Are you using Facebook and pay-per-click ads for your HVAC company? Even if you've invested in SEO, there's still a place for paid ads in your marketing. And, it can be easier and less expensive than you think.
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Facebook And Pay-Per-Click Ads For HVAC Contractors
In this episode, Don Lafferty from Comfort Media discusses:
- Why Would An HVAC Contractor Pay For Website Traffic?
- Why Should I Pay For Ads When I Already Pay For SEO?
- Facebook Ads Vs. Google Pay-Per-Click For HVAC Contractors
- Messaging And The “HGTV Effect”
- Building Great Landing Pages For Ad Clicks
- How To Make An Effective HVAC Ad For Facebook
- Case Studies Are The New Brag Books
- How To Build Your Budget For Facebook Advertising
- How Quality Content Improves Clickthrough
- Measuring Your Facebook Ad Campaign’s Performance
- Using A CMS To Track Contacts From Online Ads
- Comparing Online Stats To Real-World Results
Transcript
Why Would An HVAC Contractor Pay For Website Traffic?
Interviewer: When you put a new page on your website, it can take search engines like Google up to a few months to measure and rank your new content. That's the same for a blog post, a sales page, or content cluster, such as Comfort Media Group’s Ductless Sales and Marketing Platform.
So, what can an HVAC Contractor do to make sure their informative new content reaches the right buyers?
Today, Don Lafferty from Comfort Media Group talks about targeting buyers when they search for information on Google and when they spend their downtime on social media sites, such as Facebook and YouTube.
Facebook and pay-per-click ads may be cheaper and more effective than you've heard. We'll learn how a contractor can use these paid ads to reach buyers right away. Don, why would an HVAC contractor pay for website traffic?
Don Lafferty: They wouldn't always pay for website traffic, because we know that in the hotter months and in the colder months, the phone's just going to ring. But, during the shoulder seasons and even different times a year, depending on where you are in your growth, you may want to pay for traffic to your website so that you can get more revenue.
We used to say it when we did presentations about paid search, how many hundred-dollar bills would you buy if they were 80 bucks a piece? And guys would say, well, geez, well, I'll take them all. Because you're making 20 percent on it.
Well, that's kind of what a well-designed paid search or paid Facebook or paid Instagram campaign is. It's not a cost. It's an investment, and it makes money. So why would they do it? Well, you know, to make money.
Why Should I Pay For Ads When I Already Pay For SEO?
Interviewer: Now, I can imagine a contractor saying I already pay for SEO. Shouldn't people be able to find my website because of that?
Don Lafferty: They absolutely should. One of the reasons that we recommend paid search is often because when we install our ductless sales and marketing platform, we're normally doing it in the spring or the fall. And the contractor is hoping to generate revenue that season.
Well, if we wait around for Google to index it and for human beings to visit it so Google can rank it, we're going to miss that season.
So, we always recommend you immediately throw some paid traffic at it because that will pay for your platform, number one. It'll make you some revenue, number two. And, it'll kind of jumpstart your ductless business.
Yeah, your SEO should work. If it's being done by a reputable company and they're actually creating content for you that's targeting the kinds of searches that make you money.
And, so will your ductless sales and marketing platform eventually, but there's always room in every contractor's bag of tricks for paid traffic.
The key to it is having a destination for that click, that converts. We all experience letdowns when we click on links. We click on a link and we say, “Aw, geez.” You know, we get there and we say, “That's not what I thought I was going to find here.” Or, “That's not backing up the claim they made in the ad,” or, “That's not backing up the claim they made in that Facebook posts.”
So, what we want to do is create a situation where we speak directly to the homeowner's pain, so that when they get to that page, they look at it and say, “I am in the right place. This is exactly — not just exactly what I thought I was going to find, but it's better than what I thought I was going to find.”
That's what makes paid search work.
Facebook Ads Vs. Google Pay-Per-Click For HVAC Contractors
Interviewer: We've talked about the content of the ads here, now let's talk about the platforms. When it comes to paid ads, what options are out there and what are the differences between them?
