Your local business will face a bunch of challenges in this pandemic, especially when it comes to successful lead generation. You’ll find it challenging to expand the reach of your business beyond your target location. Home services marketing will usually combine different online marketing methods while also doing the traditional marketing techniques. If you are a home service company owner and want to take advantage of varying lead gen platforms, some strategies will help you.
Tips on Running a Successful Lead Generation Strategy During Crisis
Without a doubt, the recent pandemic has caused massive damage to the industry of home service. Whether homeowners are saving their finances or want to keep their families safe, they have been very cautious when booking for the service of home contractors. Nonetheless, this does not necessarily mean that you are out of options. Successful lead generation campaigns can help you develop your company even amid pandemics or disasters.
Inform Your Customers How You Are Adjusting
You need to let your customers know that you are taking the situation seriously. They need to be aware of your plans to handle it. How are you planning to adjust your services to guarantee the safety of your customers? There are simple ways on how you can do this. One of the easiest methods is to add some changes to your website. You can add an alert or change the displayed ads on your webpage in a manner that will reflect the current situation. You need to make sure that the message you will convey to them will feel authentic. Successful lead generation techniques require crafting a statement that the audience will find relevant and relatable.
How to Craft Your Message
While most companies will add the phrase ‘In these times of uncertainties’ to their message and the audience can relate, it gets pretty dull and redundant. Your audience may feel disconnected from the message that you are trying to convey if it feels outdated. You need to know how they are feeling and develop a message depending on it. Understand that your message will help you create a successful lead generation strategy.
- Be Transparent and Clear- List and acknowledge the changes you’ve already made and explain why this is essential. Tell them how it fits their changing needs. They are probably worried about the crisis; the best thing to do is to let them know that they still have an option and allow them to choose what is the best for them.
- Be Concise- When creating your message, you need to tell the changes you’ve made. For instance, your people could be performing their work in a full PPE suit. If there are changes in the cleaning solution that you are using, tell that to them. For instance, you could be using a solution that has been proven to kill the covid 19 virus.
- Determine Their Comfort Level- You will also need to identify your target audience’s comfort and security level. You should know their preference and tell them your mandatory protocol when your people come to their site.
Reviewing Your Marketing Strategy
Inspect your marketing strategies; there’s a chance that some of them may not be performing enough in this time of crisis. You may want to disable the campaigns that are not producing results temporarily. You may need to minimize your spending. Look for ways on how you can optimize this campaign before rerunning this. Start by adjusting your marketing budget, then refine your targeting. Your marketing techniques should be able to help you achieve a successful lead generation campaign. Look at the metrics and understand why they are underperforming. Make some changes and see if the numbers will improve. You should also take advantage of social media this time. You need to post more since studies show that people spend more time on social media during this pandemic. It means posting more engaging and listening content. You could find this as an opportunity to capture more leads.
Follow Up Cold Leads and Current Customers for Successful Lead Generation
If you want to grow your lead conversion rate, it is also the time to follow up on your cold leads and message your existing customers. Offer something that will upsell them. You can provide some preventive maintenance and new services. Great deals would be a fantastic way to encourage these leads to respond. However, you should not also discount your services and make them appear too cheap. Aside from promoting your offer, you should also highlight the changes in your protocol in your e-mail.
It is time for you to review your files; there’s a chance you will be able to find opportunities that will help you upsell your services to some customers. It is an excellent chance to remind your leads that you are available and that you are there to keep them safe. Find ways to make your services more attractive to them to develop a successful lead generation strategy.
Find Opportunities
You should also look for fresh opportunities to capture leads. While not all contractors may add new services or discounts to their business, you should still consider this. If you are already in the business of water damage restoration, you should also consider mold remediation services. Since you already have the necessary equipment, you can offer this for only a small amount of investment. If you are in the bathroom remodeling service, it could be beneficial to provide kitchen remodeling service. It is an excellent method to attract fresh leads and build a successful lead generation campaign.
