No matter how popular they are, swimming pools and hot tubs don’t sell themselves, and neither do pool services. That’s where pool and spa marketing comes in.
Developing a pool and spa marketing plan is an essential step to take when starting a pool cleaning business or another type of company within the pool industry. Your pool and spa company’s long-term success depends on attracting the interest of homeowners and property managers to convert them into pool service customers.
The right marketing tactics will help business owners drive demand for pool services and products. In this guide, we will share some of the most effective marketing strategies and how to put them to use to deliver growth for your business.
Importance of creating an online presence for your pool and spa company
As consumer interest in health and recreational exercise soars, pools, hot tubs and spas are trending. That means the pool industry is positioned for growth. Experts project that by 2027, the global pool and spa market will total $23.6 billion, up 4.3% from $19.1 billion in 2022.
As more and more homeowners, communities, and properties install pools and spas, there’s a tremendous opportunity for swimming pool and spa businesses to expand.
Bottom line: There’s never been a better time for pool, hot tub and spa companies and service professionals to invest in pool and spa marketing strategies.
Top pool and spa service marketing channels and tactics
Are you in the business of selling, installing, servicing or repairing pools, spas and hot tubs? Regardless of your pool industry niche, here are some of the most effective marketing channels and strategies to consider as you build your pool and spa marketing plan.
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A website for your pool and spa business
In today’s digital era, you won’t get far without building a website for your spa business, pool service company or other pool industry company. To get the most out of this critical online property, consider the following for your website:
- Optimized for mobile — this will help your company’s search engine optimization (SEO) and customers searching from their phones
- Targets homeowners and property managers if you provide services for both residential and commercial properties
- Lists the pool services you offer, including a description of what each entails
- Introduces the service professionals and spa professionals on your team
- Includes your company’s contact information, such as your phone number, email address and links to your social media accounts
- Has a section for pool and spa news and updates from your company
- Options for homeowners and property managers to book a pool service or request a free estimate
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Blogging, content marketing and local SEO
When homeowners and property managers search for pool and spa companies in their area, where does your website appear in search engine results? You want your website to rank well near the top of the first page so that potential customers find you before they find the competition.
Content is one of the most important factors that influence SEO — specifically content that is “compelling and useful content” — according to the leading search engine, Google.
When creating content, such as blogs or videos for your website, Google recommends following these best practices:
- Create fresh, unique content your customers want to learn about
- Your post should be easy to read and polished — free of typos and grammatical errors
- Demonstrate expertise by writing blogs or creating videos on topics that you or your team members are knowledgeable about
- Answer questions homeowners are searching about related to pools and spas, using keyword research to guide the topics
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Social media marketing
Growing a social media following for your pool and spa business can pay off. One study found that nearly all customers say they spend money with companies they follow on social media.
Even if you don’t have the time to create an active online presence on social media, pay attention to what customers say about your company in online reviews and brand mentions on social media. This customer feedback can inform product and service offerings, highlight on opportunities to improve the customer experience and help you evaluate your online reputation.
Plus, creating paid social media marketing campaigns helps increase awareness, sales or bookings when business is slow.
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Online reviews
Do you have a pool company with limited, outdated or negative online reviews? That could be harming your bottom line. Online reviews significantly impact on whether consumers do business with companies — nearly all customers (93%) say reviews influence their purchasing decisions.
That’s why savvy pool and spa marketers regularly ask customers to submit reviews about their businesses on popular online reviews platforms, such as:
- Yelp
- Google Search and Maps
- Online directories, like Angi and Nextdoor
Want to get more online reviews, faster? Broadly offers automated email review requests and SMS review request marketing services that enable businesses to effortlessly ask for and generate online reviews.
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SMS marketing
You’ve designed a sleek, modern website for your pool and spa company, and you have new visitors checking out your online presence regularly. Great! But how are you keeping these users engaged after they leave your website?
