When the summer starts to wind down, it’s a good time for HVAC companies to take a step back, maybe take a brief vacation, and then get yourself ready for the following season. One of the things you need to focus on before anything else is your marketing plan. 

When Should HVAC Companies Begin Fall Marketing?

You need to start your fall marketing planning at least 2 months before the season really is in full swing. So even though you may still be taking care of air conditioners at the end of August, you want to get your marketing together for the colder months at about that same time. 

Why do you need to start your Fall marketing campaign in August/September? 

Planning. You want to make sure that you have set goals and budgets that you can stick by and achieve. Once you have those in place, you can make marketing plans. This would include what assets and pieces of content you need to put in place in order to achieve your goals, such as:

• Blog Articles
• Emails
• Case Studies
• Videos
• Commercials 
• Specials/Promotions
• Contests

Decisions. You’re going to need time to decide what kind of content you want to produce, what it should be about, and then actually have it created. This could be done in house if you have the staff, but it’s more likely that you will have a company produce this content for you. This takes time to create these different marketing assets, so you will want to get this started as soon as you can. 

Production. Once you have these assets created, you want to start getting them in front of the right people, your potential customers. When it comes to blogs, web pages, and case studies, you want to have this content on the internet BEFORE the heating season begins. 

It takes anywhere from a few days to several months for Google and other search engines to crawl and index pages on your website. This is what drives up your website rank and ensures that potential customers find your company when they are searching for answers to their home comfort questions.

If you publish an article or video in the middle of Winter, it will absolutely help, but if you published months before, it has a better chance of being found on a search engine during the time you and your customers need it most.

Be the First HVAC Company People Hear From

Another reason you will want to start your fall marketing earlier is to be the first among your competition!

Even if the majority of customers will wait until it gets colder to address their heating, there are some people who will want to get it taken care of immediately. Don’t let other HVAC companies be the one who takes those clients. These early birds are also more likely to want the best equipment, and consistently sign up for service. 

An email campaign kicking off your heating season early will help you stay ahead of your competitors. This can get the “early birds” in your customer base, and staying top of mind when it comes to HVAC issues. Even if someone isn’t going to be the “early bird” when it comes to taking care of their heating, they may remember your email when the time comes around for them to take care of it. 

Builds Authority 

If you have these assets in place, it will also give visitors a chance to see that you know what you are talking about, and have been on the ball when it comes to heating homes and businesses. Having different content that can answer the questions your visitors have will help build your authority, and make you a trusted source of information. If you are providing answers to the questions they have, when it comes time to call someone, you will likely be getting a ring. 

Allows You To Speak With Different Audiences

If you are developing a marketing strategy early and getting your assets created, it gives you more opportunities to talk to more people. For example, if you are scrambling to get blogs created, but leave no time for video, you are only going to get through to the visitors who like to read. But if you plan ahead, have blogs AND videos created, it gives both audiences an opportunity to consume the content they prefer, and listen to what you have to say. 

Allows Room To Adjust

If you are on top of your marketing plans, goals, and strategies, it will allow you some time to adjust and improve. If you are racing to get things done last minute it doesn’t allow you very much room for error, or adjustments.

If the weather suddenly changes and you need to move your campaigns up, now you will be able to because you have your content created. If you get stuck and need to make adjustments to your strategy, having a head start on your Fall campaigns will be very beneficial when you make the necessary changes.

Refresh Old Content

One of the best ways of getting the most out of your content is reusing it. Of course you will want to keep creating unique and different sorts of content, but the truth is a lot of the things you make year over year will stay relevant, and there's no reason to reinvent the wheel if you have a perfectly good one! 

You can reuse blogs, emails, videos, and case studies in your marketing strategy that are older, especially if they've performed well in the past. Going into the content and making sure it all still rings true, while maybe updating some pictures and blurbs will help keep it relevant and let search engines know you are putting work into your content.