4 Ways to Market Energy Audits as an Ancillary Service

Energy audits take the home inspector’s services beyond obvious (and not-so-obvious) defects and into green living territory. More and more customers are interested in energy efficiency, and the home inspector is uniquely positioned to offer that information on the front end of a home sale. At least if he or she has the right training and equipment. That’s where you come in.

When you offer energy audits as an ancillary service, you enhance your work. It’s a good thing for your customers and it’s a great thing for your business. This added-value approach sets your inspections apart, and that gives you a marketing edge.

Here’s how you can effectively promote energy audits to your customers and find a brand new avenue for business growth.

#1: Use Social Media for Promotion and Networking

Social media gives you a terrific advantage for promotion. Some of them are free and some are relatively low cost. And the magic is that the more you use it, the better it performs. It’s for reaching people, interacting with them and becoming a familiar face: relationships.

If you have a Facebook business page, you’re on the right track. If not, you need one because it’s free exposure for your business.

The same applies to the professional network, LinkedIn. Both platforms let you network with real estate agents as well as prospective customers, speak with them directly and offer up links to more information about the valuable energy audit service you provide.

#2: Devote a Portion of Your Website to the Value of Energy Audits

Social media is great, but it works better as a marketing companion that drives traffic to your website. Your site should include plenty of information about why energy audits are important for every customer.

You might add static website pages that cover general information about what’s involved in an audit, a blog that lets you regularly write new content about energy efficiency, or do both. And don’t forget about advertising occasional energy audit specials on your home page.

Video is another website tool. These days, you can create an informational video, upload it to YouTube and post it on your website as well as social media, all for free. Video personalizes your message in a way that written words can’t, and it makes social media more social.

#3: Use Google +

Say what you will about whether or not Google + ever really got off the ground as a social media competitor. There’s a more important benefit, says Inspect Mania, and that’s the ability to “show up twice on the Google search results page.”

Like other tools at your disposal, Google + is also free. You can even add your company logo to the page to make it more personalized.

With Google +, you can grow your professional network quickly. And if you fill out all of the account setup fields, prospective customers who Google to find a home inspector that performs energy audits will get an “at-a-glance” company snapshot with customer reviews and contact information.

#4: Brave the Wealth of Website Analytics Data

This might sound like tech-head territory, but website data analytics can also be simple. Data from your website shows which of your energy audit promotional campaigns are bringing in more business and which ones aren’t. It can also give you clues about why, which lets you tweak your approach for better results. And Google Analytics is a simple tool that’s free or inexpensive, depending on how much information you want.

For example, let’s say that you make a video about what an energy audit covers. Then you upload it to YouTube, post it on Facebook, LinkedIn and on your website. Then you wait and watch.

Analytics reveals how many people viewed the video, which times of day the video was played, the path people took to view the video (Did they click the link at Facebook?), and even whether your audience watched the whole thing or closed it out. You can unravel mysteries about the effectiveness of anything you do online for your business using data analytics.

Energy audits are becoming more important, which puts home inspectors with the right training in a great position for business expansion. And you need exposure to get the word out. Talking in person with real estate agents is still an important way to find customers. But the Internet broadens your reach in ways that a relationship with one agent can’t.

Some home inspector training programs offer energy audit education as a supplementary module for an extra cost. And some don’t offer it at all. But at ICA School, it’s included in your tuition. We’re committed to providing the most comprehensive training so that you can attain your career goals. Are you ready to move into a new career? Enroll now and get started today.