This year I’ve been working a bit with roofing companies and as such, I’ve been tasked to present ideas on how to stand out in the sea of roofing companies that all present themself the same way to the same customers.
Also figured that what I’ve learned during this process could be useful to other roofing companies wanting to jazz up their online presence themselves…
And since sharing is caring, I’ve decided to explain both the common pitfalls roofing companies make and what to do instead! At the end of this article, you’ll find my list of marketing ideas and tips for roofing companies that you can implement immediately.
Let’s get started.
Table of contents:
Mistake #1: Bland statements that don’t answer any of the customer’s questions
Mistake #2: Making your company sound like some larger-than-life corporation
Mistake #3: Overdoing SEO
Tip #1: Actually show your employees
Tip #2: Show (don’t tell) what area you serve
Tip #3: Before/After pictures of successful projects
Mistake #1: Bland statements that don’t answer any of the customer’s questions
Some examples of what I mean:
“At NordicCopy Roofing Solutions (NRS) we solve your roofing problems on time and on budget”
“Are you looking for a business that offers quality roofing services at affordable prices?”
Everyone is always looking for ‘quality services at affordable prices’. It’s also a given that the job should be completed within the time set, and without any hidden costs.
These things are so essential that every single buyer will see them as a certainty and are more on the look-out for what you can offer on top of them.
Much like every car buyer expects their new car to come with… you know… wheels!
By stating the same clichéd sentences as your competitors, all you’ll do is cement yourself as yet another roofing contractor with the same promises as everyone else.
Differentiation truly is the name of the game!
Mistake #2: Making your company sound like some larger-than-life corporation
Here are a few things to look out for on your site:
Does any page speak about the company in third person? Is it possible to make it more casual?
Is the writing focused on your customer or you?
What I’ve noticed is how many father-son businesses try to – for some reason – stray away from that image.
The best way to completely drown out your message is to constantly allude to your company name.
…But what if the company name is used frequently for SEO purposes…?
Mistake #3: Overprioritizing SEO
If you were to quickly google an occupation followed by a location into google, say, “roof repair New Haven”, you’d quickly spot sites that are overly reliant on SEO.
Especially in local businesses, some companies have resorted to tactics such as the following:
Page title = Keyword + location.
Repeat for all the locations the company serves.
This might yield a quick win by SEO standards, but the actual usability, credibility, and trustworthiness of the site deteriorates sharply.
I come across these sites far too often in my daily research. Navigation menus with over 50 links, pages with barely comprehendible English – a result of too many keywords stuffed into one page.
It’s easy to forget, but every click you get on your site is another human. They’ll get confused by content that is designed more for Google robots than real customers.
Some might disagree with me on this, but from what I’ve seen, you’re better off serving humans than machines (ed. Views subject to change in the not-so-distant future)
So, what should you do instead?
.It’s easy to just criticize others (fun, too) without actually offering any tangible help.
This part of the article is all about that – offering crystal clear advice.
Tip #1: Show your employees
People are wary of who they let in or on their house. This barrier is removed by simply showing your people in action. Show Darryl installing the new gutters, show Dina answering the phones and yourself presenting your whole shop.
Unless you’re one of the top 50 brands in the world, people will care far more about the person than the business. People buy from people.
By showing your employees working on fixing roofs and gutters, you’ll instantly get ahead of the millions of other roofing contractors that are too camera-shy to snap a few quick pictures.
Tip #2: Show (don’t tell) what area you serve
The easiest way to do this is to use Google Maps and draw a circle of the area you cover. Done! No need to write boring, unclear sentences like “Steve’s Quality Roofs covers the Swindon, Cirencester, and Chippenham area”.
You’ll inevitably have potential customer’s go “so does that mean they’ll drive to place x, y, and z not mentioned in the text?”
It takes a few minutes to grab a snapshot from Google Maps and draw a circle on it. Upload that to your site and you’re done.
You’ll answer the reader’s question before they have time to ask it.
Tip #3: Before/After pictures of successful projects
What’s the most important thing for people looking for a roofing solution?
The answer is fairly obvious.
They’re wondering if you actually can deliver on your promises!
Next question. What’s the best way to convince these buyers that you and your firm is their best bet?
By showing, not telling.
And like the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words…
Well, in that case a before/after collage tells closer to a million. Here it’s good to remember that you don’t want to just advertise new roofs in general. You want to advertise YOUR companies abilities to fix those roofs.
That’s why tying the first tip above together with this is so powerful.
It tells your customers that YOU made this. YOU took those leaky roofs and proofed them for years to come.
Otherwise you just risk the reader going “Yeah that’s a fine looking new roof! I do need to fix mine aswell… Oh well, better get to it!”. Only to leave your site, never to return again.
Don’t make the same mistakes millions of others have done before you, and just sell the craft in general. You need to sell YOUR services.
If you agree with these musings, but still simply don’t have the time (or the interest) to fix your digital presence, I don’t mind helping.
Simply get in touch by using this form, and we’ll get started.
