7 Smart Marketing Ideas for Equipment Rental Companies

Have you recently launched an equipment rental business and found yourself looking for ways to get the word out about your new venture? 

Thinking about starting your own company, but want to ensure that you know how to effectively market your services? Want to fuel continued growth by leveraging proven marketing ideas for equipment rental businesses? 

If your answer to any of the above questions was a definitive “yes,” then you are definitely in the right place. 

In the article below, our team has composed a list of some well-established marketing tips for equipment rental businesses. Your company can benefit from these tactics whether you are well-established or new to the equipment rental industry. 

As you explore ways to build your brand, acquire new clients, and boost revenue, we suggest that you use the following tactics.

Clearly Define Your Target Audience

You must first identify who you plan to target before you take to social media, launch paid ad campaigns, or start writing blogs. Without a clearly defined target audience, it will be incredibly difficult to put together a cohesive strategy to execute your marketing ideas.

When defining your target audience, you should focus on attributes such as:

  • Demographics (age, gender, etc.)
  • Occupation
  • Location

After you have gathered some preliminary data on your target audience, you can segment it into subgroups. While there are many ways to segment your audience, one of the most effective tools for doing so is a system known as “buyer personas.” 

Buyer personas outline specific segments within your target audience. These pseudo-representations of your customers describe each segment’s pain points, challenges, and interests. Buyer personas will help you tailor your marketing message for each audience segment. 

For more on creating buyer personas, check out this guide from HubSpot.

Create a Content Strategy and Publish Content Regularly

Next on your to-do list is creating a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. SEO is the art of improving your website so that your content is more visible on search engines.

Search engines like Google and Bing rank websites using complex algorithms. These rankings are designed to connect users with relevant search results based on the keywords they queried. 

While there are many components of SEO, keywords remain the core. In order to boost your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to strategically target keywords and incorporate these phrases into your content. 

On that note, you cannot aimlessly pump out content that is jam-packed with semi-relevant keywords. 

Instead, you need to create a cohesive plan that outlines what keywords you want to target, why, and how you intend to go about it. Once your plan is in place, you will need to produce high-quality blog content and publish it on a regular basis. Over time, this will help you improve your rankings.

When creating content, focus on delivering value to your readers. The majority of your content should be educational, informative, and perhaps even fun and entertaining. Your blogs’ specific tone and style should align with your brand values and voice. 

For instance, if you rent bounce houses or party supplies, it’s okay to be a little more whimsical in your blog content. Conversely, if you rent construction equipment, your blogs should be more professional and focused. 

Make Sure Your Site Includes High-Quality Photos

When prospective clients are contemplating renting equipment from your company, they want to know that they are getting quality products. While describing the quality of your rentals will help sway their decision, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Professional photographs will allow customers to see precisely what they are renting. Photographs are also eye-catching, which means that visitors to your site are more likely to slow down and actually pay attention to the content on your site. 

Rental photos are not just useful for your website, but they can help you garner additional attention on social media platforms as well. If prospective clients are rapidly scrolling through their news feeds and come across a big, bold image of the equipment they are interested in renting, they will stop in their tracks.

Get Active on Social Media

Speaking of social media, various social media platforms are great tools for building your brand and attracting new clients. When marketing on social media, we suggest using a combination of organic and paid marketing

Social media can be one of the most versatile marketing ideas for rental businesses, giving you a lot of options for the kinds of content you can share to engage with your customer base.

Organic marketing involves generating traffic without the use of paid ads. You can drive organic traffic by creating social media pages, growing your following, posting regularly, and interacting with followers. 

Paid campaigns on social platforms work very similarly to those on search engines. When setting up a campaign, you can customize your budget, ad display options, and bid amounts. These capabilities give you total control over your marketing budget while also maximizing your reach.

Which Social Media Platforms Should I Use?

While there is no doubt that you should be marketing your rental company on social media, the question is, what platform should you be using? There is no one size fits all answer.

When selecting which platforms to leverage, you must consider your target audience. Let’s stick with the party and bounce house rental example to keep things simple.

