Content Marketing: Why is it Important for Your Local Home Services Business?

In today’s saturated online environment, it’s more crucial than ever to reach your customers and develop meaningful relationships with them. And as a local home service business, you’re focused on attracting local customers specifically from your service area who often are reaching out in a time of need. At first glance, then, content marketing may seem like an approach that requires too much lead time meet your objectives.

But you might be surprised to learn that this approach offers significant advantages for local business owners who are savvy enough to implement it. In fact, by creating valuable content for local consumers, this strategy offers the potential to supercharge your marketing efforts. The trick lies in understanding your customers’ challenges and creating useful content to solve those problems.

Taking a Strategic Approach to Marketing Your Local Service Business

In online marketing, content is the fuel for the proverbial fire. Used correctly, it’s a tool for nurturing target prospects, educating and informing prospective buyers, and establishing expertise in your respective service area(s). The numbers don’t lie: According to Hubspot, 80% of web users identify themselves as blog readers, and companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month.

This approach is most effective, though, when the content is based on consumer psychology. This often involves developing buyer personas, researching each buyer’s journey, and identifying key touch points throughout the sales funnel.

Content, of course, is one of the most effective ways to engage prospects at those touch points, and it’s the difference between publishing a website that simply lists your service offerings and phone number, and providing comprehensive, helpful information that aids visitors in making informed buying decisions.

Or perhaps more accurately, it’s the difference between talking at your customers as opposed to engaging in a conversation with them.

The Impact on Customer Acquisition and Marketing Results

Content marketing potentially can play a major role in customer acquisition in the local home services vertical. Again, the key to customer acquisition lies in identifying needs and delivering solutions.

For example, plumbers may use content to describe the common challenges homeowners or business owners face, provide troubleshooting tips, and educate consumers on differentiating problems solvable with DIY techniques and those that require the help of a professional. This content then provides material that may be shared on social media sites, boost SEO results to improve search engine visibility, and differentiate your services from your competitors.

HVAC companies, on the other hand, may create maintenance guides that educate homeowners on the importance of regular, timely maintenance to keep their heating and cooling systems functioning at their best. Tapping into seasonal search trends, HVAC companies can publish informative content following Labor Day when homeowners are shopping around for the best value to get their home heating systems in order for the coming winter.

Likewise, electricians may run a special on wiring for ceiling fans near the beginning of spring. The content produced to target these consumers can be repurposed to create blog posts, downloadable content assets, or email marketing campaigns (such as information about a special offer the company is running related to a key service in high demand). Prospects searching for qualified electricians are more likely to engage a professional who has clearly demonstrated expertise in the area.

How Content Marketing Can Boost Your SEO

First and foremost, search engines like Google value fresh content. These algorithms are constantly trying to verify that your business is still in operation. Subsequently, they look for signals (like recently published content) to affirm and reaffirm that your site is a good one to serve up in search results.

To this end, research has shown that content marketing gives websites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links. When you tie content marketing into search trends and seasonal demands, content becomes a valuable tool for enhancing your online visibility. Combining service terms with locations, seasonal terms, and specific, in-demand services will allow you to naturally target long-tail keywords that are sometimes easier to rank for than broad, non-specific industry terms.

So a plumbing company servicing an area in which many homeowners rely on septic tanks could easily target these homeowners with a guide on keeping your septic system healthy throughout the year. Because many homeowners have their septic tanks pumped in the spring, timing such content to tap into seasonal trends can prove beneficial both in terms of SEO and customer acquisition. It’s the strategic approach to marketing that enables you to create relevant, targeted content in line with what your target customers are looking for.

With content serving such a critical role in the overall marketing mix, local home services providers can find numerous ways to put content to work to drive marketing and SEO results. Mediagistic uses full-scale content marketing efforts to help drive customers to clients’ websites via compelling and useful content. Call us today and learn how we can leverage content marketing to boost your web presence.

Brantley Smith is the Vice President of Digital Marketing and Product Innovation at Mediagistic. He is a big picture sort of guy. If you want to know what the future is bringing, he’s a good guy to talk to. His entrepreneurial DNA led him to start up four tech companies before age thirty-five, one of which he navigated through its merger and acquisition by publicly traded Online Outpost Licensing Corporation. Connect with him on Linkedin.