The HVAC Marketing Plan Nolen Walker

Dominate your market, no matter the size! Nolen Walker speaks on ways you can boost your rural business.

Every HVAC contractor has to decide on their business model at some point. For example, do you want to be a tech or a boss? An HVAC technician is an honest way to make a living but being a boss afford

HVAC companies often read about experts who suggest what they should do to improve their online marketing. But how often do contractors hear about things they shouldn’t do? HVAC Webmasters discusses marketing tactics that hurt your company in today’s podcast episode. 1) GMB-Only Marketing Puzzle piece marketing is a bad idea regardless of which element […]

In 2022, every digital marketing expert wants to tell clients what works. But with so much misinformation around the web, how can any business owner trust what they hear? At HVAC Webmasters, we’ve been working with heating and cooling companies for more than a decade and helping them get results online. Since everyone loves to talk about what works, we will switch it up and discuss what doesn’t work in 2022.



Here are three HVAC marketing strategies that do NOT work in 2022.









1) GMB-Only (Ignore Website)



There’s a growing trend among HVAC contractors to focus only on Google My Business while ignoring their primary website. While the strategy sounds good in theory, it doesn’t work in practice. The main problem is that GMB rankings rely on a solid website connected to your listing. Google uses the attached website to gauge your listing’s authority, just as it would with backlinks in their traditional algorithm.



We recently had a prospect call into HVAC Webmasters wondering why their GMB listing doesn’t rank on Google Maps despite having 160 reviews in a relatively small town. The answer lied in his lack of a robust website which Google uses to gauge a listing’s prominence. The reviews alone could not help him rank in the Local Map 3-Pack, so he focused on building a solid website, which allowed him to finally rank.



2) Blogging



It’s an open secret in the SEO industry that blogging doesn’t work. Sure, there are some industries where blogs remain relevant, but HVAC is not one of them. Nobody cares to read 100 blog posts about an HVAC problem in 2022. Furthermore, nine times out of ten, blogs are written by content writers who know nothing about the subject. Moreover, the posts typically lack word count, research, and quality sources.



Sometimes people will push back on this contention as they see posts ranking online. Those posts come from high domain authority websites that’ve already established their domain for over a decade. They also have exceedingly strong backlink profiles and author bios that notate the credibility of the writer. The vast majority of blogs in the heating and cooling industry don’t even get indexed. You are wasting your crawl budget with trash content when you should focus on service pages rather than blog posts.



3) Relying Solely on an SEO Agency



One out of five HVAC companies doesn’t do any work to grow their business. Instead, they rely 100% on the SEO agency to do all the work on their behalf. So while SEO agencies are essential, a company must do some work to establish its brand in ways that no SEO agency can replicate. For example, you must update your social media pages yourself.



Another example of ignoring your participation is failing to utilize apps like DataPins, which require you to take photos of your jobsite work. While HVAC companies might consider this extra work, it is actually one of the most efficient ways to rank online in 2022. Google looks for original content, and DataPins provides it, but contractors must be willing to participate. Of course, you don’t have to do everything, but you must participate to maximize your SEO campaign.

Getting hosed by HVAC marketing agencies has become commonplace in 2020. There are so many scam artists in the digital marketing industry who promise things like getting into the Local Map 3-Pack. Unfortunately, promises in SEO are often intentional lies from the marketer to the consumer (the HVAC contractor, in this case). Having spoken with thousands of HVAC companies about their marketing experiences, many of them want to understand one simple thing: how to NOT get screwed by marketing agencies. The HVAC Marketing Plan podcast has decided to tackle this subject in today’s episode, and we hope you learn from it and apply it next time.









Don’t Let Them Ruin Your GMB



One tactic used by hack agencies is to ruin your Google My Business listing by attaching a separate website to it. These agencies will promise you a ranking within the Local Map 3-Pack and gain control of your business listing. They distort your online credibility by putting up a new website that is cheaply built and unprofessional. Not only do they not help your GMB rank in the 3-pack, but they hurt your overall web presence. The map rankings are based on relevance, prominence, and proximity, and research shows that stronger websites with good links help the listing rank … not cheap websites. So if any HVAC marketing agency tries this, shut them down ASAP.