Bounce house and party supply rental businesses primarily target consumers who are hosting personal gatherings. In light of this, such a business would probably benefit the most from marketing on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

On the other hand, a business-to-business (B2B) company that rents to construction companies needs to connect with other business owners. Therefore, LinkedIn would probably be the ideal marketing channel for that business. 

However, B2B businesses can still benefit from marketing on mainstream social channels like Instagram —although it should not be their primary channel. Regardless of which platforms you choose to use, be careful not to overload yourself. Doing so can make it difficult to manage all of your channels.

Engage on Your Chosen Channels

When marketing on social media, you must do more than just run ads or post content. You also need to engage with your followers or people who comment on your posts. 

To be clear, we don’t expect you to spend hours replying to followers every day. You have a business to run, after all. However, you do need to check your social media at least once or twice daily and strive to be responsive to customer inquiries. 

If your social media followers become unruly, you may want to bring in a full-time digital marketing professional to manage your accounts. Alternatively, you could hire a freelancer to spend five to ten hours per week managing your social channels if you don’t have the need or budget for a full-timer.

Create an Email Marketing Strategy

We know that email marketing sounds old-fashioned, but it remains a great way of connecting with customers. Setting up an email marketing campaign can help you connect with new clients, nurture existing leads, or solicit reviews from past customers. 

Managing an email marketing campaign has become easier than ever before, thanks to platforms like MailChimp and ActiveCampaign. These solutions allow you to segment your email lists into various groups so that you can target each segment with specific messaging. For more on email marketing, explore this guide.

Follow Up with Past Customers

Staying connected with past customers is a great way of keeping your brand top of mind. You can keep up with previous clients in many different ways. 

One simple tactic involves adding them to a recurring email list using the tools mentioned above. Alternatively, you can use ad retargeting by installing cookie-based trackers on your website. This approach will help you display ads to prospects who have visited your site but may have left without contacting your company. 

Nurturing relationships with previous customers can generate repeat business. In turn, this will lead to stronger revenue and help you build your brand’s reputation.

Invest in Quality Rental Management Software

All of the above tactics will help drive customers to your website. But what sort of experience are they going to enjoy once they get there? Will they be able to book their own rental or easily explore what items you have available? If not, then you have fallen short of customer expectations and hindered your own growth efforts.

The good news is that you can modernize your online storefront with Quipli’s rental website builder. To learn more about our online scheduling and rental booking platform, sign up for a free demo.

We offer a full suite of digital growth services for equipment rental businesses. To find out more about how to take your marketing to the next level with Quipli, reach out any time!

 

The Construction Equipment Rental Market: 2022 Industry Statistics

The construction equipment rental market is expected to continue growing despite economic uncertainty.

Currently, the industry does face challenges like higher raw material prices, rising interest rates, and an overall lack of skilled workers. This uncertainty has proven to be a net positive for equipment rental companies and the growth of demand for rental construction equipment. 

The rising cost of purchasing equipment will also push even more construction companies to consider renting.

Renting allows contractors to take advantage of the latest construction equipment technology without the high cost of ownership. 

Tech-focused machines that help improve efficiency for construction companies are expected to be a hot market for rentals, helping drive industry growth for the next several years.  

The Equipment Rental Industry Is Continuing to Grow

Strong growth is expected regardless of which equipment rental industry statistics you look at. 

For example, data published by the American Rental Association (ARA) shows the total revenue for the equipment rental industry (which includes construction/industrial and general tool rentals) is expected to hit $52.3 billion in 2022, growing by almost 10% from 2021.

The ARA also projects 5.5% growth in 2023, 2.5% in 2024, and 3.3% in 2025. 

Meanwhile, Market Data Centre (MDC) research shows that the total value of the construction equipment rental industry was $108.1 billion in 2021. MDC projects the industry to grow to $156.8 billion by 2030. 

From 2022 to 2027, MDC expects the industry to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.46%. 

Construction Equipment Rental Industry Statistics

According to research by Grand View Research, the size of the construction equipment rental market grew to $73.44 billion in 2021. That number is expected to grow by 3.9% annually through 2030 — hitting $105.29 billion in 2030.

