Successful marketing for tradies that leads to calls and constant customer base growth doesn’t happen by chance.
If you’re a tradie, you know how your tradie business process goes. From finding ways to get more customers, generating leads, getting more sales and expanding your business, tradie marketing plays a major role in making your business a success.
We know how good you are in your trade and expertise, but you need to also direct your focus towards getting more customers and growing your tradie business.
Doing so will make your business grow as you find more ways to stay in business.
So the question is, how do you get more calls and bookings as a tradie?
If this is your first time to try and actively market your tradie business, we’re here to say that it’s not yet too late to hope for new projects and business opportunities in the future as there’s no limit to where quality leads can take you, but how? Through digital marketing, of course!
3 reasons why tradies should focus on digital marketing
The fact of the matter is that most of your competitors are already promoting their business online, and you will need a lot of catching up.
The sooner you gain experience in digitally marketing your tradie business, the sooner you will take advantage of your competitors.
Faster customer reach
Intentionally connecting to your customers by responding quickly to their enquiries and requests will give them an impression that they are highly valued.
When customers look for a local tradie nearby and see you on Google as one of the service providers, they can easily give you a ring anytime.
Digital marketing paves the way for your potential clients to contact you on various platforms like emails, calls, and even call-to-action (CTAs) and direct them on your website.
Online platforms help you make most of the opportunity to build online connections at a lower cost.
Track results better
If you want to know how effective your digital efforts are, you can get the results faster and better using analytic and data collection tools.
Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing lets you know who viewed your page, from where and what the conversation rate is of each marketing effort you had or will be having in the future.
You can also dive into specifics and know the demographics of your online viewers, such as age, gender, status and many more that can help you refine your services or areas of focus.
Improve your services
Customisation is one marketing trend that most businesses apply today that tradies can also adopt.
Digital marketing lets tradies stand out in terms of branding their business name and services.
When tradies like you know how to incorporate your name and services to what customers can remember, you can make others aware of your service offerings.
Previous clients who would like to avail of your tradie service can easily read previous customer reviews and feedback linked to your website or social media accounts that can also help you improve on your tradie services.
How do I advertise and market my tradie business?
The idea of channelling business efforts to digital marketing is never wasted as potential customers are all present online.
Online visibility is the overall presence of companies, brands and services in the virtual environment reaching more audience than usual.
Tradie advertising and marketing your tradie business online is one of the cheapest, effective, yet most creative forms of online promotions and service recommendations.
Small tradie businesses get intimidated by asking about digital marketing simply because they believe it’s only for well-established and big companies.
Some tradies believe small businesses like them do not fit the wide range of influence that digital marketing can do for them.
The truth is, digital marketing is good for everyone, whether you are a small, medium or big business.
Digital marketing doesn’t offer any partiality as your goal is to get more leads and receive more calls. But why do you need online tradies?
Types of online advertising and marketing for your tradie business
Online advertising is still the best way to advertise your tradie business for a wider reach.
Tradies who promote their businesses put value in an online promotion faster, easier and most likely would convert a customer.
Seeking help from a digital marketing agency will help you a long way in choosing the best advertising for tradesmen and your tradie business.
And if you’re wondering how then here are some types of advertisements that work well with tradies like you:
SEO for tradies
Having an existing website and having one that works best for you are two different things. When your website is found by a customer who needs an electrician in Bayside, your website is searchable by specific keywords; then you’ve won a client’s attention. This happens because of SEO.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) increases traffic and improves the online visibility of your tradie business.
SEO can lead prospects to your website for tradies in delivering quality leads, inquiries, and calls if done the right way. An online marketing strategy like that of an SEO ensures that your website becomes a helpful sales tools for your business.
Facebook ads for tradies
Creating a Facebook ad for your tradie business is the easiest and fastest online marketing tool for free that you can use.
If you’ve been a member of this online community for quite some time now, you might see ads on the right side corner of your feed that are called desktop ads.
Facebook desktop ads will most likely be noticeable to Facebook users as long as you use catchy visuals and title. The location of the ad is not hard to notice and is automatically seen by all.
Another thing about Facebook ads is it gives you a lot of choices for ad promotions.
You can also do desktop feed ads where a target audience is based on your suburbs and surrounding areas that can see your tradie ad as a suggested post on their feed.
The good thing about Facebook ads is they can collect information from their users, making your ad visible to a target audience.
Google Ads
Google Ads (formerly known as Adwords) serves as an advertising option to tradies like you that puts you on top positions in searches when someone searches for a specific tradie or a specific location.