Don Lafferty: So, in a social media environment, you're not selling, you're helping. In a paid search environment like Google ads, you're helping too, but really those are buyers. They're there at, what we call the bottom of the funnel and they are ready to talk to somebody, but not Facebook. You can't be selling on Facebook.
Interviewer: And so, what are the differences between advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and then advertising on search engines like Google?
Don Lafferty: Everybody knows about Google pay-per-click. It's the 800-pound gorilla and paid search. You can also buy paid search from Bing.
I call it paid search because that's what it is. You are paying to get your company name and two lines of information up at the top of the screen, when people are doing certain types of searches.
The other kind of paid traffic is paid social media traffic. And that's a little different, right?
When someone's doing a search on Google, because they're upstairs is always too hot where they want to put in a heating and cooling in there, a new addition that they just put on their house, they have a need.
And so, they're doing a search on Google to find a solution to the problem. Now, they may click on a paid ad at the top of the page. Or they may scroll down a little bit to look at the organic search results because they're trying to solve a problem.
That is not the same mindset as a person on Facebook or Instagram who's there to catch up with their kids or look and see what's going on in their neighborhood. Very different dynamic there.
So, when we're paying for eyeballs on Facebook, we are speaking very directly to the person based on where they live and the kind of problem they might have. So, for instance, it's not uncommon for us to run paid Facebook ads that are focused on case studies so that we can use words like, “See how we helped heat and cool your neighbor's home in Elgin, Illinois.”
Well, if you live in Elgin, Illinois, you immediately see, “How they heated and cooled my neighbor's home.” And you say, “Let me just take a fast look at that,” because in this game we play on the marketing side of things we're always trying to earn a few seconds of that person's attention.
With the ad we want to earn 10 seconds of that person's attention. Why 10 seconds? Well, because when they click on that ad, it's going to bring them to a page. If that page fulfills the promise of the initial message, the person's going to hang out for another 15 to 30 seconds.
If they like what they see, even if they're not ready to buy, they're going to go, “Wow, I never even knew this company existed. And here they are doing jobs in my neighborhood and solving a problem just like I have. Let me bookmark this or let me pass this information to my spouse because we've been talking about this very thing.” And it begins a process.
Messaging And The “HGTV Effect”
Interviewer: So, the messaging of the ads is different when you're doing Google pay-per-click or Facebook ads?
Don Lafferty: We have lots of documented success with this strategy of always be helping and social media and leading with case studies.
It has that sort of HGTV effect. Everybody loves to gobble up HGTV shows because they see themselves in these shows. They see their problems in these shows. Well, we're trying to kind of tap into that same phenomenon with our Facebook ads.
And also, from a cost perspective, we think Facebook ads are much more cost-effective. We can get you a visitor to your website for 30 to 50 cents using a Facebook ad. Can't do that with Google ads.
Google ads are more expensive, especially for the more competitive search terms like furnace repair, air conditioner repair, air conditioner installation, and furnace installation. Anybody that's done it knows you pay a lot for that click.
Interviewer: So, you're saying contractors should run both Google pay-per-click and Facebook ads?
Don Lafferty: The short answer is yes, sure. If you've got the budget, there's room for both. And, at different times of the year.
If you want to sell more systems, then you're really going to be making the investment in Google ads, Google pay-per-click. If you want to build your email list of interested buyers in your neighborhood, then you would do that through Facebook.
Building Great Landing Pages For Ad Clicks
Interviewer: You mentioned earlier that it's important to have a good destination for that click on your website. What does that look like exactly?
Don Lafferty: Philosophically, we always offer what we call a top-of-funnel offer on every page. And here's where that's kind of alien to the HVAC industry.
If you look at every HVAC website, you will find the classic calls-to-action, which are “Call us,” or “Fill out this form and we'll call you,” and you will find not much else. And so we added, “Download a product brochure.”
It's a low-risk way for someone to learn more, to get better educated. But from a contractor's perspective, it identifies who that person is.
Now we don't ask for a phone number there. We get a lot of pushback about that. We hear, “Why would I have a form on my website that doesn't have the person's phone number? How am I supposed to call them?”
