The best way to win water restoration leads

“What’s the best way to get new water restoration leads?” It’s a question you will have asked yourself many times. And for us, there’s a clear answer.  

For your business to grow and be successful, you need a steady influx of new water restoration leads. The nature of what you do means that you can’t rely on repeat orders. Or subscription payments. Or customer loyalty. Without new jobs, your revenue dries up.

When leads are crucial, it pays – literally – to know where to find them. In this short article, we’re going to explain why we think Google Ads are the best way to drive a reliable flow of leads towards your business. But first…

Who do we think we are? (And why should you care?)

We’re Adbetter, an award-winning specialist in pay per click advertising. We create highly effective lead generation models for our clients. And we’re so confident in our results that if you want to work with us, we may even be able to cover your ad spend. Get in touch for a discovery call. Let us explain how we can open the floodgates to more leads, more consistently, than you’ve ever had before.

“Since working with Adbetter, our digital paid media channels have grown to be one of our most consistent generators of high-quality leads. Our lead volumes from paid media channels have increased over 1,400% whilst maintaining a low cost per lead.”

– Matthew Fawl, Director, Alesco Investment Property

Water restoration leads: what makes Google Ads so good?

Search for something on Google and chances are you’ll see the ‘sponsored’ results at the top of the page. Those are Google Ads: a shortcut for getting your business to the top of Google when people are searching for services that you provide.  

Their defining feature is that any click on the ad generates a native pop-up form within Facebook.

1. Target people at their point of need

Both financially and emotionally, water damage is distressing for homeowners and people in commercial premises. They need it to be resolved quickly. And when you’re in a bind and need to find a business fast, what do you do? Correct, you go to Google. With a well-orchestrated Google Ads campaign, you make your business unmissable. Right there at the top of the search results, right when it matters. 

2. Make smart use of your marketing budget

Why spend time and money on advertising that might be ignored? With Google Ads, you only pay when someone clicks the link through to your website. And if they’re clicking, there’s a good chance they’re interested in your services. It’s a great way to make shrewd use of your marketing budget.

3. Your campaign is easy to control

You don’t need to be a high-flying marketing exec to get results with Google Ads. The platform is intuitive and easy to use. And it gives you lots of control over your campaign. For example, you can set your campaign to run for a certain time period, or until a certain amount of money has been spent. You can also pause your campaign at any time if you have too many new leads to process.

What about other types of pay per click advertising?

Google Ads are just one type ofpay per click advertising. The ads you see in your Facebook, TikTok or Instagram timeline? They’re pay per click too. So are the banner ads you see all over the web. And the ads you see on YouTube.

Should you be advertising on these platforms too?

In a word, no.There’s an urgency to what you do. When people need your services, they need them stat. They’re not going to wait until they’ve been served an ad about your services on Facebook to take action. Google search should be your sole focus when it comes to pay per click.

10 tips for winning water restoration leads with Google Ads

Follow the tips below and you’ll be on your way to creating Google ad campaigns that get results.

1. Figure out who you’re targeting  

Do you want to target homeowners of a certain age? Or insurers who may be looking to partner with a property remediation expert? Google Ads gives you many options when it comes to targeting a specific audience. That means your ads will only be shown to people who fit key criteria of your choosing – such as age, income or even the type of websites they have recently visited.

2. Figure out where you’re targeting

If your business is based in Brooklyn, you probably don’t want to be offered a job in Long Beach. With Google Ads you can set your ads only to people in certain locations – whether you’re looking to gain more of the local market share or are looking to expand into the next state.

3. Get your keyword targeting right

Next it’s time to think about the keywords that trigger your ad. A good place to start is to think about the type of search terms people might use when they need your services. The obvious one is “water damage repair in [location]”. But try to delve a little deeper into the mindset of your audience. For example, “how to fix water damage to a outer wall” is perhaps a less common keyword, but signals a particular need for your expertise. Google’s free keyword planning tool will help you zero in on your target keywords.

A quick sidenote about negative keywords

Too often, businesses embarking on their first Google Ads campaign fail to specify negative keywords. And that can be a costly mistake. Negative keywords prevent your ads from being shown when a search query includes a specified word or phrase.

Why would you want to do that?

Well, it’s all about search intent. The phrase “does water damage hair” includes the words “water damage”. But clearly the person behind this search has no interest in your water restoration services. Specifying “hair” as a negative keyword will prevent your ad from being displayed.