For example, if you are a plumber in Melbourne, Google ads will display your business as “plumber in Melbourne” or residential plumber on Google search engines.
Your paid Google ads will automatically show to those searching for the same service and thus will help you get more calls and more customers.
So if you are looking for a fast and effective starting point to advertise your tradie business, get better results with Google ads or Adwords.
Google My Business listing
Google My Business helps online users to find you quickly and more conveniently.
If customers need the information on your contact number and hours of service, Google My Business can easily give the information they need easily and without any hassle.
When online searches need additional information about the type of services that you offer, they will most likely visit your website as soon as possible.
Besides that, there are numerous ways how your tradie business in Google My Business can be of great advantage in your online presence and customer engagement, so be sure to sign-up or update your contact information immediately.
Tradesmen’s website
Gone are the days when you have to print a flyer or pamphlet highlighting your tradie services.
When everything becomes easy for you to share an update, your website is the most accessible tool where everyone can be informed of your tradie business services.
Outdated websites are usually problematic and don’t serve customers at their best and will only be treated as unreliable, liken to that of the tradesman involved.
Websites should always be updated from time to time and be mobile-friendly since most people are using their mobile phones.
Websites that are optimized for mobile devices will most likely have more than 80% consumers that will visit your business within the day.
Always remember that your website is one of the most effective sales tools that never stops generating leads, sales, and awareness for your tradie services.
Statistics show that nearly 90% of your clients will find local businesses like yours using web searches plus you will most likely engage 8 out of 10 customers especially if you have a website.
Missing this out can keep you unsearchable and customers won’t be able to find out about you when they need you to be.
Online directories
Free online directories get you to searches for your potential customers. Such online directories can post various information about your trade, business name, services offered, affiliations, and prices.
Online directories can also link your website so that searchers can automatically visit your website.
Signing up for these pages can help your tradie search engine optimization too!
Traditional marketing strategies and word-of-mouth marketing
In today’s digital world, you may think that traditional marketing strategies are no-no anymore. But whether that’s digital marketing or traditional marketing strategies, marketing is still marketing, and you cannot discount the fact that traditional marketing still works!
Traditional marketing is promotions and advertisements done through print, TV, radio, yellow pages, newspapers, sponsorships, flyers and billboards.
Referral marketing, or what is most popularly known as word-of-mouth marketing, gives people something to discuss and sustains the conversation for others to join in.
There are many things a tradie’s customers can talk about to build positive WOM to grow their business and establish their reputation as a competent tradie.
How do I get more leads for my tradie business?
Even if your services are top-notch, not enough people might know about this, so not actively advertising is a huge mistake! Word of mouth is great, but it doesn’t cast a net as wide as if you do online advertising to let others know about your top-of-the-line services.
What’s worse is since you’re not doing the marketing work, this means your competitor will snatch up potential customers that might have been yours if you advertised.
So how do you get your business across online platforms? The answer, advertise and market your tradie business using digital marketing!
Most tradies would focus on giving the best quality service to their customers, yet they neglect the idea that digital marketing is a must for every tradie.
So better start advertising and marketing your tradie business using digital marketing.
Get a tradie website
Tradie businesses like yours should present a reliable and professional image that customers can trust, and all of these are seen on the quality of the website that you have in the first place.
Expect readers not to read line by line and word per word on your website content. Effective websites observe uniform content from headings, sub-headings, paragraphs, and bullets.
Sentences should be broken down into readable content that is not overly compressed and is hard to read.
The choice of words should be carefully included and must be as catchy as possible. Choose words that area readily fit and that most customers search for, such as a plumber in Melbourne or professional cleaners in Sydney.
A good website must have complete and organized information that includes:
- About Page
- List of tradie services
- Operational information
- Contact information
A well-planned website increases your online visibility and thus reaches more customers than traditional marketing.
Also, make sure that you have a mobile-friendly website since everyone is on their mobile phones 24/7, and one best strategy to meet your customers exactly where they need you most is to have a mobile-friendly website.
Mobile-friendly websites give a better experience to tradie customers. Mobile users expect this kind of functionality, so better turn your conventional website into a mobile-friendly one.
Do SEO for tradies
Having an existing website and social media profile does not guarantee that people near your location can immediately find you. You will need to check on your web rankings and get the right keywords plus content for you to get on top.
With the way online trends change, you might wake up one day finding your website exactly on the second page of search results. As we always say, having your website is not enough if you want to get ahead of your competitors.
It would be best if you had a concrete plan to make your website work for you. And one best way to make sure it will be is through SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
SEO helps you increase your online visibility so that you get to enjoy the following benefits. Some of these are:
- Getting your business on local searches
- Ranking first in results
- Increasing appeal and social engagement
Letting Google notice your tradie page means that you apply SEO tactics using the right keywords, location tags, and even consistently creating quality content.
