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If you are just starting your roofing company with no existing customer base, generating qualified roofing leads is an important step towards increasing awareness and boosting sales.
However, even if you’re more established, marketing efforts that focus on getting more leads are still essential, as you need them to grow your business.
With that said, what exactly is roofing lead generation, and how do you do this effectively? Keep reading to find out how to create a successful lead generation system for your roofing company!
What Are Roofing Leads?
First of all, what ARE roofing leads?
For a roofing company, leads are typically defined as potential customers who have shown INTEREST in your roofing services.
How Does It Work?
Usually, quality leads submit their contact information through your website or interact with your roofing company in one way or another.
Lead generation is all about attracting prospects—people who are in the market to purchase something your roofing company already offers.
Instead of targeting a big, random group of people, lead generation focuses on capturing quality leads and nurturing them so they become actual paying customers of the brand.
Types of Roofing Leads
Roofing companies/roofing contractors look for different types of roofing leads. These could be classified by clients or by roofing materials.
For example,
- You can get Business to Business (B2B) roofing leads, if you primarily work with commercial clients.
- On the flip side, if you deal directly with individual customers, you’ll need Business to Consumer (B2C) roofing leads.
Let’s take another example:
Some roofing contractors supply only metal roofing, so they’ll need to generate leads specifically for that product.
Meanwhile, a roofing contractor who focuses more on repair services will find a metal roofing lead less useful for his business.
Exclusive Roofing Leads
Exclusive leads are a bit more specific because they refer to people who are interested in YOUR roofing business—not your competitors.
Exclusive roofing leads can also pertain to a purchased list of contacts that are shared ONLY with you.
You might find a lead generation company online that offers to generate leads for you, but unless they’re exclusive roofing leads, you’ll probably have to deal with competition from other roofing companies.
Since they have equal opportunities to contact the customers, you won’t get a guaranteed transaction.
Nonetheless, roofing leads are valuable because you’re only a few steps away from making a sale. You’ve already attracted the right audience, so all that’s left to do is to CONVERT the potential customer into an actual customer.
The question is, how do you actually generate leads?
How Do You Generate Roofing Leads?
Traditional marketing has always focused on outbound marketing strategies.
Nowadays, you’ll also need digital marketing and online advertising to grow your business.
Generating leads is no easy task, but if you combine multiple strategies to increase your business presence, you’ll definitely get more roofing leads and sales in the long run!
First Strategy: Outbound Marketing Strategy
Outbound marketing is all about reaching a LARGE number of people, whether or not they’re interested in the products or services you have to offer.
How It Works
With this method, YOUR roofing business contacts potential clients, usually without knowing if they’re high-quality leads or not.
Although outbound marketing can be costly and inefficient, it’s one of the tried and tested ways to generate leads.
If people don’t know you, your product, or your service exists, then it’ll be very difficult to convert them into customers.
1. TV, Print, and Radio Advertisements
The most popular (but also the PRICIEST) outbound strategies include television, print, and radio advertisements.
With these three, you’ll definitely be able to reach loads of people, but they won’t necessarily be roofing leads.
You can narrow it down to specific stations – magazine/newspaper sections, and television channels with more targeted audiences – but these still won’t all be qualified leads.
Take note!
- If you’re running a small business, this method might DRAIN your budget faster than it generates leads.
- However, if you’re a local roofing company with a huge advertisement budget, then it’s something you can consider.
2. Cold-Calling
Another technique to generate roofing leads is cold-calling.
How It Works
This can be tricky, especially since some people aren’t receptive to random marketing calls, but a little effort and patience go a long way!
After all, one new customer is still better than none!!
Now, here’s a trick:
The trick with cold-calling is to use less ‘sales-y‘ language.
Instead, work with the prospective client to figure out a solution to his or her problem.
Of course, this will eventually segue into an explanation or an offer of your products and services, but it will seem much more natural.
3. Direct Mail
Everyone uses their email nowadays, so direct mail isn’t used so often to generate leads.
However!
