mediums and can be an excellent tool to build brand awareness and vastly increase the visibility of your business. The simple fact that billboards cannot be avoided as people sit in traffic and commute to work around Houston is an advantage you should consider. Many people tend to take the same “regular route” which means the chances are good they will see your billboard multiple times. This increased frequency makes your brand and message inherently more familiar and helps increase brand recall and successful conversions across multiple media.

Billboards can also be strategically leased in prime real-estate locations relative to your audience, with high traffic volume (according to TxDot data). This means the people you want to reach based on their location will always be looking at your message when commuting.

By designing a billboard to match the messaging, look and feel of other portions of your campaign, your target audience will more quickly reach the message frequency required for not just brand awareness, but long-term recall and activation as well.

Radio is great media to reach the Houston area audience! The reach potential is unparalleled, and if you can create a fresh and memorable ad you should expect a spike in brand awareness, brand recognition, as well as a positive impact to your organic website traffic and calls. If you are only targeting a small portion of the Houston area, then more localized media may be a more efficient platform for your goals. But, if you’re targeting consumers across the Houston market, radio ads are one of the best ways to excel and reach them!

Radio ads can be very powerful. The music and message can tell a story and conjure emotional ties with a consumer’s subconscious! Above and beyond branding messaging, ads that use a strong call to action can also create a strong logical reason for the consumer to use your services.

Often you can utilize a trusted radio personality to endorse your brand or message. These personalities lend their credibility and likeability to you, and these types of ads are often able to run at the end of segment, before other recorded spots run, which helps get your message to consumers before they potentially change the channel. There is also the potential of sponsoring segments of program, such as financial news, sports updates, or local traffic!

When we think about radio in the context of driving, pairing radio with billboards allows a brand to put a visual image with the story being told through car speakers. Together they are an even more powerful combination to impact and influence your target audience.

Thinking back to the moment of need scenario… With a recognizable brand image, you are putting yourself ahead of the competition before the consumer even sees your offers! Consumers are more likely to seek you out by name, organically, and never even see or consider your competitors. If they don’t seek you out by name, and they remember your brand when looking through search results, the consumer is more likely to click on your recognized name. If you’re running SEM or Display ads, you’re likely going to see better performance from them as well.

This overlapping brand success, driven by brand recognition, is best achieved at scale with Traditional Media. The best news is this success isn’t a 1+1=2 scenario, it becomes a 1+1=3,4 or 5 scenario.

Brand Ranch Media does an excellent job getting our clients the most efficient traditional media buys, including Radio, TV, and Print. We have a proven track record of making our client’s campaigns function efficiently across multiple traditional and digital media, with a uniform campaign look and feel that drives success in measurable and trackable ways! What are your goals? With an easy conversation we can often determine ways to measure and attain your goals with a media campaign that’s custom designed to utilize the best aspects of a variety of media. Reach, recognition, activation…. If you don’t feel like you have a 100%, locked in plan for your business growth and success moving into the future, then maybe it’s time to give us a call and see what we can offer you. For more information, feel free to contact us at 713-309-6380 or send us an email to grow@brandranchmedia.com.

Local SEO for HVAC

In part 4 of our series on marketing for HVAC companies we are going to look in to how an effective local search strategy can vastly improve the online visibility against competitors. Local SEO, also known as Local Search, is simply defined as a way to optimize your website to rank better for a local audience. This is very important for HVAC companies that operate within a local service area. There are a few ways that you can boost local search rankings. Let’s take a look!

Google My Business

In a previous article, we talked about Google My Business listing optimization. If you are not aware, Google My Business is an application where users can create a business listing on Google that helps manage their online presence. Your business profile lets you connect with customers across both Google Search and Google Maps. Your Google My Business listing represents 25% of Google Map ranking factors meaning if you don’t have a strong listing, you are less likely to appear on Google Maps during searches. Your Google My Business listing has also become the new “home page” of your website in that when a user searches for your business by name, your Google My Business listing SHOULD appear in the search results page and take up the majority of the page real estate showing multiple points of company information including location, phone number, and email address. This means that a potential customer won’t even need to click the organic link to your website in order to find the most important thing about your business: how to contact you.

