Shoulder-Season Marketing Strategies for Home Services Companies

In the home service industry, ​“shoulder season” refers to the period between peak and off-peak activity. For example, the HVAC shoulder season typically occurs during lower electrical usage seasons, such as the fall and spring. 

Work slows down consid­erably during the shoulder season, giving you an oppor­tunity to focus on marketing. Being proactive can help you fill your calendar earlier than usual, ensuring you stay busy during the peak season and beyond.

We highly recommend these marketing strategies to boost sales:

• Promote seasonal maintenance packages
• Leverage local SEO and Google Business Profile
• Offer referral and loyalty programs
• Create educational content for homeowners
• Run targeted digital advertising campaigns

Seasonal mainte­nance packages are an essential component of your off-season marketing strategy. During shoulder season, you’re not as busy as you are during peak periods, leaving you with extra time in your schedule. Instead of spending this time on tasks that don’t add to your bottom line, offering a seasonal mainte­nance package can help generate additional revenue.

If you have an HVAC business, offer to clean air vents, change filters, and perform other services designed to keep furnaces, AC units, and other HVAC equipment in good condition. Offering seasonal mainte­nance packages makes it easier to maintain your connection to existing customers. You can also attract new business, making it one of the best marketing strategies to boost sales during the shoulder season.

Search engine optimization (SEO) improves your website’s visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing. When your website is more visible, it becomes easier for potential customers to find you, making SEO a priority when looking to boost sales when business is slow. Additionally, local SEO helps your business rank higher in local search results, which is partic­u­larly important for home services businesses. 

Shoulder season is the perfect oppor­tunity to write geotar­geted landing pages for your website. Geotar­geting makes it possible to market your business within a specific geographic boundary. For example, a solar company in Philadelphia might benefit from creating landing pages aimed at residents of Ritten­house Square, Fishtown, and Society Hill. Publishing geotar­geted landing pages gives you multiple oppor­tu­nities to rank.

Optimizing your Google Business Profile should also be part of your shoulder season marketing strategy. Your GBP allows you to optimize your local business profile so prospective customers can learn about your company. Your profile should contain plenty of details, such as your address, phone number, hours of operation, and website URL.

During the shoulder season, you might also consider creating a referral and/​or loyalty program. Referral programs reward customers for referring their friends and family members to your business, while loyalty programs reward them for engaging with your business on a regular basis. You could offer free services, discounts, gift cards, and other rewards to program members, encour­aging local residents to sign up.

Every piece of content you publish creates another oppor­tunity for internet users to find your business online. Since work slows down during the shoulder season, we recommend spending some time creating new content. Blog posts, articles, mainte­nance guides, and other types of content can help establish your business as a source of accurate information.

Digital adver­tising uses websites and social media platforms to deliver messages, making it easier to connect with members of your target audience. For example, if you pay for banner ads, people who browse certain pages might see an adver­tisement for your seasonal mainte­nance package. 

Digital adver­tising is cost-effective and allows you to target specific audiences, often leading to higher conversion rates compared to tradi­tional adver­tising methods like magazine ads or TV commercials.