“Short-form content is growing these companies quickly,” Relentless Digital CEO says

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Short-form content is growing these companies quickly.

Josh Crouch is a former contractor and the founder of Relentless Digital, a digital marketing company that works with contractors nationwide.

We sat down and talked about what he’s seeing in the marketing world today, which channels are performing (and not performing), how to break into video content, and more. Our conversation’s been lightly edited for clarity.

What are you noticing in the HVAC marketing world today?

Social media is having a much larger impact on organic growth because the companies creating content are creating brand searches on Google. And when you do that, you get more authority from Google. 

Short-form content is growing these companies quickly. I’d say the big two that there’s a lot of focus on are TikTok and Facebook. That’s where a lot of the homeowner generation is hanging out — they enjoy short-form video content. 

What are some common issues you notice with contractors new to marketing?

They’re not set up based on what the algorithm needs for success. Number one, their location is set up outside the city that they’re supposed to be located in. Second, they’re set up as a service area business.

What do you mean by service area business?

If you look up our business [Relentless Digital], you’ll see this map that shows our service area. When you look up my old [contracting] company, you’ll see they have a map pin that shows their [specific] address. For whatever reason, Google gives way more weight to the companies that have their address showing; their algorithm is weighted toward those businesses.

You talk about the importance of online reviews, but how can a contractor actually go about getting lots of reviews?

It’s a few different things: they ask in person, they have automations set up with their CRM, and probably the other big one is they incentivize their team with gift cards, etc. I’ve seen contractors do competitions where the top three [people] every month get entered to win something that costs several hundred dollars, like a Yeti or iPad. But if you do all three, you’ll absolutely crush reviews. 

Which channels will perform better (or worse) than others throughout the rest of this year?

Definitely not GLSA — it’s been tough. There’s just not a lot you can control with the profile to change things. You have a few options to fill out and Google says, “That’s pretty much what you get. Answer the phone now.”

I think social media is gonna continue to grow. I look at how much time the younger generation — who are the next generation of homeowners — spends watching short-form videos. TikTok is one of the popular ones, but YouTube Shorts is also up there. Instead of watching TV, that’s their form of entertainment. 

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You can have a year's worth of content ideas in probably ten minutes. 

How can a contractor successfully break into video content?

Find frequently asked questions [to make videos for]. There’s a website called “alsoasked.com” that takes information from Google and comes up with a ton of questions. I typed in “HVAC spring tips,” and it came up with like 70 different questions that people are asking [about spring tips]. You can have a year's worth of content ideas in probably ten minutes. 

The other is to go through local Facebook groups and search for HVAC or plumbing, and look through what people have asked. I saw someone who moved [to Phoenix] from Oregon and asked if they had to get an AC tune-up in the summer. That’s why you have to keep educating your market; that would have been a great opportunity for a contractor. 

What questions can a contractor ask to vet a marketing company they’re considering working with?

I do think one thing that could be asked is how many clients their account management team manages. Because some agencies manage a lot (think 50-90 per person), and what happens is you won’t get answers to your questions. Then, are the people marketers or customer service reps? And how often do the account reps get trained on their specialty? 

Aside from short-form video, what do you think the most successful contractors will do this year?

They’ll lean into automation with current customers — stay in front of them and just reach out to them with seasonal offers. It’s so stupid simple, but as a plain blanket statement: reach out to existing customers.

They’ll find ways to make 3-5% improvements. If their booking rate is 60%, they’ll get it to 62% or 63%.

They’ll stay focused on the simple things and just continue to improve incrementally.

There is no secret sauce to success. Measure and improve.

Is there anything else on your mind?

If we don’t, as an industry, start telling people what things cost, HomeAdvisor, Angi, or Google will. And their prices are not going to be what the actual prices are. Putting that [pricing] content out there to start training our customer base on what that looks like will weed out people you don’t want to work with, and most importantly, build trust. 

How come the other companies aren’t talking about or showing their price? Why does everyone have to come out to tell me something? That [pricing] content also performs really well online. The industry’s changing, customers are way smarter than they used to be, and it’s better to be in front than behind.