That’s where lead generation forms come into play. Savvy marketers use these to ask website visitors if they’d like to stay in touch, receive pool and spa news and get special offers. These forms can be used to collect contact information (such as mobile phone numbers and email addresses) and ask potential customers to opt-in to receive marketing updates.
While companies often think about collecting email addresses and consent for email marketing, they don’t always collect phone numbers and consent to receive SMS marketing campaigns. That’s a missed opportunity since SMS campaigns generate an impressive 98% open rate, making text an ideal channel to reach homeowners and property managers.
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Email marketing
Besides using lead generation forms to grow your SMS marketing list, you’ll want to do the same to build your email marketing list, especially considering the strong return on investment (ROI) email delivers. For every $1 spent on email campaigns, companies see an ROI of $36.
Of course, achieving strong email marketing results takes putting effective email marketing tips into practice:
- Create value for your customers — don’t waste their time by sending irrelevant, unhelpful emails
- Monitor your email marketing key performance indicators (KPIs), including unsubscribe and click-through rates, to see how customers are engaging with your email campaigns and to ensure your strategy and content are achieving your goals
- Use campaign personalization best practices, including addressing your email subscribers by their first name and sending emails tailored to their customer segment (pool owners vs. spa owners, loyal customers vs. new customers, homeowners vs. property managers) and demographics
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Web Chat
When homeowners and property managers visit your website, what happens if they have a question they can’t find the answer to?
Sure, they may take the time to look at your social media profiles or call your company to get what they’re looking for. But they might just as easily move on to visiting your competitor’s website instead.
Web chat services are designed to solve this problem, and it’s no wonder customers and companies are both fans of live chat because this website functionality allows customers to communicate with companies in real-time when they’re visiting a website.
A significant portion of customers (42%) prefer web chat services to other channels, and nearly 80% of businesses using live chat say this marketing technology helps increase customer loyalty, revenue and sales.
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Online advertising
If your pool and spa service business is just getting started or service bookings are slow, you may consider paid marketing channels. They can help fuel a higher volume of leads than the organic marketing channels described above.
Depending on your business objectives, focus on paid marketing campaigns that:
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- Raise awareness: These include pay-per-click (PPC) banners, video or text-based ads across a variety of platforms, including search engines (such as Google Ads), social media and online directories
- Generate leads: These include pay-per-lead ads (PPL), such as Google Local Services Ads, that have forms to collect prospective clients’ contact information
- Boost conversions: These are campaigns that are optimized to encourage ad viewers to book a pool service directly
Pool and spa service marketing FAQ
How do I generate more pool and spa leads?
Get more leads for your pool and spa company by using the marketing channels and strategies included in this guide, including:
- Creating an informative and mobile-friendly website
- Developing content that enhances your website’s SEO
- Generating more online reviews
- Investing in social media marketing, SMS marketing, email marketing and online advertising
How do I improve my pool and spa business’s reputation?
Take control of your online reputation by putting these online reputation management strategies into place:
- Monitor customer feedback across social media and online review websites
- Analyze your brand mentions and reviews to evaluate your brand’s overall sentiment and pinpoint areas where there’s room for improvement
- Respond to customer reviews to demonstrate that you care about your customer experience
- Look out for fluctuations in your cross-channel online reputation and take steps to address the situation if negative sentiment increases
Where should pool and spa companies advertise online?
Advertise where customers are looking for the pool and spa services and products you offer, whether on social media, search engines such as Google Search, online reviews websites such as Yelp or home services websites such as Angi.
Run a few pilot advertising campaigns with limited budgets across a handful of channels to see which platforms yield the greatest reach, engagement or revenue, depending on your objectives.
Expand your pool and spa business with Broadly
Broadly offers a variety of services designed to help pool and spa professionals like you:
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- Increase your pool services bookings
- Boost swimming pool and hot tub sales
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- Up level your pool & spa marketing and stand out within the pool industry
- Reach more homeowners and property managers and convert them into new customers
- Grow your pool and spa business faster than the competition
Schedule a demo today and learn about Broadly’s tools and marketing services.
