by constructaquote - 21 December 2016
Unlike a normal office job, tradesmen spend a lot of time working on projects and driving, leaving barely any time to market their business online.
However, whilst the thought of online marketing may seem a bit daunting, most of it is pretty simple to do and very effective.
Here are 5 digital marketing activities you can try to get more customers:
Social media is the best way for anyone to market a business. Not only is social media free, it is a powerful way to get your business in front of potential customers and even go viral to the world.
Whilst there are many social media platforms, you do not need to use them all. Focusing on platforms where your customers are is the best way to get the most out of your social media campaigns.
Facebook and Instagram are both great for tradesmen to showcase their skilled work. Sharing before and after images, ‘how to’ videos, informative articles and videos is a great way for people to see the great job you do.
It’s also important to engage with your fans. If you’re only posting constantly and not acknowledging what your customers are up to, you’re missing a great part of how social media works.
Communicate with your fans/followers/customers by helping them out and giving them value. For example, if someone tweets that they have a leak in their roof, yes you can offer your services to them but you can also give them advice on what to do in the mean time. If you don’t pay attention to what people are posting you can miss potential business.
Content is so beneficial at driving traffic to your site and converting customers. Although it may seem like a big effort at first, building up a wealth of content will perceive you as the expert-in-the-know and people will naturally want to do business with you. The more you create, the more search engines will pick up.
Start a blog section in your website or a YouTube channel and provide the audience with useful DIY tips and hacks.
Sharing your content on social media and paying to ‘boost’ it is a great way of getting it in front of potential customers.
If you don’t have a website or a blog, you can use platforms like SunZu.com which are free to use and can be set up in a matter of minutes.
If you’re trying to make more of an impact online, creating a competition is a great way to drive traffic to your site, capture data and win new customers.
Use a tool like Gleam to create a sweepstake, giveaway or competition and share it across your social accounts.
Incentivise the user to take part by rewarding them with something awesome as the prize.
e.g…
“Share and Like our Facebook page for a chance to win a mini home makeover!”
Or
“Subscribe to our newsletter for a chance to win a year of free plumbing!”
As a tradesman, you should try to find web directories that your target demographic might use to find you, such as:
Make sure that you fill these directory submissions completely and don’t forget to add crucial information like your website, phone number and email address for potential leads to contact you.
Search Engine Optimization (or “SEO” for short) is the process of getting your website to rank on the first page of search results that your potential customer is looking at. The aim is to get your website to appear first for the search phrase, “best builder in [your town]”.
SEO can be a tricky task to undertake for someone who isn’t already familiar with it. We suggest using a reputable SEO agency and discussing with them how they can help. If you choose to go it alone, here is a great resource to get you started.
If all of the above seem like too much for you to do right now, pick one to start with and see how you get on. We recommend focuses on content or social media as they will make a positive impact on your business in a fairly short space of time.
Be consistent and dedicate a few hours a week where you can monitor your progress. Google analytics is a great free tool to see how much traffic you have had on your website, where it’s come from and how to continue your marketing strategy in the future.
Want to find out even more? Read our marketing tips for your business blog here.
by Charlotte Houghton - 7 October 2020
by constructaquote - 6 October 2020
by Charlotte Houghton - 29 September 2020
by Charlotte Houghton - 24 September 2020
