Starting a new home inspection business is no easy task and requires a lot of time and effort. And even after you’ve achieved some success from some steady, reliable clients who kick you some business on the regular, it can become difficult to get to that next level of growth. You need to perfect your inspection service offering, select the right sales channels, research your target customers (no, you can’t simply default to “realtors”), and more.
However, no matter how good your inspection services are or the expanded ancillary services you provide, people won’t know about your business unless you market it. That might seem like a no-brainer, but marketing is an essential part of establishing your brand and generating sales leads for your inspection business. In this post, we will discuss a few of the best marketing techniques that will help you grow your inspection business both in size and reputation.
1. Tell Your Brand Story. Be Authentic. But Maybe Not THAT Authentic.
This may be the most important technique to remember from this post. For any business, it is critical to connect with its target audience and form a distinct brand image. Telling your brand story is one of the best and most effective ways to achieve that.
Brands that are authentic – honest, transparent, up-front, and proud of their unique(ness) – and have a good story about how they came to be, are often more memorable and form lasting impressions. So, if you want people who hear about your brand for the first time to remember it, tell them your brand story.
Let’s be clear though. Brands are like people. And just because someone is “memorable,” that doesn’t necessarily mean they are memorable in a good way.
For example, we all know that guy who is loud, often over-the-top, sometimes crude, fun to hang out with occasionally, but just not for everyone. We’ll call him “Bob.” It probably takes a special type of person to tolerate Bob for any extended period of time, and even those more charitable individuals grow weary of Bob’s antics and behavior after a while. However, there are a lot of colorful stories Bob tells. He doesn’t really care what people think – he’s just “keeping it real” and being his authentic self – and while we cringe, roll our eyes, and occasionally chuckle during Bob storytime hour, we’re really laughing more at Bob than with him. This is bad memorable.
Conversely, we all know that other guy. Let’s call him “Tim.” Tim is kind, responsible, funny, always positive, and you just feel great being around him. He also integrates well into your network of family and friends. He’s thoughtful – calling or sending a text on your birthday, picking up the occasional check for lunch or dinner, and giving you his full attention when you’re talking. Tim has some colorful stories too – equally entertaining as Bob’s – but he never crosses any inappropriate lines and he’s careful not to throw other people under the bus to make himself seem better in some way.
Now, if you think of Bob and Tim in terms of a brand, which do you think will appeal more to a broader audience? Tim of course.
So, when you present your brand and tell your brand story, do it in a way that is authentic and memorable, but not in a way that is “too colorful” or off-putting. Think about your broader audience and provide details that place a spotlight on what makes you and your business unique, but only in ways that generate a positive lasting impression. This is the feeling you want your audience to have – and when it’s done well, and you combine that with great overall service – you will have increased your leads and the desire for repeat business. Be like Bob!
2. Build an SEO-Friendly Website
The first thing any inspection business needs is a website where people can learn about your business and buy your products or services. If you build a website that is optimized for both the search engines and conversions, then you’ve already crossed the first hurdle. Way to go!
Now, getting organic traffic to your website should be your first priority before you start investing in other marketing tactics. NOTE: This isn’t always an easy task. So, unless you already have some experience here or are a gifted wordsmith and capable of generating quality, relevant content that connects with your audience, you probably want to get some outside assistance.
Here are some things that you should consider:
- Create good-quality content on trending topics in your niche.
- Do extensive keyword research before creating your website content.
- Incorporate your primary keywords into all your website landing pages, titles, meta descriptions, etc.
- Use structured data to get better SERP rankings for your web pages and make your SERP listings stand apart from others.
- Focus more on local SEO and long-tail keywords.
- Don’t forget to take care of technical SEO aspects like page-load speed and website design.
There is a lot that goes into building an SEO-friendly website, but these tips should get you started on the right path. However, if this all sounds like Greek, don’t be afraid to call in the experts!
3. Leverage Social Media Marketing
As a small-business owner, one of the cheapest and most effective forms of marketing that you can invest in is social media marketing.
