Digital marketing for roofers may seem like the natural way to grow your roofing business, but have you felt like your growth has stalled or become stagnant altogether? If so, you’re not alone. Navigating the world of digital marketing for any roofing business owner presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities.
From understanding the ins and outs of digital advertising to learning what it even means to “optimize” your website, it can be tough to find the right strategies that support your growth goals. In this article, we’ll go over which traditional marketing strategies you still need to stick with and what type of advanced technology will benefit your business in the long run.
Your Foundation for Success
Your business website remains the key introduction point between your roofing services and your potential customers. In this digital age, your website is a comprehensive hub, presenting your information, services, and service area all in one place.
All your digital marketing efforts will lead customers here, and similar to starting with the joists during a new roofing build, you need to ensure your website foundation is solid.
Next, “optimizing” your website comes into play. This involves regularly testing, checking, and making improvements to ensure your customers have a good experience when visiting your site.
The quickest way to lose a lead is to provide them with a poor website experience.
Once your website is polished and professional, you can dive into driving traffic to your site.
Local Service Ads (LSAs)
Local service ads are your pathway to reach customers who are in your service area. As impressive as the reach of the internet is, people across the country seeing your ads will not support your business growth. LSAs ensure you only appear to your target demographic and that you spend your advertising budget wisely.
Google Guaranteed Badge
A Google Guaranteed badge alerts interested customers that Google has vetted you and that your business can be trusted. If your LSAs include a checkmark that Google has screened you, your ads have a better chance of appearing at the top of local search results. You must first sign up for Google’s LSA services before embarking on the screening process. For any roofing company, it’s worth it to appear at the top of Google results.
But before diving into these strategies, it’s important to consider your marketing budget.
Aligning Budget with Revenue Goals
It’s true what they say: you get what you give. Your marketing budget is the heartbeat of your digital strategy and will determine the results of most of your campaigns.
It's vital to synchronize your budget with current and future revenue goals. As a home services business focused on a limited geographic area, understanding the potential work available in your region is key. This understanding leads us to the concept of Total Addressable Market (TAM).
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
TAM encapsulates the overall revenue opportunity within the area your roofing business serves. Calculated by multiplying the average revenue per roofing job by the total number of housing units, TAM provides an estimate of the total potential revenue if you were to secure every roofing job.
Let’s break it down with a real-life scenario.
Location: Shreveport, Louisiana
Population: 180,000
Approximate Housing Units: 78,000
Average Revenue Per Roofing Job: $5,000 (for illustration purposes)
TAM = Average Revenue per Roofing Job × Total Housing Units
TAM = $5,000 × 78,000 = $390,000,000
While this simplified calculation gives an overview, it's important to recognize that market conditions, competition, and other factors may influence the actual revenue potential. The figure doesn't directly indicate the net income for the roofing business owner.
Strategic Budgeting
Imagine you have a fixed digital marketing budget of $10,000. Consider this plan of attack:
- Evaluate if your goals align with what's realistically achievable in your area.
- Analyze the competitor landscape.
- Adjust your budget accordingly.
Budget Allocation and ROI
Investing in your marketing is an investment in your business. It's not just about spending but strategically allocating resources for maximum return on investment (ROI). A higher budget often allows for more comprehensive campaigns, increasing visibility and potential returns.
Consider the following:
- If you aim for dominance in local search results, allocate your budget wisely between Local Service Ads (LSAs) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
- Google Ads cost-per-click typically ranges between $1-$2.
- SEO services (either between a marketing partner or through helpful software) may cost a few thousand dollars per month.
- Remember, the correlation between your budget and the outcomes you seek is significant. Don't underestimate the impact of a well-thought-out and appropriately funded marketing strategy.
By aligning your budget with TAM insights, assessing competition, and understanding the potential returns, you ensure a strategic and informed approach to growing your roofing business in Shreveport.
Already ready to learn more? Check out how we support your roofing business here.
Review and Reputation Management
As a roofing business owner, you are in a unique position where the homeowner needs to have complete trust in your services. Very rarely will there be a homeowner who ventures up to their roof to have a look around to make sure you did a good job.