This growth comes despite inflationary concerns and supply chain issues that have carried over since the pandemic. The uncertainty has led many contractors to delay major purchases in favor of renting. This tactic also allows such companies to decrease

The capital needed to start new projects. 

Construction contractors are also opting to rent equipment to help offset the rising prices of new equipment. More efficient machines, thanks to tech advancements, bring higher prices as well — another reason for the expected growth in the rental market. 

Earthmoving Equipment Has Had Significant Recent Growth

Fast growth in the earthmoving equipment segment has been a key construction equipment trend in recent years. It accounted for 50% of the market share for construction equipment rentals in 2021 and was responsible for over half of the industry’s growth. 

This segment of equipment rentals includes machines such as skid-steers, excavators, and backhoes. The increased use of such machines in mining and agriculture industries is driving the earthmoving equipment rental market. 

Bigger projects require more earthmoving machines. That’s in addition to continued growth in the residential and commercial construction industries.

Learn more about the most expensive construction equipment as well as the most popular equipment to rent

Material Handling Machinery

Material handling machinery equipment rental industry revenues are expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 4% through 2030. The demand for crawler cranes is driving this industry, with increased demand for material handling machines used in manufacturing and industrial construction. 

Again, bigger projects around the globe have increased the demand for material handling machines. 

Concrete and Road Construction Machinery

The concrete and road construction equipment segment is expected to see some of the best growth over the next decade, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% from 2022 to 2030. Total value of the industry is expected to hit $39.1 billion by 2030. 

This industry will be one of the biggest benefactors of increased road construction in the United States, as well as the increased adoption of road connectivity. Improved road infrastructure that promotes safety and causes fewer automobile fatalities will likely be a priority for federal spending. 

Key Growth Drivers for the Construction Equipment Rental Market 

Beyond the economic uncertainty and rising costs of construction equipment that will lead to more construction companies renting equipment versus buying, there are other growth drivers for the industry:

Infrastructure Spending

These key growth drivers include the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which will boost federal spending on infrastructure. As well, the push toward net zero emissions by utility and energy companies will further drive construction in those areas.

The IIJA will include an investment of $110 billion in infrastructure improvements in the U.S. This includes spending on roads and bridges — notably improved road connectivity that will help improve commerce and trade. Increased road connectivity will also promote safer streets. 

Technology  

Construction equipment fitted with the latest technology will be a key demand product for contractors. However, the high cost of these technology systems prohibits many smaller builders from being able to purchase them outright. Thus, rental opportunities for equipment that has new systems installed will be in high demand going forward. 

Such technology can improve the efficiency of construction projects and help cut costs. For example, a technology-enabled piece of equipment can relay key data to owners, such as GPS information, fuel consumption, and equipment idle time. 

With these benefits come big costs, making some solutions too expensive for many contractors — hence the increase in demand for rentals. 

Growing Benefits 

In addition to allowing builders and contractors access to equipment equipped with modern technology and easing the total cost of ownership, the roster of benefits provided by rental companies continues to grow. 

Rental companies are providing additional services to better serve customers, such as onsite support and greater investments in repairs and maintenance. These benefits come in addition to savings on inventory costs and initial cash outlays. 

Thinking About Getting into the Rental Market?

Quipli makes renting equipment easy for customers while making it simple to run an equipment rental business. Inventory management is presented in an easy-to-follow way with Quipli’s eCommerce platform. When it comes to managing orders and invoices, Quipli makes those tasks easy as well. 

Explore additional construction equipment rental business ideas to help solidify your construction equipment rental business plan with Quipli.

It’s all done right on the platform, making it an all-in-one tool. Utilize Quipli’s rental website builder to grow your business and find out more about how we can help your rental business by booking a Quipli demo.

Learn About Quipli’s Contruction Equipment rental Software

How to Sell Construction Equipment

Your rental business is only as good as the equipment you have to offer, and you’ll find that selling construction equipment is an important part of inventory management

While some clients may prefer solid, older equipment that their workers are familiar with, others want the newest machinery. This demand will require periodic turnover of equipment. 

