Roofers are always looking for new ways to generate leads for their businesses. We get it; roofing leads are essential to survival in what can be a cutthroat industry.
As a community of roofing contractors, the Roofer’s Guild knows firsthand the challenges of creating sustainable streams of qualified roofing leads.
By the same token, we have enough experience to understand that how you generate roofing leads often determines the longevity and sustainability of your roofing company.
Below, Roofer’s Guild shares 14 excellent methods to generate roofing leads.
Best Ways to Get Roofing Leads
- Google Map Pack
- Facebook Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization
- AI Optimization
- Local Targeting
- Direct Mail
- Hail Chasing
- PPC Advertising
- Local Service Ads
- Door Knocking
- Trade Associations
- Email Blasts
- YouTube Marketing
- Business Partnerships
What is a Roofing Lead?
A roofing lead is a prospect showing interest in your services by submitting their contact information through an online form, phone call, or other submission. Leads are sometimes referred to as prospects.
Kinds of Roofing Leads
Generally speaking, the two types of roofing leads are exclusive and shared.
Exclusive leads refer to prospects who contact only your roofing company, while shared leads become available to multiple contractors simultaneously.
Exclusive Leads: Apply only to your company (typically come through marketing)
Shared Leads: Apply to several competing companies (typically come through brokers)
Of course, lead variations by industry exist. For example, commercial roofing leads are more valuable and accessible than residential ones.
For example, metal roofing leads also enjoy distinct advantages over shingle roofing leads. Supply and demand significantly influence the cost per lead for roofing professionals.
Exclusive Roofing Leads
Exclusive roofing leads are contacts for your business without exposure to competitors. They find your company organically and contact you directly, looking for your brand specifically.
Exclusive leads are the most valuable because they convert at the highest rate and create the most repeat customers. As a result, every company should invest in online marketing to try for exclusives.
Shared Roofing Leads
Shared leads come from 3rd party brokers who sell prospect information to multiple companies in the same area.
As you might imagine, shared leads convert less frequently and, when they do, are unlikely to result in repeat business.
Businesses often mistakenly think they can only acquire shared leads, not exclusive ones, when a simple marketing strategy would allow them to achieve the latter.
Here are 14 fantastic methods to get more leads:
1) Google Map Pack
Getting leads from Google’s local map pack is a significant ROI. Since businesses can create free listings, the return is a bonus.
Of course, you may hire a local SEO expert to optimize your listing, in which case the monthly retainer changes the ROI. However, compared to other methods, Google Maps rankings still produce a far greater return.
According to statistics, the 3-Pack appears for 93% of local searches, demonstrating its potential reach for businesses.
Local searches comprise most of your prospects for roofing companies, making local SEO an ideal lead generation channel.
Google’s Map-Pack pulls Google My Business listings and data to give users options for local services meeting the intent of their query.
With this in mind, ensure your GMB listing is fully optimized with photos, GMB posts, and accurate contact information.
See more resources below:
2) Facebook Advertising
Many roofers ask how to get roofing leads on Facebook. The answer is through paid advertising.
Posting promotions on your main page doesn’t work well since Facebook hides most of these posts from your followers. Instead, running paid ad campaigns reaches the most users.
You can use Facebook Lead Ads to grab contact information on the spot. Alternatively, you can run a more traditional ad style and enter users into a robust funnel on your landing page.
Lead Ads are especially helpful since they pre-populate forms so users can easily submit their contact information.
Drop-offs are common in traditional online advertising forms because users get bored having to fill out all their information; Facebook eliminates this hurdle and increases conversions in the process.
Facebook owns another popular social platform, Instagram, which Facebook advertisers can, in turn, publish the same ads for their campaigns. As a result, Facebook Ads are an excellent investment.
With over 1 billion active users on IG, it is another method for generating leads for your business.
To learn more about Facebook ad campaigns, check out these materials:
3) Search Engine Optimization
SEO for roofers is the best way to generate leads online. Earning an organic position on Google’s first page costs nothing unless you hire a third-party marketing company to optimize your roofing website.
Of course, most roofers don’t have time to do the work themselves, which involves writing new service pages and blog posts and then inserting title tags, meta descriptions, and keywords.
SEO is an all-encompassing process, but its impact can change your company’s position within the industry. The main components of SEO are technical, on-page, local, content, and link building.
While these tasks may seem difficult to beginners, a good agency will manage all facets simultaneously. Websites that secure top organic rankings have a significant advantage.
Google’s algorithm gets more advanced daily, so it’s critical to abide by the latest practices to achieve or sustain rankings.SEO provides the best ROI of any lead generation strategy for businesses.
If your company can secure a top ranking for relevant keywords in your area, the CTR will increase to 28.5%, meaning users will click through almost 30% of the time.
