In the competitive rental industry environment, where national companies have invested huge advertising budgets to provide streamlined e-commerce experiences, independent rental companies must leverage efficient growth strategies to gain market share. Considering the majority of renters visit the rental company's website during the rental process (sometimes as much as 80% of renters), it is essential for rental companies to drive attention and traffic to their website.
Gone are the days of “build it and they will come.” No matter how well designed your website or e-commerce experience is, it's meaningless if you don't have a steady stream of traffic coming to your website.
From our perspective, there are three pillars to driving high ROI traffic and online growth: Google Ads, Paid Social Advertising, and most importantly, Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Maximize your visibility with Google Ads
Google Ads are an essential part of your strategy because they provide instant visibility into key moments in the customer journey. For rental companies, strategic implementation is key to success, from keyword selection to campaign analysis. It's all too common to pour valuable capital into Google Ads only to see little to no return. After reviewing hundreds of campaigns, we've found common characteristics among successful campaigns.
Optimize for “high intent” keywords. Identifying what potential customers are searching for is the first step. Use keyword research tools to find terms that match your services, focusing on high-intent terms like “skid steer rentals near me.”
Campaign settings. Set your conversion goal to “Conversion” to ensure detailed conversion tracking for your online rental storefront. Ensure that your ad groups are set up by product category, and that within each ad group, you have at least two ad variations so the algorithm can optimize for the best-performing variation.
Optimize your ad copy. Effective ad copy addresses a user's need and includes a clear call to action, increasing the likelihood of a click and conversion. Including your keywords as headlines when setting up your ads will increase your click-through rates and ultimately reduce your costs.
Monitoring and analysis. Use analytics to measure the performance of your campaigns. Metrics like cost per click (CPC), click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per sale, etc. can be very helpful in refining your approach to get better results. Record this data and analyze trends over time. Also, it's a best practice to make big changes to your campaigns all at once rather than making small changes frequently.
Engage your audience with paid social media
Advertising on paid social media platforms is always a great way to gain attention and increase awareness of your business. Paid social media is fundamentally different from paid search – customers are unlikely to be searching for equipment rentals when browsing social media. Therefore, paid social media needs to be measured differently, with engagement, clicks and impressions as the main key performance indicators (KPIs).
Audience targeting. Leverage the advanced targeting capabilities of platforms like Facebook and Instagram to reach specific demographics and interest-based segments. Whether you're renting to “weekend getaways” or large construction companies, you can reach your audience on social media.
Creative content. The creative appeal of your ad can have a huge impact on engagement rates. Employ high-quality visuals and storytelling that speaks directly to your audience's interests. Focus on “stop-the-scroll” ad creative.
Performance analysis. Adjust your strategy based on detailed performance analysis to optimize the “in-feed consumption” of your content. Ads that engage natively on the platform are often evaluated algorithmically, resulting in lower costs.
Retargeting. Paid social media is also a very cost-effective way to reintroduce your brand to potential renters who have already engaged with your website. This is extremely effective when combined with paid search: 95% of paid search traffic doesn't engage with your business the first time they visit your website, so remarketing to this audience using paid social media is a great way to bring back some of that traffic and drive more conversions.
Local SEO is a key component of your digital presence
Local SEO increases your online visibility and helps your business show up for search terms like “equipment rentals near me.” Good local SEO will help your rental business appear prominently in local search results and on platforms like Google Maps.
Google Business Profile. A properly optimized profile can significantly boost your presence in local search, making your business more accessible to potential customers. First, make sure your business's general contact information is accurate and that you've added at least a few photos of your equipment. Add each category of equipment you offer as a “product” to your listing. Most importantly, make sure you consistently get great reviews and respond to them. These are all signals to Google to improve the ranking of your business listing.
Local citations and backlinks. Building local citations and getting backlinks from highly-respected sites in your community will boost your search engine rankings.
Online reviews. In addition to reviewing your Google Business Profile, we proactively manage your online reputation on other sites like Yelp and Facebook by encouraging positive reviews and responding professionally to positive and negative feedback.
For independent rental businesses, the goal shouldn't be to become the king of the digital advertising world. Instead, focus on leveraging partnerships with rental software providers and marketing agencies that have a deep understanding of the equipment rental industry. These partnerships will give you the expertise and tools you need to efficiently navigate the complexities of digital marketing, allowing you to focus on your core business operations and what you do best.
Understanding the nuances of digital marketing strategies and how they apply to the rental industry can help you compete on an equal footing with national competitors. Running targeted Google Ads campaigns, generating leads through paid social media, and optimizing local SEO are strategies that can generate significant ROI if used effectively. These efforts can help you stay competitive and visible in a competitive marketplace, and attract the right customers.
Kyle Clements is CEO of Atlanta-based Quipli, an equipment rental software company serving heavy equipment and general tool rental companies. For more information, visit quipli.com.
