If you own a water damage and restoration company, you have a unique advantage when it comes to marketing. When something happens - a plumbing rupture, fire damage, or a natural disaster - your customers don’t have time to be picky about which restoration company they call. After an emergency, they have to make a spur-of-the-moment decision and call the first company that comes to mind.
As a restoration company owner, the pressure is on to make sure it’s your company that they think of first.
That’s where damage restoration marketing comes in. With the right digital marketing strategies, you can land one of the top spots in the restoration industry and generate the kind of leads you need to grow your business.
Here are some of the top six tips for water damage marketing.
1. Build an Optimized Website
Your website is a centralized hub that holds your business's most important information. It's also a place to direct new customers who learn about you through your other marketing efforts. Once on your website, they can learn more about your services and get started with booking an appointment.
With that being said, a poorly designed website could do you more harm than good. 88% of online consumers say they wouldn’t return to a business’s website if they’ve had a bad user experience, which could mean anything from bad design to an unresponsive website.
That’s why it’s so important to make sure your website is built to impress. It should be well designed, easy to navigate, and optimized for search engines so that your target audience can find you. It’s also essential to make sure the design is mobile-friendly since 57% of online traffic comes from mobile devices.
Of course, “good design” can feel like a vague goal. Focus on making your website visually appealing, but simple and easy to absorb. Use images and catchy headlines that communicate your values right away so that prospective clients don’t have to spend more than a few seconds on your homepage to know what your water restoration business is all about.
For example, a water damage restoration company might feature headlines like "Your Water Damage Experts" or "Get Your Home Back to New in No Time." Images of water damage can convey a feeling of urgency, while pictures of capable employees on the job can convey authority. The more you can draw in casual visitors, the more likely you are to convert them into clients.
2. Make the Most of Google Ads
The people who need your services most can’t afford to wait. When their homes and belongings are on the line, they won’t take the time to browse for the right business. Most of them will search for a few keywords on Google - like “water damage services near me” - and choose from the first few results they can find.
That means it would benefit your business to reach the top results on the search engine. However, it’s a lot easier said than done. Thousands of businesses are competing to reach the top page of Google for any given industry. Even with effective local SEO techniques, it can be hard to break through without years of work. Google Ads offers an opportunity to see your water damage restoration business at the top of the search results. This advertising service is pay-per-click, which means you only pay for the potential customers who click through to your website. After setting the budget for your campaign, selecting your target audience, and choosing relevant keywords, you can have access to a powerful marketing strategy.
While it still takes an upfront investment and some optimization to make sure these ads are performing as they should, Google Ads can offer smaller, local businesses a leg up in an already competitive SEO marketplace.
3. Manage Your Reputation
In the moment of a water-related emergency, you already know your customers will be turning to Google. If they do come across your business, they’re going to be checking one thing first - your reviews.
Getting your business seen is only the first step. Then, you’re still competing with the other damage restoration companies that caught their eye. Potential customers will be comparing your reputations to get a sense of which companies they can trust.
The first step to managing your reputation is setting up Google My Business. This free service allows your business to appear under Google search with your business name, address, location, business hours, and contact details. Most importantly, it allows you to monitor your customer reviews.
This is one of the first places people will look to judge your business’s standards. 82% of customers read the reviews of a local business before using their services - and they read an average of 10 reviews before trusting a company. Over time, accumulating positive Google reviews can also help your ranking to get you seen by more potential clients.
While there’s no way you can generate these reviews yourself, you can encourage customers to leave positive reviews. Try replying to those who do leave reviews, thanking them for their business, or asking how you can make it right if their experience was less than satisfactory. This will show people browsing your page that you care about how to meet your customer’s needs.
4. Tap Into Social Media Marketing
While social media can be a challenge to master, many businesses have found incredible success, going beyond their growth goals by doubling down on a particular social media platform. Having an account on a popular platform like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and most recently, TikTok, can yield impressive results if you use the right strategies.
If you use them wrong, however, you could be spending hours and hours on a strategy that doesn’t work. Damage restoration isn’t exactly a popular topic on any social media platform, so you’ll need to get creative with your content to make an impact.
Whether you’re posting videos or photos, focus on creating immersive content that draws attention while showing off the best of your business. Here are some social media content marketing ideas to start with:
- Before and after photos that show your best results
- A sped-up video of your cleaning services to show off your speed and efficiency
- DIY video tutorials showing customers how to safeguard their homes against incidents
- A video showcasing the kind of equipment you use to make the magic happen
- A video or photo series introducing each of your employees along with their best qualities
Don’t be afraid to lean into creativity and humor, but make sure the purpose of your content remains the same - making your business look as impressive as possible.
While going viral can be fun, your focus shouldn’t be to please the masses. Make sure your service area is clearly visible in your bio and captions. Any ads should be targeted toward local users to make sure you’re reaching the people that matter.
5. Build an Email Marketing List
Technology has come a long way over the past decade, but email marketing is still going strong. Many companies still rely on their email lists to bring in new leads. Local businesses, in particular, can benefit from the power of email.
If you’ve ever seen a website popup that asks you to “subscribe to our newsletter,” then you already know what a mailing list is. An email marketing list is a database of emails that allow you direct access to some of your most interested potential customers.
Using that list, you can send out emails providing valuable information, coupons, and other offers to drive more bookings. Email marketing is so effective because it goes directly to people who have willingly signed up to hear from you. These emails also end up directly in someone’s inbox, where they have a high likelihood of being opened - 99% of people check their emails every day, with some checking 20 times a day.
6. Set Up a Referral Program
Despite all the Internet marketing strategies out there, one of the most effective strategies remains good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. If someone benefits from your water damage restoration services after having a water damage incident at home, they’re much more likely to pass that on to a friend, family member, or even a stranger. A happy customer could tell 10 to 12 people about your services.
This kind of marketing is completely free. In many ways, it’s more effective than other forms of marketing because it’s coming directly from the mouths of friends and family members, making it more likely that they’ll trust the integrity of your services.
So how can you encourage this kind of word-of-mouth marketing? Set up a referral program to reward customers who share your services. A referral program doesn’t have to be complicated. All it takes is something as simple as a 15% off coupon to encourage happy customers to spread the word.
Marketing Services For Your Water Damage Restoration Business
As a water damage business owner, you know how hard it is to attract new customers. But with the right strategies, anyone can tap into the results that online marketing can bring.
If running your business has left you low on time, trust your marketing efforts to Scorpion. We specialize in home services businesses - including damage restoration - and we know what it takes to get your business to the next level. Instead of waiting for customers to come to you, let the restoration marketing experts bring them to you. Learn more about our services or contact us to take the next step.