Are you familiar with Google Alerts? It’s an interesting tool. You simply provide a term that you want to track and Google will send an alert your way anytime that term pops up in the news or somewhere prominent online. For HVAC contractors, publicity is the name of the game, and perhaps you are being recognized or listed in places you haven’t realized. Consider setting an alert for your company’s name as well as a few other choice terms that are important to you. Are you interested in staying abreast of the constantly changing refrigerant standards? Create an alert so that you will be made aware of any updates, rather than having to track them down yourself. Perhaps you want to track the price of heating oil or track any new HVAC legislation. The options here are nearly endless.

Hopefully, you are already dedicating resources to establishing a social media presence, something we have preached here at The NEWS on many occasions. But, Google Alerts is something different entirely. Take advantage of the opportunities these alerts may provide. As an HVAC journalist, I have alerts set up for the terms “HVAC”, “Air Conditioning”, and “HVAC Training”. At times there is a lot of content that isn’t useful that must be waded through to get to what matters, but the alert saves me precious time each and every day as I am looking for story ideas.

Your company may be earning recognition in places you never even noticed or recognized. Simply putting your company name into a Google Alert is as minor an adjustment as you can make, but it could provide endless dividends.