Likewise specifying “iphone” as a negative keyword will stop your ads being served for queries like “restore water damaged iphone”.

Remember: with Google Ads, you pay whenever your ad is clicked. Specifying negative keywords prevents losing ad budget to people clicking the results at the top of Google without checking the results are relevant to their search.

4. Consider Local Service ads

If you’re looking to bolster your reputation as a local expert, you might want to consider Google’s Local Services ads. These work slightly differently to Google’s regular PPC ads.

For starters, you only pay when a potential customer actually gets in touch through your ad (instead of paying when they click).

Your ad will also be displayed with a ‘Google Guaranteed’ badge – a persuasive signal to potential customers that your service is reputable.

5. Make sure your funnel is slick

Your ad is just the start. It’s what happens after you’ve attracted that first click that makes a difference. Each point in the customer journey that follows should be geared towards encouraging your new lead to become a customer.  

And that starts with…

6. Conversion-focused landing pages

When you’re paying for every click, it’s worth thinking carefully about where that click goes. Each of your ads should point to a landing page that’s set up to show how you can be the answer to your reader’s problems.

Landing pages are something of a science in their own right.
But here are some quick tips.

1. Highly relevant, highly targeted

You should create a unique landing page for each of your ad campaigns. It must be super relevant to the ad that your new lead clicked – demonstrating quickly how you provide the answer to the problem.

2. Capture data, begin the marketing conversation

In marketing terms, the main objective of your landing page should be to gather data on your visitor. And you can do that with a short form that invites your reader to leave details about their job so you can get in touch with a quote.

Consider questions such as:

·   Is the building commercial or residential?

·   Where in the building is the damage?

·   What is the zip code of the property?

·   What’s the extent of the damage?

3. Mobile optimised

Your visitors will most likely be browsing on their phone or a tablet. Make sure your landing page is designed mobile first.

4. Outline the process

You can go a long way towards reassuring your prospects simply by demystifying the process of working with you. Explain what happens once they have completed the form. Indicate how quickly you can respond. Set their expectations.

5. Provide an option to call

Some people prefer doing things over the phone – especially when it’s urgent. Your landing page should emphasise that your leads can speak to an adviser over the phone. However, consider revealing your phone number only when your prospect has completed the form on your landing page. That way, if you miss their call – you still have their details and can follow up later.

6. Include trust signals

A good landing page should work to verify your credibility as an expert. Consider trust signals such as customer testimonials, membership of any relevant industry or regulatory bodies, awards and certifications, the number of projects you have completed or years of expertise. You get the idea.

7. Follow up quickly

This is crucial. Time is of the essence. Water damage is something people want to get sorted fast. You have to follow up with new leads as quickly as possible – and that’s means having a process in place before you launch your campaign. Ideally you should be ready to reach out to a new lead within minutes of them completing the form on your landing page.

Remember, it’s likely your prospect will also be researching your competitors too.

And they will contract the first business that provides a reasonable quote.

The moment a prospect gets in touch, the clock starts ticking.

8. Consider display ads for retargeting

Let’s say someone hits your landing page – or any other page on your website – but doesn’t get in touch. Not great. But the fact they visited your website or clicked one of your ads is a strong signal that they need your services.

Remind them that you exist with display ads via the Google Display Network, which allows you to serve ads across more than two million websites. And yes, you can target only people who have visited your website and not got in touch.

It’s called retargeting. And it can be super effective when used strategically.

>> Getting results from Google display ads for lead generation

9. Get the right tracking in place

Audience tracking is crucial for your campaign to be effective. You need to know whose clicking, what they’re clicking and what they’re doing afterwards. That way you can see what works, double down on what’s effective and optimise your ad performance over time – making your ad spend more and more efficient.

You don’t have to be a data engineer. But you do need to invest the time to make sure your audience tracking and reporting is set up correctly.

10. Work with an expert

You don’t need be a marketing maven to get results with Google Ads. But it’s also easy to waste a lot of time and money while you’re finding your way around. Working with an expert – like Adbetter – can help to make sure your campaigns are set up correctly and driving ROI from the get-go. So you can skip the experiments and jump straight to the part where fresh leads are coming in reliably and frequently.

Need an expert? Choose Adbetter.

When you choose to work with an expert, you have a right to expect results. So while you’ll notice the difference we make in the leads you receive, we’ll also provide a monthly report that shows exactly how and where we’re getting results for your business.

Sounds good? Get in touch and let’s set up a discovery call to discuss how we could work together.