In an industry where work is done in the field, for many energy and retrofit contractors, digital marketing isn’t top of mind. While an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach might work for some, retrofit companies that want to remain competitive have begun to embrace digital marketing to drive new sales and growth.

Once a “niche” market, the industry of energy retrofit has experienced a digital transformation like many traditional industries. And while you may feel that you don’t have the need for a marketing strategy and digital marketing presence, the benefits that energy retrofitters can reap from these initiatives are immense.

Here are 5 reasons that energy retrofit companies should be utilizing digital marketing and strategies you can start using to implement digital marketing in your organization.

For most retrofit companies, word-of-mouth referrals are a big, or perhaps the only way of generating business. But, with the majority (89% of B2B customers) of people gathering information about potential purchases via the internet, having an online presence has never been more important. Coupled with your already successful referrals, creating an online presence can increase your lead count to new heights.

Having a digital marketing presence such as a well-built website, social media, email marketing and written content allows for prospects to find and trust your company. Online reviews and testimonials can help build brand equity and produce new prospects with 72% of customers using Google reviews to find businesses. Keeping your online presence up-to-date and creating relevant content for visitors is sure to build brand awareness and authority that is here to stay.

2. Digital marketing is targeted marketing

One of the biggest negatives to traditional marketing strategies such as direct mail, cold calls or trade shows is that they can result in a “spray and pray” approach. Sure, you’d be blanketing a large swath of prospects (or suspects), but you may not be hitting your preferred target. And even if you do encounter your target every now and then, measuring results and determining a return on investment from those efforts is an arduous and imprecise task (more on that in point 3).

Digital marketing, on the other hand, can be highly targetable. Gearing your website to rank on search engines for certain keywords can help attract prospects that are interested in your specialty. Other strategies such as paid advertising on Google or social media allow you to target on more granular demographics such as occupations, location, age and more. This ensures you’re reaching the eyes of your target audience rather than a broad swath. In an industry as niche as energy retrofit, digital marketing presents the best opportunity to hone on in individuals actively looking for your services.

3. Digital marketing is measurable

While traditional marketing strategies (such as trade shows or direct mail) certainly have their places, it’s very difficult to attribute how much revenue or how many sales materialized as a result.

Digital marketing (such as an email campaign or paid advertising) enables you to track exactly how many eyeballs landed on your campaign and how many turned into a qualified lead. With the proper tracking in place, you can then follow them through the sales funnel in real-time, measuring how many actual customers you received from your efforts. In comparison to more traditional marketing, a digital campaign enables you to determine an ROI and optimize your campaigns in a much more efficient manner.

4. Digital marketing builds customer loyalty

While it’s easy to think about return on investment from digital marketing in terms of new customer acquisition, it may go well past the point of a customer signing the dotted line. Unlike a prospect that may just be learning about the benefits of an energy retrofit, a current or past customer is well-versed and can reward your organization with repeat business or referrals as a loyal customer.

Creating relevant content like case studies, testimonial videos, or blog posts and sending them to past customers not only keeps them up to date on the newest technologies and best practices, but also keeps your company top of mind for any future projects or upgrades your customer may need. With just a few clicks, your customer is able to read or share your content and reward you with repeat or even new opportunities.

5. Digital marketing helps you stand out

With most of your competitors focused on traditional approaches (i.e., field work and referral-based selling), the concept of digital marketing is still fairly new. Having your own digital marketing plan in place presents an untapped competitive advantage.

By being visible to potential customers on a variety of online platforms (we’ll list some of the best options shortly) you’re gaining exposure and a chance to showcase your services and benefits. With a quality web site and focused content, your retrofit organization can be seen as a leading authority in the space and build a loyal audience.

Digital marketing tactics you can start implementing today

While these concepts may seem new or even intimidating, we reached out to a SnapCount customer who has embraced digital marketing to inquire about some best-practice “baby steps’ to get stated. Enersavings, like many small and mid-sized companies utilizes a marketing agency to help them craft an effective digital marketing approach. Their recommendations include leveraging the following channels.

• LinkedIn
  
  • With 740M+ users and 40M+ of those users in decision-making positions, LinkedIn is a treasure trove of potential customers. A 2017 study found that 80% of B2B marketing leads from social media came from LinkedIn.
• Google My Business
  • It’s common knowledge that Google is the king of search engines. Google’s “My Business” feature is a free business listing allowing business owners to manage how they appear online across Google and make their business stand out. Customers can leave reviews on the platform as well, helping bolster your reputation.
• Paid Advertising
  • Paid advertising on platforms such as Google Ads and social media is an efficient manner to reach your target audience when they’re looking for services like an energy retrofit. Coupled with strategies like display ads and remarketing, you’re sure to stay top of mind to your relevant audiences.
• Content Marketing
  • Consistent, high quality content marketing like blog posts, case studies and video testimonials help establish credibility, build trust, and engage your prospects and customers. Great content can also be shared in other marketing channels like social media or email marketing and can boosts your search engine optimization results.
• Email Marketing
  • Email marketing is possibly the most efficient method to communicate with an audience you've already established. Whether you’re aiming to increase leads or re-engage with a past customer, there are a slew of email marketing platforms that enable you to create attractive email campaigns to share content and generate project sales.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to important digital marketing tactics. While this may seem like a large workload, these strategies can be deployed one-by-one and evolve as you add proficiency, besides, the benefits or stronger growth and more consistent sales should sustain your efforts. The important thing is taking the first step.

Whether your digital marketing journey begins in-house or you choose to utilize a an effective marketing agency, the importance of a digital marketing strategy cannot be understated. As an energy retrofit company, reaching your target market in an efficient and measurable manner is critical to staying ahead of the curve. Good luck on your marketing journey!