Written on: January 20, 2025 by Karli Haight
New year, new marketing strategy? Not exactly. However, there are marketing trends on the horizon for 2025 that you don’t want to miss. Read on to learn more about the marketing tactics we expect to make a significant impact and how they may help your propane, fuel or HVAC company retain and expand business this year.
The Potential of A.I.
Artificial intelligence (A.I.) is a revolutionary tool that can automate customer interactions, personalize user experiences and offer new and enhanced services that could help save your company time and money. However, despite all its advantages, many people have reasonable hesitancy about diving headfirst into all things A.I. Before you skip it entirely, there are several A.I. tools to consider that are already making a positive impact on energy industry operations in 2025:
1. Call Tracking: Call tracking with A.I. can monitor phone activity and give your management team abbreviated summaries of customer calls so they can quickly learn not only where callers are coming from, but what they are calling about, if interactions were positive or negative, and if leads are closing on the phone.
2. Live Chat: Streamlining customer communication through a live chat plug-in allows frequently asked questions to be answered without using your CSR team’s billable time so that they can focus their efforts on unique or more involved inquiries. Additionally, live chat with A.I. can acquire general information from a lead that is then passed to a sales representative, bypassing time spent gathering introductory information.
This year, it will be important to consider how new features can have a positive impact on your company’s internal productivity along with customer experience and expectations.
Continued Dominance of Video Content
Short-form video content is forecasted to remain a leader for online engagement, because videos are quick and easy to digest, are proven to grab a user’s attention, and are highly shareable among audiences.
How can service industries like propane, heating oil and HVAC companies best utilize short-form video content? Focus on creating authentic content that appeals to what your audience looks to your company for. Videos that showcase helpful information, such as how to check a propane tank gauge or when to schedule seasonal maintenance, could make a positive impact on your social media and web strategies.
Tactical Promotions
Promotions are a tried-and-true advertising strategy that have been a staple of many industries. In 2025, we expect to see more dynamic promotional advertising that reaches targets with customized offers based on their known wants or needs. Think about how you can use data to narrow down your audience and reach them with a specific offer. This may include identifying fuel accounts that haven’t ordered in the past year, or retargeting leads that inquired about new equipment installations last spring.
New Data Analytics & Technologies
Speaking of data, new data analysis technologies are allowing businesses to make more informed marketing decisions. Three key data innovations to watch for in 2025 are:
1. Enhanced Customer Insights: Provides in-depth detail of lead origins, location or service needs to execute tailored marketing campaigns quickly
2. Real-Time Data Monitoring: Allows businesses and marketing teams to track campaign performance in real-time and make adjustments as needed
3. Predictive Analysis: Uses historical data to forecast future trends and customer behaviors to enable a more proactive marketing approach
Investing in a data analytics platform or process is critical to maximize marketing efforts and implement leading strategies discussed in this article.
Stricter Search Engine Standards for ADA Compliance
In 2025, we will see Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design (also known as ADA compliance) becoming increasingly important for digital content. Some examples of ADA compliance best practices for websites include features such as text that can easily be transcribed by a screen reader and high-contrast colors for visibility.
How does this affect search engine ranking? Search engines are prioritizing websites that have ADA-compliant SEO and design best practices because those offer equal opportunity for all users to interact with the content of the site.
Websites that don’t adhere to ADA compliance standards, on the other hand, run the risk of losing potential business if a visitor can’t easily navigate the site. Making sure your company’s website is ADA compliant is a smart solution to protect your search engine ranking and ensure that your business is easily accessible to all online users.
Kick off the Year with a Strong Strategy
When you get together with your team to identify your goals for the year, consider how these marketing innovations can help you streamline your efforts and elevate your ROI in 2025. ICM
Karli Haight is the Director of Marketing & Brand Strategy at Consumer Focus Marketing. She can be reached online at www.consumerfocusmarketing.com or by email at Karli_Haight@bostonenv.com.