Reviews

A positive review is one of the most important factors when potential customers are trying to make a purchasing decision, so much so that Google and other search engines utilize online reviews as ranking factors. If you search for “hvac company near me” the top results almost always include those with the greatest number of 5-star reviews. It will also help a business appear in the top of Google Map results. The reason that search engines use reviews as a ranking factor is that they want to provide people with the best quality results, so they take good and bad reviews very seriously. Read our past article if you want to learn more about how to get great Google reviews.

Website Content Signals

Any local SEO plan should include website work as there are certain content signals that are important for local search rankings. Content signals should include the location that you are trying to rank for. For example, if your business services the Houston, Texas area, content on your website should include “Houston, Texas”. Location signals should be placed not only within the copy of the site but in various meta data such as page titles and descriptions, image alt tags, and structured snippets. You should also consider writing location-based blog entries and promote through social media.

There are other aspects to local search to consider when deciding to move forward with a full campaign. If you or someone you know needs help with local SEO, contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380. Brand Ranch Media is a full-service advertising agency. We would love to help you achieve all marketing goals!

Facebook Marketing for HVAC

We are moving along to Part 3 of our blog series on HVAC marketing where we will discuss advertising on social media, specifically Facebook. You may ask yourself, “Is there any benefit to marketing on Facebook?” The short answer is, “Yes!”

Types of Ads

Facebook Ads is a very diverse marketing platform and can help a company grow their followers, promote engagement with content, boost branding, and drive inquiries and sales. You can promote your business utilizing text, images, and video content. There are multiple ad placement locations including the news feed on desktop and mobile devices, within Facebook Messenger, and on Instagram, just to name a few. It is important to utilize different ad strategies to fill the sales funnel and nurture leads.

Measuring Ad Success

Depending on the goal of each ad, it is best to properly measure ad success. Facebook Ads has built-in success tracking that will help you gauge the effectiveness of the ad. For example, if ABC AC and Heating Co. are running an ad designed to increase the number of leads they receive through online form fills, they would want to set up a custom conversion in Facebook that will tell them exactly how many form fills were received as a result of their campaign. Facebook provides the ability to do this through their marketing platform with a seamless integration.

Targeting Your Audience

Just like Google Ads, Facebook Ads offer many different targeting methods that enable your campaigns to reach the most captivated audience. You can target different demographics such as age, gender, household income, and location. If you upload a list of your customers, you can create campaigns designed to upsell or promote services specifically to your customers. To broaden your ad’s reach, creating a customer lookalike audience is a great practice. You may want to retarget visitors to your website or people who have engaged with your Facebook page and content in order to promote audience-specific services.

What is a Healthy Budget?

Facebook Ads tend to be much less expensive than Google Ads and other types of marketing campaigns. The cost for conversions tends to be up to 75% less than Google. For a healthy budget on Facebook it’s fair to say that spending between $1,000 to $2,000 per month will get solid results – depending on the number of campaigns and your specific goals. This budget also contributes to organic traffic to the website. It is typical to see an increase in organic traffic and well as organic leads with the addition of Facebook ad campaigns. With diligent conversion tracking, it is easy to show a positive return on investment.

Keep up with us for Part 4 of this blog series when we discuss Local SEO. For more information on our HVAC marketing services, contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380. Brand Ranch Media is a full-service advertising agency. We would love to help you achieve all your marketing goals!

PPC Marketing for HVAC

In Part 1 of our blog series on HVAC marketing, we discussed some of the basic foundations of running successful marketing campaigns in the A/C and heating industry. Today we will go a bit further into detail and talk about some of the key elements of a pay-per-click marketing campaign on search engines such as Google. Utilizing the Google Ads marketing platform is a great way to reach potential customers while they are actively searching for A/C and heating services. Capturing their attention at the exact time they are searching is more likely to lead to a conversion such as a phone call or form fill.

How Does it Work?

Pay-per-click (or PPC) campaigns are an excellent way to reach customers that normally might not find you on the internet based on targeting specific keywords during searches as well as utilizing geo-targeting to attract more customers located in specific areas. For example, a consumer located in Houston, Texas is looking for a company that can fix their broken air conditioner in their home. They go online to Google and search “AC repair” hoping to find a company that can send a technician to fix the broken unit. Utilizing Google Ads as well as a good targeting strategy, an advertisement for ABC Air and Heating Company appears. The customer clicks the ad and then calls ABC Air to schedule a service appointment. ABC Air is charged a fee from Google when the customer clicked their ad, but that cost is minimal compared to the return on their investment to obtain a new customer.

