A commercial refrigeration marketing manager makes sure a grocer or restaurant with a warm walk-in calls the right branch fast. They also keep past customers planning upkeep and replacements, and run the case studies, trade shows and hunt for new techs.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $71,300, middle half $96,470 to $159,070, 90th percentile $193,190. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Chief Executive Officer
Department
Marketing
Schedule
Office weekdays, some early shoots · Office or hybrid hours, trips to trade shows and both branches, and some early or overnight shoots at install sites
Also called
Marketing and communications manager · Commercial marketing manager · Digital marketing manager · Marketing director
Refrigeration Install & Service - Marketing Manager
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Marketing
Reports to:
Chief Executive Officer
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll make the company the first call when a restaurant's walk-in quits or a grocer plans a remodel. You'll run the website, search listings, customer email, trade shows and case studies, and you'll help recruit technicians, who are as hard to find as customers.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Run the website and local search listings for each branch so emergency searches reach the right branch phone number.
Produce case studies and photos from finished installs and remodels, with customer permission.
Plan trade show and association presence with restaurant, grocery and convenience store groups.
Run email and mail campaigns to existing customers about preventive maintenance, ice machine cleaning and replacement planning.
Build recruiting campaigns for technicians and apprentices with the HR Manager, including trade school outreach.
Give the sales team leave-behinds, proposal templates and equipment survey forms.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review new leads and route them to sales or service.
Update the website, listings and social pages with job photos and reviews.
Work with the branch Sales Managers on current campaigns and next quarter's plan.
Check ad spend against leads and booked work.
Interview a technician or customer for a case study or recruiting video.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Qualified leads by source: [your target].
Marketing cost per new service agreement: [your target].
Technician applicants from recruiting campaigns: [your target].
Website calls and form fills: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years of marketing for a business-to-business service, contractor or equipment company.
Hands-on experience with websites, local search listings and paid search.
Strong writing for case studies, emails and proposals.
Experience tracking leads from first contact to closed sale.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience marketing to restaurants, grocers or foodservice operators.
Experience with recruiting campaigns for skilled trades.
Basic photo and video skills for job site content.
7. Physical Requirements
Desk work at a computer for most of the day.
Occasional visits to job sites and trade shows.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Office-based at [headquarters], with [hybrid options].
Travel to trade shows and branches: [how often].
Occasional early-morning or overnight photo shoots at install sites.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new marketing manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What makes commercial refrigeration marketing different
The buyers are restaurant owners, grocers and facility directors, and many first contacts start with a box that won't hold temperature. That shapes the points below.
Give each branch its own listing
Google allows one Business Profile per location. It asks for a local phone number over a central call center line when you can. A branch that shows its address should be staffed during its listed hours. Give each branch its own profile, number and true hours. Then a store manager searching late at night reaches the branch that can send a tech. A branch that only works at customer sites should hide its address. Source: Google Business Profile: Guidelines for representing your business.
Route warm boxes away from the sales inbox
A store manager who fills in the web form at closing time about a freezer that won't hold needs a technician tonight, not a sales call tomorrow. Put each branch's after-hours number above the form, and send anything that mentions down, warm or leaking straight to the service line. Count those as service calls, not marketing leads, so the lead report stays honest.
Ice machine reminders can cite the code
Under the 2026 FDA Food Code, ice bins and the inside parts of ice makers get cleaned as often as the maker says. If the maker sets no schedule, they get cleaned often enough to stop soil and mold from building up. Each state or county enforces its own version. Time each reminder to the maker's schedule for that machine, and quote the manual in the email. Source: FDA Food Code 2026, section 4-602.11(E)(4): Cleaning frequency for ice makers and ice bins.
Green claims need a specific basis
New refrigerants tempt copy like "ozone-friendly" or "eco-friendly." The FTC's Green Guides say an ozone-friendly claim is deceptive if the product holds an ozone-depleting substance. That list includes HCFCs such as HCFC-22, long a common refrigerant. The guides also say not to make broad green claims without a qualifier. Name the real change, such as the refrigerant a new system uses. Have the install team check it before the case study runs. Source: 16 CFR 260.11: Ozone-safe and ozone-friendly claims (FTC Green Guides, eCFR).
Assume the chain owns its name
Grocery chains, restaurant groups and franchise brands may control how vendors use their names, logos and store photos. The store manager may not be the one who can say yes. Get written permission from the person who can before a case study names the customer. If you can't, describe the job by store type and city, and let photos of the new rack or walk-in tell the story.