Contrast that with PPC statistics, which show the average CTR to be less than 2%.
Check out additional material on SEO below:
4) AI Optimization
AI optimization is the newest way to generate roofing leads online. Appearing in answers generated by AI platforms like Google Gemini and ChatGPT requires deliberate optimization tasks.
For example, appearing in articles about the top ten roofing companies in your city helps train these AI models in the proper context.
Building backlinks from credible industry and local websites can also transfer authority to your website, increasing your chances of getting picked up by AI.
Performing traditional SEO tasks also helps AI models learn about your company, so AI optimization is an extension of that existing practice.
With this in mind, ensuring your website is optimized with title tags, location data, and informative, unique content will all contribute to your AI visibility.
Google now shows AI Overviews at the top of many local search queries, meaning AI is no longer just a luxury but a necessity for roofing lead generation.
Check out additional material on AI below:
5) Local Targeting
Local roofing leads are the marketplace’s most qualified and highly converting prospects.
These consumers want to buy from a local roofing company rather than a national one.
With this in mind, it’s important to implement a lead generation strategy that focuses on local targeting.
Local contractors can use local targeting software to capture prospects in their specific service areas.
If your website and Google Business Profile promote your target location correctly, you can achieve this conversion advantage over competitors.
The key to successful local targeting is inserting unique location-specific content into your marketing materials so that consumers detect local relevance from your company and its services.
Some of the best states in the country to pursue local targeting for roofing customers are:
6) Direct Mail
Snail mail seems obsolete, but numbers show its effectiveness remains potent for roofers.
Think about it: is a homeowner more likely to check their mailbox or email inbox? The former is the correct answer because of spam. Email inboxes possess almost 1200% more spam than direct mail.
Direct mail costs about $55 per lead and lowers to $50 per lead when using a proper mailing list. Overall, traditional mail remains a profitable lead generation technique.
Think about how sick people are of getting spam emails.
This is the reason why they are more likely to trust direct mail than anything in their Gmail inbox.
Mailers with appealing photos and clear calls to action work best, just as they do in online formats.
While some percentage of your list may toss your mailer in their recycling bin, enough will consume the content to make the campaign worthwhile.
Check out more resources below:
7) Hail Chasing
Hailstorm chasing is not the best idea, but suggesting it doesn’t work would be misleading.
Roofers can monitor storms using tracker apps like Hail Trace and prepare their team to hit up impacted towns.
There’s no dignity in chasing chaos, but there is money involved. Ultimately, hail storm leads are precious and often create a window of growth opportunity for roofing companies.
Businesses can utilize storm tracking apps to get notifications when a storm passes through their service areas.
By allowing technology to assist with your lead generation campaigns, you are streamlining your business.
Depending on the size of your sales team, you can deploy teams throughout different areas.
Residential homeowners are more likely to respond to sales pitches after a storm when they need immediate repairs.
Under normal circumstances, residents tend to put off significant roof repairs until they notice a leak in their ceiling or something worse.
Hail storms provide an excellent opportunity for lead generation.
Check out some materials below:
8) PPC Advertising
Google Ads helps new roofers quickly climb Google rankings.
Even at a 38% click-through rate, Google Ads still garner engagement from a significant portion of the user base.
Although costs per click are rising because of high competition, depending on your local area, PPC ads remain a legitimate lead generation method for roofers.
Aside from Google, Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) offers PPC opportunities per business. CPCs are lower on Bing because they have a lower search engine market share.
However, users still use Bing enough to make running the occasional ad worthwhile, which is worth testing.
Whatever platform you use, your ad’s success will depend on engagement. Make sure you design an appealing ad with a convincing CTA, which will improve CTR and maximize your budget.
Only target buyer-intent keywords because other types of queries will not result in sales.
The PPC strategy is particularly effective for new roofing companies that lack website tenure and strong SEO rankings.
Learn more about the subject below:
9) Local Service Ads
Google Local Service Ads (LSA) uses a pay-per-lead model instead of the traditional pay-per-click model used in conventional Google Search Ads.
In addition, Google LSA integrates your roofing company’s Google Business Profile and Google Reviews within the advertisement, which appears at the top of local search results.
This combination of localization and a model alteration results in higher-quality leads, on average, for local roofing companies.
While traditional Search Ads may generate more total clicks, a lower percentage will convert into customers, and even fewer will become repeat customers.
LSA is closer to SEO because it helps brand your roofing business to the prospect by showcasing your reviews and Google Business Profile.
However, unlike SEO, LSA still costs money and can drain your budget if you do not monitor its performance.
Another advantage to Google Local Service Ads is that they can help local roofing professionals improve their reputation with the Google Guaranteed badge, leading to greater consumer trust.