Specifics on Targeting

PPC marketing provides multiple tools to help narrow down the audience for ads that will help drive business. Consumers can be targeted based on age, gender, income, location, and online shopping behavior just to name a few. Consumers can also be retargeted so that they are served your specific ad multiple times to further encourage them to become a customer. If the conversion goal is a phone call or a form fill, you are able to target those consumers who are more likely to convert.

What is a Healthy Budget?

If you have decided that a pay-per-click campaign might be something you want to explore, it is important to understand the costs associated with it. The cost for a click depends on a few factors such as the amount you are willing to pay for a click for the keyword, the number of companies bidding on the specific keyword, the relevancy of the ad copy to the keyword, and the relevancy of the landing page content on your website to the keyword. Back to the example: since ABC Air is located in Houston, it is safe to say that there are many other AC companies in town bidding on the keyword “AC repair”. Houston is a hot climate and therefore many other companies are trying to gain the competitive advantage. Since the competition is so high, average cost-per-clicks are more expensive. If your budget is too low, you won’t be able to compete. During non-peak season months, a healthy budget is anywhere between $4000 and $5000 per month. When the hotter months arrive, doubling that monthly budget is very realistic. The return on the investment is well worth it. In some cases, we have seen almost 100% growth in revenue after the first year of implementing a PPC marketing strategy!

Keep up with us for Part 3 of this blog series when we discuss Facebook marketing. For more information on our HVAC marketing services, contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380. Brand Ranch Media is a full-service advertising agency. We would love to help you achieve all your marketing goals!

Proven HVAC Marketing Strategies

Calling all Heating and Air Conditioning providers! If you’re an HVAC company, you likely do some form of advertising. In such a competitive market, if you are not doing some form of traditional or digital advertising, you are likely losing business to your competitors. Whether it be television or radio, PPC, Social Media (such as Facebook), or Local SEO, Brand Ranch Media has proven HVAC marketing strategies that we’d like to share in a multi-part blog series.

HVAC Marketing Competition

If you perform a simple Google search for “ac repair”, you may see up to 8 ads from various HVAC providers on the first page alone depending on your location. If you click to the second page, you might see another 8 ads from completely different HVAC companies. During the hotter months of the year, you will probably begin to see television commercials or hear radio advertisements for HVAC services and new unit offers. The competition is heavy year-round and especially during the Summer months. In order to increase sales numbers year over year, an HVAC company can’t afford NOT to advertise!

Traditional vs. Digital Marketing

Can’t decide whether to run traditional campaigns such as TV and radio or digital campaigns such as PPC or Social Media? The answer depends on a few different factors. The first is conversion tracking. It is very difficult to track the number of leads received from television and radio campaigns. The most effective way of doing this is by utilizing a tracking phone number or custom landing page URL in the commercials. Other than those tracking methods, it is difficult to establish ROI. On the other hand, it is much easier to track performance and prove ROI with digital campaigns. The second factor to consider is budget. For HVAC companies with smaller budgets, we typically recommend the digital route. Digital campaigns are much more cost effective as you can reach more people with less budget and you can track the results. With larger budgets, we recommend a more robust and rounded strategy that includes digital, video, television, OTT/CTV and radio.

When Do I Start?

To answer the question of when to start HVAC campaigns consider the climate, your budget, and the calendar. In a warmer climate, if it’s approaching the start of a new calendar year and the budget is more robust, we recommend starting at the first of the year with a smaller monthly budget and slowly increase the monthly spend so that during the hottest months, you are maximizing the total reach of the campaigns. Once the weather starts to cool, we then recommend a lower monthly spend until the end of the year. If the budget is a bit lower, we might recommend spending all of it during the hottest months of the year in order to compete in the market. No matter the company’s service area or budget, every recommendation is customized in order to ensure optimal performance.

Stay tuned for upcoming articles where we discuss topics specifically related to the HVAC industry for Pay-Per-Click marketing, Social Media and Facebook marketing, Local SEO, and Television and Radio advertising.

For more information on our HVAC marketing services, contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380. Brand Ranch Media is a full-service advertising agency. We would love to help you achieve all your marketing goals!