Online visibility in the virtual environment helps you reach more potential clients than ever before. And using SEO strategies is considered the cheapest, effective, yet most creative way of setting service promotions and recommendations.
Use Google Ads
If you’re looking into an effective method of paid online advertising, then Google ads are right for you.
Google ads would draw the right people who will need the services that you offer.
When you use Google ads campaign or Google Adwords for tradies, you usually pay for the business ad displayed to the right customers.
You may need to determine your goals in what you’re trying to achieve for the ad, such as:
- Direct more foot traffic for your services
- Increase calls
- Lead people to visit your website or landing page
Once you’ve determined your goal, you will need to decide if your ad copy will reach a specific local audience or a broader area. You may also need to set your budget for the ad before it goes live.
Ask for Google reviews
Customers who research and read Google reviews find a lot of information about you to make sure that they get the best quality service they’re looking for.
Customer reviews through Google reviews become the first section in mind, especially for those who were recommended by friends and whose name appears first on search engines.
Google reviews are not just there for a show but say a lot about the experience, quality of work and other important details that customers need to know before hiring a tradie.
As trust becomes a fundamental factor to consider, excellent quality service is undoubtedly one that boosts tradie reliability delivered on time.
Customers often rely on reviews and feedback before contacting a tradesman. Tradies concerned about Google reviews ratings only show that they value feedback and use it to their advantage.
Social media marketing
Tradies will need to build a strong media presence for added online visibility. The use of social media is free, and using various platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can get the right audience to your tradie business as well.
You may need to update your social media profile, update your content and visuals to show how you want your business image to look professional, and you’ll be able to attract more potential customers.
Social media marketing will also make your customers reach you faster by sending you a direct message and checking your page for frequent updates.
This way, you are guaranteed not to lose any potential work in the process.
Create email marketing campaigns
If you’re looking for a direct and effective way of connecting to your leads and other potential customers, you need to use an email marketing campaign.
Not only is email marketing cost-efficient, but it helps you reach those clients and people who have already signed up to your email list.
All you need to have is to get a specialist email marketing software that automatically sends, tracks and evaluates emails.
The content of your email matters as you need to make sure that you use the right words, phrases, and lines to get your readers’ attention.
You may need a striking call-to-action (CTA) that can make your reader sign-up, read, avail, and provide feedback to your tradie business.
Hire a digital marketing agency
Choosing the right tradie marketing is a must, especially if you want to get a great deal out of what you pay.
But with so many marketing agencies that offer different deals to tradies like you, it is always useful to research and look for one that understands your need and will help you achieve the results you want.
These digital marketing services are limited to web design and collaboration of digital services ranging from SEO, content marketing, web development, online marketing, social media strategy, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and many more.
Ask around other industries and businesses of the digital marketing agency that they worked with. For sure, you will get a background on how effective they are in their digital campaigns.
Core marketing strategies for tradies
Are you looking for a sustainable and long-term marketing strategy for your tradie business?
Then start enjoying more phone calls, more leads, and more job orders for you once you’ve adapted a tradie marketing plan that fits your business.
A tradie marketing plan helps your business get the results you want for your tradie business, but first, stop. We may need to meet you in person or online and assess your tradie marketing business.
We’ll need to ask you these questions to dive into your business and trade:
- What makes you unique from your competitors?
- Who is your ideal or intended customer?
- Which services do you want to be found for?
- Where do you want to operate?
- What current challenges or pain points are you facing?
- What is your tradie business’ Unique Selling Point (USP)?
By looking at these marketing perspectives, our team can put together a Marketing Plan for you that’s objective, effective and highly valuable for your tradie business in the long run.
So here are some questions that will help you assess and jumpstart a tradie marketing plan for your business:
- What type of marketing are you going to do?
- Are you doing online or offline marketing or a mix of both types?
- How much budget are you willing to invest in both your advertising and marketing activities?
- How do you get more clients?
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Do you have a plan to expand and grow your business?
- What industry and region do you want to dominate your tradie business?
Common mistakes tradies make when trying to grow their business
You know that your tradie skills and expertise is the best in town, and your business is just what most commercial and residential people would need.
However, if you fail to make your tradie business noticeable to many, especially online, then you’re in for a big failure.
Tradies might not realise it sooner, but they would need digital marketing done right to grow their business more.
Mistake #1: Outdated website
When was the last time you’ve got a new look on your website?
