Generating leads for roofing business owners in 2021 can be challenging
As the industry continues to move more toward tech investment and online campaigns in order to attract customers, many roofing business owners who are unfamiliar with newer technologies are scrambling for solutions.
Therefore, if you are a contractor who is interested in learning about how establishing an online presence can benefit your roofing company, this article is perfect for you!
Keep reading to find out more about the online roofing marketing landscape in 2021!
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According to Joe Hughes, the Marketing Director of Contractor Dynamics in New Jersey, generating leads online in 2021 can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
There are many platforms that offer contractors the ability to market to homeowners, and Hughes says that an easy-to-navigate company website should be a staple of every roofing company.
“Your website is going to be your home base,”
says Hughes.
“People are going to check you out.”
Beyond a company website, popular platforms like Google, Facebook, and YouTube are also important because they allow roofing contractors to reach a wider audience.
Plus, these sites offer contractors the ability to run targeted ads to homeowners in their city.
For example, a roofing contractor in Dallas can run Facebooks ads specifically geared for homeowners in the DFW market.
While running Facebook ads may seem like an easy way to find homeowners in your area, the reality is that contractors also have to brand themselves beyond posting ads.
“You have to get people to know who you are before you go out there and put out offers,”
says Hughes.
“If I put out an offer for a free estimate or inspection to a cold audience of people who have no idea who I am, I’ll generate a quantity of leads, but it’s still going to be an uphill battle because they have no idea who I am.”
Roofing contractors can use Roofing Insights as an example of the power of online branding and marketing.
In just four short years, Roofing Insights has accrued 40,000 subscribers on YouTube by creating content targeted specifically toward roofers and homeowners.
As a roofing company, you can follow the same formula by answering many of the questions homeowners in your area have.
Whether it’s explaining the different types of shingles your company sells, or even how to hire a reliable contractor, videos and blog posts go a long way toward establishing your company as an expert.
In turn, homeowners who consume your content are more likely to hire your roofing company because you have already cultivated a relationship with them.
Explains Hughes:
“To win you have to know who you are, build some value, get people to understand and appreciate that value, and then you put out an offer to people who have already engaged with your brand. Then you are going to generate those warm leads.”
Unfortunately, there are many contractors who don’t create content that their potential customers can engage with, and this is one reason why their Facebook ads don’t produce positive results.
At the same time, Hughes acknowledges that there are a few inherent risks with roofing companies running Facebook ads.
“There is human error. People are knuckleheads clicking around that don’t know what they are doing. There are also people who have claimed that Facebook has bots that do that, but I don’t know,”
he says.
“With our clients, they might report that they got 26 leads one week, but that doesn’t excite us anymore. What is important is how many they contacted and were able to set new appointments.”
Another key component to generating leads online is that roofing companies are actively engaging with their customers.
For example, on company Facebook pages, homeowners can see how quickly a company is likely to respond to them.
Faster response times typically means more customer engagement, and potentially more sales.
But many companies fail to respond to their customers in an appropriate amount of time, which is alarming because converting online leads into sales requires fast and efficient communication.
Moreover, Hughes says at least two-thirds of online leads result in sales.
It’s then no wonder why so many roofing companies are investing money into developing an online presence.
In fact, Hughes says that on average roofing companies are paying between $30-90 for online leads, but also adds that the better indicator of success is determining how much your company is paying per appointment.
“You have to reverse engineer that formula. What’s your conversion ratio from appointment to contract? If you’re at a forty percent closing rate, in order to get four contracts, you need ten appointments. So, what are you willing to pay for an appointment?”
he asks.
Yet, determining how much a roofing company should pay for online appointments is not easy, especially because there are so many different types of roofs.
“It depends on the size of the roof. Is it a $15,000 roof? Is it a $100,000 cedar roof? A business owner should categorize this,”
says Hughes, who also mentions that spending between $250-500 for an appointment is profitable.
Still, the fact remains that many roofing companies do not market themselves well.
Worse, some contractors are unwilling to learn how to market their business, and instead rely on third-party companies to generate leads and customer engagement.
“If I outsource my bookkeeping and I have no idea about the financial numbers of my business, then even if I’m not getting taken advantage of, I might feel like I’m getting taken advantage of,”
says Hughes, in explaining why outsourcing your marketing needs is not an ideal strategy.
“I’m not going to know if that’s a good service or not, and it’s the same with marketing. You don’t have to be a marketing expert, but you have to understand the basics. That’s the foundational thing [for your business].”
Also, there are roofing business owners who could stand to improve their follow-up process by being more patient with potential customers and seeing leads through to the end.
“Owners will complain about leads if they are cold, but that’s just the nature of leads. You have to work them. Some are going to be bad and some are going to be good, but if you’re building your brand and getting people to know who you are, then that’s how you win,”
explains Hughes.
Finally, in order for roofing companies to continue to expand and establish themselves as authorities in their local markets, they have to be willing to consistently invest in their marketing budgets.
Hughes says committing five percent of revenue toward marketing is recommended, with some companies allotting as much as ten percent.
“If you want to grow, maybe ten percent, but it depends how creative you are. At the beginning, to get to $1 million, you don’t need a ton of marketing. You can build $1 million worth of business just from scrolling through your phone and contacting your contacts,”
says Hughes, before adding that despite his suggestion of devoting five percent to marketing, not many roofing companies actually reach that figure.
“Very few [invest five percent]. I get excited if someone is spending five percent.”
To learn more about Joe Hughes and how Contractor Dynamics helps roofing companies grow, visit their website today!