Should I Increase My Service Area?
It is another option that will help you find more opportunities. Adding the nearby town or the close counties may be an excellent way to capture high valued leads. After all, you can always return to your area of operation once everything goes back to normal. The important thing right now is to ensure that you have a steady supply of fresh leads that will keep your business afloat.
Change Your Advertisement
Changing your ads is another easy way to find new opportunities and guarantee a successful lead generation technique. If you are running PPC ads, you should tweak them to expand your reach and audience targeting. You should also update your print ads and website. You should be very careful when you are adding your new area of operation or service. Unless you plan to make these changes permanent, it would be more efficient and cheaper to reflect these changes exclusively on your ads.
Find a Reputable Partner for a Successful Lead Generation Campaign
Another way to grow your business is by finding a reliable lead generation agency. While some people may think this is unconventional, it is a perfect way to capture new leads. They could hold the secret in keeping your business busy in this time of the pandemic. Be sure to find an agency that uses only the organic method. They should manage your PPC campaign efficiently and make the necessary changes to your website to ensure successful lead generation. They should be armed with the right people who will constantly analyze the marketing strategies and make the necessary adjustments if it is underperforming.
What Other Successful Lead Generation Strategies should I Use?
Carpenters, window installers, plumbers, landscapers, etc., offer services that require professional skills. Before the pandemic, there has been a booming home service history, but during the onset of the crisis up to this time, home service contractors are finding it difficult to locate their prospects. Therefore, using the methods, we will mention below could open you to some hidden opportunities and create a successful lead generation campaign.
SEM
It doesn’t matter if there is a threat of a pandemic. People will hire you regardless of the situation if they can find you. If people have problems, they will mostly rely on online search. The pandemic has also forced them to limit their contact with the outside world, showing the dramatic increase in the consumption of online materials. If people are searching for their home service contractor, there is a chance that they have not yet found reliable people around their area. Therefore, this is the best time to gain their trust and turn them into loyal customers. However, when homeowners are looking online, they can be overwhelmed with the number of potential contractors.
How To Attract Leads this Pandemic Using SEM?
Placement on the first page of the search engine result should always be your priority when developing a successful lead generation strategy. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is an excellent way to ensure that you appear on top of the search result on critical keywords. Usually, bidding for the targeted keywords that small businesses use will be more affordable. Reports showed that local companies would benefit well from SEM results. The secret is to ensure that you will take advantage of all targeting aspects, including but not limited to call-only campaigns, location extension, site link extension, etc. Be sure to direct the ads to a particular landing page to monitor the conversion rate quickly.
Social Advertising for a Successful Lead Generation Method
Social media advertising or marketing (SMM) can improve your online reputation and encourage your customers to be more familiar with your business. Perhaps you already notice the ‘Sponsored Posts’ that are appearing in your timeline. Using this method, you can easily tell the targeted audience which of their connections have engaged with your page. It also comes with targeting filters and social analytics to understand more the behavioral values of your audience. It will help you determine the types of services that your audience might need.
Moreover, you will have a bigger audience this pandemic since people spend most of their time on social media these days. You can then design a post that will highlight client reviews, videos, and offerings when building a successful lead generation strategy. It will help you create a successful lead generation. Running paid social media posts together with your regular posts offers a variety of ways to capture high valued leads.
Using Traditional Media
Finally, the traditional media also offers plenty of benefits to the home services business. Digital marketing channels provide a dramatic value in a successful lead generation technique. Still, you should never undermine the power of direct mail, print ads, and radio and TV advertisements, especially in promoting your business during this pandemic. It can significantly increase your brand awareness around your targeted area. Moreover, you can track your ROI that will help you understand which platform or channels are generating leads.
Using a combination of these methods will help you survive despite the challenges that the pandemic presents. You will have a successful lead generation campaign that will help you capture a steady number of leads and direct them into your sales funnel.