How do you go about selling used construction equipment to help pay for newer models?

Evaluating Your Equipment Before Selling It

Even though you’re an expert on equipment rental, you might not have the first idea of how to sell heavy equipment. 

Start with inspection, cleaning, and appraisal. You need to assess the condition of your equipment as part of determining its overall value so you can set a reasonable sale price.

Take a Thorough Inventory

Get started by taking a full inventory, including anticipated return dates for items out on lease. 

If new purchases depend on selling old equipment, you can always discuss an upgraded booking with current renters to fulfill their contract.

Determine Which Items in Your Fleet Should be Kept or Sold

Once your inventory is complete, it’s time to carefully consider what you want to keep and what should be sold. 

In some cases, you may want to hang on to older equipment that’s in high demand among your customers. The condition of the equipment may play a role as well. Before you decide to sell construction equipment, think about whether it has more use value as a rental. (Our free equipment rental cost calculator can help you get a handle on this value.)

Prepping Your Construction Equipment for Sale

When you decide to sell construction equipment, you need to make sure it’s in shape to fetch the best possible price. Perform a thorough cleaning and inspection, service machinery, and make needed repairs to get it in optimal condition for sale.

Pursue a Thorough, Professional Appraisal

Calculating what you’ve spent and earned over the life of equipment ownership can help you determine a break-even price and hopefully exceed it when selling heavy equipment. 

A professional appraisal is the best way to figure out what your equipment is worth and what you can reasonably try to sell it for.

Selling Your Construction Equipment: Your Options for Finding Buyers

Your business requires you to keep a finger on the pulse of the rental market. When you’re considering how to sell construction equipment, however, you may not have the same level of expertise. 

For this reason, it’s a good idea to explore your options when it comes to effective avenues for making sales.

Selling at Auction

There are auction firms with a worldwide audience that specialize in heavy equipment, and the process can include both in-person and remote bids. This can expand your pool of buyers, especially considering that auction firms have their own marketing and contact lists in place. It could be a great way to sell off a lot of equipment quickly.

An auction could take place at your facility or at an auction yard along with other sellers. As a bonus, you may have options for additional services like appraisal, repairs, detailing, and equipment transport.

Reaching Out to Local Equipment Dealers

It’s not unusual for dealers to sell heavy equipment that is used alongside newer models. Consider making an appointment with dealers in your area to discuss the prospect of selling on their lots. 

They may buy your equipment outright to sell or offer a contingency deal where they take a cut of the sale, so you’ll need to work out the details.

Listing Your Equipment Online

Online sales are a great way to expand your potential buyer pool. There are websites (like Machinery Trader) designed for selling construction equipment. 

You will have to pay for listings, but you could have access to useful options like SEO and search ads that get your listing in front of targeted buyers searching for used equipment like yours.

Paid Facebook ads are another option to consider. Alternatively, you could join Facebook groups dedicated to selling heavy equipment or list on Craigslist for free, but these options could limit your buyer pool.

Expert Tips for Selling Used Heavy Equipment

Once you’ve chosen the appropriate platform for selling used equipment, you need to make sure it’s ready to go. Getting the best price in a sale means knowing the value of what you have, presenting it in the best possible light, and offering straightforward descriptions so buyers are satisfied with what they receive.

Know the Valuation of Your Machinery

When determining how to sell construction equipment for the best return on investment, you need to make sure you know what it’s worth. The value will depend on a range of factors, such as the make and model, age, and condition. Understanding market demand will also play a role in setting an appropriate price.

Take High-Quality, Well-Lit Images

A picture is worth a thousand words, so you need to take pains to post high-quality, well-lit images displaying your equipment from multiple angles. Show the machinery in full and highlight areas of interest like the engine, cab, gauges, tracks, hydraulics, and so on. Consider what you’d want to look at if you were a buyer.

Be Honest and Transparent

If you’re planning to sell heavy equipment online, it’s important that you’re upfront about what buyers will receive, especially where condition is concerned. If a buyer feels like you lied about the condition of the equipment, you could not only suffer bad reviews that impact your rental business but you might also face a lawsuit.

