Successful AV integrator marketing is more than just sight and sound. You’re in a field that requires a depth of trust with your clients, and establishing a strong marketing plan can build that trust over the long haul of your relationship. So how do you get started on building strong marketing plans? Here are 5 marketing tips for AV integrators that can’t be missed.
1. AV Integrators Need a Strong Website
You can’t go far in your lead generation campaigns without a Website that can educate, inform and delight your customers. Beyond just a list of services, your site should have AV case studies, a blog that displays your expertise, and various points of lead conversion to build your sales funnel. The entire design of the site should be visual! Your craft is a visual one, so how can a client trust you if your site looks like it was done in 1997?
Here is a quick checklist to see how your current site stands up:
- Do you have a complete list of services specific to your niches?
- Are your case studies relevant and less than 3 years old?
- Are your team photos and bios present and updated?
- Do you offer an expertise-based blog that a visitor can subscribe to?
- Do you have updated, professional photos of your work?
- Can you identify the SEO keywords that bring you the most traffic month-to-month?
2. Big Tickets Require Lead Nurturing
Your business is based on large project investments from your clients. AV customers don’t wake up one morning and drop 100K on a new sound system. This process takes time, and time requires strong lead nurturing from marketing automation.
There are two types of nurture that can significantly impact your AV marketing: newsletter marketing and sales nurture automation.
AV Integrator Newsletters
Each month you should be putting your expertise on display in the form of an email newsletter. From articles on thought-leadership, case studies, and company news, your current and prospective customers should be hearing about you. Creating email newsletters and keeping it consistent is not for the weak at heart, but we’ve been helping clients do this task with great results.
Lead Nurture for AV Integrators
So once you make a contact on your site, how are you educating them to your AV expertise and services? A successful lead nurturing campaign will deliver a series of messages that will help your prospect get to know you better. The best part, is that once it is setup, it allows your sales team to help close more sales by taking their focus off the customers who are not quite ready to buy. These campaigns can effectively multiply your sales force, and increase your customer service at the same time.
3. Don’t Ignore Social Media Marketing
It may be hard to understand the benefits of Facebook marketing for AV Integrators, but it’s a reality that your customers are on social media and connecting with them is important. While you might not need to be posting 3 times a day, you should have a presence that speaks to your expertise, company, and values.
Another channel that could be beneficial would be Pinterest and posting images of your installations and products to draw attention to your work. Staff could be enabled to post photos of work in progress to give it an edge and presence ahead of your competitors.
Yet whatever you do, approach social media AV marketing with a reasonable cadence and transparency that will build the “why” of your company, not just push products and services.
4. Localize your SEO
Generally, your business is confined to a radius of travel that gives you an advantage when it comes to search engine optimization for your site. Focusing on the location keywords can help increase your page rank quickly, as well as beat out your competition. Most searches are still done with location qualifiers ex. “AV Integrators in Boston”, which should be part of your overall keyword strategy.
Don’t forget to optimize your services pages for even the most simple of services. Don’t omit “replacement audio cables” for “Large church audio installation companies”. Where obviously we all want the big check, but the basic term might have more searches each month, which is going to bring more potential customers to your site.
We use Hubspot’s Keyword Tool as part of our Keyword analysis process, and it’s the first stage of our new engagements with clients. As far as marketing automation software, Hubspot is great for AV integrators who are looking to bring their marketing to the next level, without breaking the bank.
5. Have A Year-long Marketing Strategy
There is a lot to get done to make an AV marketing plan work. But the only way to do it successfully is to have a plan. A successful marketing plan is going to take into account all the areas of existing business, new growth opportunities, and refine the existing systems for efficiency. Lead generation depends on having a clear vision of who your customers are, and where your company is going. A few key elements:
- Have a clear idea of your customers through persona exercises.
- Determine budgets for resources inside and outside the company.
- Spend the time to create sales funnel metrics so you know what goals your marketing plan needs to achieve for you.
- Plan the slow and busy seasons of work so you can be marketing more during slow seasons and not over-burden yourselves during the busy times.
Put Them In Action
I hope these 5 marketing tips for AV integrators bring your marketing to the next level and create a lead generation platform that works. We’ve helped firms like yours build plans and execute them with success. If you are interested in hearing more, contact us today for a free marketing consultation and learn how we could help your company grow.
