waterfurnace international online marketing case study

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!