Determine the Tax Implications of Selling Your Equipment

Before selling equipment, discuss tax implications with your CPA. If you sell lower than the remaining un-depreciated value, can you take a write-off? How much will you be taxed for gains? Can you offset gains that will add to your taxable income? These are all things to find out before setting a price and selling equipment.

Learn more about construction equipment in our guide to the most expensive construction equipment, the most popular rental equipment, and which heavy equipment is in trend by renters. 

Research and Prep Are the Best Strategies for ROI

When you take the time to thoroughly evaluate used equipment, find the right venue to sell it, and present it properly at a reasonable price point, you have the best chance to complete sales and see some return on investment. This can help you purchase newer equipment that will keep your rental business going and even facilitate expansion.

The best rental software can help you manage all aspects of your business, including equipment rentals, payments, and inventory. 

Book a demo with Quipli today to learn more about streamlining your operations.

Learn About Quipli’s Construction Equipment rental Software

Google Ads for Equipment Rental Businesses: A Beginner’s Guide

Have you been wondering what sort of ads rental companies should be running in order to attract new business? 

Interested in marketing your rental company on Google using paid ads but have no idea where to begin? Been searching online for things like “Google Ads rental companies,” but coming up with meaningless results?

Although it sounds like you’re on the right track, the entire concept of engaging in paid online advertising can seem mysterious and daunting if you’re new to digital marketing. But if you want to grow your business, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the basics of digital marketing and branding.

While there are many different ways to engage in paid online advertising,  Google Ads is the strongest platform for rental companies to bring in quality leads and get more bookings.

With that in mind, we’ve put together this beginner’s guide on Google Ads for rental businesses. Here’s what you need to know about what the platform is, why paid search ads are important to the success of your business, and how to design Google Ads strategies that get results.

What Are Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows you to pay for marketing space on the Google search engine. 

Specifically, these ads are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs), at the top above the organic results. (Organic results are regular Google search results that are selected by their search engine’s algorithms.) 

There are usually up to four text ads total, each marked with a small “Ad” label. 

When you pay for won’t be charged for your ad unless someone clicks on it, even if your ad was one of the three that were displayed. 

You can customize your per-click bid, as well as your weekly and monthly budgets. Once you have hit your spending limit, your ad will no longer be displayed. 

Why Paid Search Ads Are Important for Equipment Rental Businesses

By using paid search ads, you can generate almost immediate traffic — assuming that you are winning bids, of course. Ads displayed on the right queries can bring in a lot of valuable leads. 

Paid search marketing should be a core part of both your short and long-term growth strategy. If your company is new or simply in the process of growing its online presence, PPC marketing provides an opportunity to generate leads while you wait for your search engine optimization strategy to mature. 

After your SEO campaign has begun producing results, you can continue to use PPC to boost your total web traffic. 

What You’ll Need Before You Get Started

Google has lots of free tools that you need to take advantage of before you start using Google Ads. 

First off, you should create a Google Business Profile account. This account links to services like Google Maps and displays key information about your business, such as your address, hours, phone number, and website. You can even use your Google Business Profile to track site traffic generated from Google services.

Additionally, you need to create a Google Analytics profile. Google Analytics provides powerful insights into the efficacy of your SEO and PPC efforts. You can track traffic volume, leads, ad views, and much more. 

Lastly, you will need to sign up for a Google Ads account. All of these accounts are interconnected and will be accessed using your Gmail username. However, you must set up each account separately before you can start using Google Ads.

Finding Your Target Audience

Google Adwords PPC advertising revolves around audience targeting. If you are not targeting the appropriate audience, the results of your Google Ads campaign will be underwhelming. 

When running the ads, you bid on relevant keywords – things someone would search for if they’re looking for the kinds of products or services you’re offering. For example, a construction equipment rental company based in Fresno might want to bid on “backhoe rental in Fresno.” 

When setting up a Google Ads campaign, you will be asked to select which keywords you want to target. You will need to set a bid on each keyword as well. 

When users search for a keyword you’re targeting, Google’s algorithm will analyze all of the bids for that phrase, and display the three or four winning bids.  

