5 Best Practices for Digital Marketing for Electricians
By Hibu |
If you’re an electrician running a business, marketing might seem frustrating. You know you need to deal with it one way or another — you have to advertise somehow.
Word of mouth and print ads were the primary building blocks of small business marketing once upon a time. But these days, digital marketing (aka internet marketing) is what helps potential clients find you and what helps you stand out from the competition.
Today, digital marketing for electricians has multiple moving, interconnected parts that work better together. And, right about now, you might be wondering, “How on Earth do I use all those parts to help my business?”
Well, there are no marketing secrets for electricians — but digital strategies and solutions are right at your fingertips!
About 220,000 electrician businesses operate in the U.S. as of 2023. It’s time to make sure your digital marketing strategies are as sharp as possible to compete online. And the sooner you start, the better off your business will be.
We’ve compiled five smart marketing tips for electricians to get you on the right track.
[Related: Hibu Client Case Study: Dixon Electric]
1. Make Sure Clients Can Find You Fast
In terms of online marketing, electricians have a lot of local competition. And you have even more competition that shows up when potential customers search for “electrician” online. You need to be instantly visible when those local customers search.
Local search use is massive, and clients usually browse only the first page of search results. What’s more, only about 3% of people click past the top five organic search results (results that aren’t paid ads).
And that’s a really big deal. To snag new customers’ attention and put your services up front, take care of two steps:
- Make sure your business listing info is up to date, accurate, and complete with listings management
- Boost visibility with search marketing
[Related: 4 Ways to Find Your Business Online]
2. Build Airtight Business Listings
Whether they need you to handle a small glitch or a giant overhaul, potential customers look for three things.
Along with being visible (showing up high in search results), you need to be trustworthy and believable. That means that all your online business information must be correct and consistent.
This basic information needs to be identical everywhere people see it:
- Business name
- Phone number
- Address
- Hours of operation
It may seem minor, but if these things don’t match up across your listings, people lose faith in your business … and choose another electrical company.
Here’s one more thing to remember: Customer reviews are an incredibly important part of your business listings.
When someone shops for a business or service online, they almost always contact the businesses with the highest customer ratings — four or five stars.
New customers shopping for electrical contractors or businesses are no different. When someone wants to hire an electrician in your area, they need to see that you have a lot of four- and five-star online reviews.
This brings us to your next big digital marketing tip: polishing your website.
[Related: The Best Electrician Websites Have These 5 Things in Common]
3. Have a Smart Website
In this digital age, you need a website to compete with other local businesses for your potential customers’ attention.
When prospective new customers find you via local search, they’re likely to click your site URL and check out your electrical services. What they see when they land on your website must be clear, well-branded, and visually appealing.
Of course, a whole lot more than aesthetics goes into a smart website.
Today your site needs to be “visible” in voice search (“Hey, Siri!”). It must run flawlessly on smartphones and have expert SEO (we’ll get back to SEO in a minute). It must generate leads.
Whether you need a website or already have one that’s not delivering the results you want, you might be considering building one yourself. There are certainly a lot of DIY options out there but be warned.
There’s a big difference between creating a website and building a business website that visitors actually see on search engine results pages. To boot, your website needs to convert those visitors into new customers.
Find a digital marketing partner with professional web developers, and watch your site become much more than drag-and-drop boxes.
They’ll get down to business for your website’s core digital marketing strategies:
- Research the target audience and market for electricians in your area
- Tailor your site’s look and content accordingly
- Use behind-the-scenes expertise that the average business owner doesn’t know, like SEO keywords and schema
Together, that “secret sauce” can be the difference between a site that customers see and a site buried beneath your competitors.
With a business listing, online reviews, and a custom website, you’ll nail down your digital marketing foundation. And to be frank, these aren’t so much marketing tips for electricians as they are marketing must-haves.
[Related: 5 Types of Digital Marketing That Get Results for Small Businesses]
4. Light Up Social Media
Now, it’s time to get social.
And by that, we mean getting on social media. Social media marketing for electricians is a great way to attract, engage, and retain local customers. By establishing yourself on social media platforms, you can amplify word-of-mouth recommendations and garner great business reviews.
Sure, it might seem odd that your electrician business needs its own social accounts if you think of your social media presence as a personal rather than a business thing. But Facebook (aka Meta) use alone is massive, and running paid social ads can help you reach a giant chunk of your local client base.
Add regular posts and media (think videos and pics of your impressive jobs), and you’ve got a winning social media marketing strategy. Plus, you can build personal connections with your customers — current and potential!
When your electrical business feels like much more than a business, customers find you more approachable, likable, and trustworthy.
Don’t underestimate the impact of showcasing your professional personality! That sense of personalization works wonders for brand loyalty — and more leads, website traffic, and business growth.
[Related: How to Make the Most of the Time You Spend Marketing Your Business]
5. Invest in SEO Services for Visibility
Search engine optimization, or SEO, takes what you have online and maximizes your visibility on the web.
How so? Besides conducting keyword research and using keywords and phrases specific to your location, audience, industry, and more, SEO specialists work with code and text to boost your search engine ranking.
For example, consider your business listing and website. You want them to show up high on the first page of search results. After you’ve carefully crafted your social media marketing profiles, you want them to appear in search, too.
If you don’t rank highly on major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, potential customers are unlikely to find you. Less visibility means less business.
SEO is one place where DIY isn’t really an option. That’s doubly true for expert local SEO and targeted content marketing.
So it’s best to leave SEO services to the pros. Specialists already know them, and they’ll expertly work to grow your search engine ranking and client numbers.
Honestly, learning SEO probably isn’t something you — or most electricians and local business owners — have the time or desire to do in addition to running your business.
Overall, it’s a lot to digest. But know that SEO is incredibly powerful and one of the best marketing strategies for electricians. It runs through every vein of your digital marketing strategies, and its benefits are immense.
In the end, digital marketing for electricians isn’t complete without it. It’s how you reach more customers, period.
[Related: Hibu Client Conversations: Villa Hills Electric]
Hibu Has Experience Creating Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Your Electrical Business
You might be surprised at the results you can achieve with these digital marketing efforts when you put them into practice for your business.
You’ll be even more impressed (and successful) when you partner with a digital marketing company like Hibu. We make sure every digital marketing strategy amplifies your business and highlights your electrical services.
And we don’t stop with these practices and tactics! We can integrate other proven strategies so that you hit all your targets:
Plus, we’re genuinely dedicated to seeing you succeed! Our one-on-one service, custom pricing, and industry-tailored websites give you confidence — and serious return on investment.
The best marketing for electricians is right here, so get in touch! Give us a call at 877-237-6120 or complete our Get Started form.
