The DCW Home Improvement Leads Toolbox

DCW knows homeowners. Whether it's working with major building brands like GAF or smaller local contractors, we have years of experience reaching this audience with the right messages in the right places. Timing is especially important for contractors looking to generate quality B2C leads. As spring gets underway, homeowners begin looking for pros for projects ranging from roof replacement to landscaping.

The tactics and strategies below are proven ways to reach this often-fickle audience, finding the right homeowners and converting them into leads.

Delivering the Right Message

Every locale has dozens of local contractors, most of which are unknown to homeowners until the need arises for a potential project. Therefore, it’s important that contractor ads achieve three goals: trust, value, and visibility. To raise visibility in a crowded field, low-cost awareness channels are essential. Display banners, direct mail, YouTube videos, Yelp promotions, website SEO, local billboards, and organic social media are all great ways to build up a brand through ad frequency.

Messaging needs to go a step further than mere recognition by establishing trust. After all, a home is most people’s most valuable asset, and contractors, unlike other goods services, will be working directly on a property. Trust can be established by sharing positive reviews, images of recent jobs, and customer testimonials. As do-it-yourself video continues to do well on platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, a short simple testimonial video can go a long way in establishing contractor expertise and reliability.

Get Social

Social media makes sense for B2C contractor leads for several reasons. Not only are platforms such as Facebook and Instagram useful for raising awareness and hosting business pages, but they also are driving higher and higher clickthrough rates, with some Meta ads nearing a robust 2%! Traffic to a business’ website not only increases the chances of onsite form fills or phone calls but can also be a valuable source of retargetable audience, users who are considering an offering but not quite ready to pull the trigger on that roof repair, new pool, or renovated patio.

Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor have the added benefit of in-feed lead generation form ads that allow users to submit their information to a business without having to leave the app. The timeliness of these leads can be further enhanced by connecting the platform leads to a contractor’s CRM in real time by using an API, such as Zapier, enabling businesses to reach out almost instantaneously. However, it is important to keep in mind when to use these potentially powerful lead generation ads– often platforms will target users who are just likely to submit lead forms, meaning a healthy ad mix and the use of re-targeting essential for getting quality leads.

Programmatic + Re-Targeting

While tools such as promoted social posts may be relatively easily to do oneself, one of the many advantages that agencies offer is access to powerful programmatic and people-based DSPs that can deliver pinpoint targeted display and video ads across the internet, reaching users on the apps and sites they interact with most. DSPs can reach thousands of niche audience segments, such as recent homebuyers, roof replacement interest, plumbing service shoppers, and more. DSPs can even target potential leads contextually by placing ads on content related to specific home repairs or services. For example, ads for window replacement can be targeted on articles reviewing different window brands.

Like social media ads, display ads can be valuable sources of retargetable traffic, serving as one of the many touch points on a prospects journey to becoming a lead. Not only can DSPs re-target a business’ visitors with video and display ads, but they can in turn create a whole new audience for parallel social media re-targeting efforts.

Ready to put DCW’s Tools to Work?

DCW is ready to help grow and improve your home improvement business’ leads. We offer custom digital and traditional media plans for any budget level, across any region or specialty. We can even facilitate original creative, including banners, social images, audio, and video with our agency partnerships. If you’re ready for an introduction give us a call or submit a form via our home improvement page.