If you’re willing to invest time and effort into it, you can do this in-house with minimal expenditure. And, as your business grows, you can start leveraging social media marketing tools to manage your accounts. Just remember to keep your brand in mind at all times. It’s easy to default to a more relaxed or casual approach to marketing on social media. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but don’t let relaxed and casual translate to sloppy and inconsistent. Whatever you post, make sure it’s consistent with your brand image, identity, and the messages you wish to convey to your target audience.
Here are some social media marketing tips to get you started:
- Select the right platforms where your target customers are active.
- Find your brand voice and stick to it.
- Be regular and consistent in posting social media content.
- Use high-quality, eye-catching visuals to attract audience attention.
- Add your website link in your social media bios.
- Use tactics that drive social media traffic to your website.
- Use popular and relevant hashtags to reach more people.
- Create your own branded hashtags to track your campaigns.
For any home inspection business, there can be a lot that goes into formulating a winning social media marketing strategy. These are just some tips to get you started. Once you have mastered these, you should dig deeper, upskill yourself, and try more advanced social media marketing tactics
4. Establish Your Expertise in Your Niche
Not all home inspectors are created equal. That’s right. We said it. Some inspectors have years of experience while others are just inspecting their first dark and dreary crawl space for the first time. However, determining how to establish your expertise in the home inspection industry is one thing that can help you distinguish yourself from other inspectors and their businesses while building your brand image. Everyone else is probably using the same marketing tactics as you are; so, you need to find additional ways to set yourself apart.
Focusing on establishing yourself as an industry expert is one such tactic.
Here are some of the ways in which you can do that:
- Start a blog and create informative and useful content on topics within your niche.
- Join community forums like Quora and answer questions there.
- Engage in discussions on industry association sites like InterNACHI or ASHI.
- Engage in discussions on social media on relevant topics within your areas of expertise.
- Host webinars and podcasts on useful and relevant topics. Invite other experts to get more visibility and reach.
As you start making waves in the inspection industry, people will start inviting you for interviews and podcasts. Make time to participate in these things as it further enhances your reputation.
5. Create and Promote Explainer Videos
This tactic, while relevant for most businesses, is especially important for home inspection business owners looking to spread brand awareness.
Even the best of businesses with amazing products and services can struggle to gain that initial momentum and get people to learn about their brand. And, if you launch an innovative product, then it is even more difficult to make people understand what it is and how it can help them.
Just as we said earlier that not all home inspectors are alike, neither are all home inspections. We know that comes as no surprise, but it’s often frustratingly true for too many inspectors who really want their customers to understand everything that goes into performing an exceptional home inspection. And how much potential time, money, and headaches a great inspection and report can save anyone looking to buy that most expensive and personal of investments – a home.
For inspectors, some great explainer videos can really help to remove any of those initial hurdles where most businesses fail to make their target customers truly understand the value that they’re providing. And these videos are a great way of demonstrating an inspector’s knowledge and understanding of the home inspection process – while also giving a little exposure of the people involved in the process and the thinking behind it.
Two examples of inspectors doing a great job on the explainer video front are Christopher Murphy with A-Action Home Inspection Houston and Rose Buckley with US Inspect.
Christopher and his team have been providing explainer videos, and a host of other video content, for several years now. Here’s a taste of some of that great content
Rose established her presence in the industry several years back – expertly creating and distributing her video content, which has helped to serve as a critical foundation for her growth and brand awareness. You can see some of this great content HERE
Bottom line, if you’re not creating and using explainer videos for your business, it’s time to start. And don’t get frozen into inaction overthinking your videos need to be Oscar-winning pieces of content. They don’t. They do, however, need to be short, to-the-point, on-topic, and have relevant value to your audience. Focus on the latter and you’ll be surprised by the positive reactions and boost you get from their production and dissemination.
What Next?
If you have a small home inspection business and are struggling to meet your marketing goals, try the tactics outlined in this post. These are tried-and-tested marketing techniques that can give you the push you need to ace your marketing game.
Try these out and see the results for yourself!
