From the Yellow Chair
From the Yellow Chair
3 Home Service Marketing Strategies You’ve Probably Never Tried (But Really Should)
Ever wonder why some home service brands feel trustworthy before they even quote the job? We pull back the curtain on three simple, overlooked moves that stack trust fast: a brand ecosystem audit, a hyperlocal micro influencer network, and a documentary-style install video that shows the work, the manners, and the finish line.
First, we map every place your brand lives in the real world—fleet wraps, uniforms, CSR tone, on-hold music, reviews, email signatures, invoices, social, and signage. Then we prioritize the fixes that signal care: clean, consistent trucks; technicians who look and speak on brand; and responses that turn reviews into SEO. This isn’t a rebrand; it’s a punch list that makes every touchpoint feel the same, so your neighbors recognize you and risk feels lower before your tech arrives.
Next, we ditch celebrity influencers for people your market already trusts: the realtor who knows every street, the PTA organizer who mobilizes a school, the youth coach everyone thanks on Saturdays. We outline a simple value exchange—swag, gift cards, or a free maintenance plan—in return for honest posts about real experiences. No scripts, just authenticity and accountability. If something misses, we fix it and learn. That’s how local word of mouth scales without feeling bought.
Finally, we show how to film a relatable behind-the-scenes install. Choose an average home, capture van loading, protective prep, cleanup, walkthroughs, and a calm voiceover from your sales lead. These story-driven videos beat coupon graphics because they demonstrate care and craft. Then repurpose everywhere: your website and YouTube, short social clips, recruiting, and weekly series like Meet the Crew Monday and Service Story Saturday.
If you’re ready to tighten your brand, activate real neighborhood advocates, and tell stories that convert, we’ve got your back. Subscribe for more practical growth playbooks, share this with a fellow owner who needs a slow-season plan, and drop a review to tell us which tactic you’ll start first.
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We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
What's up, Lemon Heads? Welcome to another episode of From The Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal. And as most of you know, this podcast is brought to you by Lemon Seed Marketing, which is a marketing and strategy branding company for home services. All of my friends that are doing H5 Plumbing Electrical Landscape Pest Control Roofing, we are here for it and to give you guidance and strategy on how to utilize your entire marketing budget and build those brands. So today I'm talking to you. I'm Rodden Solo, me and Jason DeRulo. We're riding solo today, talking about three marketing things that maybe you haven't really thought of and why you should. So let's jump into it. Let's dip some lemonade. All right. So here are three things. I had to write them down, so don't judge me, but here are three things that I think you could really focus on to have a killer 2026, especially when honestly, guys, weather is not our friend. Those of us that are living the life of great, it's beautiful outside. We can actually sit outside and enjoy the weather. Shout out to my Texas and people in the south. But honestly, at the end of the day, anytime your slow season comes around or your shoulder season and you can actually look up a little bit, these are three things that are just unique opportunities that I think you can implement. Um, and it really would help push the limits, build your brand, do it healthy. Um, and it's easier to do in the off season or in a slower season than it is to do in the buck wild, wild west of top seasonality, right? So let's jump into it. Number one, I want to call the brand ecosystem audit. So I'm calling it that because what I want you to do is take a deep look into your business and where your brand shows up. Where does your brand show up customer-facing places that maybe you haven't thought about? So here's what we're gonna do. That's not Crystal's natural thing to do. I want you to take your marketing strategy and I want you to set it to the side. And I want you to think about all of the ways that your potential customers and your existing customers, your friends and your family actually interact with your brand every day. What does it look like? Is it on par for what you're wanting to exude from your brand? Or have you let things get sloppy? Do you have different branding all over the place? What are we talking about here? Right. So let's get, let's, let's talk deeper about some of those pieces. So let's talk about trucks, right? So right now would be a really good opportunity to take an inventory of all of your trucks, the wraps that are on those trucks, and schedule out when maybe you need to refresh those wraps. Is it just a hood problem? Is it a backdoor problem? Like, man, I have this truck that's been riding around with the back window replaced that really needs the wrap replaced. So now is a good time to spend or listen, delegate, delegate for leadership, delegate someone to lead the charge of going through an inventory of all of your vehicles and what the wraps look like. So again, if you've recently updated your brand, if you did it intentionally and you're slowly but surely rolling through brands and wraps, um, but now's a good time to go look at each of those and decide is the hood a good representation or is it all cracked and dried? Um, you have partial wraps on some things, but then you replaced a door and now the wrap's missing, right? Really unfortunately, when our wraps look clunky and messy and disproportionate and discombobulated, what I think it does is it makes it that's the reaction that it gives. I know that it's like I'm trying to be able to afford this crystal. Um, but what I want to tell you is now is the time to