Content Marketing is EVERYWHERE on the Internet.

Every video you watch, article you read, and photo you see is likely to be a piece of "content" that was created to achieve a desired outcome for the brand or company who published it.

Some of it is personal, like pictures shared on a Facebook page, or Twitter account.

But MOST of what we see on the Internet is marketing "content" created and published by a company to attract new customers. 

Let's look at a few of the main forms of content we come across on the Internet, and how you can use them to gain new customers for your HVAC contracting company.

Video

Video is the most important form of content you can create for your marketing strategy.

Our data show that conversion rates, qualified leads, and time spent on a website all increase with video.

Text based content, such as articles, is easier to create, but many people prefer to watch a video. And if you don;t have a video that answers the question, it's more and more likely your competition will.

Video is tremendously effective for your social media marketing strategy..

Uploading videos to Facebook and LinkedIn not only gives your audiences a more interesting form of content, but they also give you a higher-converting marketing asset that will generate leads for you season after season, year after year.

Using your marketing budget to promote video on social media is an effective way to introduce your company to potential buyers and generate leads.

Video consistently delivers some of the best ROI in digital marketing. 

Without video, you won't be able to promote yourself on YouTube either, the second biggest search engine on the Internet (SEJ, 2018).

This is a HUGE way for potential customers to find you. 

Videos allow your company's personality to shine through your marketing. Your audience gets to know you as people, and not just a logo. 

Producing video can seem like a big task, but it's not as tough as you think, and it will go a long way when it comes to marketing your business, 

Blogs Are Articles 

Every blog you've ever read is an article and every article you've ever read is "Content"!

Newspapers, magazines, sports, finance, fashion, art, etc.

I can go on and on, but every article is written to grab the attention of a specific audience for a specific reason.

Publishing articles on your website is a great way to get started with content.

Articles that educate your audience are a great way of building relevant content for your website that will be found on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

For ideas, think about the questions you answer the most, or the problems you frequently encounter.

If you write an article about each of these topics, you will become the trusted source of information and the local expert in your service area.

When people have a problem today, it's highly unlikely that they call a professional right away.

More likely, they will do research on the Internet first.

When they are looking for a solution to their specific problem, you want them to find the answer in the "content" you've been creating; in your blog articles and videos.

When you provide the answers through your website, it boosts your authority and closes the trust gap.

You will likely get the call when they are ready to talk to a pro. 

Social Media Posting

Posts on social media give your company a voice, and allows you to interact with the community in a way that other marketing channels don't.

Posts on social media should always be helpful, and lead back to your articles and videos, but can also have so much more. 

You can create polls, share pictures and info-graphics, create events, and the list goes on.

Creating fun and engaging content for social media will grow brand awareness, and connect with people you may not have without it. 

The target audience for HVAC contractors, homeowners aged 38 to 60, has become the core audience for Facebook as younger users migrate to SnapChat and Instagram.

If you are not sharing and promoting content on Facebook, you are missing a huge opportunity to connect with people based on their location and a number of key demographics, such as income, education, interests and job title.

How Does Content Get You Customers?

Creating content has a number of positive impacts on your business.

• attracts more organic traffic to your website
• gives you something helpful (not salesy) to share on social
• gives you "sticky" website pages designed to establish your authority and close the trust gap
• engages more people through sharing the solutions to common problems
• drives more conversions of website visitors into sales leads
• converts more sales leads into customers

The more high quality content you create, the more opportunities you have to be found.

Even if you have a website, but don't do anything to grab the attention of potential customers, it limits your chances and allows your competition to get an edge on you. 

For example, you may have three potential buyers in your area that could use your services, but maybe they all research differently, and enjoy different forms of content when they are searching the Internet. 

Customer 1 prefers deep, technical information and explanations.

Customer 2 would rather watch a video that shows a person explaining the solution to their problem. 

Customer 3 might be on Facebook asking for recommendations from friends and family.

If you don't have these three different pieces of content in play, you have no chance of winning these people over to become new customers..

If you do have this content, then you will have an opportunity to become their trusted adviser, and being the company they call when the time comes that they need some professional help. 

To put it simply, creating interesting and engaging content that answers the questions your customers are asking Google will help you to generate higher volumes of higher quality leads, which will translate into higher revenues.