Your customers are spending more time online than ever before. And now that you can tap into customer data from online channels, it’s possible to deliver more granular insights and create personalized experiences. So, what does that mean for your marketing strategy?
Well, you need digital marketing if you’re going to stay competitive. It’s one of the best strategies to drive website traffic, generate more leads, and boost conversions. Of course, there’s a catch: If you want to win at electrician marketing, you need to keep up with the latest trends and adapt your strategy.
The clock is ticking—and you need to light up your electrician marketing strategy to dominate the competition and sustain your business with a steady stream of leads. Here are five key electrician marketing trends to optimize your marketing plan in the post-COVID era.
If you’ve tried hiring new workers in the past few years, you already know that the talent crunch is real. Right now, there’s a severe nationwide shortage of skilled trade workers—especially electricians.
At the same time, the demand for electrical work is booming. According to the National Electrical Contractors Association, approximately 7,000 new electricians join the workforce every year. But another 10,000 retire, leaving contractors struggling to take on new jobs and keep up with customer needs.
So, what’s the best way to ignite your hiring strategy? Two words: Recruitment marketing. Instead of turning to traditional job boards like LinkedIn, it’s time to start finding quality candidates without draining your resources. A solid recruitment marketing strategy is the tool you need to reach your top picks—whether they’re scrolling through social media, surfing the web, or streaming video.
Recruitment marketing can be a powerful hiring tool, but it doesn’t have to be your only weapon in the war for talent. Some distributors are helping contractors beat the talent shortage by stocking pre-assembled products and systems. For example, distributors like Graybar Electric Co. are moving toward pre-assembled products, such as prefab box assemblies, conduit trapeze supports, and metal boxes that snap on with metal stubs.
What does that mean for your electrical company? It’s simple: You won’t have to waste valuable time and labor assembling products on the job site. If you’re having a hard time retaining enough electricians to keep up with your company’s daily workload, pre-assembly can save the day.
Over the past few years, electrical distributors have taken advantage of the new business available in lighting retrofits thanks to technological advances in LED lighting.
Now, as tech continues to evolve, the sale of electrical vehicle charging stations can be a lucrative source of income for electricians who know how to install them. Not only that, but more distributors are in the position to stock and sell EV chargers since their existing suppliers (think: Schneider Electric, Leviton, Eaton) are already selling them.
If you’re not training your techs on the latest technological developments, it’s a good time to start. By targeting new demographics with EV charging station services, you’ll provide easy and convenient charging access. Impress them with your service, and you’ll be the first one they call when they’re dealing with generator problems or dead outlets.
Even if you’re still on the fence about EV charger installation, tapping into more niche services—like electrical exteriors and holiday features—can help you differentiate yourself from the competition and generate new electrician leads. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to upsell your current electrical services.
What do customers think of when they hear your company name? If your answer is, “I don’t know,” it’s probably time to work on your branding strategy.
It’s more important than ever to highlight your company values, especially when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). According to marketing research, 58 percent of marketers believe that branding plays a key role in purchasing decisions for prospects. At the same time, 54 percent of consumers don’t feel entirely culturally represented in online advertising.
Why should you dedicate time to building your brand identity? Our clients tell us that DEI helps them build a genuine connection with their audience, and that can make the difference between a new customer and a lost lead. After all, every homeowner needs to hire an electrician at some point. Make sure your business acknowledges and celebrates it.
If you want to gain a competitive advantage with the new generation of Gen Z homeowners, you’ll need to align your digital marketing strategy with your brand values. With countless local contractors to choose from, Gen Zers want to support inclusive brands with clear values and a strong brand identity.
Ultimately, a powerful electrician marketing strategy, complete with authentic DEI, is the best path forward. And if that’s not convincing enough, studies show that diversity boosts ad recall lift in 90 percent of stimulations.
Remember: It’s not enough to just talk the talk. You need to walk the walk, too—and that means making diversity a part of your entire organization, including management. If you want to position your business as an employer of choice, you need to create an environment where all employees can thrive.
“What is lifecycle marketing?”, you’re thinking. In a nutshell, it guides prospects through the sales funnel as they transition from a prospect to a lead to a customer. Lifecycle marketing plays an important role in lead generation, but it can also help you keep customers coming back for more.
Think about it this way: Your goal is to convert leads into paying customers. Then, you want to keep the customer lifecycle going by converting those customers into repeat customers. That’s where lifecycle content marketing can be your MVP. After all, you’re competing in a saturated market, and you need to stay top of mind to stand a chance against the competition.
Your content marketing strategy should provide everything a prospect needs to become a client. To do that, you need to cater to customers at each stage of the customer journey. That means targeting your ideal customer, appealing to their pain points, and showing them why you’re worth hiring over the competition.
Once you’ve painted a clear picture of your target audience, it’s time to create customized content for every stage of the sales funnel. For example, if you’re running an electrical company in Cleveland, you might start with blog posts that mention Cleveland. When you’re targeting leads in later stages, you’ll want to capture their attention with long-form content, videos, and bottom-of-the-funnel PPC keywords for electricians.
It’s no secret that creating high-quality content for every stage of the customer lifecycle takes time and effort. And when you’re trying to optimize your strategy to keep up with the electrical market, it can feel pretty overwhelming. Instead of trying to juggle everything at once, consider partnering with a reliable marketing agency so you can focus on running your business.
Love it or hate it, Google Analytics 4 is almost here. And if you’re not preparing for GA4 yet, it’ll have a huge impact on your digital marketing strategy starting in July 2023—when Universal Analytics will become a legacy tool replaced by the new and improved GA4.
It’s not exactly a trend, but it’s definitely taking the marketing landscape by storm. Google Analytics 4 will transform how you interpret data, enabling seamless integration with Google Optimize, Google Merchant Center, and BigQuery for free.
The transition from GA Classic to UA was simple—all you had to do was update the tracking code on your website. Your interface, metrics, and data didn’t change. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be as easy this time around. GA4 captures data differently than UA, so you’ll have to tweak your tagging strategy. The fields and interfaces that store your data are brand new, too. So, how can you prepare to wave goodbye to Universal Analytics?
If the transition to GA4 is news to you, check out our guide here. We highly recommend that you start your GA4 account now so it can start gathering data ASAP. This way, you can refine your GA4 tags, data layer structure, and reporting fields—and test everything against your UA account— before the permanent switch.
In today’s competitive marketing landscape, a cookie-cutter digital marketing plan won’t do your business any favors. If you want to grow your electrical business, you need to run toward the fire with an innovative strategy.
The electrical industry is only going to keep changing, and you need to adapt or risk losing valuable leads to the competition. Contact us today to power up your business with a data-driven digital marketing strategy.
