It’s that time of year when businesses are looking at the future and creating their plans for the next year. It’s also a busy time of year for plumbing and HVAC contractors, especially in the colder climates, with customers calling about frozen pipes, clogged toilets, malfunctioning water heaters, broken heat pumps or boilers and everything in between.

End-of-year planning should always include a look back at the last year’s positives and negatives, and incorporate new ways of reducing the negatives and increasing the positives. One way to help assure your business prospers is to hire a PR partner to help plan your next year, and develop a truly strategic blueprint to make next year the best year you’ve ever had.

If your business has never worked with a home service PR agency, maybe it’s time. Has your business stagnated? Having trouble hiring and keeping excellent technicians? Getting kicked in the butt by competitors, both old and new? Those are sure signs you may be ready to make a change.

Let’s look at one “why” and one “what” to appreciate what professional help can do for you: 

Why incorporate PR into your business plan?

Choosing to work with an experienced PR agency that has proven success with other plumbing and HVAC businesses is your best route to planning a profitable new year.

But don’t wait until it’s too late to build a relationship with the right PR agency. Do some research and then reach out to those with good reviews, those who are recommended to you, and those that appear in your industry news publications regularly. If the agency is a frequent presence in industry publications or trade shows, you’ll know they are working hard to promote their clients.

Once you have decided to take the initiative and invest in your business’ future with a PR strategic plan, interview a few PR agencies and find the one that you feel comfortable with. A professional agency knows what to do to develop a targeted PR plan, and takes into consideration your ideas, your goals and your feedback.

What can a PR agency do that you can’t?

Most successful agencies will have options for your plumbing or HVAC business, depending on your wants and needs. They are adept at tailoring promotional plans to target the areas your business needs the most assistance with, and could include a social media plan with posts that are targeted to your audience that will also help increase your viewership and followers. 

Other PR plans can include a media plan that incorporates press releases to alert the media to your story, new processes, employee success stories, business openings, service upgrades and more. If deemed a good idea, your business could work with a PR agency on a plan that uses its experienced staff to craft bylined stories for your executive staff that the agency can pitch to trusted publications in your industry.

If your competition is covered by the local news on a regular basis, a PR agency can often break into the local coverage with great press releases or original stories that grab the attention of journalists. Most TV stations are hungry for new local business angles or interesting stories to attract more viewers to their station. A PR plan can include all of these elements to push your story and your messaging out into the community.

If your home service business attends trade shows or conferences, a PR plan can also include obtaining speaking engagements for your business owner or lead staff. These engagements are hard to come by, but with media training and speaking guidance from a professional PR agency, your chances of getting on the agenda at an important industry event are vastly improved. 

A comprehensive PR plan can help you break into speaking engagements by reaching out to industry leaders and decision-makers. And once you have been a successful speaker or breakout session leader, your business will benefit from the added exposure and positive attention.

There are many other elements in a successful PR campaign, but it all comes down to you. If you believe in your business, a good PR plan can help you achieve your goals.