decide when you can get it done. What gets planned should get done. So say, you know what? I can't afford to wrap that vehicle right now, but it's the first one I'm gonna wrap in January. I'm gonna rewrap that one. So trucks is one. Uniforms is another one. Um, inspect what you expect. Make sure that your guys are wearing what you want them to wear. So remember, if your guy shows up and let's say he's an installer and it's 137,000 degrees in the attic, and so he pulls off his shirt that you give him, but underneath it is a like Budweiser, have a butt on me, or it's 420, let's smoke weed somewhere, um, getting drunk, you know, or it's like naked women on it, or you know, something offensive. So can we make sure now is a good time to roll through that uniform process? Make sure do you have updated uniforms for everyone? Is anyone really low? Is it time to reorder? Take a look at their pants, they have pooky all over their pants. Like again, this is just a time to take a good view of when they knock on the door to install, to sell, to service um whatever they're doing. Do they look at the level that they're about to ask for an investment? So am I about to sell you a$20,000 system looking like I rolled out of the bed, smoked three cigarettes, and down two white monsters on my way there? Um, or do I look professional, polished, and on brand? So that's another one. So trucks, uniforms. Um, the other one is the text tone of voice. This was interesting to me. Um, as I was kind of rolling through here, like now might be a really good time to reiterate your expectations of how your team interacts with the public. Okay, I know this sounds a little silly, but again, it's another time to say, hey, we are known as the friendly plumber. We need to be uh ding, ding, ding, friendly. All right. So we are known as this very family-based company. So we need to be shaking hands and talking correctly and being kind and generous and with all of our time and effort and energies. Like it depends on, because this is why I tell you guys, a brand is so much deeper than a logo. Listen, you need a rock star logo. That's why we have a whole entire team dedicated to bringing your brand to life in a logo, right? But a logo is not your brand. A brand is the emotions that you evoke when people aren't talking, when you aren't in the room, right? So when people are talking about you, people see your stuff, people experience your brand. How what does it make them say, feel, hear, do? What is what are all those things? So the way that your technicians, the way your CSRs, the way your trucks look, the way their uniforms look, all of those things impact the customer journey, whether we like it or not. And yes, you know, people can be like, well, they're just a little direct. They can be direct and you'll lose business, or they can be direct and kind. So there's a difference, right? So we can't allow some of our team members to be like, sorry, this is just who I am. Well, unfortunately, it's not based on culture, right? So when you start laying down laws around culture, but now is the time to do this brand audit, right? What about looking at your on-hold music? What does the average person hear when they call your business? If you have a jingle, hello, ask them to make it into your on-hold music. Your on hold music could also be like, hi, thank you for calling Crystal's Heating and Air. This is Crystal. I'm so thankful that you chose us today. If you don't mind, please hold. Our team is working diligently to get to you as soon as possible. Or is it elevator music? Or is it something like you're rattling off 50 offers, right? So there's there's a rhyme or reason to what you do. Just make sure you're intentional that your on-hold music is appropriate. It's on brand. It's another opportunity to speak to people and remind them that you're thankful for them. You're thankful for them choosing your company, even the even the rough ones, you're thankful, right? Uh, also, now's a good time to go double check all of your reviews. Are you checking reviews on every single platform and responding um well? Are you responding with SEO in mind? Are you responding kindly and directly and on brand? Or are you just here? I'm here to set them straight. I'm here to tell these people that they are the problem. Again, you're welcome to do it, but you're also opening yourself up to the consequences of those behaviors. So just a reminder there. Also, your emails that are going out right now. Do you have a nice email header? What about your email signatures? Is everything up to date and on brand? Right. So I'd love for you to make a list of those things and just start double checking. This might be a couple of hours of work, just double checking that everything is on brand. And then what's not and what you need to update, it's making a plan of action, right? You eat an elephant and a cookie the same way, one bite at a time. So this might be very overwhelming at first, especially those of you that are going through a relaunch of a brand or something. You might need to be like, oh my gosh, I have this whole list of things. Are my invoices updated? You know, you might be missing something, but invoicing, uniform, truck reps, email signatures, on hold music, your social media channels, your email headers, are those all correct? Um, what about have you updated your, you know, you moved businesses? Is all of your signage updated? Your, you know, stop putting things off and be intentional about those things. So that's number one. Where is your brand live? What all is it doing? And you don't need to reinvent everything. You just need to plan consistent little seeds in those three to five key areas to make sure that you are watching things get back in line and keeping your brand on point. Remember, um, because consistency with your brand being out there builds so much trust, it's faster than any ad can do. Just seeing you out there looking on brand, your trucks, your uniforms, your