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Generating leads is a constant challenge for roofing businesses. Best practices for lead generation have evolved, and business owners must stay up-to-date on the best performing tactics.
A good lead is truly a potential customer, and ideally has both expressed interest in purchasing roofing services and provided contact information so you can connect with them.
Many marketers for roofing companies apply the “spaghetti” approach to lead generation - throw it at the wall and see what sticks. But throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it’s cooked doesn’t work, and neither does a non-strategic approach to lead generation.
Luckily, there are quite a few tried and tested methods for finding high-quality leads!
Here are 5 for you to consider.
1. Canvassing
This is an old school strategy, but it still works. The most effective time to canvas is right after a storm or a roof-damaging event. Send your canvas team with clear instructions, high-quality collateral for the customer to review, and an appointment setting solution they can use while in the home. Homeowners are increasingly nervous about door-to-door scams, so look professional and be prepared. Ideally you will be able to engage a potential customer before the door closes.
2. Local SEO
Marketers use Local SEO to optimize their visibility in local search results. This includes building your business’s Google Business Profile, and customizing your brands website with locally ranking keywords. It is an essential process for you to focus on increasing local brand awareness, website traffic and leads. Why? Because 46% of all searches in Google have “local intent”.
3. Pay Per Click Advertising with Your Brand
PPC ads appear at the top of search engine results pages, and can often give your business more visibility than organic search results. This is especially important for roofing businesses, as consumers most often search for services in their local area. It can be very expensive to rank for industry keywords, but putting some advertising budget behind promoting your brand may lead to increased visibility in the Sponsored section of your customers search results.
4. Exclusive Lead Generators
Partnering with a roofing lead generation service can be a great way to quickly increase the number of leads in your sales pipeline. These services, like HomeBuddy.com, employ expert digital marketers and strategists to promote their own brand to homeowners.
Homeowners then complete a contact form and are pre-qualified to be sure they are ready to buy. They provide their contact information and request to be connected to a local roofing contractor. This lead is then they shared with you. And only with you.
Your business gets a pre-qualified and exclusive lead to contact and sell. It’s a great experience for the homeowner and a great experience for your business.
5. Lead Aggregators
Lead aggregators, like Angi and HomeAdvisor, are similar to exclusive lead generation services. They also advertise under their own brand, and homeowners complete contact forms on their websites.
The big difference is that they sell this homeowners contact lead to many local and national competitors. And then they may sell the lead to each other, and other lead aggregators, who then also sell it to competitors. A homeowner could potentially receive dozens of phone calls from contractors competing for their business.
The FCC is even getting involved, in December 2023 they pass a new ruling to close the “lead generator loophole” to protect consumers from these experiences. One quick internet search on any of these service providers will quickly show you the pros and cons of lead aggregation services. Services like these can provide a large quantity of leads, and they may be relatively inexpensive compared to some of the other suggestions here, but the customer experience suffers as a result.
Conclusion
The strategies for driving new leads for your roofing business have changed over the years, and many of the channels that were once effective don't have the same impact as they did. Consumer behaviors evolve, and marketing strategies adjust to meet the consumer where they are searching for roofing contractors. These 5 methods can help you grow the number of leads in your sales pipeline, maximize your ROI and grow your business and your bottom line.