It won’t hurt to try it out, especially if you live in an area with an older customer base.
Here’s some advice:
- When sending physical flyers or advertisements, make sure to keep the text short and snappy so you don’t lose people’s attention.
- It also helps to put a direct call to action so that they know the next steps to take if they’re interested and want to reach out!
Who knows, this method could still get you high-quality leads!
4. Trade Shows
Trade shows are BIG opportunities to get roofing leads because a lot of customers who are interested in the field attend them!
But that’s NOT the biggest benefit. There are 2 reasons why trade shows are a useful strategy in generating qualified leads:
- These events allow you to interact directly with consumers and request valuable personal data (such as phone numbers, email addresses, etc.).
- The connection made in a trade show EXPANDS your network, allowing you to contact them in the future and give them offers/promotions on your products and services.
Because you’ve put a face behind your brand name as well, it’s much easier for the customer to recall your company the next time they require roofing products and services.
5. Referrals
Many people don’t realize referrals are GREAT for generating qualified leads. After all, if a friend raves about a certain product or service to you, aren’t you more likely to try it out for yourself?
But even if a customer genuinely enjoys your product, that doesn’t mean he’ll automatically recommend your brand to someone else.
That’s why you have to actively request referrals from your clients all throughout the sales cycle.
Here’s a tip to encourage referrals: Create incentives.
For example, you could gift vouchers for each successful referral (meaning a new sale was made). This will motivate existing customers to talk about your company, get you more roofing leads, and boost your overall sales!
Second Strategy: Inbound Marketing Strategy
Now that you’ve learned all about the outbound strategies, what’s next? One of the most effective ways to get roofing leads is through digital marketing.
Nowadays, a strong online presence is extremely vital for success—even for a roofing business—because people look for everything they need or want on the internet.
That’s why so many companies utilize Google ads and other online marketing strategies to get exclusive leads.
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you have a fully functioning website but very few roofing leads, then you’ll benefit from Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
How Does That Work? Well…
SEO involves improving different aspects of your website so that you rank higher in search results, resulting in MORE visibility (and new roofing leads for your business!)
I mean, if you show up on the search engine results page before any of your competitors, you’re a LOT more likely to get the sale.
Now, the way the Google algorithm determines search results rankings is highly complicated.
Don’t worry! Here are three key areas you should focus on to get started:
- Proper website structuring
- Keyword research
- Creating quality content
The better you are at answering your target audience’s questions and solving their problems, the better your online presence will be.
2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
If SEO gets you roofing leads organically, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) uses Pay Per Click (or a PPC ad) to generate roofing leads.
What Is PPC, Exactly?
This marketing tool allows you to place an ad for your website at the TOP of the results page when someone searches for a specific keyword.
It’s called ‘Pay Per Click’ because you pay EACH TIME your link is clicked by a visitor.
Unlike SEO, SEM is a lot more proactive, but you’ll also need to spend money to get these leads.
Before allocating a big chunk of your marketing budget on any campaign, always make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Tip: Track the performance of your ads by looking at conversion rates and other pertinent data to find out if they’re working or not!
3. Social Media Advertising
Of course, no digital marketing campaign is complete without social media advertising.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram aren’t just online spaces where you can catch up with friends and workmates; they’re also the best places to find new leads!
With that said, it’s important to establish an online presence on these channels for your business to grow.
You can engage with potential customers and get leads organically, but it’s also a good idea to pay for advertisements so you reach even more people.
What’s great about advertising on these social media apps is you can specify your target market.
After all, not everyone can be considered a roofing lead for your company.
For example, those too young to own a property aren’t likely to need a roofing job done, and those who live far away from your neighborhood wouldn’t be able to request for your roofing services.
4. Email Marketing
Another good tool you can use to get more roofing leads is EMAIL MARKETING.
If you have a customer database complete with personal information, email addresses, buying history, etc., then you already have access to a GREAT wealth of information that can be used to your advantage.
Here’s how it benefits you:
- With email marketing, you can stay top-of-mind by reminding people of your products, services, and current promotions, if any.
