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, Roofer’s Guild knows first-hand about the challenges in 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 11 excellent methods to generate roofing leads in 2023.
Best Ways to Get Roofing Leads
- Google Map Pack
- Facebook Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization
- Direct Mail
- Hail Chasing
- PPC Advertising
- 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, you also have lead variations by industry. For example, commercial roofing leads contrast residential roofing leads in value and accessibility.
For example, metal roofing leads also enjoy distinct advantages over shingle roofing leads. Supply and demand hold significant influence over 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 try for exclusives by investing in online marketing.
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.
But enough of that. Here are 11 fantastic methods to get more leads in 2023:
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.
For roofing companies, local searches comprise most of your prospects, making local SEO an ideal lead generation channel in 2023.
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:
When your Google Business Profile ranks within Google’s Local Map 3-Pack, you can increase traffic and conversions for your roofing business.
2) Facebook Advertising
In 2023, 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 serves as another method for getting leads for your business.
To learn more about Facebook ad campaigns, check out these materials:
Facebook makes it easy for roofing companies to target lead generation in their advertising campaigns.
3) Search Engine Optimization
SEO for roofers is the best way to generate leads online. It costs nothing to earn an organic position on Google’s first page unless you hire a 3rd 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 operate all facets at once. 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 becomes 28.5%, meaning users 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:
Unlike Google Ads, organic listings are free, which increases their lead generation value for roofing contractors.
4) 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. All things considered, traditional mail remains a profitable lead generation technique.
Think about how sick people are of getting spam emails. It stands to reason that 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:
Direct mail marketing (mailers) might seem obsolete, but the statistics tell a different story. Research shows that direct mail still works in 2023.
5) 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 for 2023. Depending on your sales team’s size, 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.
In normal circumstances, residents like to put off significant roof repairs until they notice a leak from their ceiling or something worse. Hail storms provide an excellent opportunity for lead generation.
Check out some materials below:
6) PPC Advertising (Google Ads)
Google Ads helps new roofers get on top of Google rankings fast. Even at about a 38% click-through rate, Google Ads still garner engagement from a significant part of the user base.
Costs per click are rising because of high competition, but PPC ads remain a legitimate lead generation method for roofers, depending on your local area.
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.
Whichever platform you use, your ad’s success will come down to 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 won’t 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:
Google Ads allows roofers to buy their way to the top of search results by paying for search engine ads that cost on a per-click basis.
7) 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:
The roofing industry has always been closely associated with door-to-door sales, which can help establish personal relationships with homeowners, increase trust, and acquire customers.
8) Trade Associations
The main benefit of trade shows is networking. You can partner with suppliers and other industry giants for future lead generation avenues.
Your representative should present value when attending association shows so that potential partners have an incentive to work with your company.
Keep track of how much you pay for trade show tickets because you’ll want to earn more in residual revenue.
You could be wasting your resources if you just attend shows to shoot the breeze with other industry folks. Set up a booth and provide 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:
Trade show benefits are rarely immediate, but like traditional advertising, networking events can have long-term and indirect benefits for your roofing company.
9) Email Blasts
We discussed direct mail as a superior version of email marketing—fewer people open emails in 2023. Still, you can convert people through email blasts with the correct marketing format. 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 in 2023.
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:
Email marketing software like AWeber allows roofing companies to craft custom lists and campaigns for maximum conversion rates.
10) 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.
Once you understand the algorithm, it’s easier to rank on YouTube than Google search results. Video content can help bring in new leads to your business.
11) Business Partnerships
Joining forces with suppliers can help roofers generate leads in 2023. Whether it’s more prominent brands like Menard’s and Home Depot or smaller, regional suppliers, roofing contractors can get a leg up on 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 might be able to toss you some leads from clients.
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 so many avenues to partner with like-minded business owners in 2023.
Increasing brand awareness through business partnerships is a great way to spark interest and increase trust.
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 will emerge along with new technology.
Still, there will always be opportunities to generate leads.