How to Market a Restoration Service
May 4, 2021
A restoration service needs to strike when an opportunity presents itself. A flood or fire — tragic as they are for businesses and homeowners, they can mean revenue for a restoration service.
This presents a number of challenges. Most restoration services need to market in larger geographic regions to stay busy. There may be slow periods that are suddenly broken as a result of a major weather event.
Referral programs are essential, which requires networking and relationship building. A strong online presence is mandatory, including a website and social media marketing.
Here’s a breakdown of restoration marketing ideas, tips and strategies that will help you drive new leads and stay a step ahead of the competition.
#1: Develop a solid website
The hub of your restoration service marketing is your website. Your online marketing will funnel to it — but so will much of your offline marketing. Expect most of your leads to check your site before they decide to contact you.
You want a conversion-based design that clearly communicates what you do, where your service areas are and why you’re a better choice than the competition.
Your contact info should always be in front of people with clear calls to action to reach out to you.
A simple, modern design will serve you best. Think of your website as a tool designed to deliver you leads. Then, build it to do that job.
Pro tip: Be clear about your locations
Many restoration services serve multiple cities or large geographic regions. Be sure to orient website visitors right away by being clear about where you work and where your offices are.
#2: Have a unique value proposition
One of the keys to gaining an advantage over your competition is to develop a unique value proposition (UVP). This is a statement that:
- Communicates a specific value tied to your offer/work
- Clarifies the benefit(s) customers derive from your services
- States why you’re a better choice than the competition
Few restoration websites have a crisp UVP. Instead, they simply state that they’re a restoration service — like any other.
Consider how you’re better:
- Do you offer a price advantage?
- Do you have a method for offering accurate estimates?
- Do you have a process or technology the competition lacks?
- Do you offer a specific, written satisfaction guarantee?
- Are you more responsive and/or can you complete jobs faster?
- Can you offer living assistance/recommendations to people who are out of their homes?
Give people looking for a restoration service a reason to choose you over the competition, and then highlight that reason on your website and marketing materials.
#3: Manage your reputation
While clear website info and a strong UVP are vital, there is another type of content that is arguably even more important — reviews.
Today’s consumers turn to reviews to finalize their decisions, and they’re highly influenced by what previous clients say about your work.
This starts with your service itself. Realize that everything you do with clients impacts your marketing. Today, a business must make customer service part of their culture. When in doubt, put the customer’s needs first. Overwhelm people with your service.
Also, follow up with people to encourage them to review you. Mention it in phone call follow-ups and/or send email follow-ups requesting feedback.
Try to get reviews on the major platforms, including Google, Top Rated Local®, Facebook and HomeAdvisor. Do not solicit reviews for Yelp as they have a strict policy against it.
Keep an eye on what’s said about you, use reputation management software to monitor your reputation and respond to anything negative. Reviews are also a great place to get customer feedback that can help you improve your service.
#4: Master search marketing
Restoration is not a service people use frequently. Some homeowners and businesses go decades without calling someone.
This means that when they do have a need, they’ll go to Google to search for local services. You want to be all over page one. There are three ways to dominate the search results.
The first is pay-per-click advertising. These ads are run through auction-based systems, like Google Adwords and Bing Ads. The main advantage here is that you show in the top positions (reserved for paid ads) and that you can control the ad copy and landing page. For example, you might want to run an advertisement for a deal on mold mitigation. Your ad and the page it goes to on your website can match that offer.
Next, you need to set up and rank for Google My Business. This is the maps listing and review platform Google uses for geo-targeted searches. It’s a free listing you can optimize with your descriptions and by getting customer reviews.
Then you have the organic website listings. These are also free clicks, with ranking gained by optimizing your website for keywords, gaining links, getting social media traffic and adding content to your blog.
If you do this right, you’ll show up in three places on page one:
Pro tip: Plan for weather events
At some point, there will be a weather event that creates a surge in searches for restoration services.
With your paid ads, have campaigns set up that are specific to the restoration need with a budget set aside so you can run those ads aggressively during this period.
When you turn the campaign on, geo-target the ads so they show in the impacted area.
These events are high ROI opportunities for restoration services, but you have to be ready to act right away. If you’re working on your ads and landing pages a week after things happened, you’ll be too late.
In addition, make sure you use retargeting ads. Often, people will visit your website but not make an immediate decision. These ads follow up with them as they surf the web or visit Facebook, increasing your chance of getting the conversion.
#5: Create partnerships and referral programs
Restoration services gain a lot by partnering with businesses that have similar target audiences.
You’ll want to develop relationships with real estate agents, contractors, plumbers, painters, handymen, roofers, carpet cleaners or any other business that offers home or business services.
Your relationship may just be an informal agreement to refer each other to your clients, or it may be a paid referral program where you pay a specified amount for a qualified lead.
Either way, you stand to gain a lot of leads from your fellow contractors and home service providers. Likewise, you can provide them with quality leads, which will encourage them to reciprocate.
Start attending networking events and connecting with people on LinkedIn. You can benefit from the marketing of other businesses as they benefit from yours. It’s a win-win.
Pro tip: Wrap it up
It’s important that you make your brand name as visible as possible to your local community. Over time, you’ll see that as many people look you up by name on search as they do general searches for restoration services.
So brand yourself. Design a professional logo. Put it on your shirts, hats, business cards and brochures.
Perhaps most importantly, wrap your company vehicles. You can gain a lot of recognition when you’re parked in front of a job or on the road.
#6: Create a video
Video is a fast, effective way to communicate your value proposition and reach your audience. In 30 seconds to 2 minutes, you can explain everything you offer and motivate people to act. Here’s a good example:
Videos are not a huge investment, but they can offer a lot of return. Optimize them for search on YouTube (it’s easy to rank there), embed them on your homepage and use them on social media.
#7: Create a Facebook Business Page
As a restoration company, you might not think Facebook isn’t worth it for marketing. Think again.
The consumer public (including your leads) is on Facebook. Many people ask for recommendations and discover businesses on Facebook. You need a presence there.
That presence is your Facebook business page. This page is half website, half social media updates.
It’s a website in that you can list all your relevant business information, set up a call to action to request an estimate and even use Messenger to communicate directly with leads.
You also post to your timeline so people can get a feel for your staff, work and the daily ins and outs of your business. You should connect with your partner businesses and comment on their posts.
Last, setting up this page is free. On Facebook, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Pro tip: Use Facebook Lead Ads
You can target advertisements on Facebook with great precision using Lead Ads.
This ad system lets you retarget people who visited your website or business page. You can also geo-target people and define demographics on a granular level.
The lead ad lets people convert without leaving Facebook, or you can direct them to your website.
A strategy we’ve found effective is to target a geographic area after a weather event using demographics of household income. This lets you target leads who both need you and can afford you.
#8: Use CRM and marketing software
Managing clients and marketing tactics on the fly is all but impossible nowadays. There are too many channels to deal with and too many ways for people to communicate.
Marketing 360® is a platform designed to integrate all your leads, contacts, projects, emails and marketing campaigns in one place. It’s a great organizational tool that will help you track people, projects and budgets.
We also work with you to develop an effective marketing strategy for your restoration business, then execute the tactics so you can stay busy selling leads and working with clients.
Originally published 7/6/18
Get Plans and Pricing Below
Get the know-how to get ahead
Get business, marketing and sales tips written by experienced industry practitioners. 100% free. Cancel anytime.