There’s a common misconception that you can only get big marketing results with an even bigger budget.
But the truth is, you don’t need to spend a ton to market your business effectively. In fact, thanks in part to free tools like social media and email, there are more ways than ever to grow your business without spending anything at all on marketing.
Grow your HVAC with these free methods
How to grow your HVAC business
The infographic below digs into six paths you can take to expand your HVAC business without even touching your marketing budget.
Ask for referrals
Getting referrals is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to get more customers. 84% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
So, now that you know how important referrals are for growing your HVAC business, how can you go about getting more of them? Make an effort to ask for them! Better yet, create a referral program that incentivizes your existing customer base to recommend your services to their network.
Generate recurring revenue
The best way to build a sustainable business is to lock in future revenue from existing clients. You can’t guarantee that a customer will come back to you for future work, but you can encourage them to do so by providing exceptional service and a loyalty program. You can also create long-term opportunities by offering maintenance agreements whenever you install a new unit. If you are worried about what it might take to maintain these agreements, consider a tool like HVAC software to help manage this.
Build partnerships
Partnering with other home service businesses can be an awesome opportunity for growing your HVAC company. Local plumbers, painters, and handymen all serve the same type of customer as you – but they don’t offer HVAC services.
By forming partnerships with local business owners offering non-competitor services, you can increase awareness for your business and even get a few referrals at no cost to you.
Use social media
The best part of social media marketing isn’t that it can be completely free (or you can set your own budget to whatever makes sense for your business) – it’s also effective. Half of business owners report having increased their sales through social media marketing.
There are plenty of different ways to approach social media marketing. Whether you participate in Facebook groups, host an Instagram contest, share your latest blog post all over Twitter, or opt to invest a few bucks in targeted ads.
Email marketing
HVAC businesses should take advantage of email marketing not only to land more customers, but to land customers who are willing to spend more over their lifetime. After all, people who buy services from an email spend considerably more money (138% more, to be specific) than your typical customer.
Plus, eventually, all units need repairs, maintenance, and a replacement installed. So, schedule reminders to send follow-up emails to previous customers based on the lifecycle of their unit. You can use a template for each type of email so all you have to do is personalize the details and hit send.
Get reviews and testimonials
For better or worse, online reviews can have a serious impact on your business. That’s because a whopping 97% of consumers look at online reviews when researching a local business.
This means that as soon as a potential customer discovers your business online, there’s a 97% chance they’re going to read reviews before contacting you to book an appointment. You need positive reviews to help bring those potential clients to your door.
So, simply ask happy customers to leave you a review or write a testimonial that can be posted on your website. It’s free to ask – and most satisfied customers are happy to comply.
Read more advice on things you can do to grow your HVAC business.