As a result, your business growth is widely determined by your reviews and reputation. Even if you do great work, you won’t see the growth you’re looking for without an online reputation. Word-of-mouth can still make an impact on your customer acquisition, but most potential customers will check out your online reviews before even visiting your website.
If you’re not already, remember to solicit reviews from customers who you’ve completed jobs with. The more reviews you have, the more Google will notice your business and promote you when you meet local search criteria.
Once you do receive a positive (or negative) review, make sure you respond. That will build your reputation as a roofing business that cares about its customer’s feedback.
Here is how to respond to each:
Positive Review
“I really enjoyed my experience with ABC Roofing. The contractor was straightforward about the cost, and the work was done in a timely manner. I definitely recommend this company to anyone looking for a good roofing business.”—Andrew Badams
Here’s a great way to respond:
“Hi, Andrew! We really appreciate you leaving a review for us as we strive to be one of the best roof repair businesses in Atlanta, Georgia.”
Be sure your response includes:
- Customer’s name
- The service area
- Type of work completed
Negative Review
“If you need your roof repaired, don’t use ABC Roofing. They were late, left a mess, and I’m not happy with how my roof looks now. It went from ok to janky. Buyer beware!”—Andrew Badams
Here’s an example of a constructive response:
“Hi Andrew,
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced with our service. Your feedback is important to us as we constantly strive to improve. We want to make things right and address your concerns promptly.
Please reach out to our dedicated team at (XXX) XXX-XXXX, so we can better understand the specific issues and work towards a resolution. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we appreciate the opportunity to make things right for you.”
It’s important to respond professionally and constructively. When you get negative reviews, wait until you can keep level-headed. Potential customers will recognize and respect your attempts to make things right.
The Age of AI
In the upcoming sections, we’ll introduce how AI technology is just about as handy as a cordless roofing nailer and almost as effective.
SEO 2.0 - Supercharge Lead Generation with AI
As a roofer, it can be difficult to understand why you should worry about what the latest AI advances mean or how it’s going to get you your next job. But believe it or not, just like digital marketing used to be considered a new phase in marketing, AI is next.
Here’s how it can help.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a cornerstone of digital marketing. It’s how your website gets considered by Google algorithms and pulled to the top of search results if the content meets the search criteria.
However, traditional SEO practices are no longer enough to keep up with competitors. Traditional SEO could mean you’re putting out a couple of blogs a month, you get a few backlinks, and you make sure your content is about your service. While that’s a good start and a foundational strategy for marketing, SEO is an extremely competitive space, and you need every advantage you can get over your competitors.
Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI-powered SEO can take all the guesswork out of what your website needs to do to rank better. The ability of the technology to analyze thousands of keyword topics, understand algorithm updates, and recommend plans of action is invaluable to any marketing strategy.
SEO is still one of the strongest ways to grow your roofing business, but adding the power of AI will push you over the edge of your competitors.
Modernize Your Website with AI Chat
Let’s face it, no matter how good your staff is, no one is available to live chat with customers 24/7. Or are they? With AI-powered chat technology, you can equip your roofing website to have a response system set up for any conversation day or night.
Chat Bot vs. AI Chat: Understanding the Difference
Unlike conventional chatbots, AI Chat can learn the ins and outs of your business and respond intelligently to your customers, providing them with a better user experience. Chatbots are equipped with a predetermined set of answers and can only provide the customer with a rotation of answers.
Here’s an example of the type of questions AI Chat could answer without needing a predetermined setting.
- I’ve got a leak in my roof. What do I do?
- How do I know my roof needs to be replaced?
- What is the average cost for a roof for a 2,400-square-foot home?
Adding advanced technology to your website, like AI Chat, will only improve your user experience and provide a desired tool for people in your target area every (shingle) time.
The Sky’s the Limit to Your Marketing Growth
Whether you want to embark on your own or you’re considering different marketing companies for roofers, this list will help you navigate and succeed in digital marketing.
If you’re looking for a team of experts who stay ahead of the curve in both traditional marketing strategies and advanced technology, Scorpion is here to help you meet your roofing business goals.
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