Marketing for home and business security companies

The home security market is worth over $60 billion in the US and £10.5 billion in the UK, with over 11,500 security companies in the UK alone.

With such a big market, that also means a lot of competition and with that, the need to stand out and get your message in front of enough people becomes even more essential.

That’s where marketing can help.

Essentially, all marketing is, is an attempt to promote your business to others. That might be in the shape of digital marketing, whereby your business is promoted online, word-of-mouth marketing or any other means you can think of to get your business out there.

In this article, we’ll focus on some of the core marketing channels you can use to promote your home security business as well as some other alternative methods that will help give you an extra leg up.

Website optimisation

With digital marketing, it all starts with your website.

If your site is not right, then however well you do with social media, SEO, referrals and PPC, you’re still not going to get the results you want as your site will be leaking leads like a kitchen sieve.

To avoid this, it’s vital you get your site in order. You can either do this yourself and take advantage of a site provider like Wix or Squarespace or you can pay a professional to do it - we recommend BUILT for trades.

Whatever route you choose to take, there are some golden rules you should follow.

1. Don’t put social media links on your main site page, this just encourages people to leave your site.
2. Make your phone numbers click to call - this means visitors on a mobile can click on the phone number on your site and it will automatically dial up on their phone.
3. Separate your features and services onto separate landing pages. This means your site has the ability to rank organically for each feature or service.
4. Make sure your site isn’t too slow, a slow site will scare off visitors and harm your site's health. Optimisations such as using small image files and avoiding redirects can help.

Overall, keep your site simple and informative. Make sure your customers have the information they need and ensure they are directed to the correct signup flow.

Don’t overcomplicate things and don’t try to be too fancy. Your site should be clear and easy to navigate.

Social media marketing

Most businesses have a social media presence, but fewer businesses do this well.

The trick with social media is to use a focused and targeted approach. This means putting your energy into one or two channels and attempting to do that well rather than spreading yourself too thin.

When deciding which social media platform to focus on you first need to establish what your ideal customer looks like and what kind of business you want to be.

As a home security business, you will be targeting homeowners and may want to market yourself as a family-first organisation. On the other hand, if you’re providing business security you may want to present yourself as a more formal high-end business.

Whatever approach you go for will inform your social media approach. If you’re more inclined to go after B2B then LinkedIn is a platform you should focus on, while if you're looking to target homeowners then Instagram and Facebook might be better suited.

Think about the kind of content that aligns with your brand and produce material that fits that theme.

For example, you could do LinkedIn posts covering security case studies, illustrating the impact of security systems on businesses or a short video breaking down how the technology works.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimisation or SEO is one of those terms that sounds a lot more complicated than it is. All SEO is about is creating a healthy website and producing helpful content that your target customers find useful.

There’s no big secret, it’s just about consistently producing good content that is actually helpful. This means using your expert knowledge in the security industry to answer people's questions, especially those relating directly to the products you sell

For example, a person who is worried about home security may search for the query “Do window restrictors stop burglars?”.

You can then write a blog article published on your website answering this query in full and providing information about how restrictions work. You can also include a recommendation for your business.

Just like that people are on your site and making purchases for your products or services.

To find these queries think of relevant questions you think your customers might ask and then search for them. Try adjusting the phrasing based on Google’s suggested searches. You can also check the “People also ask” section and ‘Related searches” sections for more ideas.

A good top tip is to answer questions based on topics that don’t already have answers from big businesses. If B&Q is already ranking top you might want to find another search topic, but if smaller sites are doing well on that query, so can you.

This approach can also be applied to video content on YouTube.

Paid advertising

This type of marketing takes different forms. You’ve got the digital approach with pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google and social media and physical ads such as those found in magazines or on billboards.

Both types of advertising can be effective, however, it is important that you do your research and proceed with caution when spending big money.

You should always have a system in place for measuring the success of your ad campaign right through to sale. Compare this against the costs of the ad.

If for example, you spend £1500 on a billboard for 3 weeks you need to be sure you’ve made in excess of that figure. You may get 50 customers who contact you, but if only 20 of them buy a product and only 10 of those are worth more than £20 then you are losing money.

