By CEDIA - Fri, Nov 8, 2024 - Blog
With an incredible $29 billion net worth, the smart home industry is in higher demand than ever – which means competition is tough. As more players enter the smart home market, it’s up to business owners to cut through the noise.
This is particularly challenging for an industry with new technological advancements all the time. To target potential customers or retain existing ones, we need a multi-pronged strategy, from building awareness to making a sale.
One of the key benefits of joining CEDIA is its learning opportunities. Not only can you discover the latest smart home technology, but the best ways to market yourself. Learn more about joining CEDIA and how it can benefit your smart home business.
To create a strong value proposition, it’s important to understand your customer base. You can start with an ideal customer profile – as a rule, clients in the home automation industry are Millennials with all-round tech knowledge.
But to drill down further, you can attack pain points such as:
New technologies are being developed all the time to address these concerns. Stay updated on the latest industry trends with CEDIA insights.
While you can supplement your marketing efforts with referrals, it starts with a solid knowledge base focused on the user experience.
Your website needs to answer user questions, be they through FAQs or case studies. It should also load quickly and naturally guide people through each step to improve the customer experience. Remember that many searches are carried out on smartphones, so it should be accessible and mobile responsive.
While user-friendly websites can improve customer satisfaction, they also feed into SEO. To take this further, think about the search terms your target audience might be using. For instance, they may be asking common questions about home automation systems. Create content focused on these keywords to rank for common terms.
Smart home business marketing naturally lends itself to helpful content. Think about your customers’ daily lives and what they might be asking about home automation products.
This can influence your content strategy, for example:
All of these will help to build trust rather than pushing a sale too hard. Smart home systems are often a large investment, and your potential customers need to know they can trust their providers.
Naturally, digital marketing for tradespeople relies on targeting a local demographic. In particular, a small business will focus on customers nearby. You can start with ‘quick wins’ such as setting up a Google My Business account and listing your services in local directories.
It’s important to manage your reputation online, too. Encourage reviews, read them and respond to them – they could make or break a sale. You can also benefit from being associated with an industry body. Explore CEDIA’s business growth resources for tools to help you build strong local partnerships and grow your customer base.
Social media can enhance your content marketing – for example, sharing images of living spaces on LinkedIn or Instagram. But while many marketing strategies cite social media as a great way for sharing content, it’s also great for interacting with customers. Let’s say one had questions about the energy efficiency of smart thermostats. You could respond and direct them to the right content.
Paid advertising, such as Google or Facebook ads, provides another quick win to target homeowners. You can specify audience attributes and create ads based on their needs. For instance, high-income households may want home security.
High-profile industries like smart home automation rely on relationships. Ensure you build networking into your business model, taking time to connect with estate agents, builders and interior designers.
Again, this comes down to trust. An industry certification from CEDIA will show that you’ve been trained by professionals, working with cutting-edge smart home devices. Better still, this opens doors to new networking opportunities. The more people shout about you, the less time and money you need to spend doing it yourself!
To check if it’s working, we all need to measure our home automation business marketing. Set yourself smart KPIs, such as inquiries through website forms, or likes and impressions on social media posts.
You can use tools such as Google Analytics to measure website activity, or insights dashboards on social networks. You can even track customer feedback through third-party platforms to get an idea of brand sentiment.
The most important thing is continuous improvement – marketing is a long game and can always be refined!
To market your smart home products, you need to start by understanding your audience’s needs. For example, a client looking for smart lighting control products may want assurance around sustainability. Ensure your content answers their questions and back it up with credible sources, such as a CEDIA accreditation.
To market your home automation business, you can use several channels. Each of these will help to drive a holistic marketing strategy, targeting customers from multiple touchpoints such as social media or blogs to improve trust. Make sure you measure your marketing activity and continually refine it for best results.
