Oluwadunmola Adefioye | Updated: June 4, 2023 | Home services advertisement
Paid advertising is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of any home service contractor. And this is because, unlike organic lead generation, paid advertising can go after prospective clients in their numbers and increase your brand reach almost instantaneously. While your sales effort is still needed to convert your service-qualified leads into paying customers, at least, with a good-enough ads strategy, you would get more demand gen than most businesses with no concrete advertising plan.
The big question is how should home builders advertise their business. I’m aiming to answer this question in this piece. I’ll go over the various variations of home builder ads you can leverage to scale your home service business.
The two forms of advertising we have are traditional and digital ads. And while we live in a digital age where a tremendous amount of transactions are performed via the internet, as a home builder company, you still need some traditional advertising tactics to get a fairer market share for your business. The type of advertising platform you use for your home contractor ads can affect your campaign’s effectiveness.
While organic engagements like search engine optimization are vital to any home builder digital marketing strategy, ads allow specific targeting of potential client demographics. Here is an overview of the two major digital advertising platforms:
Search engines like Google and Bing are hot spots for lead generation, with Google Ads being the industry leader in traffic commanded. Even though Google Ads is majorly associated with the search engine, it covers other Google platform ads like YouTube and third-party apps, with one ad manager responsible for controlling all three platforms.
While search ads encourage clicks, display ads spread company awareness. Most display ads use text and images; however, you can also set up a short video ad for your home construction ads. Lastly, you can also run direct video PPC ads, which are actually YouTube ads. These are also known to perform well and can help generate leads from home service niche audiences.
You need a basic knowledge of PPC ads to run an effective search ads campaign. However, what goes into setting up and running a successful PPC campaign might be too much for you to handle as a regular construction business owner. This is why it isn’t uncommon for home service contractors to hire a professional home builder marketing agency like Klutch Growth to help oversee their ads campaign.
When choosing social media advertising platforms, consider the different audiences each platform attracts, as it is essential to select a platform where your ideal customers are present. Great social media home builder ad channels include Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Facebook because of its high middle-aged demography, Instagram for its visual appeal, and TikTok for its high virality potential. Since most social platforms are primarily accessed via mobile devices, your ad must be optimized for mobile.
And if you are paying influencers rather than running direct ads, ensure it’s more than just a famous face. The influencer needs to have a following that fits your target group. You have to choose influencers in the home industry like home cleaning, home decor, construction enthusiasts, home reviewers, trending property managers, etc.
In addition, remember to showcase your expertise using picture and video content, as well as customer testimonials from your previous clients.
Traditional advertising includes ads on local media (tv and radio), billboards, event sponsorship, direct mail, print advertising, and street signposts. While these ads can’t be targeted as with home builder digital ads, they have a more extensive reach that spreads across multiple audiences. And nothing says home builder company like sticking a signpost in front of a newly-constructed building.
Traditional ads are also costlier than digital ads since they have a bigger audience that can’t be narrowed down. And lastly, except you’re advertising via print, where readers might take their time reading, your advertising format needs to be an easy read that your readers can grasp instantly.
Advertising efforts aren’t just about shelling out the money needed for an intensive campaign. I’ll be showing you some home builder advertising strategies and best practices that’ll see you 10x your marketing campaign with an impressive ROI:
One of the ways an ads campaign can fail before it even starts is by targeting the wrong audience. The ads will be seen alright, but the clicks won’t come. Before starting an ad campaign, you need a thorough and proper study outlining your target audience and the demographics of your prospective customers. An easy way to map your audience is to analyze your current customer base and find the common threads that define these people. You could also analyze any other home building company with considerable social media following to see the engagement they drive.
Geofencing is a type of advertising whereby you limit the search parameters of your ads to a specific location (up to a zip code) or specific areas to exclude using negative keyword lists. Accurate customer profiling and location targeting are two essential tools for achieving optimal results with your home contractor ads.