Suppose it has been ages since your tradie website has been updated, and your site is buried in the 3rd and 4th pages.
In that case, you need to consider updating your tradie website asap because this also means you are not only missing out on potential customers but even losing some to higher-ranking competitors.
Unupdated tradie websites are also bad for business in the sense that online visitors might you are incompetent for having left your website an outdated relic for so long.
Updating your website allows you to update your content and contact information that is very important for your readers and customers.
The readability and layout of your tradie website is also a must for visitors to find your web themes to be more functional, web-friendly and mobile-friendly.
Keeping your website current benefits your business even more and puts you ahead of your competitors when it comes to web ranking.
Not updating your website is bad for your tradie business, knowing that you have a lot of competition, adding that their business is searchable and yours is not.
Mistake #2: You don’t have a target market
Tradies who do not know their target market will eventually get lost in the process.
For example, you are a plumber in Northeast Melbourne; you should be targeting clients near the vicinity like Mitcham, Eltham, Templestowe, and Warrandyte.
Digital marketing efforts are usually wasted when tradies don’t know how digital marketing can help them grow their business, especially if they don’t know who their target market is, where most of their strategies will be focused at.
Working on digital marketing with no goals and target market in mind is like navigating the sea without a clear direction.
So if you did not define who your target market is, you wouldn’t be able to know how to measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies exactly.
Mistake #3: Not asking for customer reviews
Customer reviews will always leave an indelible mark on your tradie business.
Here is the deal: These days, the first thing people do when they need a tradie service is using Google to find a tradie near their area with good reviews and ratings.
That being said, customer reviews will always leave an indelible mark on your tradie business which can either secure you a customer or send them away to your competitors.
Feedbacks nowadays are very useful in giving other customers an idea of how you work and do things.
Gone are the days when reviews meant that your tradie service got a negative review, and it is quite hard to get over with.
Customer reviews work best for your tradie business as they can help you determine areas of improvement better to serve others through the quality of your work.
Online reviews not only adds to your tradie reputation but can also generate more web traffic.
There are a lot of ways on how you can encourage your previous clients to leave you good reviews like:
- Giving them extra coupons or discount the next service
- Including a link at the bottom of your invoices
- Sending an email or a chat message
- Asking them after each service
Mistake #4: Not paying attention to the data
Suppose you have an existing tradie marketing effort yet don’t understand the data presented to you. In that case, you will have a hard time using the data given to help you decide or focus marketing efforts like targeting a specific audience or area.
Tradie marketing efforts not appropriately measured cannot be assessed right. Like inspecting roofs, electrical wires and pipes, you need to check each part to know what’s working or not.
Web analytics data does the same as it helps you determine what service people usually seek to tradie services. You can make initiatives and concentrate your efforts towards effective digital marketing campaigns and keyword searches through this.
What to look for when hiring a digital marketing agency for tradies
Figuring out tradie digital marketing strategies on your own will not only take a lot of time, but it is full of complications too.
You may know the different platforms to use, but you need to use strategies that are already tried and tested. It will not be too easy for you to manage, especially if you want to achieve greater results.
Managing and optimising Google platforms and achieving the results you want for your tradie business would need the right digital marketing agency to do the job. So when you’re looking for the right digital marketing agency for tradies, it is best to look for these qualities:
Choose by recommendations
Before saying yes to a digital marketing agency, you need to do thorough research on how they’ve worked with their previous clients before.
Doing so will give you a better idea of their portfolios and how well they apply such digital marketing strategies to various industries.
You may need to ask around and do some research on their background to determine how effective their digital campaigns have been in the past and present.
Trusted experts in digital marketing
You don’t just work for anyone in digital marketing unless they are trusted experts. You may need to check for some proofs if they’re claiming to be experts in the field.
Check their experience and knowledge in digital marketing by asking questions related to digital marketing strategies, portfolios and previous issues that clients have that they could solve.
You will know that a digital marketing agency is an expert when giving concrete solutions to digital marketing problems that you have for your tradie business.
Provides various digital marketing services
Getting guaranteed results of more quality leads and more calls to require various digital marketing strategies will help you achieve your business goals.
This can be done by the digital marketing agency’s services that can range from SEO, content marketing, web development, online marketing, social media strategy, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and many more.
Digital marketing agencies can collaborate and find the best solutions that can be effective to your present need.
Delivers guaranteed results
Never rely on digital marketing agencies that are giving empty promises but cannot guarantee results in your tradie business.
Choose one that can give you more calls, quality leads and better web rankings.
Never settle for one that will only suggest steps and procedures but will not give you suggestions but actions needed to implement your digital marketing solutions.
