Anyone can raise their internet traffic by posting cat photos. But high click numbers are as useless as yelling into the void if they don’t help widen a customer base. Roofers need to produce relevant content that drives engagement and turns into leads.
Content marketing for roofers must have a purpose, leading to engagement and leads. Topics like before and after photos, customer stories, and interacting with your local community will demonstrate knowledge and quality workmanship, display client satisfaction, and build trust.
Quality over quantity matters in content marketing. High traffic is useless if your brand isn’t reaching your target audience. Similarly, producing a lot of content can be off-putting to your potential customer base if it is of poor quality or lacks relevance.
Topics That Roofers Can Use in Content Marketing
Content marketing generates around three times the leads as traditional marketing, according to Demand Metric. However, the type of content matters. Generating clicks and traffic is not enough to turn into leads. Quality content market always has a purpose, such as:
- Raising brand awareness.
- Building trust and connections.
- Demonstrating a high level of knowledge and workmanship.
- Showing customer satisfaction.
- Creating a call to action.
We’ve gathered some excellent content marketing ideas for roofers that serve a purpose and can help you drive engagement and leads.
Before/After Photos
“91% of consumers now prefer interactive and visual content over traditional, text-based or static media,” writes Zohar Dayan, a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
Roofers can appeal to visual storytelling preferences by using before and after photos in their content marketing.
Before and after photos provide an impactful demonstration of your workmanship and instil confidence in potential clients. They also help expose and inspire potential customers to new ideas and solutions for their home or project.
Roofing before and after photos can be used in a variety of ways:
- Adverts for social media platforms with limited character counts.
- Boosting a website’s SEO with detailed captions.
- Break up chunks of text in blog posts.
- Create social media posts.
Tips for creating impactful before and after photos:
- Excellent lightening. Making the before image dark increases the ugly, but it obscures what is wrong. Excellent lightening on the after photo will ensure your work looks its best.
- Quality image. Use a good camera or an upmarket cell phone known for taking excellent shots. The photos must be clear. Delete any blurry shots.
- Zoom in and out. Take a variety of shots of each job. Close-ups will highlight damage and craftsmanship. Wide shots tell the whole story, showing the job in context with the home or building.
- Remove debris and tools. Before shots, you must focus on the damage, not highlight a messy worksite. After shots should display perfection, evoking aspiration.
- Be consistent with the before and after angles. Modern consumers know that changing the angle of a shot can dramatically impact appearance for better or worse. You must be consistent with the angles of your before and after photos so they feel authentic. Otherwise, you risk losing trust.
Telling a Customer Story
Customer stories make excellent content marketing for roofers if they add value to potential customers. These should be different from reviews that express client satisfaction.
Instead, frame customer stories as personal case studies. They should include educational information while demonstrating your expertise, quality solutions, and workmanship.
Lastly, include a call to action at the end of the piece. Invite potential customers to contact you and discover how you can help them with their roof repair, replacement, or cleaning.
Bolster a customer story with:
- Direct quotes from the satisfied customer.
- Before/after videos or photos.
- Infographics to provide easy-to-understand context and helpful information.
Open to Others
Roofers must show an openness to others. Look at it from the potential client’s perspective: they’re inviting a work crew into their home or business. It’s personal. Thus, roofers must build connections and trust within their communities.
Roofers can demonstrate their openness to the public in many ways:
- Responding quickly and professionally to comments. Check engagement on blogs, social media, and reviews daily. According to a Brightlocal survey, customers are 88% likely to use a business that responds to reviews, whereas only 47% would use a business that does not.
- Demonstrate appreciation for all feedback. When positive, thank the person and tell them you value their support. If an opinion is negative, thank them for letting you know and that you will investigate their concern. If the matter is heated or sensitive, take it out of the public eye by asking them to reach out by email or phone.
- Promote community events. Use your platforms to boost others in your area. Sharing content from valued community organizations creates connections, builds trust, and raises your brand’s visibility. Consider promoting local schools’ performances and sports, parades, festivals, and library events.
- Invest in the community. Giving to your local community, lik generates engaging blog and social media content and builds trust. Ideas include sponsoring a Little League Team, creating a scholarship, running a water station for a local marathon, and donating time and material to help fix the roof of a beloved organization like an animal shelter or scouting hall.
Why “How to” Topics May Get High Traffic but Don’t Generate Leads
“How to” articles and explanation topics like “What is a drip edge?” are excellent ways to generate traffic but often don’t generate leads. The reason? They’re targeting the DIY audience, who isn’t eager to hire professionals.
However, “How to” topics can generate leads if their purpose is to educate potential customers on why you should hire quality professionals. An excellent example is ProMaster’s YouTube video “How to Tell if You Need a Roof Repair.”
The video has essential content marketing elements:
- Provides visuals. Video and photos are also useful in text-based content marketing like websites, blogs, and newsletters.
- Educates their audience and builds trust. The helpfulness provides a more authentic and honest feel than straight advertising.
- Branded call to action. Viewers are encouraged to call the company with questions or hire their service.
Conclusion
Generating leads is the primary goal of a roofer’s content marketing strategy. High-traffic topics are useless if they don’t attract your target audience or have a call to action. Select content that showcases your workmanship, highlights customer satisfaction, and generates trust.