Well, 95% of the time when someone comes to your website, they're not ready to talk. They're doing their homework. We like to give them something that they can use to further their buyer's journey, without the risk of getting a sales phone call from somebody.
When someone visits your website and they see that product guide, they think, “You know, maybe I'll take a look at that product guide or I'll share that product guy with my spouse.”
We set up automated emails behind the scenes that are then going to spoon feed that prospect the key elements of their buyer's journey: “What does it cost?” “How does it work?” “Here are some jobs in your neighborhood that we've done.” “Here are the rebates and financing that are available.” “Here are our five-star reviews.”
That process closes the gap of trust and it raises the authority of the contractor, it sets the contractor apart from their competition, because nobody else is doing that. If you just need people that are in the buying mode use Google paid ads. If you want people that are both in the buying mode and doing research, I would use paid social.
How To Make An Effective HVAC Ad For Facebook
Interviewer: It sounds like the Google pay-per-click ads are pretty straightforward, but the Facebook ads take a little more creativity. When you're getting a person that's still in research mode. What do you think it takes to make an effective HVAC ad on Facebook?
Don Lafferty: On Facebook you're not actually advertising. You are holding out examples of ways you solve problems. So, it's a little different language, right?
And so that's why, again, I'm repeating myself a little bit, but we love to wrap paid Facebook around case studies, where we can say very specific things that'll get people's attention.
I'll give you an example: If I'm trying to generate leads in Elgin, Illinois, I'm going to say something along the lines of, “See how we help this Elgin, Illinois, family heat and cool their home”. It's that simple. We've got contractors who are trying to tap into the market of people who are energy-conscious. They want to lower their carbon footprint, but they don't want to use crunchy language, right?
So, we'll say something like, “If you live in the Elgin area and you want to disconnect from the energy grid, see how we help this Elgin homeowner create a sustainable system using solar panels and air source heat pumps.”
And those words emotionally tap into who people think they are. Because again, we're not saying buy your HVAC system from ABC HVAC company. We're not even talking about selling anything.
We're talking about educating people about their options. So, we use words that identify the location, identify the problem, and identify the who, the person who they are. Because again, remember what I said: I'm only trying to earn 10 seconds here of attention. And that person at that point says I am willing to give you 10 seconds of my attention because you got it. And they click that link. And that case study opens up the way we structure it.
First thing they're going to see is the home. They're not going to see the box. They're going to see the home on the street and they're going to go, “Wow, I live in a house like that. Or, “I live in that neighborhood or I know houses like that because those are the houses in my town.”
And when they see the problem and solution right away, they're going to go, Oh wow. I have the same problem. Let me see, how did these guys solve my problem? And now you're on their radar and that's all we're trying to accomplish here.
At the same time, we're positioning that top of funnel offer right there: “Download your ductless product guide right now.” They click on that button, they download that ductless product guide, they're going to get that automated email: “Thanks for downloading our product guide, just in case it didn't work, here's a button you can click to download it or share it with somebody else.” And the process begins.
Case Studies Are The New Brag Books
Interviewer: You know, when you mentioned that people will go to the website, see a case study and say, hey, that looks like a home in my neighborhood, that reminds me a lot of the brag books contractors used to have in the pre-internet days.
Don Lafferty: The case study platforms that we produce are exactly designed to replace those brag books, to digitize that brag book. I've seen brag books that are every bit of six inches thick. It's like carrying a boat anchor around.
We can take all that information and put it on a contractor's website where it can work for them 24/7. But it's also about making sure that you're showing people case studies that are in their neighborhood.
And that's possible with Facebook where you can build ads that are targeting neighborhoods based on zip codes.
And it really does help, especially if you're in a large urban environment where you're dealing with suburbs and you're dealing with inner-city neighborhoods and older neighborhoods and newer neighborhoods, you can really target your Facebook ads to talk to the people that live in those places.
Create Your Own Facebook Ads
Interviewer: Let's say I'm a contractor and I've digitized my brag book. I have all my case studies up on my website. When it comes to Facebook, can I create my own Facebook ads?
Don Lafferty: Yeah, you sure can. There's nothing to it. Facebook is really set up for the small businessperson to be able to do these kinds of things themselves.