In addition, utilizing localized terms within your ad campaign keywords can boost performance and give the most returns on ad spend. For example, your ad would only show when customers search for home builder contractors in Texas if you include words like “near me” or “Texas” in your search ads campaign.
Your ad story is as important as the format, channel, and type. It should be concise and punchy enough to hook the audience’s attention while reflecting your brand’s vision and how that particular service can benefit your target audience.
Although ad headlines are generally short (usually one-liners), you don’t have to restrict your messaging to a catchy headline. Make sure to develop a more detailed copy to back up the headline and reiterate your brand message, just the same way you implement your content marketing plans.
Including conspicuous details like company contact and specific location makes reaching out to the business easier for your customers. Make sure to use the call and location ad extensions to highlight your company details for better lead acquisition.
Do you know how ads from a specific business keep popping up while scrolling social media or using third-party apps? Yup, that’s ad retargeting. It’s an excellent home builder advertising strategy that helps keep your brand atop customers’ minds.
Particularly, with Google ads, retargeting is the crux of increasing your return on ad spend by many folds. Once you have run a couple of Google ads campaigns, with the data you get from these initial setups, you can build on these to run performance max (PMax) campaigns to generate even better ad conversions.
Marketplaces common to the home service industry, like Zillow, Houzz, Trulia, etc., are always teeming with potential customers bursting to hire home service providers. Get listed and place some ads on these directories, and always remember to add positive experiences from satisfied clients on your ads, as this is the edge that puts you above the competition. Also, never underestimate the reach of a well-setup Google My Business profile; it always adds more credibility to your online advertising efforts.
Nothing quite beats the thrill and anticipation that comes with marketing your builder services to another person, whether an individual or a group. A pro tip for approaching home builder marketing meetings is to take it up as an extension of your building projects. Talking about a related project when pitching your business to potential clients helps you show how you can get the job done.
Of course, marketing meetups are not to talk about your business all through; it always helps to engage the audience based on their specific project needs to show that you understand their specific needs and can cater to them.
Finally, you should always go for marketing pitches fully prepared, if possible, having rehearsed your discussion points based on research done beforehand. You can also hold pamphlets with your business card showcasing your previous projects.
Hey home builder! Hope you found this piece actionable enough to boost your advertising efforts. We have more tips packed for you in our home builder marketing piece. Take a minute to read this as well for a more rounded view of marketing for your construction business.
Yes, digital advertising channels are better than traditional ones for home builders. And this is simply because you can target a specific demographic that matches potential clients via digital ads. However, combining both mediums is best for maximum returns in homebuilding.
Social media ads are different from display ads in their channel type. Social media ads can be seen on social media platforms like Meta suite (Facebook and Instagram), Twitter, TikTok, and others. While display ads are run through Google ads and can be seen on third-party websites and blogs, weather sites, and within mobile apps. But in terms of format using images and video, display ads can be similar to social media marketing ads, even though display ads don’t carry any text, unlike social media ads.
The click-through rate (CTR) is the easiest metric to monitor, and it measures how persuasive and how well-targeted your ads are. You should pay attention to CTA click rate, return on ad spend (ROAS), total ads marketing spend, and visitor conversion rate.
Digital advertising for home builders is a game-changer for construction business owners. You can now showcase your offerings to potential homeowners directly by increasing your online presence and getting more brand visibility. And after going through the various ad types and channels available on the building market, a good idea would be for you to have your target audience locked down tight before embarking on a campaign.
It’s also important to note that while advertising campaigns generate prospects, your company doing a good job is what makes your satisfied customers into brand loyalists.
At Klutch Growth, we focus on home service business owners. And as a home builder marketing services provider, we bring tonnes of industry experience to serve you well for your ad campaign. You can be assured of top-notch service delivery regardless of your advertising budget. Check our Google Ads services page for an overview of our ads services and how we might help you.
I enjoy writing engaging and practical articles that help local businesses grow. That’s why I take my time to understand the industry - customers and businesses - before writing a word.
Aside from content marketing, I enjoy watching football and love my beloved Arsenal FC.
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