Your Premium Guide to Pool and Spa Marketing

Prime pool and spa marketing strategies to reach ideal customers

The backyard is that quintessential space homeowners either relish in or loathe. Your target market is hopeful homeowners who want to shift the perpetual doldrum of lawn mowing boredom to the soothing backyard resort of their dreams, complete with a pool and spa.

But they have to find you first.

Websites and social media are essential, of course, but they’re more of a baseline when it comes to marketing – the must-have jumping-off point, if you will. Valuable? Yes. Important? Absolutely. The only thing you should be doing to market your pool and spa business? No way!

The Get Smart Group knows that you want those premium pool and spa clients who have lofty goals and will be loyal to your business for years to come. Strong marketing starts with those vital scheduled blog posts and Instagram reels. As we’ve mentioned, these are important, but we strongly feel there is more to be done. To get the illustrious clients you want, you also need premium pool and spa marketing strategies to bring it home. 

Draw Them In

In the trajectory of technology over the last 30 years, Google became synonymous with research. We no longer say, “Look it up,” we say, “Google it.” So, you can pretty much guarantee that Google is the first place potential customers are going when they are looking for pools and spas, which means it’s your initial point of contact with most potential customers.

So, first and foremost, if you don’t have Google My Business set up, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Pool businesses without GMB immediately lose legitimacy with potential customers because there’s no website, contact information, business hours, or reviews readily available with Google search results.

Your next step is to set up a Google Ad Campaign; if this isn’t part of your marketing budget, then adjustments need to be made. If the highest number of potential pool & spa customers are searching on Google, then that’s where you should be advertising. And hey, we get it, navigating Google Ads can be time-consuming and intimidating to some, but that’s why The Get Smart Group is here. We have a dedicated team that understands all of the algorithm jargon, so your business is hitting the top of search results. We’ll manage ads for you and regularly provide (and explain) qualitative information on ad results, so that you know you’re getting the proverbial bang for your buck.

Show Them What They’re Missing

So now that you’re hitting top Google searches, potential customers are clicking that website icon on your GMB listing to see what you’re all about. We live in a visual world, and for as many research-oriented buyers in your service market that will read every blog post you offer to absorb all of the information before buying, there are just as many visual shoppers who will bounce if they don’t immediately see the wow-factor from you.

Social media gives you an opportunity to create on-site reels (publicly distributed short videos now available on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube, in addition to the ever-popular TikTok) with your personal phone at the moment, but what we’re really talking about here are videos and images of high production value. Yes, that means hiring a professional and even creating a storyboard and script (we can help!). But can you imagine how potential customers will drool when they pop onto your website and are immediately greeted with an awe-inspiring virtual tour of your most gorgeous poolscape creations (complete with aerial drone shots)? Yes, please.

You’re Not Just Selling Pools and Spas

You’re selling you. Potential customers want to know that they can trust you to give them the dream resort backyard they finally want to bring to fruition. Especially with the increasing demand for pools and spas — and the backlog that creates — customers need to know that you’ve got their back.

This starts by creating marketing materials across the board that have owners and staff integrated into them. Social media posts should go beyond brand-generated images; they need to also have you at the helm. The About page on your website needs to go deeper than the vague fluff offered on many competitor websites that simply says “we’re here to serve you.” It needs to tell a story — the history of the company — and provide introductions to not only executive staff, but staff customers will directly be in contact with throughout the pool and spa sales and installation process.

Ryan in the sales department needs to share about his family, his hobbies, and why he loves getting the chance to help people relax and feel better in a top-notch hot tub. Stacy, the construction manager, needs to not only share who she is, but also why she finds joy in building luxury pools for families to creating memories in and around. The Get Smart Group can connect with each staff member and create engaging, personalized stories to build the trustworthy connection potential customers are looking for.

Speaking of Personal Connection

Your website, blog and social media are the information hub and your first impression, which means they need to be top-notch. (The Get Smart Group can help you with that, too, by the way. Did we mention that?) It’s imperative, however, that you get potential customers truly engaged with your brand before they become part of your bounce ratings.

One way to do this is through an email newsletter sign-up prompt. Have a prompt pop-up on your website after 10 seconds (so you know they’re engaged). With your prompt, be sure to let potential customers know the value of what signing up for your email list means: that you’re going to be providing them with thorough information about pools and spas.

Utilizing a drip campaign is the best way to establish a strong connection with potential customers through email. It’s setting up a system that sends automated emails on a consistent basis tailored to each potential customer’s pool and spa interests. Be sure to give those that sign up the option to indicate what product(s) they are most interested in so those tailored emails maintain that coveted engagement, rather than a click of the “unsubscribe” button because potential customers are getting multiple emails a week about every product or service you have. Oversaturation does exist; we can help you create that balance.

The emails you set up can utilize links back to those informative articles you had The Get Smart Group write for your blog like “How to Choose the Best Hot Tub” and “What to Look for in a Pool Service Company.” Our premium marketing service goes a step further and will set up the entire email drip campaign for you, saving you time and making sure the emails check all the boxes for high open rates.

Hoard Reviews

An essential part of any premium marketing strategy is to have reviews from past customers available at as many contact points as possible: Google, social media, and Yelp. Stream any and all reviews and include more in-depth testimonials on your website. There’s no such thing as too many reviews.

You can’t necessarily trust your current customers to leave reviews without prompting them though. Thankfully, through our online reputation management program The Get Smart Group can help you to request and manage reviews for all platforms from one place with our review management software, Birdeye. We can also put together a separate email drip campaign for your current customers that not only asks for reviews upon their completed installations, but maintains engagement so that they come back to your company for pool service and hot tub chemicals moving forward. Which also opens up the opportunity for — you guessed it! — more stellar reviews.

Create a Stronger Business

All of these elements are valuable and, dare we say, necessary for a premium pool and spa marketing strategy. A successful marketing strategy means growth for your business and, let’s be honest, sometimes a little help is needed to make sure your business is growing in a sustainable way for long-term prosperity.

The Get Smart Group rocks at business development! (We kind of do everything!) We can help you develop strategies for growth, setting goals, and manageable steps for expansion. Solid team management is another integral key to success, and we’ll help you with everything from hiring strategies to implementing reviews and creating a path for career development. Need help with inventory control, supply chain management, sales promotions, and budgeting? Yep, we’ve got you.

A premium marketing strategy for pool and spa companies can take your business to the next level, but it can be a lot to manage. We get it, and that’s why The Get Smart Group is here to strategize and walk with you through every step of creating an informative and engaging website you can be confident in, Google ads that will draw them in, several points of effective and consistent contact with potential customers, as well as thoughtful and thorough plans for taking your premium pool and spa business to the next level.