people, your socials, all of it being on brand, they don't just buy a heating and air conditioning or a plumbing system or a new roof. They're buying from you specifically, right? They're buying from your company. And so when your brand messaging and your brand look looks very consistent across all of those channels, literally every touch point of the customer journey is feeling the same way and on trend. It turns your company into something recognizable, a trustworthy neighbor they can depend on, not just another HVAC plumbing electrical company, right? So come on, guys, we can do it. Brand audits, right? Number two, and this one's a little tricky, but it's kind of a little fun. Like I'm kind of here for it. It's a micro influencer neighborhood networker. Oh my gosh, such a fancy word for hey, you're a busy mom that uses our services. Will you please talk about it? Will you please talk about it? So let me tell you a little story about myself. I hate political signs, I hate them mainly because I just avoid confrontation. Okay, like I don't like it. Um, I don't love when um I want to make a stand on something and I know that other people are gonna have a strong opinion, but I've gotten better as I've gotten older. Um, so used to, I would have never posted about a company. Now I'm like, let me tell you who did good things. And I'll be honest, I'm much higher to post about a good experience that I had than I have a bad experience. But what we do here is that instead of paying for these national influencers and all these TikTok stars and all these big names, guys, get hyper local with a micro influencer plan. Okay, so what you do is reach out to that local realtor, the guy that everybody knows that makes good barbecue, the PTA mom that's always are, you know, always not arguing, not arguing, no offense, PTA moms, organizing is a better word, who is always organizing the school fundraisers, right? The youth sports coaches, the the people, the movers and the shakers of your area, and ask them to share their authentic experience with your company. Now, listen, those of you that don't have an authentic experience, and those of you that your experience is terrible, you need to be prepared for that. So, what I recommend that you do is build a neighborhood insider like referral program that basically is where local people that advocate for your business, you give them perks, whether it's swag, it's gift cards, it's hey, I will give you a free year of our pest control service or our um maintenance contract. If you will just promote, take a picture of the hey, I'm so glad I had crystals heating and air out here today. Um, they really got me working, my system working better. I noticed a high electric bill. That's all you need them to do is post about, man, John, my technician was so great. Um, Crystal on the phone was fantastic. I love this company and what they do. I love their membership program. And in return, you give it to them for free. Y'all, this is just smart marketing, right? This is smart marketing. This is not abusing. Well, I'm not gonna pay people to talk about me. Well, don't. But what I'm telling you is it happens all the time. And I would tell them, I want your authentic experience. So, hey, Nora, you're my neighbor. You're a mover and shaker in the community. You're a you're a prominent Hispanic female and uh our market's very Hispanic, and I know that that culture trusts each other more than they trust maybe an outsider. So, mine, Nora, here's what I'd like to offer you. If you would, I'd love to give you a free year of our services, but I want your authentic feedback. If you love everything we do, would you please share that on your social channels and just with your friends group? And if you don't enjoy it, will you please call me so that I can work on how to make our experience better? But in return, all I'm looking for is your honest feedback and your opinion. Y'all, and that's the truth and nothing but the truth. Now, if you're gonna be mad when they call you and say, I didn't like what happened, I felt like you were I was being sold to. I felt like your guy was looking for problems. He wasn't very thorough. He ran over my dog. Like whatever happens, right? There is an issue with that. But home service decisions are hyper local and they're also trust-based. People do business with who they like, know, and love. And you need people that are paying attention, that others trust in your market and others trust in these little neighborhoods and these little school districts. You need those people. Identify a few of them, reach out to some friends and families like that are close to you first. Test it out, see what reward motivates them the most, and then go for it. But like when you build it, um, this is for authentic storytelling. I want to tell you the whole truth here. This is not for me to send you a script of what to say. I want your authentic story about what it was like working with crystals heating and air or with crystals roofing or Tiffany's pest control, right? I want you to think that way. And then third, last but not least, y'all are gonna hate this. But y'all, if you could do a little social media content that is like a behind the scenes, so like a documentary style video showing who you are and how you go the extra mile. Think about if you could just pay, find someone in your market and say, hey, we are doing an install at a relatively nice house, like your average home. So do not make this video of a house that can be featured on MTV cribs. You need it to be relatable, right? So do not go pick the nicest, fanciest six-bedroom, 10,000 square foot mansion. That's not a brag moment. That's very intimidating to people. You need to go pick a modest, traditional home in your market. And you need to call a local company that will come and make a video for you. And you need to tell your installer team that you want this to be very authentic, but they need to be on their Ps and Q's. Booty, you