Marketing Tips for Electricians

Competition can be high for electricians, which makes marketing your electrical services even more important. Handing out pamphlets and buying phone book ads should only be part of your marketing strategy. Now, electricians need local search to find potential customers. Here are advertising tips for your electrician business to win local search positions and new customers in your service area.

Research Your Audience & Competition

To differentiate your business from other electrical companies, you need to know what your customers want and what your competitors are offering. In your research, you should also be realistic about how much time and money you have to invest in marketing.

Pay Attention to Your Customers

You have to be responsive to your target market if you want to win new clients. Pay attention to what past customers enjoyed about your electrical work, as well as what they didn’t like.

Then, take an honest look at your competitors’ reviews. What does your competitor do well? What do their customers appreciate? What do their customers dislike? Critically compile all this information and let it inform your marketing decisions.

The quality of the electrical work will always matter, but potential customers may discuss other factors like speed of service. If you notice that, speak more to the speed of your services on your website and marketing materials.

Do Competitive Analysis

If you want a well-rounded marketing strategy, you have to be aware of your competition. Look at what your competitors are doing and identify what you like, dislike, and—most importantly—what’s working for them.

Look for these aspects when completing your competitive analysis:

• Their target market
• Industry keywords
• Marketing channels
• If they’re using paid advertising
• Number of reviews
• Social media & blog post topics

Set Aside a Marketing Budget

One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is spending too much money on marketing tactics that don’t work, so run a cost-benefit analysis on all your potential marketing strategies.

Different tactics work for different service areas. If you operate in a small town, fliers can be an effective way to get your word out to the town. If you live in a big city, they probably aren’t the most cost-effective strategy.

In your competitive analysis, pinpoint which marketing tactics are working for similarly-sized service-area businesses. Then, be realistic about what strategies you can adapt to your own business.

Once you’ve evaluated your strategies, set a realistic budget and stick to it. Many marketing tactics take time to work, so don’t give up on marketing or over-invest just because you don’t see immediate success.

Digital Marketing Tips for Electricians

Electricians need to use digital marketing now more than ever. Local search is the most popular place for consumers to connect with the service-area businesses they need.

Searches like “electricians near me” are the modern version of looking up an electrician in the phone book. There might be five electricians in the area, but the one with the most engaging listing is going to have the best chance of reaching new customers.

With search engine optimization and other digital marketing strategies, you can stand out to customers as the obvious choice.

Round Out Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (a.k.a. Google My Business) is your first impression on potential customers when they search for electricians on Google. So if you haven’t claimed and optimized your Google Business Profile (GBP), you’re hurting your chances to rank in the top local search results for electricians in your area.

Improve your Google Business Profile with these aspects:

• Accurate business category
• Secondary business categories
• Hours of operation
• Contact information
• Photos of your business
• Reviews
• Q&As
• Google posts

Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Once people click on your website, it’s time to convert them into customers. The first step is to make your site mobile-friendly. The majority of searches happen on mobile and Google favors mobile-friendly websites. If your site has too many complex elements like videos or large photos, it can affect your website’s loading speed and responsiveness, making it less friendly for mobile users.

Make it easy for your potential customers to navigate your site and find your services, prices, and contact information from their mobile devices. Consider these website elements:

• Responsiveness
• Loading speed
• Streamlined layout
• Easy touch-to-click features

Leverage Local Keywords

Rank for local searches by using keywords in your website content. These local keywords should address what you do and where you serve customers. To fulfill many different search queries, use a variation of keywords. And don’t use one phrase too much (aka. keyword stuffing) because Google could dock you. For example, if you are an electrician in Dallas, you would want to use phrases like “Dallas electrical repair,” “best electrician in Dallas,” and “electrical services in Dallas.”

Use a Call to Action

A Call to Action (CTA) is text—often before a link—that encourages potential customers to take a step after reading your content. This easy content marketing strategy can help you drive more calls, requests for quotes, and other online interactions to bring you more business. If you want people to call you for a quote, write website CTAs on your services or pricing pages. Or use CTAs at the end of blog posts to drive users to your services page related to the topic.

Respond to Reviews

Responding to reviews—especially the negative ones—improves your brand’s reputation and builds customer trust. Plus, reviews are one of the most important local search ranking factors, especially for a service business like electrical contracting, so you want to drive in as many as possible.

People are more likely to leave you reviews if they know the business is paying attention to them. Show that you care for your customer’s experience by responding to all legitimate reviews.

If you receive a nice review, thank the reviewer for their kind words and acknowledge the employee who helped them (unless it’s you).

If you receive a negative review, stay calm, respond positively, and offer solutions to the unsatisfied customer. Not only does this show you are trying to help your customers, but it also improves the overall sentiment on your review page, which is something Google considers when ranking business profiles.

For more tips on Google reviews, read our resources on How to Get More (& Better) Google Reviews and How to Respond to Negative Reviews of Your Business.

Try PPC Ads

Google pay-per-click (PPC) ads appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) for local search intents like “electrician near me.” And if you are consistently winning the first or second spot on SERPs, the chances of potential customers viewing your listing are much higher than if you were to appear further down the page.

Bidding for (PPC) ads can be expensive, though. Plus, you still pay the platform even if someone clicks through to your website but decides to not use your services. So PPC ads may not be where you want to start as you begin your electrician advertising campaign. But once you have a solid listing and website, PPC ads can help take your business to the next level online.

For more information on paid ads, learn How Local Service Ads Compare to Google Ads.

General Marketing Tips for Electricians

While digital marketing is a vital part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, you still need offline elements. Here are a few offline marketing tips for electrical services businesses.

Use Marketing Collaterals

Leave-behinds like business cards and brochures are still a marketing staple for home service businesses. Marketing collaterals can help you win repeat customers and earn referrals if you provide quality service.

After you complete a consultation or finish your job, it’s good to leave behind professional materials for your customer. These leave-behinds should include clear branding, your business’ contact information, and a testimonial or a description of your services.

Take Out Print Ads

Depending on where you operate, physical ads can be just as effective as digital advertising. The success of your print ad will come down to where you are, where you put your ads, and the quality of the ad. It doesn’t make sense, for example, to put a high-quality, expensive ad in a place where your target customers won’t see it.

That’s why you might consider taking out a reoccurring ad in a local paper to get your brand in front of the people who are actually in the areas you service. You can also advertise in service-specific magazines. These can be beneficial for building business-to-business (B2B) relationships and gaining referrals from other service industry businesses like construction or plumbing companies.

Be the Best Option

By earning a reputation as the best electrician in the area, it becomes significantly easier to gain new customers. Word-of-mouth marketing and referrals are still great ways to spread your business name and earn new clients. If someone hears about your business from a source they trust, they are more likely to trust your business as well. And 84% of people trust online reviews as much as friends, so several positive reviews that reflect your quality electrical work can help you build trust with your audience, rank you higher in local search results, and ultimately bring in new customers.

Want help marketing your electrical services business online? Local Search Fuel by Hurrdat offers website and SEO optimization services that can help make a difference in your digital marketing campaign. Get started today!