6 Marketing Tips for Home Contractors
Your company's overall health and future growth are based on the foundation of marketing. If you want to expand your business and gain more customers, you need to prioritize your local marketing efforts. Despite the fact that word-of-mouth marketing would be ideal, the best marketing strategy for contractors relies on a variety of additional tactics to boost business growth.
Make a note of where you're succeeding and where you need to improve as you go through this list. You'll be better able to manage your limited resources if you do this.
Understanding the Needs of Your Customers
Make sure you know your unique selling proposition before launching a marketing campaign.
Consider specializing if you're in a field with a lot of competition. From specializing in outdoor electrical capabilities to kitchen renovations in smaller homes, this can include anything. You can establish yourself in an untapped market by carving out a niche for yourself. Having a unique offering will set you apart from your competition, who are all offering the same thing.
For electrical contractors, marketing is very different from marketing for a construction company, as you might expect. If you want to reach the right people, make sure you explain why they should hire you in your outreach. The following questions should be taken into consideration in this regard:
- Who are you aiming to reach with your product or service?
- What are you doing to help them?
- What distinguishes you from the rest of the pack in your industry?
- What is it that you do best?
- What is your unique selling proposition?
Create a Contractor Website
A strong online presence is one of the most effective ways to generate leads. Customers will have a harder time finding you and are less likely to trust you if you don't have a website. Having a professional website gives potential customers an idea of who you are and what your company does, as well as an opportunity to make a brief sales pitch about the value of your contractor service.
Your company's website is its public face and the key to having the best contractor advertising. As a result, put in the time and money to build a user-friendly, mobile-friendly, and accurate representation of your business.
Despite the fact that no two websites are exactly alike, the following fundamentals should not be overlooked:
- Contact info
- Before-and-after images of your home improvement projects
- Online appointments or consultations
- Testimonials from satisfied customers
- Instant messaging features
- A blog page
In addition to including images, text, and contact information, make sure that your site's metadata, such as the page title and description, is optimised. A well-designed website tells potential customers that your company is reliable.
Metadata optimization serves the same purpose, but it speaks to Google's search algorithm rather than to potential customers. Metadata optimization can have a significant impact on your Google rankings. You could turn up in online searches like "best contractor in Pasadena" or "contractor for a bathroom remodel in my area.".
Start in Your Neighborhood
Your goal should not be to reach as many people as possible, but rather, to reach the right people for your message. To no avail will be your contractor marketing strategies if you attract a prospective customer who lives thousands of miles away and needs construction work done.
In the beginning stages of your business, you should try to focus your advertising efforts on your local area. It's possible to slowly expand your marketing campaigns to neighboring communities to help build brand awareness.
Share Content on Social Media
If you aren't using social media in your marketing strategy, you're missing out on a lot of potential customers. The platforms you can use include:
Contractors benefit greatly from Instagram because of the visual nature of the content. You can use it to build a following, demonstrate your vision, show your previous work, and establish yourself as an authority on the subject. Always keep your content fresh and varied by posting on a regular basis. The following are examples of possible social media posts:
- Before and after pictures of your projects
- Shoots of the interior design
- Instructional videos
Your social media handles should be included in all of your marketing materials, including brochures, business cards, and website footers and signatures, in order to maximize exposure across all platforms.
Make Use of Local Advertising Methods That Have Been Around for a Long Time
There is no harm in pursuing both print and digital marketing. These are some examples:
- Newspapers
- Business cards
- Promotional material such as powerbanks, keychains, pens
- Banners
- Billboards
Before you spend your marketing dollars on these, think about who you're trying to reach and whether or not the channels you're considering will deliver a good return on your investment.
Make Existing Customers Brand Ambassadors
Getting to know a customer is as easy as having them invite their friends over to their newly remodeled living room and having them bombard you with questions about who did the work. As previously stated, word-of-mouth can be a very powerful marketing tool.
According to a recent HubSpot study, 90% of people trust brand recommendations from people they know personally. So, ask your current customers if they'd be willing to speak on your behalf if they're satisfied with your work. Included in this are:
- Using social media to post your work
- Recommending you to friends
- Testimonials and reviews
Obviously, they won't recommend you if you fail to deliver on your original promise. Customers are far more likely to support you if you do good work that they approve of. In addition, you can reward customers for referring their friends by offering discounts, freebies, or other incentives.
Put Your Marketing Strategies to Work
It's no longer necessary to spend a large sum of money in order to increase your customer base in the digital age. Even if your contracting business is small and your advertising budget is tight, there are still many options available to you.
Your customers and your unique value proposition should be the focus of all marketing campaigns you run. If you follow through on that, you'll be a success!