Content marketing can be a powerful way to signal that your pool business is strong and professional without having a conversation. I’ve seen it myself; content marketing can bring you leads you may not have received otherwise.
However, content marketing can mean different things to different business owners. What does good content marketing look like for a pool business? How do you get started? It’s always good to reevaluate, especially at the beginning of a busy pool season.
Find Your Content Marketing Channels
The first thing you’ll want to identify is where you plan to do content marketing. No one platform is objectively better than another, so you’ll need to look at the business that you run and choose what marketing channels make the most sense.
Are you posting content on your website? Are you making YouTube videos? Have you tried to get interviewed or start a podcast? These are all great questions to consider along with the obvious answers of social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and others.
I’ve found success as a pool professional on each of these channels. Furthermore, there’s no reason to choose just one because you can repurpose pieces of your content for many channels. I recommend investing in as many as you possibly can and seeing which ones gain traction.
If you’re strapped for time or other resources, you may need to start thin, and invest where you have the most potential. If you already take good photos of your work, starting an Instagram page and uploading a daily story or post could be an easy way to get started. Or maybe you have a passion for making short videos of your work, so you lean into TikTok or YouTube. Maybe your customers ask a lot of the same questions over and over — look into answering these inquiries with a blog post on your website.
Outline a Sustainable Workflow
Once you decide what channels make sense, you should focus on a workflow. Content marketing is a marathon not a sprint. Even the best social media posts, YouTube videos or website blogs eventually stop getting views, so consistency is key.
You should outline who is going to do your content marketing. Is someone in the field going to take the pictures/videos and upload them directly? Will you be writing the articles yourself or will you hire a ghostwriter?
Once you figure out who will do these tasks, you need to pick when they will post. This can mean both the time of day but also the frequency. Choosing a daily, weekly or custom posting schedule will help you maintain a plan and keep yourself accountable.
The pool business is a great model for content marketing. Unlike other industries, chances are that you’re doing some form of project work every day; this means you can constantly create content.
How to Measure Content Marketing
Once you understand what and when you’ll be posting, you can start executing. After some time, you’ll want to reflect on whether your content marketing is working.
It may take a few months of consistent content marketing before you see any difference, but you can look at smaller metrics as feedback to see if you’re on the right track.
Depending on your channel, these metrics will help you understand if your effort is worthwhile. On social media, look at your likes, comments, direct messages and followers. On YouTube, look at your subscribers, likes and comments. On your website, look at your number of page views and form submissions.
Advice from a Content Marketer in the Pool Industry
First, make life easier for yourself. If you’re posting blogs on your website, put a contact form at the bottom of each article encouraging questions. This will help you understand if people are finding your blogs. If you’re posting on multiple social media platforms, make your efforts organized by getting a scheduling software like Sprout Social. This will allow you to schedule content months in advance.
Next, show off your company’s strengths. If something makes your company unique, showcase that in your content marketing. Perhaps it’s a technique that your team is trained on or offers differently than your competition, or it could be something as simple as the size of your employee base.
Finally, grow your following through partnerships. I like to call this playing nice in the sandbox. If you’re new to content marketing or have been at it and are struggling, this is an easy way to grow your followers. For example, a pool service company could tag the landscapers and pool builders it’s working with in its content. Chances are, other companies will start to do the same thing. You can multiply your audience this way, and you will find that their customers are probably the same ones that you want to attract.
Three Benefits of Content Marketing
First, and this is an often overlooked benefit, is time savings. If you are publishing articles on your website or informational YouTube videos, you will likely see customers/leads ask fewer questions. This will save your employees a lot of time. Most homeowners enjoy doing some of their own research as it lets them feel in control. That fact coupled with the obvious inability to offer answers 24/7 is how content marketing can save you time.
Next, having good and consistent content marketing can help your business stand out. When a homeowner finds a few pool businesses and makes a shortlist of who they’ll consider hiring, they usually do a deep dive into each company. This includes things like social media and clicking around websites. If you have some content marketing present, it will legitimize your pool business before you even have an initial conversation.
Lastly, content marketing will increase your leads. Having social media channels allows you to get in front of more customers and gives them more ways to message your business. They might even ask you something basic that invites a larger conversation. By having helpful content on your website, you also show you’re willing to help your customers.
I’ve seen content marketing become a lead-generation source for many pool companies. It may not feel like your time is well spent initially, but you will begin to see the benefits soon enough. If you invest in social media or YouTube, the larger your following becomes and the more powerful it can be.