know, booties on their feet, rolling out carpet, parking correctly, cleaning up the trash. And then you tell that videographer, this is what I need for you to do for me from start to finish. Meet us here while we load the van, drive with us, where show where we park, show that we knock on the door, show that we remove the old system, show that we remove all the trash, show that we install it, show that we bring the homeowner into their thermostat to look at it, show that we then go back outside and show the contractor or show the homeowner how good of a contractor we are, show where we climb up in the attic and make sure that the ductwork is correct. Have a voiceover done by the sales guy, right? Show the installer shaking hands with the homeowner. Those videos will go way further than another video. Hey, we 10% off for veterans, right? They want, we as consumers crave understanding and like a little insight into things that we don't normally get to have insight to right. So, my thought here is that you schedule a couple of these during your slower season so that your team can take their time. They're not dripping sweat, honestly. It's a lot more of an aesthetically pleasing thing. Get approval from the homeowner, and then you need to send that homeowner like a hundred dollar gift card and a fun little basket that says, please go enjoy a date night. Thank us, thank you for letting us video you and your install at your home. Guys, freaking gold. Gold. Um, because people don't fall in love like with graphics and stuff like that, they fall in love with stories, right? Stories where people go, oh my gosh, this is lovely. That's why when you give away things like this is so cool, it's heartwarming, and it's so freaking easy to do if we could just make time for it. It also humanizes you, your company, your brand, your people. And then honestly, people love to see other people. Now, listen, people don't always celebrate other people. There's a difference, but they love to see other people, especially like them. That's why I'm harping on you. Do not go do the most bougie house you have in your market, get a little bit more traditional, right? Um, but feed content to every channel that you have. Put that video on your website, put it on your YouTube channel, uh, cut it up into little pieces using Opus clips to um share little pieces on your social media channels. Share the whole thing on social media channels, make it into a recruitment ad. Don't you work for want to work for a company that values our work like this? Don't you want to do business with a company that goes the extra mile like this? The problem is some of you don't go the extra mile. So you need to look at what that would be to go the extra mile, right? So a couple of things that you could do with that is create a recurring like Meet the Crew Monday. Um, so basically every Monday you do a fun video about Juan or John or Blake or Crystal or whomever is on your team and let them meet you a service story Saturday. So a Saturday post. Like you really need to watch when things perform good, but and use it to show the brand values that you have in action. Use voiceovers that make things look really good, not just talk about here we are doing an install of a three-ton unit over here in this subdivision and this Jimmy, you know. No, we need it to be professional, clean, and not over the top. But hey guys, you are going behind the scenes with crystals heating and air today as we install this four-ton system on this beautiful home in the Crown Colony subdivision. And this is our install team of Blake and Susan, and they are a rock star team. I'm gonna let you watch a little bit as they pack up their van and get headed over to the home today. Here they are now unloading. As you can tell, we always make sure we love to park where you can still get in and out because we're gonna be there for a couple of hours, making sure that we do a fantastic install. But here you see Blake and Susan really making sure that everything is ready, greeting the homeowner, letting them know that their system is ready to be installed. We're gonna be removing their old one, period. But you get the point, right? This is us walking and listen, we're mesmerized by it because we're telling a story. If you can tell a story, this is the home of the Lovelace family. They are so excited to be getting this new unit. This unit was over 20 years old. They are tired of paying high electric bills. They are choosing to install a Armada, our personal brand of unit in their home. They've installed a Wi-Fi thermostat. Guys, they are really making great moves to lower those interest, lower those electric bills. And honestly, they just really want to be able to make it cool before they get home. Their kids do a lot of sports, and so this is an exciting time for them to be able to, hey, go ahead and cool the house down before we get home and go to sleep. So, guys, this could be your family. Make sure you reach out to Crystals Heating and Air by clicking the link below. So, yes, I just probably paid two or three, 400 bucks for them to go out and video a couple of these, but then I'm gonna reuse that content and live it, live it up. So, guys, those are three things that I think y'all might be overlooking. Three cool marketing things that you could launch, you could do, you could investigate, you could invest in over your shoulder season to make sure that you're not missing anything. Think outside the box, guys. And as always, if you need a strategy, if you need to build your brand, if you don't know what the heck you're doing and you just want to gain control over your marketing, Lemon Seed is your marketing advocate and strategist and brand coordinator. We'll help you get this all set up and get going. We would love to do a free consultation call with you. So make sure you email us at hello at lemonseedmarketing.com. Guys, thank you so much for sipping lemonade with me this Tuesday. I hope you have a great day.