Latest / The Local Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Small Business, Google Maps, and Local SEO / How a Local Roofing Contractor Uses Google Maps for Storm Response
Transcript
- Lucas: Alright, let's talk about a business that lives and dies by the weather — literally. I'm looking at a Google My Business case study from Tulsa, Oklahoma, of all places. A roofing contractor named Red Dirt Roofing. Luna: Oh, this is going to be about storm chasing, isn't it? Because roofing and hail are basically a love story in the Plains. Lucas: Exactly. But not storm chasing in the classic sense. This is smarter. The owner, Mike Anderson, realized that every spring, when the severe weather starts rolling through, homeowners start frantically searching Google for 'roofing contractor near me' — but ninety percent of roofers update their Google profile once and forget it. Lucas: Mike's approach is the exact opposite. He treats his Google Business Profile like a live emergency broadcast system. And the results? He told me that his lead volume during the two weeks after a Category 3 hailstorm doubles compared to the same period the previous year. Luna: That's a concrete number. So what is he doing differently? I imagine other roofers in Tulsa are also on Google Maps. Lucas: They are. But here's the thing — most of them don't update their hours, they don't post, and they definitely don't change their service attributes when the weather shifts. Mike has a three-step workflow that he follows religiously. First, he monitors the National Weather Service hail probability maps for his service area — which is about a fifty-mile radius around Tulsa. Luna: So he's not waiting for the storm to hit. He's pre-positioning. Lucas: Exactly. Step two: he has pre-written Google Posts for each type of storm event. Category 1 and 2 hail? He posts something like 'Minor hail damage? We'll do a free inspection.' Category 3 and above? He switches to 'Emergency storm response — 24-hour turnaround.' The text is already drafted. He just changes the date and hits publish. Luna: And step three? I'm guessing it involves the attributes on the profile — the ones that show up in the search results. Lucas: Bingo. He toggles on 'emergency service' and '24-hour response time' — those are available attributes in the Google Business Profile dashboard. And here's the kicker: he also updates his service area to include the specific neighborhoods that were in the storm path. So if a hailstorm hits Broken Arrow, his profile suddenly lists Broken Arrow as a primary service area. That's a huge ranking signal. Luna: That's smart because Google's local algorithm heavily weights proximity and relevance. If you don't have that area listed, you might not show up at all, even if you're willing to drive there. Lucas: Right. And the beauty of this is that Mike is not gaming the system — he is literally updating his profile to reflect his actual capacity at that moment. He can handle emergency calls in Broken Arrow that week, so he tells Google that. Most contractors leave their service area as a generic 'Tulsa metro' and never touch it again. Luna: So what happens when the storm passes? Does he turn everything back to normal? Lucas: He does. Once the emergency window closes — usually about a week after the storm — he removes the emergency attribute, resets his service area to the default, and takes down the storm posts. He replaces them with 'pre-season roof inspection' posts for the next wave. It's a cycle. Luna: It's almost like a seasonal marketing calendar, but triggered by weather events instead of holidays. How long does it take him to do all this? Lucas: He said about fifteen minutes per storm event. And that includes checking the radar, editing the posts, and updating the attributes. He has a checklist on his phone. But here's the part that I think is really clever: he also posts before and after photos of recent jobs — but only the ones that are clearly storm damage. Google's algorithm seems to favor visual proof of the service you offer, especially for something as visual as a roof. Luna: That makes sense because a photo of a torn-off shingle is way more convincing than a text description. And it's real, it's local, it's timely. Lucas: Exactly. And Mike told me he's seeing a side effect: his Google Maps listing now shows up for 'emergency roof repair' even when there's no storm, because the algorithm has associated his profile with that keyword. So he's basically built a long-term keyword association from short-term bursts of activity. Luna: That's a pretty compelling argument for being active on your profile year-round, not just when you need leads. But I wonder — does this work for other weather-dependent businesses? Like tree services after a windstorm, or plumbers after a freeze? Lucas: Absolutely. Mike's model is actually transferable to any service business that faces demand spikes from weather or events. A tree service could do the same thing after a wind advisory. A plumber could toggle on 'emergency service' during a cold snap. The key is being ready before the event, not after. Luna: It's like having a fire drill. You don't want to be figuring out the Google dashboard while your phone is ringing off the hook. Lucas: Exactly. And Mike's advice to other contractors is simple: write your storm posts in January, when it's quiet. Pre-draft them. Take the photos from last season and have them ready. Then when the storm hits, you're just pressing a button. Luna: That's the kind of operational prep that separates the pros from the amateurs. And it doesn't cost anything except time. Lucas: Which brings me to a thought. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — like, maybe you've gone and updated your own Google profile after listening to one of these episodes — honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, there's a link for that. Luna: Yeah, it's the smallest way to say 'this mattered.' And it keeps the show free and ad-free, which is how we want it. Lucas: It's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's it. And again, zero pressure — just a way to support if you've gotten real value. Luna: Alright, back to storms. So let's say I'm a roofer listening to this. What's the one thing I should do today to start implementing Mike's system? Lucas: Go into your Google Business Profile and check your attributes. Do you have 'emergency service' listed? If not, add it. Even if you don't offer 24-hour service, you can offer priority scheduling. That's a legitimate claim. Then write one generic post about storm preparedness — just to have something in the pipeline. Luna: And set up a weather alert for your area. There are free apps for that. Lucas: Right. Mike uses the NOAA Weather Radio app, but any source works. The point is to be notified before your customers are. Because the first roofer to update their profile after a storm often gets the first call. Luna: It's a first-mover advantage on Google Maps. I love that it doesn't require ads — just smart, timely use of free tools. Lucas: And that's the whole ethos of this show. You don't need a big budget. You need a system. Mike's system costs him fifteen minutes and a weather app. And it doubled his leads. Luna: Alright, I'm officially going to look at my own profile differently now. I don't have a roof, but I do have a business that could benefit from seasonal updates. Lucas: That's the takeaway: treat your Google presence like a living thing, not a static sign. Update it when your business changes, even if that change is driven by the weather.