Branding 101 for Roofing Companies

Branding might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about roofing — but in today’s competitive market, it should be. Whether you’re trying to grow your roofing company, earn customer trust or increase your margins, branding plays a critical role. 

In this guide, we’ll walk through the essential elements of branding for roofing contractors and give you the tools to build a strong, memorable brand that sets you apart from the competition.

What Is Branding?

Branding is a collection of the distinctive features of your business. This includes everything that sets your business apart from your competitors, from your business name, logo, website, truck decals, to even how you price your jobs for your customers.

Jeff Williams, IKO’s brand director, put it this way:

“Branding is defining who your company is, what it stands for and why that makes you different in the marketplace. It’s the story you intend to tell when you go to market through advertising or other channels – your company’s personality.”

8 Key Elements of Branding

A lot of strategy has to go into creating a brand in order for it to be an effective tool. To build a cohesive brand, roofers should consider the following eight branding elements.

1. Logo: Every brand needs a logo — the easy-to-recognize mark that adorns virtually all of your marketing materials. A logo should represent what your business is all about and give customers a clear impression of what you stand for. 
2. Color Palette: Colors elicit an emotional response in your audience and can help anyone immediately recognize a brand, even if they don’t see the logo. Some brands stick to a simple combination of two or three colors — think IKEA, Starbucks and McDonald’s. Others, like NBC or Samsung, use a much wider color palette to differentiate between products.
3. Shape: While not the first thing that comes to mind for most roofers, marketing design elements like shapes can convey specific emotions to your audience. For example, circles are often associated with unity and wholeness, while squares are associated with strength, stability and reliability.
4. Tagline: Taglines or slogans are essentially the calling-card of your brand. When paired with your brand name, roofing business slogans are a summation of what your brand stands for. Think “Finger Lickin’ Good” from KFC or Gillette’s “The Best a Man Can Get” — they both communicate what their audience can expect.
5. Voice and Tone: Voice and tone refer to written and verbal guidelines that dictate how you communicate with your audience. For example, do you want to sound authoritative or friendly? Excited or laid back? In other words, how do you want people to feel when reading your website or sales material?
6. Fonts: Fonts aren’t just about legibility — they communicate a brand’s personality and values. Sleek and slender fonts suggest elegance and sophistication, while bolder, blockier fonts give a sense of strength and power.
7. Imagery: Even if roofing seems like a straightforward business, you still have a lot of freedom in the images you use to brand yourself. Leveraging images of workers installing shingles can communicate efficiency and purpose. Or, you could include images of roofers posing with homeowners or together, communicating the friendly nature of your business.
8. Positioning: Your brand positioning is the niche in the market that your brand fills. This dictates not just what you offer customers, but also how that offering is different from your competitors.

How Do I Come Up with a Roofing Business Name?

Coming up with a roofing business name is often the start of your branding journey. Whether you already have a name for your business or are creating a new one, here are a few considerations:

• The name needs to be unique within your space in order for you to create legal documents.
• Your name should be memorable. Choosing a family name is an easy way to do that, unless the name is long, hard to pronounce or spell.
• Thoroughly research your name to ensure it’s available in your area and has not already been trademarked. Research domain names as well to see how you can incorporate your name into an available website domain.
• Get feedback on your name from employees, friends and family. Make sure the name doesn’t have any negative connotations in any language.

The Role of a Roofing Brand

Roofing branding communicates what your company stands for. It establishes what people can expect from you and paints a clear picture of how your customers can succeed when working with you. Jeff Williams, Brand Director at IKO, put it this way:

“The most successful contractors are those who have identified what makes them unique to their prospects and spend the time, energy and money building equity in that story. You’ll never win a race to the lowest price — or if you do, it won’t be profitable. Selling your brand is selling your value, and selling value over the lowest price is what gives you the ability to have higher profit margins.”

Where to Display Your Branding

Branding for roofing companies also helps you promote your business by streamlining your messaging strategy. 

There are two places your branding will be displayed: In physical locations and online. Let’s explore where you can display branding materials to spread the word of your business.

Physical Branding

If you have a storefront, make sure to plaster your branding all over — from the sign on top of your front door to the pamphlets you hand out to visitors.

Brand your uniforms with your logo so homeowners know for certain that they are talking to people who represent your business.

Put your logo on your work truck as well. As your workers take the truck from job to job, it both announces to the homeowner that help has arrived and works as a moving billboard so neighbors and passersby recognize who your experts work for.

Digital Branding

Most of your digital branding will live on your website — the digital storefront of your business. You may also run ads on Google or social media platforms to garner interest in your services.

Consider running a social media account for your business. Marketing yourself on social media can be a great way to get referrals, share your work and engage with your community. Facebook and Instagram are the two most popular and effective social media platforms to promote small businesses, so that’s a great place to start.

How to Build a Roofing Brand

If you’re building your roof branding from the ground up or just want to bolster your already existing business, here are four essential roofing branding tips.

Find Your Differentiator

Identifying what sets you apart from other roofers is vital. You likely don’t have to manufacture this differentiator out of thin air — read your reviews and talk to the people you’ve worked for. What did they like and dislike about you? Why did they hire you in the first place?

IKO’s ROOFPRO program can be a great resource for this. It is a program that invests in contractors who use IKO roofing materials to help them grow their business. It offers tools, funding, partnerships and business-building assets that can help your business stand out from the competition.

Take Ownership of Your Online Community

Your online community refers to the people who follow and engage with your brand online. Social media followers, people who comment on your channel’s videos and posts, followers who directly message your account — all of these members comprise your community.

Taking ownership means you’re actively contributing to your community’s success and well-being. You can foster a positive environment by creating uplifting content, promptly responding to people’s questions and concerns and encouraging positivity in all of your virtual interactions.

Spread the Word

How do you promote your roofing business? Share what your business has to offer to your community. Start with friends and family, post to your personal social media accounts, leave flyers in home repair stores and go door-to-door. Do whatever you can to get the ball rolling to broadcast your marketing message to the masses.

Be Consistent

All of the brand development work is essential for your continued success, but the job doesn’t stop there. It takes time to build a brand! Be consistent in how you present yourself and in your promotional efforts. Given time, you will develop a strong foundation of branded marketing materials and connections you can use to grow your brand.

Stand Out with Strategic Branding

At the end of the day, your roofing brand isn’t just what you say it is — it’s what your customers believe it to be. By investing in consistent, thoughtful branding, you’re not just promoting your business. You’re building credibility, loyalty and long-term value. 

If you’d like assistance with developing your roofing brand, consider what IKO ROOFPRO can offer. Our loyalty program helps roofers all over North America earn marketing funds and find free, qualified leads. Sign up today!