This increased trust can benefit all aspects of your lead generation campaign and move beyond LSA leads.
Learn more about Google LSA below:
10) Door Knocking
The best time to door-knock is after hail storms since most homeowners seek roofing services directly after the damage. Contractors can use storm tracking apps to track recent storms in their service areas.
Most residential roof services happen after the damage is present, which makes your introduction after storms the most important sales point.
Deploying your salespeople is critical to getting conversions, as some might have specific strengths or be familiar with particular areas.
Smaller companies are left to do all door-knocking on their own, which can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially if you work in a non-storm area.
Despite its potential downside, the numbers don’t lie about door knocking’s effectiveness. A recent survey indicated that 76% of roofing companies still utilize the tactic in some form.
While other marketing strategies have emerged in the past decade, preserving some traditional methods remains valid. Learn more below:
11) Trade Associations
The main benefit of trade shows is networking. You can partner with suppliers and other industry giants to generate future leads.
Your representative should present value when attending association shows so that potential partners have an incentive to work with your company.
Track the price you pay for trade show tickets. You’ll want to earn more residual revenue.
Attending shows just to chat with other industry folks could be a waste of resources. Set up a booth and offer something of value in exchange for contact information.
You may not reap the rewards of trade show leads for months or even years down the road. However, if you do your due diligence, you will benefit somehow.
To check out some of the top trade shows, see the materials below:
12) Email Blasts
We discussed direct mail as a superior version of email marketing. Fewer people open emails today because they are bombarded with inbox spam.
Still, with the correct marketing format, you can convert people through email blasts. The key is customization and personalization.
Getting people on your email list is easy, but getting them to respond to flyers, coupons, and specials is far more complicated.
That’s why strategizing a personalized email marketing campaign is critical to success.
Too few roofing companies engage in any type of email marketing, which reduces their lead generation stream.
The irony is that sending mass emails is now easier than ever, and open rates can be increased through personalization.
Statistics show that follow-up emails can increase sales by almost 80%, which makes them a viable strategy for any business.
While the thought of sending bulk emails may turn off some companies, the results make it worth it.
Learn more below:
13) YouTube Marketing
Roofer’s ability to market videos has grown over the past decade. Most smartphones have HQ cameras to capture roofers at work and on the job.
You, too, can get involved with video marketing by uploading your branded videos to YouTube and then embedding those on your website.
YouTube is a search engine in itself, meaning some prospects may find you while browsing the popular video platform.
Others may see your video on your websites since Google factors in videos when ranking pages on search.
More adults consume YouTube than any other social media content, making it a great platform to push your company and brand.
Plenty of roofers have popularized themselves and their businesses using YouTube, and their channel has reaped the rewards. Be sure to study other success stories to get more ideas for your channel.
As for setting expectations for your YouTube material, you don’t have to make it big to have success. In other words, you can still generate leads without becoming an Internet celebrity.
Additionally, pumping out YouTube content is a great way to expand your online presence, which may allow you to get leads through other channels.
14) Business Partnerships
Joining forces with suppliers can help roofers generate leads.
Whether it’s more prominent brands like Menard’s and Home Depot or smaller, regional suppliers, roofing contractors can gain an advantage over competitors.
Sometimes, roofers can earn an inbound link from one of the supplier websites, which can indirectly boost lead acquisition through SEO marketing.
You might look for other referral partners, such as real estate agents and land developers, who can pass you some client leads.
The more extensively you can grow your network, the better your chance of acquiring supplemental leads.
Partnering with online influencers in an increasingly digital marketplace also makes sense. Consider joining people on their podcasts to discuss roofing, marketing, and other ventures applicable to your industry.
Not only will people enjoy your insights, but you can also spread brand awareness. There are many avenues to partner with like-minded business owners.
Securing The Most Affordable Roofing Leads
Roofing companies get leads through promotional strategies like paid advertising, organic SEO, and in-person trade shows or canvassing.
Some roofers also pay 3rd party brokers to exchange prospects’ contact information, leading to lower conversion rates.
However, organic search engine optimization is the most affordable method to generate leads.
If your roofing company ranks in Google Local Map 3-Pack for relevant keywords, your cost per lead is driven to its lowest possible number.
You will no longer require paid advertising if you can sustain these rankings.
Final Thoughts
At Roofer’s Guild, we help companies grow their business through proven marketing techniques.
Having worked with thousands of roofers over the years, we understand which lead generation strategies produce the best results.
SEO remains the most efficient and cost-effective way to get new customers. However, paid strategies like Google Ads and Facebook Ads can also produce favorable results.
We recommend combining these roofing lead generation techniques to maximize customer acquisition. As the marketplace continues to evolve, new strategies and technology will emerge.
Still, there will always be opportunities to generate leads.