Don’t Trust Bulk SEO Packages



If we’ve learned one thing from our HVAC clients, it’s that bulk SEO packages are not to be trusted. An agency that handles PPC, social media, web design and SEO is going to be horrible at SEO nine times out of ten. There’s a good reason for this too. It’s because most of these agencies put SEO on the back burner. Their real money is made through PPC campaigns which can be easily manipulated. For example, many PPC campaigns encourage HVAC companies to spend money on terms that are irrelevant to their business. As the campaign costs pile up, the quality of your web presence decreases. All of this time ignoring SEO only hurts your brand’s long-term trajectory. So if you want SEO, get it from somewhere like HVAC Webmasters, where we actually care about your livelihood and not just screwing you out of money.



Don’t Screw Yourself, Either



Because of the frequency in which agencies overcharge consumers, there’s a tendency to go too far in the other direction. An example of this is HVAC companies who want to pay $99 dollars for digital marketing and SEO. That’s far too little to help you rank on any search engine or generate any kind of quality HVAC leads. To be fair to yourself and your commitment to business growth, you need to spend between $600-$1,000 per month. The only thing $99 dollars will get you is a glorified hosting fee which ends up as a waste of time and money. Instead, focus on affordable SEO services that actually produce tangible results. You want leads, you want business.



The “Organic SEO” Takes Too Long Myth



Another myth in the SEO industry is that organic SEO takes too long. It no longer takes a full year to optimize your website online. In fact, if you do everything right, you can be optimized in less than 6 months, and maybe even within 3 months. People use this antiquated idea to encourage you to drain your bank account on PPC and Facebook ads. While those things can work if they are properly executed, they are nowhere near the ROI of SEO. Of course, it only matters if HVAC companies take SEO seriously by investing in reputation management and making a r...

As an HVAC contractor, you probably depend a lot on word of mouth referrals and recommendations. But in a time when social distancing is a must and people are struggling to communicate, this can be a challenge for your business. Nonetheless, the current pandemic is an excellent opportunity to show your customers that your business is of value.



One of the most effective ways to do that is to maintain a high level of customer service in these trying times. If you are able to give your customers great service and friendly interactions at this time, your business will reap the benefits both now and in the future. Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot so to speak because many businesses aren’t focusing on customer service right now. Owners have their minds on other things. But if you can be the HVAC contractor that didn’t forget about delivering an awesome customer experience during COVID-19, you will have won a loyal customer.



In today’s post, we will be talking about the importance of customer service during this time as well as giving you some customer service tips that apply specifically to the current crisis. Still, it is important to realize that all the following tips revolve around thinking about the customer. And thinking about your customer is a practice that will serve you well no matter what is happening in the world. 



If at any time you would like to speak to an HVAC marketing expert, please feel free to contact us here at HVAC Webmasters. But for now, let’s discuss some customer service tips to remember.









Communicate Clearly



Communication is at a premium now that social distancing and quarantines are the norms. It is important that you let your customers know that you can still service all their HVAC needs, first and foremost. Secondly, it is crucial that you communicate with your clients how you intend to keep them safe even as you are in their homes or businesses working on their HVAC systems. You can accomplish both these feats simply by updating your social media pages and website. Outline the preventative measures you are taking against the spread of COVID-19. 



You can also send an email newsletter to your clients, reminding them that you are still available to service them and that you will observe the recommended 6-foot distancing suggestion, wear protective face and hand coverings and limit face-to-face interactions to only what is absolutely necessary. You can also emphasize these points anytime a potential customer calls you and inquires about your services.



Understand Your Unique Position



As an HVAC contractor, even you may not be aware of the unique position you are in. But the fact is that HVAC services can actually help to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Running a home or commercial HVAC system can actually stymie the spread of the virus within a building. 



This is a bit of information that you can leverage to help your customers. Again, you can use email newsletter campaigns or your social media pages to let people know that you can install filters for their heaters and air conditioners to help stop the proliferation of COVID-19. Let them know that they shouldn’t be afraid to run their HVAC systems and ...