If there is one thing home service contractors are good at — besides being masters of their crafts — it’s marketing. The phones need to keep ringing, so they’re working hard to reach potential customers every day.

But no matter how good those HVAC, plumbing and other home services contractors are at marketing, so are their competitors. There has to be another way to set themselves apart.

So, how do the elite contractors thrive? How do they set themselves apart from the competition? Through the consistent and mindful use of public relations to build their reputations and increase their visibility and top-of-mind awareness among potential customers.

Sound easy? Maybe not. Marketing expertise is one thing. Public relations expertise is quite another. There are a lot of components to keep track of and master. Here are some parts of a solid public relations strategy:

• Proactive evaluation of online review management. 
• Writing regular press releases to promote the business to the media.
• Writing informative blogs and engaging social media content to increase website traffic and SEO.
• Media outreach to establish leaders in the business as trusted experts to the public, offering helpful tips via a regular presence on TV and in local newspapers.
• Comprehensive crisis management plans to defuse problems that might arise. The smarter contractors don’t wait for trouble — be it an employee with a DUI or someone related to the company making an offensive social media post — to prepare for it.

In the real world, business owners don’t have the time to develop and oversee the kind of in-depth PR strategies that effectively build their reputations and raise the visibility of their businesses. They’re too busy working on their companies, overseeing the teams of experts who are out there working hard to do a quality job, delight customers and keep the calls coming in.

It can make sense to leverage third-party expertise rather than trying to build public relations capabilities in-house from the ground up. That’s where looking for a public relations agency to partner with comes in. But how do you find the right one?

Most important, the agency needs to already understand the home service industry instead of learning it on the fly. Successful home service PR calls for a specialist agency instead of just a general one. 

Next, does the firm have the right capabilities? Does it have committed teams with expertise in public relations writing to develop appropriate and interesting content, such as newspaper articles or blogs and social media posts? Does it have an extensive network of relationships with media and trade publications? Does it have the capability to attract the attention of regional and local media publications and broadcast news? 

If the answer is yes, it’s a relationship worth exploring.

If indications are correct, 2021 will see more competition in the home service category, and only the most visible and most admired will make the cut. The best way to do that is with public relations, done the right way. It can make a huge difference in the image of your home service business, its customer appeal and top-line revenue. 

By finding an experienced home service PR agency to partner with, you can outshine and outperform the competition in your area.