Retargeting ads allow B2B HVAC businesses to reconnect with website visitors through targeted ads across platforms. By displaying your ads to people who have already shown interest, retargeting helps drive conversions higher compared to conventional display advertising.
However, many B2B HVAC companies face challenges getting their brand and offerings to the right decision-makers across the highly fragmented HVAC industry. Retargeting helps tackle this by re-engaging high-intent website visitors and keeping your brand top of mind.
In this post, we introduce the top platforms B2B HVAC businesses should consider for running effective retargeting ad campaigns. Whether you want to target other HVAC companies on industry-specific sites or reach stakeholders across the web, these options can help grow your brand and customer base. Read on to learn how LinkedIn, Google Ads, industry niche platforms, and social media advertising can bolster your B2B HVAC retargeting.
Top Platforms for Retargeting Ads
When it comes to B2B retargeting, the platform you choose will determine who you are able to reach and how effectively you can drive re-engagement. Rather than adopting a spray-and-pray approach, identifying options purpose-built for commercial targeting brings accuracy. In this section, we dive into the top platforms HVAC businesses should consider when planning retargeting campaigns aimed at other industry players. From LinkedIn’s wealth of B2B data to Google Ads’ extensive reach to targeted industry sites – each channel enables brands to reconnect with decision-makers in a context optimized for conversion. If you’re looking to not just reach HVAC stakeholders but also influence their purchasing with relevant and timely messaging, explore retargeting opportunities across the following platforms.
LinkedIn Ads:
LinkedIn provides unmatched access to B2B decision-makers thanks to their professional user base. Over 90% of LinkedIn’s 575+ million members are college educated and over 40 million are in decision-making positions across industries. This makes it an ideal platform for B2B HVAC companies to reach relevant contacts through retargeting.
LinkedIn offers a variety of ad formats suitable for retargeting HVAC businesses, including sponsored content, message ads, dynamic ads and more. These can help you get your brand and offerings to corporate decision-makers, HVAC business owners, contractors, facility managers and other buyers. For example, Trane Technologies ran a retargeting campaign with LinkedIn sponsored content and saw a 33% increase in lead conversion rate. Johnson Controls also used LinkedIn Audience Network and Website Retargeting to drive 25% more leads during the customer research phase.
Google Ads:
Google Ads grants extensive reach across the web, allowing B2B HVAC companies to get their ads in front of the right buyers anytime they’re researching related topics online. Features like Customer Match and Similar Audiences make Google Ads powerful for retargeting. You can create custom audience lists using your existing customer emails or website traffic data to re-engage known contacts. Identifying lookalike audiences also helps put your brand before more companies matching your best buyer profiles.
When crafting Google Ads for retargeting HVAC businesses, highlight your specialization in the ad text. Use actionable language focused on the benefits you offer specifically to other industry players. For example “Keep Your HVAC Business Running at Peak Efficiency with Carrier’s Commercial Equipment” or “Streamline Your B2B Operations with Toshiba’s Contractor Portal.” Testing various value propositions and conversion factors through A/B ad variants can also optimize retargeting effectiveness over time.
Industry-Specific Platforms:
Niche sites like HVACR Business and Contractor Daily offer direct access to engaged HVAC professionals through content, forums, and advertising. As the community hubs for the latest industry news, insights, and discussion – these platforms provide targeted reach to decision-makers at HVAC companies.
Their built-in audience segmentation features allow B2B brands to define and retarget buyers based on attributes like job role, company size, services offered etc. For example, Emerson used geo-targeted ads on HVACR Business to drive booth visits during trade shows while SystemAir retargeted engineers and contractors active in their blog community. Industry platforms make it easy to track ROI too – with Milwaukee Tool attributing $2 million in direct sales to their Contractor Daily partnership.
Overall, niche media gives B2B HVAC marketers the options and precision to rerun ads to key segments that have already shown interest. Combining this retargeting with relevant and personalized messaging has worked well for top brands.
Social Media Advertising:
While social platforms are often associated with B2C marketing, leading B2B brands also leverage sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to reach decision-makers where they already spend time online. The key is precision ad targeting and messaging relevant to commercial buyers.
For HVAC companies offering B2B products or services, thoughtful audience filtering to engineer titles, company sizes, and industry tags can provide a focused platform to retarget. Attention-grabbing ad creatives speaking directly to contractor pain points or operational challenges tend to perform better than generic corporate presence building.
For example, Trane Technologies used YouTube videos focused on product demonstrations to retarget accounts showing interest at trade shows. Daikin developed a multi-touch LinkedIn and Facebook nurturing campaign that helped double their commercial leads year-over-year. There is real potential in social media but the content and messaging should align to commercial buyer journeys.
Tips for Successful Retargeting Campaigns
Defining your target audience is the first step to effective B2B retargeting. Analyze your existing customer base and website traffic to identify buyer traits like:
- Company size/industry
- Specific job functions
- Business challenges of interest
Building custom audiences around these traits, as well as lookalike profiles, brings accurate targeting to retargeting. Ongoing audience research and expansion based on campaign performance should also inform your targeting strategy.
Creating Compelling B2B HVAC Ad Copy
With a B2B audience, your ad messaging must clearly speak to operational pain points and industry-specific challenges. Ensure copy discusses:
- Areas you can bring commercial efficiency gains, cost savings or productivity benefits
- Support in navigating business complexities like rapid technology shifts or changing regulations
- How their peers or competitors may be leveraging your HVAC solutions
Including ROI statistics, customer testimonials, free trials or access to tools that help other commercial teams can make ads more compelling.
Experimenting with Ad Formats
See what ad types, layouts and visual content performs best with your audiences. Some ideas you might want to consider using includes::
- Short video demos for LinkedIn or YouTube vs static banners
- Educational infographic formats for industry niche sites
- Carousel multi-imagery on platforms like Facebook and Instagram
Obsessively Tracking Performance
Analyze not just campaign dashboards but metrics like lead quality, sales cycle impacts and platform synergy to incrementally improve. Consider regular A/B testing cycles and dedicated monthly optimization days to action key insights. Continually refine both audience targeting and ad content based on real data.
Get Started with B2B HVAC Retargeting Today
Retargeting provides immense opportunities for B2B HVAC companies to increase visibility and engage the most promising prospects again and again. As discussed in this post, a strategic approach leveraging platforms like LinkedIn, Google Ads and industry sites can deliver strong ROI if planned and executed effectively.
The key is to continuously track campaign performance, learn about your best buyers, iterate on creative, and optimize for conversions. While it takes work, with the right foundation of accurate targeting and compelling messaging – retargeting done right can become a highly cost-efficient channel.
For B2B HVAC businesses ready to tap into these benefits, now is the perfect time to start. Audit your existing assets and identify where you can plug data-driven retargeting into the mix. Or explore working with a digital marketing agency well-versed in commercial retargeting. With the frameworks outlined above as a guide, take that first step to sustaining engagement and growth through platforms built for B2B success.