We have a great how-to on our website and Facebook has a lot of how-to's also, and Facebook will even get on the phone with you and help you set up your first ad campaigns. Google will do the same thing.
How To Build Your Budget For Facebook Advertising
Interviewer: So, let's talk numbers then. If I'm going to start running Facebook ads, what kind of budget should I put towards this?
Don Lafferty: National averages for conversion. Someone looks at your ad, they click on your ad, they become a customer. One percent of people will click on your ad and then some percentage of those people will actually become customers.
So, if you want one person to click on your ad, you've got to get a hundred people to look at it. If it costs, we'll say 50 cents just for easy math.
If it cost 50 cents a click, then that means you’ve got to spend 50 bucks to get a hundred people to look at your ad, to get one to click on it.
We find the average $500 spend on Facebook gets about 800 to 1200 visits to the website. And one percent of those people will convert.
So, for $500, you're going to get somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to 12 people that are going to say they want an estimate.
If you have a 50-percent close rate, then you're going to get four to six deals out of that at an average of $8,000 to $10,000 a deal that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 to $60,000 in gross revenue.
And if you're making your margins on that for that $500 spend, you made anywhere from 9 to $18,000 in profit. There's a lot of components that go along with that, right?
I've spoken earlier about fulfilling the promise of the click, so that when someone gets to your page they have a feeling of, “I'm in the right place,” not a feeling of, “Wow, this was a mistake. I never should have come here.” Having good quality content behind that ad is critical to these numbers.
How Quality Content Improves Clickthrough
Interviewer: So, it's not just about the ad, it's about what happens after they click?
Don Lafferty: You really got to have your content tight squared away and not to mention, you know, I talked about top-of-funnel offers earlier, the product guide downloads, and things like that.
You’ve got to give yourself every opportunity to be successful. In a world where 95 to 97 percent of the people who visit your website are not ready to talk, you’ve got to give something to that 97 percent of the people.
That product guide download is okay for some, but it's still not enough for others. Give yourself the best chance of success by having good quality content, and then saying, “Hey, we don't have to talk today. We want to give you this free thing to help you with your education. To make you a better buyer.”
You're instilling trust. You're becoming their expert or trusted advisor. This is kind of this chemistry that you're participating in.
If you don't have the content, you're going to get that straight one-percent conversion rate. But if you have good content, it's going to be better than that. Some of our clients have conversion rates in the 30 percent range, but they have a lot of good content on their website.
They have a lot of case studies on their website. The days of building an SEO page on your website about ductless and hoping that you're going to somehow blow your ductless business up, it's highly unlikely. Because somebody is going to buy our platform in your service area and they are going to win that customer every time. Your one page is not going to stand up.
Measuring Your Facebook Ad Campaign’s Performance
Interviewer: And you talked about how many hundred-dollar bills someone would buy if they each cost $80. But it sounds like if you combine the right Facebook ad with the right content, you can buy a hundred-dollar bills for $30.
But at the same time, we're also talking about not closing immediately because you're helping. It's a bit of a process to go from somebody visiting the website to closing the deal. But meanwhile, you're paying for Facebook ads the whole time.
So, in the moment, how do you know the Facebook ads are working? What do you measure before the sale to show that the Facebook ads are doing what they're supposed to do?
Don Lafferty: There are different levels of measurement that a contractor can use to ensure that the investment that they're making in paid ads is actually paying off.
You know, there's a free level of measurement and that includes what Facebook tells you about your ad performance. And then you can compare that to what your Google Analytics tells you about your ad performance, and then you can compare that to the phone calls you got.
If you have a good process set up on your phone, where that customer service person says, “Hey, how'd you hear about us?” and they get a good, solid answer, it's not uncommon for the prospect to say, “I saw you on the internet.”
That requires a little bit more of a specialized question from the CSR. Like, “Where did you get the phone number that you called right now?”
One of the phenomena we often see is that a prospect will see your Facebook ad; they may even click on it and get your website. Then they're going to open up a separate tab and they're going to Google the name of your company because they're going to want to see your reviews.