Google Ads works on a pay-per-click (PPC) billing model. This setup means that you won’t be charged for your ad unless someone clicks on it, even if your ad was one of the three that were displayed. 

You can customize your per-click bid, as well as your weekly and monthly budgets. Once you have hit your spending limit, your ad will no longer be displayed. 

Choosing the Right Types of Ads for Your Rental Business

When creating Google Ads campaigns, you will have the ability to select from several different types of ads, including: 

Search Ads

Search ads are the most well-known type of Google Ads content. These search ads appear at the top of SERPs, directly above organic results. Usually, only three search ads are displayed on a SERP page. 

Paid search ads are a great tool for targeting customers who are Googling phrases related to your business. 

For instance, if you operate a party supply rental company, you could use search ads to target customers searching for phrases like “table and chair rentals” or “party rentals.” 

Google Ads Keyword Planner provides some great information on search volumes. This insight will help you decide which keywords to target and how high to set your bids. 

However, paid services like SEMRush and Ahrefs provide more detailed search volume data. Therefore, you may want to invest in one of these services once you get a good grasp on the basics of PPC marketing. 

Display Ads

Display ads incorporate images into the content and are not as focused as search ads. Whereas search ads are displayed on SERPs, display ads are shown on websites that have enabled Google AdSense. 

This system is a monetization tool that provides websites with a small cut of the revenue generated from display ads. On a side note, you can use Google AdSense once your website begins generating a healthy amount of organic traffic. 

Display ads can cultivate brand awareness and showcase your products or services. You can use display ads to target prospects based on past search history, location, and demographic attributes. 

While display ads are more general than search ads, they are typically displayed on sites that have some nexus to your business. For instance, an ad for a kayak rental company may be displayed on a blog about outdoor activities. 

Remarketing Ads

Remarketing ads specifically target customers who have previously visited your site. When setting up your Google Ads account, you will have the ability to install a cookie-based tracker on your website. 

Once this cookie is embedded on your site, you will gain the ability to track users and target them with remarketing ads. The purpose of these ads is to nurture leads who have visited your site but were not quite ready to book a rental.

Establishing Your Budget

Before your Google Ads campaign goes live, you will need to establish a budget. When setting up your budget, you will be asked to choose per-word bids, and also select a monthly spending limit. 

Keep in mind that the price of keywords can vary radically. Several factors impact the price of keywords, including the amount of search volume they are generating, how many companies are bidding for those phrases, and your geographic location. 

Naturally, keywords like “kayak rentals” are going to be more costly in areas near beaches or popular waterways. Fortunately, there are ways to stretch your Google Ads budget. One great approach involves targeting long-tail keywords, which are usually far cheaper. 

 

Long tail keywords are phrases that usually include four to seven words. For example, instead of bidding for “kayak rentals,” you could target the phrase “kayak rentals in Tampa Bay, FL.” 

While you are going to get fewer clicks overall, the interactions that you do earn are going to be much more relevant. You will also be paying less for each click, which can translate into huge savings over the course of a campaign.

Monitoring Performance

Although Google Ads makes it easy to manage campaigns, you cannot “set it and forget it.” If you want to get the most bang for your advertising buck, you will need to carefully track your ad campaigns to measure their efficacy. 

We suggest monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) like:

  • Click-through rate
  • Cost per click
  • Total number of clicks
  • Conversion rate — how many people rented equipment after clicking on your ad?
  • Cost per conversion — total cost of clicks divided by the number of conversions
  • View-through conversions — how many returned to your site and booked?

When your campaign is not producing the desired results, re-evaluate your tactics. You may have missed the mark with your ad content or might be targeting the wrong keywords. 

Alternatively, you may have a high friction rental process that is dragging down conversion rates.

Grow Your Rental Business with Google Ads

Google Ads is a powerful marketing tool that can help you bring in leads and make more sales, often very quickly. 

Looking for additional marketing ideas for equipment rental? Or help with planning campaigns and tracking performance metrics? Quipli can help with our cutting-edge equipment rental software and marketing offerings. 

Sign up for a free trial and experience the capabilities of our dynamic solution.    


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