Growing your HVACR business doesn’t have to be difficult — as long as you’re investing your marketing dollars in methods proven to generate leads and customers. Want to know which ones they are? Here are a few successful strategies to guide you:

Pay-Per-Click Google Ads

Google’s Display Network — accessed through their platform called “Adwords” — reaches 90 percent of internet users with ads that promote your business. See example below.

Google’s Display Network includes millions of websites on the internet, which means your ads can be shown on websites like ESPN, Entrepreneur.com, Best Buy and other major sites, and you only pay when someone clicks on those ads (hence “pay per click”).

You can also target the people more narrowly based on demographics that are ideal for your business.

These ads can also be used for follow up.

Have you ever been browsing online for something, and then you lose interest and end up wandering off? Of course you have, it happens all the time. Now, have you ever noticed that, afterwards, you started seeing ads from that same business appearing on other websites? If so, you’ve experienced a little thing called retargeting.

Retargeting can increase the number of people who actually become leads (like filling out your contact form) by 70 percent.

These ads, however, can take some skill to master (lest your budget evaporate quickly on unqualified leads), so I recommend you hire someone to manage your Google ads for you.

Market Your Services on Facebook

With 68 percent of Americans using Facebook, plus 66 percent of monthly users using it every single day, it’s extremely likely your prospects are on this social media giant. Facebook now owns Instagram, another huge social media platform, so be sure to double up on your exposure and run your ads on both.

Keep them coordinated, so that people know they’re seeing your business when they see your ads. Here’s an example of how both could look below.

Facebook is notorious for constantly changing, so I recommend hiring someone to help you with them to save you time and money.

Use the Method Prospects Prefer

It may come as a surprise that “old-school” direct mail is preferred by consumers today — by 70 percent of them, in fact.

Think direct mail is dead? Check out these stats:

• 81 percent of Americans check their mail every day
• 70 percent are more likely to remember your business from your direct mail
• 60 percent will likely visit your business’s website from your direct mail piece

Here’s how to coordinate all of these marketing strategies into one cohesive campaign that will amplify your reach, leads and revenue.

First, design a direct mail piece with one or two special offers. Here’s an example on the right.

Multiple special offers work great for the HVACR industry because prospects are likely to hang onto a postcard that gives them several ways to save money on their home — regardless of when their AC or heating unit needs help.

Next step: design digital ads to MATCH your postcard.

This multi-channel, offline-online marketing strategy puts your HVACR marketing in front of prospects in all the places they spend their time:

• At home (with direct mail)
• On endless internet websites (with Google ads)
• And on social media (top 2: Facebook and Instagram)

If managing all this marketing seems like way too much work, we created a marketing program that bundles your postcard mailings with your Google/Facebook/Instagram advertising for you.

We call it Everywhere Small Business, and it comes with a completely automated tracking dashboard. u

Editor’s Note: If you want to see some postcard designs that work for other HVACR businesses and request free samples, visit postcardmania.com/hvacr.