Home services contractors haven’t had many new options for marketing their companies in the last 20 years. The most reliable methods – TV and radio ads, billboards, truck graphics, door hangers – were all innovative at some point, and they wouldn’t have lasted as long as they have if they didn’t work. But even when they were brand-new, these tools really only work on one level.

They’re great for increasing brand awareness and widespread name recognition. Those are valuable for any business. Advertising and billboards are sure to generate calls, but you’ll spend a lot of bandwidth for each potential lead without knowing if they are a good fit beforehand. The vast majority of viewers who see a contractor’s television ad will never call. And the same goes for online ads as well.

Digital Marketing 

All of those tools are still widely available, and new ones have emerged. Almost every home services company has added digital marketing to its outreach efforts. That usually includes multiple social media profiles, occasional email blasts, reviews management and paid-for digital leads. 

Even businesses who invest deeply in digital marketing typically reach a plateau. Digital techniques offer some ways to narrow down your audience. But in the end, an e-blast isn’t that much more refined than a door hanger. It’s as much a simple reminder – “Hey, we’re still in business!” – as it is a call to direct action. 

Customers are out there. We all know that demand for home services is at an all-time high. Finding new ways to differentiate your company in this competitive market is essential. One way to do that is to stop spending time and money talking to homeowners who will never be customers or don’t match your product or service requirements. 

Many interactions that result from traditional or digital marketing are never true leads in the first place. Just because someone fills out a form online, that doesn’t necessarily indicate a real interest in the services offered. They may be interested, but have a smaller budget than you can accommodate. Many of these “leads” turn out to be big financial risks or overdemanding helicopter customers. And in many cases, your rivals are working their way through the same time-consuming “leads.” 

It can seem pretty hard to differentiate your company in this digital landscape. But the increasingly digital lives we lead have opened up major new opportunities for business owners to overcome the limits of traditional home services marketing. An array of technological advances and innovative applications is giving contractors exciting new tools to target their outreach directly at the right homeowners and business owners. 

Leveraging Data

It takes a lot of data to identify a company’s ideal user. The great thing is that most of it is out there – some of it right at your fingertips. By combining customer data with a deep well of publicly available records, technology platforms can help contractors identify potential customers more likely to be interested in your services. At the same time, these technology solutions can show users red flags, such as a history of negative business reviews or sketchy financial history. 

Leveraging that huge collection of data, business owners can: 

• Set up a digital door-knocking campaign: Many technicians will take the opportunity before or after a job to knock on doors and introduce themselves. It’s a time-tested, relatively affordable way to get your name out and maybe find an immediate customer. You can pay for a similar service online. But the repetitive nature of targeted advertising results in diminishing returns. You’re using the same information over and over. Now, technology providers allow contractors to leverage all the available data to continue identifying prospects beyond just prior customers, in focused geographic areas. 

• Weed out negative reviews: Sometimes the one-star reviews surprise you. Nothing indicated how unsatisfied that homeowner really was. What if you could check a potential customer’s history of online reviews? You’d probably skip the ones who never have anything good to say, right? With enough data, technology can identify patterns and help contractors avoid customers who are extremely likely to leave one- or two-star ratings, no matter how good the service. 

Selecting the best prospects and avoiding potentially dissatisfied customers can transform a home service business. Using technology to target your marketing can increase efficiency significantly. As your marketing operations continue to streamline, so will your sales funnel. And that’s the key: Technology can help contractors book a higher percentage of jobs with less effort. That’s the first step toward a major elevation of revenue and profitability – and positioning yourself to scale for profits, not just more appointments. 

GlassHouse Inc. co-founder and CEO Jimmy Speyer has worked in software sales, customer service and marketing for more than 14 years, focusing on growing and scaling revenue teams in multiple verticals.