PPC Lead Generation for HVAC Dealers: A Brief Guide

There’s one thing search engine optimization experts agree on: When it comes to your organic SEO strategy, Rome isn’t going to be built in a day. Paid search ads, on the other hand, can get up and running within a few hours, and the results are immediate.

One of the best parts of PPC is its absolute flexibility. Depending on your budget, size, location, and growth goals, an affordable performance marketing solution can be tailored for your needs. It doesn’t matter if your fleet stretches across state lines or if you’re just a few guys in a truck – your business can utilize paid search ads to generate quality leads and real revenue. Here are just a few ways PPC ads can help your HVAC business.

Leveling The Playing Field

Simply put, PPC gives you the ability to compete on the same level as the big guys. If you have the experience and the right combination of keywords, landing page content, and bids, you can push past your top competition and take the number one spot of the search results today.

Comparatively Inexpensive Price Point

Paid search ads operate on a cost-per-click model, which means you only pay for an ad when someone interacts with it and actually visits your site. This means PPC ads are comparatively cheaper than traditional media, although they serve a much different function in that they target lower-funnel, intent-driven users.

TV, radio, and billboard spots are effective for reaching wider audiences, achieving a high frequency of messaging, and for building a strong brand. With paid search, though, the only people who see your ad are those actively searching for your keywords and phrases. Ad dollars spent on PPC target this specific user intent, and the ads click through to conversion-optimized pages on your website to ensure maximum return on investment.

Geo-Targeting and Dayparting to Reach the Perfect Audience at the right time

In Google’s PPC interface, companies can ensure they only target paid search results in their service area. For example, Company A is based in Orlando but also has a strong business in Tampa and St. Petersburg. They set up their PPC ad campaigns to only show ads in the specific regions that they service. Someone in Tampa will see the ad, but someone in Miami won’t.

Similarly, Company B only has two service vans and one office in North Atlanta. They only set their ads within a 20-mile radius of their office, so that their employees or contractors don’t spend all day driving across the city. They’re able to stay localized to their neighborhood and loyal customers.

In both cases, the businesses are able to save money and stay local through the PPC ad settings. The only people who see their ads are viable customers in their service area that they can work with.

Google’s dayparting tool also gives you the flexibility of having your campaign ads show only at the right time. For instance, you don’t want your ads to show during weekends or when your office is closed, this feature allows you to have your campaign on only during those exact hours when you or your employees are there to answer the phone.

Furthermore, it is possible to modulate the aggressiveness of your bidding strategy by hour. For example, based on conversion data, you know that most AC replacement calls happen during the time period between noon and 2p.m. It is then very important for you to be extremely competitive during these two hours. Google gives you the ability to increase your bids by 20 percent (for example) just during those two hours of the day.

PPC and SEO: Working Together in the Long Run

As your SEO efforts gain momentum and begin to pay dividends as a long-term asset, your PPC campaigns will continue to augment your Web presence.

There are many reasons for this: the probability that someone clicks on your site is higher when you take up more real estate, and having both listings creates trust signals that increase your authority. The visitor assumes that your site must be reputable if it’s all over Google’s front page, occupying the most valuable (and visible) search positions.

On top of that, data accumulated by both channels should be used to improve and test on the other. Keyword data must be shared across channels and best performing text ads can be valuable when creating organic content, since they give you insight into what type of keywords and phrasing generate clicks. Furthermore, Google shares many of the search terms that people are typing when searching for your services and that is data of extreme value for your organic strategy.

At Mediagistic, we specialize in running results-driven PPC campaigns for the HVAC industry. In building and planning our multi-faceted Internet marketing campaigns, we leverage more than five years of accumulated, industry-specific data for markets across the country. Let us put all that expertise to work for HVAC your business to start generating real results for you today.

Hansel Merchor is Mediagistic’s Performance Marketing Manager. He’s widely experienced on overall performance marketing, regional, local and international lead generation, branding, media planning and media buying, retargeting, attribution models, social media as well as e-commerce on nationwide and international SEM campaigns.