Let’s say you’re out in the field and discovered a problem with a particular system in your customer’s home. Wanting to keep your customer informed of what is happening, you start to explain the issue to them, along with what part of the system is malfunctioning, but you notice at a certain point that their expression becomes confused. This is likely because you’ve used a term that makes sense to you but sounds like a foreign language to them. 

Chances are that you’ve been in the customer’s position at least once when it comes to discussing digital marketing for your company. We know that there are plenty of digital marketing terms out there that make sense to the seasoned marketer, but can sound made up or have a different meaning to someone else. 

When your customers need help with their HVAC and plumbing systems, you’d advise them to seek professional assistance to make sure the job is done right. When it comes to success in digital marketing for contractors, we’d suggest the same. This is why we are going to explain the meaning behind 8 of the most popular digital marketing “buzzwords,” below.

1. Conversion

This marketing term refers to when a consumer who is a potential lead completes a desired action, such as calling a number or filling out an online contact form, allowing the contractor to convert them into a lead. Conversion is the process of getting someone to change from the “Consideration” stage of the customer journey, to the “Decision” stage. Essentially, this refers to taking someone who is curious about your services and turning them into a paying customer.

2. Segmentation

Specifically regarding your email marketing approach, segmentation refers to dividing your audience into different groups to allow for better marketing. You don’t want to send the exact same email about HVAC repairs to a longtime customer and a prospective customer because their needs might be in different places. 

Segmentation helps to divide these types of recipients to allow for better personalization of the materials that they receive. For example, a long-time customer will get a reminder email while a prospective customer might get an email describing why they should reach out to you for repair services. 

3. Branding

Think of a particular product brand that you’ve purchased. Whether it is HVAC equipment or a certain type of soap that has popped into your head, you are going to recognize these items because of their branding. 

Branding refers to all the things that differentiate and identify a company to potential and current consumers. Your company logo, the colors of your trucks, the layout of your website, and even the appearance and text in your ads on search engine results pages are all a part of your brand. Good branding makes you recognizable and memorable, making it easier for you to promote your company and the services you offer.

4. Personalization

Personalization involves personalizing digital marketing content to different customer groups or even setting up the text of an email to include the name of the recipient. Personalization helps you create the right content or products to meet with the right consumer group and the right time, increasing your chances of conversion.

This is done through collecting and analyzing data, creating customer personas, mapping out your content strategy, and more—all of which the team here at iMarket is here to help with! 

5. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

When you go onto Google, Bing, or Yahoo to lookup information about something, the page that you see come up is called the Search Engine Results Page, or, SERP. While this may just seem like a collection of initial results pertaining to your search terms, the SERP is so much more. 

It’s a mix of organic search results, local service ads, paid search ads, online reviews, and more. One of your digital marketing goals should always be to make your presence prominent on this page through search engine optimization (SEO—a more commonly known digital marketing term!)

6. Keyword Ranking

Keyword ranking refers to how your site ranks in regard to certain keywords. For example, if you have the keyword “air conditioning repair” in your website or blog content, your site will be ranked on Google and other search engines against other websites using that keyword. The goal when using keywords is to rank as high as possible on the SERP, increasing your odds of customer discovery and conversion.

7. Cause Marketing

Have you ever participated in a program where a certain percentage of profits from a service were donated to a local charity? Or maybe your business helped to sponsor a local event? These activities are what are known as cause marketing. 

This marketing approach brings together a for-profit and nonprofit business for the sake of a mutual benefit—for your for-profit business the benefit is often going to have a positive impact on your sales and increased brand recognition.

8. Search Engine Marketing

This is a method used to bring traffic to your website by purchasing it through paid ads, which appear at the top and right sides of SERPs. These paid ads are also called “pay-per-click” ads, since you pay a variable amount to the search engine each time someone clicks on one of your ads. 

Pay-per-click advertising is often used for both branding purposes and lead generation. Branded campaigns are typically helpful if you have a limited advertising budget, since it takes advantage of all potential searches for your company name. 

SEM is about so much more than this, and we encourage you to reach out to our team to learn how you can take advantage of this and the other digital marketing solutions we offer. 

To learn about what we have to offer, contact iMarket Solutions today. We are dedicated to contractor success!