Where Can You Market Your Trades Based Business Online
If you have wondered where to find more leads, enquiries and clients to grow your trades based business online but weren't sure where to start or which approach may be best for you then you've landed in the right place.
This article will give an overview of what the most popular options are currently so you can decide which may work best for you given your current situation.
As with any marketing activity they will require some sort of input, whether that is time, money or a combination of both, yes it would be amazing if people came across you through word of mouth, organic discovery and so forth, but that relies on HOPE based marketing, which in 2022 can set you at a disservice compared to your competitors who are prepared to do something and be proactive.
The fact of the matter is that anyone can set up and start spending money to market their business, both online and locally, with more funds being pumped into a project you may see they overtake you in popularity and presence. You may be better, more established, cheaper, faster, more expensive etc at the end of the day any potential client will start their search online.
Whether you pan to do free or low cost activities vs paid, one of the main features in determining your success will be consistency.
If something works then do more of it, we don't need to re-invent the wheel in most cases yet can be guilty of trying to do so.
So what are the tried and tested methods?
Pay Per Click Marketing For Contractors
Also know as PPC, this form of marketing involves spending money on campaigns that charge you when your ad is shown to potential customers online, they can choose to ignore you or click to call, email or fill in some details typically.
Using this method to market your trades based business can be very powerful and get immediate results.
Should you decide to scale up from here its often the case of upping your ad spend in order to generate more leads.
Used correctly it will be a foundational step in most contractors paid marketing efforts, however if you decide to dabble and don't know what you're doing it can quickly turn into a way to burn through cash.
Some agencies will also use this form of marketing as a way to test your ads and gamble your money away.
Depending on how competitive your keywords and phrases are you may find this to be more of a luxury in the marketing department, highly competitive phrases and options will always cost more, so fi a competitor wants to crush the market here they can simply outspend you.
Content Marketing For Contractors
Content forms the backbone of the internet and comes in many forms, when looking to market your contracting business you should be doing some content marketing. The type you invest the most time, energy and money into will largely come down to what you'd like to achieve.
Want to grow a following on YouTube? Then you'll need to get good at being in front of the camera, with an emphasis on longer form videos.
Dream about being the next TikTok sensation? You're going to have to experiment with a vastly different approach and shorter form content.
Hate the idea of people seeing you on camera? You'll need to concentrate on videos and photos showcasing your work and get good at written content.
You get the idea by now hopefully, and understand the differences between decent content and sub-standard footage.
We must also understand that not only are we being judged on the type and quality of the content we put out but also the consistency of it, so with that in mind how regular do your social feeds appear? Are you posting once per week, month, year or whenever you feel like it?
It should come as no surprise that social media has become increasingly more pay to play on the main platforms, with the golden days of organic reach dwindling, so if you have low numbers of followers and mainly get tumbleweed as a response to the content you put out, don't worry as you're not alone.
Of course you can boost, run paid ads to a piece and share the hell out of it to get more eyes on the prize.
Not confident in creating content, or worried that your speed and grammar isn't quite up to scratch? Why not outsource this item to someone that enjoys creating it and is knowledgeable in doing so?
Third Party Directories & Profile Sites For Contractors
Who remembers Yellow Pages? or the Thompson Local? What about Checkatrade, my builder or bark?
These are all versions of a third party directory site or place where you can setup a profile, usually for free, to showcase your contracting business, when used correctly they can be very useful and also provide a link back to your business.
This is helpful for search engines as they view these links as added credibility within the online world, the more mentions you get the better for your results.
Most of these types of website will also have a paid version, a premium listing option or a way for you to get more exposure by parting with some coin. Are they worth it? From my experience it can be a real mixed bag.
Having spent time and money testing to see what works best what I do know is that there is no clear cut path, it will depend on few factors, such as:
How many other contractors there are locally who offer the same or similar service
How well put together yours or the competitors profiles are
What their overall online presence is like
What sets you apart from the rest
How responsive you are to opportunity
If you're prepared to pay for opportunities or expect them to fall in your lap
Can I Copy What My Local Competitors Are Doing?
By all means yes you could, however this can lead to you being seen as a copycat, second rate version or seriously lacking in creativity, which is fine if that aligns with your values.
However since you're here reading this content I suspect you're cut from a different cloth.
Yes it can be useful to observe what your competitors may be doing well, or what you perceive to be doing well, but when it comes to your own trades based business wouldn't you rather put your spin on something? I mean you work all day on your craft, designing, building and producing work that is yours so why not continue the theme.
Tradesmen aren't usually renowned for their industry disrupting marketing, brand identities that are recognisable the world over or campaigns that are forever etched into the mind, but this doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
We should also note that just because someone else is doing it that it doesn't mean it is the right thing to do, I mean how do you know with certainty that their logo, colour scheme, website or latest paid campaign has generated significant amounts of business for them?
Revert back to your vision, mission and reasons for doing what you do whenever you feel a bit lost, if you get stuck reach out to me for some guidance via email ideas@alansalter.co.uk