Written on: September 12, 2018 by Melissa Bellas
Whether you’re a large, well-known name in the industry or a smaller business looking to grow, your target audience’s tastes and behaviors are evolving and no longer what they might have been 10 years ago. While Yellow Pages or print advertising in local newspapers once seemed effective methods for customer acquisition, today’s customers’ tastes, behaviors and viewing habits have changed.
As a propane, heating oil or HVAC company looking to acquire new customers, you can sit around and hope that new customers will call your office, or you can take a proactive approach to reach those ideal prospects. It all starts with an integrated, multi-channel marketing strategy.
Through a combination of modern marketing techniques and frequent exposure, your company can reach your ideal prospects where they interact, at the right time, with the right offer. With the anticipated busy fall season arriving sooner than you think, the time to establish or refine your customer acquisition strategy is now.
Here are some channels to expand your reach and grow your customer base in preparation for the upcoming season.
Digital Marketing
The internet never sleeps and neither should your online presence! With 81% of homeowners conducting online research before they make a purchase, it’s essential to consider how your company is positioned online.
Whether it is in the form of email marketing, pay-per-click or online videos, digital marketing provides the opportunity to be in front of prospects at multiple stages of the decision-making process. From interest, to active research, to reaching the buying decision, digital marketing provides the best possible strategy to keep in front of prospects.
Search Engine Optimization
Arguably the most effective customer acquisition strategy, search engine optimization (SEO) allows a company to reach customers where they’re actively searching for products and services: Google (and other search engines). Local SEO is especially important for propane, heating oil and HVAC companies because they need to be found in town, city or regional listings to drive organic search traffic to their website.
The better the content is, the better the SEO ranking will be. With a continued effort to keep a website optimized, it will continue to generate traffic and leads for years to come. With this in mind, it’s no wonder why SEO is the best strategy for long-term revenue.
Direct Mail
With more and more businesses turning to digital marketing initiatives, the volume of direct mail in consumer mailboxes has been on the decline. Less mail in mailboxes provides an opportunity for your direct mail promotion to really stand out. With the right list and the right strategy, direct mail can be a powerful tool for generating high quality leads from homeowners in your market area.
Social Media
As the gasoline and fire that spreads online content, social media platforms have evolved in recent years, proving essential to engagement and relationship-building. With over 1.7 billion active daily users, Facebook is the largest social networking site and among those users are some of a company’s ideal customers. In fact, research shows that 77% of businesses have acquired customers via Facebook. Given its expansive user base, Facebook has a vast amount of data on users, providing an opportunity to serve targeted ads to users that fit the profile of ideal customers in your area.
So what is your company’s plan for acquiring new customers this fall? While there is no single solution for acquiring new customers, using the right combination of tactics and channels will ultimately create a process that works for your business’ unique goals. ICM