How much commercial refrigeration marketing managers make
Marketing managers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $124,540 a year ($59.87 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $166,790 median for marketing managers in all industries. About 410 of the 395,240 marketing managers in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Most get a salary. Some plans add a bonus for qualified leads, signed agreements or technician hires.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$124,540$124,540 median Middle half $96,470–$159,070 10th–90th $71,300–$193,190
All industries
$166,790$166,790 median Middle half $123,020–$216,410 10th–90th $90,260–$293,610
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k$350k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$71,300
$96,470
$124,540
$159,070
$193,190
All industries
$90,260
$123,020
$166,790
$216,410
$293,610
BLS doesn’t publish pay for refrigeration contractors on their own. These figures cover plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Running local search listings and paid search for more than one location
Writing case studies and emails a facility director reads to the end
Following each lead in a CRM until it signs or goes cold
Turning a short equipment briefing into plain copy for owners
Planning a trade show booth and its follow-up on a set budget
Teach these on the job
Equipment names: racks, condensing units, reach-ins, display cases and walk-ins
Which inquiries belong to service and which belong to sales
Each branch's territory and the response times you promise
Framing job photos so customer logos and stocked product stay out
How technicians look for work, learned from the HR manager and lead techs
Expect a CRM tied to your field service software, a separate Business Profile per branch, Google Ads, an email platform, and call tracking that shows which ad or listing drove each call. A good phone camera, a stabilizer and basic editing software cover most install photos and recruiting clips.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Recruiting technicians
The HR Manager says technicians are as hard to find as customers. How would you help?
A strong answer: Builds a recruiting page and campaign showing real technicians and career paths, reaches trade schools, and tracks applicants by source.
Behavioral · Converting repair customers
Tell me about a time you turned one-time emergency repair customers into service agreement customers.
A strong answer: Describes the follow-up after emergency calls, such as a maintenance offer tied to what failed, tracked it from emergency ticket to signed agreement, and explains what they changed based on the numbers.
No targets come filled in. Run one quarter, see what each branch gets from each channel, and set the numbers from that with the CEO.
Qualified leads by source
Count inquiries from the kinds of businesses you serve that asked about an agreement, a replacement or an install. Tag each with its source in the CRM, and leave emergency service calls out.
Marketing cost per new service agreement
Add the quarter's ad, show, mail and software spend, then divide by agreements signed whose first contact came from marketing. Take the signed date and source from the CRM, not from memory.
Technician applicants from recruiting campaigns
Count technician and apprentice applicants who came in through a campaign link, school visit or recruiting ad. With the HR manager, also track how many reached an interview and an offer.
Website calls and form fills
Use call tracking numbers and form records to count contacts by branch. Split service calls from sales inquiries so a hot week doesn't pass for a marketing win.
Career path
Marketing coordinator at a contractor or equipment dealerRan listings, email and show logistics for one company or a foodservice distributor.
Marketing managerOwns leads, branch listings, case studies and technician recruiting for the whole company.
Director of marketingAdds a coordinator or an agency, and helps the CEO plan which markets and customer types to chase.
Sales managerSome move into sales once they know the accounts, the pricing and the branch teams.
Other roles in a commercial refrigeration business
Should each refrigeration branch get its own marketing budget?
Give each branch its own line, planned with that branch's sales manager. Two branches can serve different buyers. One may sell mostly to restaurants, where search and listings bring the calls. The other may lean on grocers, food plants and cold storage, where shows and direct visits do more. Keep the website, brand and shared shows in one central line, and compare each branch's spend to the agreements it signs.
How much does a commercial refrigeration marketing manager make?
Marketing managers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $124,540 a year ($59.87 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $96,470 and $159,070 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Should the marketing manager write technician job ads?
Write them with the HR manager. Marketing knows where ads run and how to track which ones bring applicants. HR owns the wording on pay, duties and requirements such as EPA refrigerant certification, and keeps the hiring records. Agree on who calls each applicant back and how fast, because a slow reply loses people who are still working another job.
How should we answer a bad review after a store lost product?
Reply in public, briefly, with what you can share: that you've reached out and want to make it right. Don't argue over the temperature log, blame the store's staff or name the technician. Take the details to a call with the manager, and bring in the service manager so the account gets a follow-up visit and a written report.
Which trade shows fit a two-branch refrigeration contractor?
Pick regional restaurant, grocery and convenience store shows inside your service area over a national show. The owners and facility managers you meet there are close enough for a branch to serve. Bring a tech who can talk equipment. Collect equipment counts at the booth, and book survey visits before the show closes.
When should replacement planning mail go out?
Send it from survey data, not a calendar. Pull the units your techs marked as old, worn or repaired again and again, and send each owner a short note with that unit's age and condition. Aim to land it before the owner sets next year's budget and before summer fills the install schedule.
