There’s a huge variety of different tradie businesses and trades out there. The one thing they all share? The right marketing tactics are crucial to getting more jobs and callouts.
We shouldn’t have to explain the importance of marketing for tradies. It’s pretty self-explanatory:
- New clients
- More phone calls
- Better recognition
- A leg-up over the competition.
The only question: what’s the right marketing strategy for your tradie business?
And just as important: how do you go about figuring out what that strategy is?
1) Know where your customers are
While there are some businesses with a large enough fleet of vans and enough tradies to cover entire cities, the vast majority of tradies aren’t that large.
Instead, most tradies have their own “turf”, and stick to callouts in that area.
- Maybe you’ve got strong connections to the local community
- Certain suburbs might be more lucrative
- You don’t have the resources to go much further
Whatever the reason, step 1 in figuring out your tradie marketing strategy is to figure out where your customers are.
This is especially important if you provide emergency services. Emergency callers want speedy fixes – needless to say, if you’re spending an hour in traffic, that’s not going to reflect very well on you!
2) What customers do you want to work with?
So you know where your customers are. The next step is to figure out who they are.
We don’t just mean age and demographics (though those are important too) – we’re talking about the types of jobs you want calls for:
- Homeowners
- Small businesses
- Renovators/builders
- Offices
- Emergency callouts
When deciding on who you want to work with, look at your specialisations. You might be a sparkie who performs all sorts of electrical jobs, but you’ve got the most experience with, say, office fit-outs. Alternatively, some jobs just mightn’t be worth it to you.
3) Decide based on the marketing budget
So you’ve figured out where and who you’re going for. The next is figuring out how much money you want to assign to your tradie marketing efforts.
When looking at your budget, it’s important that you go beyond the upfront cost. While upfront cost is important, you can’t afford (no pun intended) to ignore the big picture.
When reading into tradie marketing strategies, be sure to research their overall effectiveness and how many new calls you can expect. We recommend getting in touch with providers and asking them for case studies and stats.
And while we’re on the topic…
4) Read up on your tradie marketing specialist
Marketing for tradies isn’t like marketing for other industries. Your clients are looking for specific things – not to mention, your goals and typical customer look very different.
To make sure you get the results you want, you need to ensure you choose a marketing agency that specialises in tradie marketing.
That’s because tradie marketing isn’t something they teach in a course. In our experience, it’s a bit like a trade in the sense that a lot of the nuances and unique details can only be learnt first-hand!
When talking with a marketing agency, make sure they know how to get results for tradies like you. Check their reviews, ask to see their portfolio and if possible, ask your fellow tradies for recommendations.
Want to know how to choose a marketing agency? Look no further – click here to read our must-know checklist!
Digital marketing for tradies: why it’s the way to go
You’ve gone through each of these steps. No doubt, you have plenty of options when it comes to tradie marketing.
The only question left: which ones are best for you?
Admittedly we’re a little bit biased here, but if you ask us, digital should be a large part of your marketing mix.
Why’s that?
It’s great for targeting specific areas and customers
The problem with most methods is that they’re scattergun approaches. You can’t control who sees an ad or billboard, for example.
If local jobs and specific jobs are the goal, digital marketing – in particular, local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and online ads are perfect.
SEO, social media and digital campaigns can all be targeted for specific Google searches and specific audiences, giving you total control over the target.
By carefully selecting key phrases, search terms and demographics, we can tailor your digital marketing strategy so that you pop up for specific services and suburbs. This way, you’ll only receive calls for the jobs you want to do!
It’s cost-effective
If you ask us, the way to gain more jobs is to look at intent – that is to say, to go after people who are actively in the market and are looking for tradie services.
Thousands of people might receive a flier. But how many of them need your services right at this very moment? Not that many, we’ll bet!
Luckily for you, SEO and Google AdWords are especially good with this.
Now let’s shift our attention to search engines. If somebody’s searching up “mechanic in Dandenong”, they’re not doing it because it’s fun – chances are they’re looking to book a service very soon.
Sure, you mightn’t receive as much visibility (especially if you target highly specific searches) – however, the people who do see you are much more likely to be in the market, and are therefore much more likely to call!
It’s easy to figure out who’s the real deal
It can be hard to figure out how many calls you receive by putting an ad in the local paper.
Luckily it’s the polar opposite with digital marketing.
It’s easy to figure out how effective your digital marketing strategy is thanks to in-depth metrics. You can track exactly how many people have followed a link, visited your website and how many people are clicking and viewing your ads.
Not only does this help you evaluate how your campaigns are going, but it also makes it easy to tell which digital marketing agencies are the real deal!
There’s no excuse in digital – if your digital marketing agency can’t provide case studies or data to back up their claims, you can pretty confidently scrub them off your shortlist.
Going digital? Contact a tradie marketing agency in Melbourne!
Iformat specialises in getting tradies (read: you) more jobs. And not just any jobs either, but the jobs you want, in the suburbs you want.
We create custom digital marketing tactics for tradies, combining SEO, pay-per-click advertising and more to get you more calls and leads.
Our team is happy to work with your existing site and marketing partners. Don’t have a site to begin with? We’ll throw a fast, modern-looking one into the deal if need be
All this is only a phone call away. Contact iformat at 1300 88 6450 to start growing your tradie business.