This is why measuring the effectiveness of paid adverts through the full customer journey is essential.

That being said, paid adverts can be a great way of bringing in new customers. Think about the kind of messaging that might appeal to your customers and create ad content around that.

Start small and build it up.

Email outreach

Before you even start thinking about sending out emails to potential customers first complete this little exercise.

• What was the last cold (by cold we mean unfamiliar) email that you opened?
• What was the last cold email you properly read all the way through?
• When was the last time you clicked on a link in an email?

Chances are, it might be difficult to think of a good example. That’s because cold emails often don’t work. That’s not to say they can’t work, but to do this takes the right approach.

Instead of buying cold leads and spamming people with email messages, it’s far better to reach out to people who have already shown interest in your product or, if you need to email cold make sure you research your target and personalise your message.

So how do you go about finding prequalified leads? There are a few different ways but the main method is via your website.

You need to start tracking visitors to your website and incentivise them to leave their email. This means you should look at producing free resources and materials that web visitors can access by entering their email.

For example, you could create a PDF of some of the best methods and products for securing your house. Visitors get to download the resource and use it and you get their email.

You could even have a prize incentive, something along the lines of “sign up to our newsletter and get 30% off your first order.

But if you do need to reach out cold then find out as much about the lead as possible. Try and find them on social media, get an understanding of their pain points and create an email that addresses these concerns.

If you do this then email outreach can be a highly effective method for gaining new customers.

Referral programme

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways of gaining new customers. To maximise its reach and impact, use a referral programme.

To do this you need to incentivise your customers to recommend you to their family and friends. To do this you can offer a financial reward, a discount or any incentive designed to produce a referral.

Set up a landing page on your site dedicated to your referral offer and then promote it on social media and via email.

This is a great way to create new and high-value customers.

Sponsorships and partnerships

If you want to get your name out there, then setting up a partnership with an established business or sponsoring a public event, can be a good way of reaching new audiences.

The key is to choose the right business or event to get involved with. You want something that aligns well with your business and matches your values but is different enough to attract a new audience.

One slightly left-field option could be to sponsor an escape room business and get an escape room themed around home security created. This could be a good way to get people thinking about home security and start considering some of the technology you provide.

If that feels a bit much for you then have a look at local events in the area where you operate or even the local football team. Sponsoring these kinds of events gets your name out there and helps to establish you as a prominent brand.

The other option is to look at influencers and other people of interest. If you can get someone with a large social media following or a prominent figure in your area to try and endorse your products and services, this can be very powerful.

Just make sure it’s authentic, allow them to try the product and then let them promote it in a suitable way. If it seems forced people are less likely to believe it.

Guerrilla marketing

It may sound a bit aggressive or extreme, but guerrilla marketing is a technique any business can use, whatever its size. The idea is to create something distinctive and memorable and display it in a public place where it will get people talking.

For security businesses, you could do an interactive display. One idea might be to have some professional pickpockets to pick people's pockets (and obviously return the items) and show how important personal security is.

This could be filmed and doubled up as social media content.

The main thing with guerrilla marketing is to think creatively, be bold and give it a go. Even if your approach doesn’t necessarily go to plan as long as it’s generating conversation then you’re achieving your goal.

Takeaways

Now you’ve got a better idea of how to market your home or business security company, the next step is putting the theory into practice.

Start by picking a couple of strategies that really speak to you and your business. Maybe it's sprucing up your website or getting more active on social media.

Set some clear goals for what you want to achieve, like getting more people to visit your site or increasing your followers on Instagram.

Now, here's the crucial part – keep track of how it's all going because as with anything, you need to know what's happening to understand if it's working. Are more people visiting your website? Are they staying longer? Are you getting more messages or calls from potential customers? This info is gold – it tells you what's working and what's not.

And hey, don't worry if everything doesn't click right away. Marketing is a bit of trial and error, especially at the start. The key is to learn as you go, tweak your strategies, and find what works best for your unique business.

Remember, you're building relationships with your customers, and that takes time. But stick with it, and you'll start to see the results – more people knowing about your business, trusting what you offer, that's what it's all about.

Keep it authentic, keep it focused, and you'll be on your way to marketing success.