They're going to want to see if you're a real company. If you show up in local search and then they're going to come to your website, and then they're going to call you. It's a little hard to draw that line between the Facebook ad and the phone call that you got.
Even if you ask the person where'd you get this phone number, they're going to say, “Well, I Googled your company and I found your website”. And at that point, you know, you don't want to be a pest about asking questions about how they found you.
So, then there's another level of tracking and that's paid tools like HubSpot or SharpSpring, or even Service Titan, where if you have a paid ad, there is a definite connection between the click on that ad and the contact it gets created.
Using A CMS To Track Contacts From Online Ads
Interviewer: And how did these programs track the contacts?
Don Lafferty: When you enter a contact into your HubSpot system, HubSpot's going to say, “This person's been on your website looking at all this information.” HubSpot will go back 30 days and give you 30 days of history.
So, you can see what that person has been looking out on your website. There is a way to know whether your Facebook ads are working. And then I've got a contractor who says, “I just know that when we run Facebook ads, the phone rings, and I know when we stop the phone stops ringing.”
Comparing Online Stats To Real-World Results
Interviewer: Well, the tracking sounds great. But it also seems like there are times where what you see in a report or on your screen doesn't really translate to what seems to be going on in the real world. Do you ever run into concerns like that?
Don Lafferty: One of the knowns about the internet is that there's a lot of unknowns and that there's a lot of things that get lost in the ether. Even Google reports direct traffic, and there are arguments about what direct traffic is.
You know, when you look at your geo stats on Google, there is a line item that's called “Not Set.” meaning, they don't know. Cause someone's going through a VPN or someone's got some sort of blocker, like a Prometheus browser that they use because they don't want to be tracked.
So, Google can't see where they're located. It's one of the reasons Comfort Media Group focuses on revenue. Yes, we look at Google's statistics, yes, we look at HubSpot's statistics, but we know what matters to contractors is revenue.
When I start off my biweekly call with a client, I say, “How's business. Are you getting calls? What kind of jobs are you getting? How are these people finding you?” And we sort of sanity check it.
And what it does is it improves discipline on the contractor side because they know I'm going to be asking them these questions. So, they're prepared with answers.
They go to their customer service people and they say, “Hey, are you getting calls from those Facebook ads? How's Google doing for us? Are you getting calls from people that are finding us on Google?” And the customer service people get kind of whipped into shape.
By us focusing on revenue and not on just what the tools tell allow us to do two things. Emotionally, the contractor knows that we care about their revenue. We care about their business.
Practically speaking, all the good internet stats in the world don't matter if the revenue's not there, if the phone's not ringing, if people aren't buying. if the leads aren't good.
Interviewer: So, it sounds like the stats will get online are a good start, but you have to make sure they match up with what's going on in the real world.
Don Lafferty: They're an indicator, they're a measuring stick. We highly recommend using those measuring sticks. In fact, we demand it.
But, I'm not the kind of guy that's going to go to my customer whose phone's not ringing and say, “Well, geez, your Google analytics are great.”
No, I want to figure out why your Google analytics is so good, but your phone's not ringing. There's a conversion issue. There's something going on there that we need to fix. It means people are finding you, but they're not exactly finding what they want or there's something about the way your website is set up that's making it harder for them to take the next step.
That opens up a whole other topic called user experience also known as UX where, you know, you really have to consider, “Is my website serving my visitor?” And so that's really where we come in.
Interviewer: Well, Don, thanks a lot for speaking with us today.
Don Lafferty: Thanks for having me, Jack. The paid ad is a real sore spot with a lot of companies. Because we're inbound marketers we believe that content is the best thing you can invest your marketing dollars in, but we also have learned, there is a place in your marketing strategy for paid search and for paid Facebook, and it all hinges on the quality of your content. So, it was fun talking about that.
Interviewer: Don also talked about email automation. And in our next episode, we'll talk about how you can set that up yourself.
Meanwhile, we've got links in our show notes for this episode. They include a how-to article on building Facebook ads, a way to benchmark your Google ads, and a how-to building your own case studies. There's also contact information for Don and Comfort Media. If you'd like to start a conversation with them about your digital marketing campaign.
Thanks, and we'll see you next time.
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