waterfurnace international online marketing case study
DESCRIPTION
Tim Litton, Director of Marketing for WaterFurnace International, Inc., presents an online marketing case study of how they effectively used technology to market geothermal systems.TRANSCRIPT
Tim LittonDirector of MarketingWaterFurnace InternationalTwitter.com/timlittonLinkedin.com/in/timlitton
The Internet is essential to any modern business
80%
67%
Very few ever make it to the second page
To compete, local businesses must have a professional online presence that ranks well with Google.
As Google gives greater priority to local results, companies that want to stay visible must provide dealers/franchises with the SEO tools to succeed.
Typically Two types of customersHands-on Technicians
Active Marketers
Typically Two types of customersHands-on Technicians• Experts on product• Comfortable with servicing and
installing equipment• Limited website or no website at all
Typically Two types of customersHands-on Technicians Challenges• No geothermal information online• Not comfortable with creating or
maintaining a website• Don’t have time or money to have
someone create site from scratch
Typically Two types of customersHands-on Technicians Challenges• Local web guy doesn’t understand
geothermal and offers limited copywriting
• Challenging to keep on top of constantly evolving product information
Typically Two types of customersActive marketers• Comfortable with marketing tools
and activities• Comfortable with new technology• Have a website
Typically Two types of customersActive marketers challenges• Usually have limited geothermal
information• Lead time and cost is high for
website updates • A quality business website is
expensive
Typically Two types of customersActive marketers challenges• Traditional agencies have a hard time
understanding geo• Challenging to keep on top of
constantly evolving product information
CorporateCorporate challenges• Little control over dealer/franchise
messaging• Little control over visual
representation of your brand• No insight into performance of
websites (leads, traffic)
WaterFurnace Dealer Websites• Partnered with Cirrus ABS• Goal: Provide powerful choices at a
fair price• Built for SEO• Address the needs of both
businesses
Solutions for both types of businesses
Active Marketer• Dedicated geothermal information• Content easily and quickly updated
by corporate• Pictures and copy are customizable
to reflect dealer brand
If you can edit a Word document, you can edit your website.
Solutions for both types of businesses
Active Marketer• Personalization is rewarded by search
engines• Affordable - Start at $50/mo
Solutions for both types of businesses
Active Marketer• Dedicated geothermal information• Content easily and quickly updated
by corporate• Pictures and copy are customizable
to reflect dealer brand
Solutions for corporateCorporate• Create initial messaging and images• Eliminates obsolete or out-of-date
information in the wild• Easy communication of promotions
Track dealerperformance
withbuilt-in
analytics
New templates are added periodically
Switch easily between looks
Paid Search & Call Tracking Options available for one low price
Paid Search• Create ads for Google, Bing or Yahoo to
drive more leads to local site. • Provides immediate traffic for keywords
which your website may not be optimized for
• Ads are tested and refined• Administration by experts at Cirrus
Call Tracking• 5 numbers Included in your Paid
Search• Provide metric data on activities• Assign each number to a different
medium (Print, TV, Radio, etc.)
No other manufacturer provides a solution with this much control and that’s easy to update
Make changes on your own, when you want them!
Results:• To date almost 230 dealers have
signed up for the program. • Sites are reviewed for keyword
rankings monthly• City Name + geothermal searched in
Google and the results are recorded.
Results:• Currently, more than of 60% of primary
target cities appear on the first page of Google.
• Almost 1/3 of participating companies are the first organic result
• WaterFurnace dealers are targeting 2500+ unique cities
• First page results for over 1800+ cities
Geothermal Solutions
• 39 days old• 13 of 20 cities were
the 1st organic result• 19 of 20 cities were
on the 1st page (95%)
Geothermal Solutions has said that for their previous site, they were told a customer had found them online only 3 or 4 times over 3 years. They’ve been found more online in the last 39 days than in 3 years of their previous site.
Summary:• As Google gives increasing priority to local
search, companies must provide dealers/franchises SEO tools in order to maximize visibility
• Win market share by saturating 1st page results• Gain insight on performance of marketing tools -
give customers tools to determine short term (simple) ROI
• Have better control over how your brand is portrayed
Thank You!