- You can even offer personalized discounts based on customers’ buying habits and average basket size.
- Email marketing is also great for nurturing leads who may not yet be sales-ready.
Maybe a customer has signed up for your company newsletter but hasn’t booked a roofing job.
Using this tool, you can provide more information about your services and convince him that you’re the right person for the project.
5. Creating Content That Adds Value
To do well online, you can’t just talk about YOURSELF.
Sure, it’s important for customers to know what your company does and what it stands for, but people also need to know that you’re credible, reputable, and trustworthy.
Engaging with leads is a great way to build relationships, but creating QUALITY content adds so much value to your brand name as well.
Remember these points:
- Regularly blogging about topics related to your field (such as the best materials for a new roof) will help drive traffic to your site, getting you more leads.
- Remember, quality is VITAL. Don’t just write blog posts for the sake of having more relevant keywords on your site; they have to be value-adding.
- Ideally, your content should address any problems or questions that a potential customer might have!
- When people know that you’re an expert in the field, they’re WAY more likely to choose you for the job!
Lead Generation Tips for Roofing Contractors
Want to take it a couple of steps further? Check out these bonus tips to get leads for your roofing company:
- Combine both outbound AND inbound marketing strategies for optimal results. If your priority is increasing your leads, then every bit of exposure will help, especially if you’re just starting out!
- Before spending on any digital marketing campaigns, make sure you’ve done extensive research on relevant keywords and your target market. If you have a large enough budget to cover all bases, that’s great (because quantity still matters), but if you can cut costs AND get quality leads, that’d be so much better!
- Before paying for any exclusive roofing leads online, make sure the source is credible. Exclusive leads are expensive, so you shouldn’t waste your money on low-quality ones! You should also check to see if these exclusive leads will be shared with other companies after a specific time period.
- When choosing between exclusive leads and shared leads consider the pros and cons for YOUR business. Exclusive leads end up costing more per lead, but the overall quality is higher, and they’re beneficial for small companies with low brand recognition. However, with shared leads, you get more volume at a lower price per lead, so if you’re already quite established, this might be the way to go.
In Summary
Lead generation, the important process of attracting potential customers, is a vital part of any roofing company’s sales and marketing plan.
You might have amazing products and services, but if no one knows about them, you still won’t end up with much business.
To Generate Roofing Leads...
- You can opt to purchase qualified leads from agencies online OR use a combination of different tactics to get your own.
- When purchasing online, always make sure your sources are reputable and reliable; otherwise, these leads may be of poor quality.
- Getting exclusive leads also entails pushing your brand name out there. We recommend having a strong online AND offline presence to capture as many customers as possible.
- Traditional channels such as print ads, direct mail, and trade shows are good opportunities to find clients—both individual consumers and commercial ones.
- Meanwhile, an SEO-optimized website will help relevant customers easily find you online.
- With online marketing, it’s easier to source quality roofing leads because you can control who gets targeted by your ads. Take advantage of social media apps, Google ads, and other paid advertising tools, as these will help immensely with visibility.
- Another great way to get quality roofing leads ORGANICALLY is by creating a variety of value-adding content and sharing it with people online. Write blog posts, release informational videos, and share relevant articles on your site so that people know you’re truly an expert in the field.
All of these strategies combined will help you get leads AND grow your business in the long run.
It takes a lot of time and effort, but once you set up this solid foundation for your roofing company, things will go much smoother from there.
Lastly, don’t forget that lead generation is just the FIRST STEP!
Converting leads into customers is another lengthy and complicated process altogether, but like with lead generation, it’s all about presenting your company as a SOLUTION to customers’ pain points.
Conclusion
Whether you’re an up-and-coming roofing company or an established roofing business, you should:
- Understand the role lead generation plays in the marketing/sales cycle, and
- You should also know how to do it effectively
With that said, we hope this article helped break down those big concepts for you. Good luck creating and implementing your own lead generation systems in your roofing business! Thanks for reading!
