The new financial year often brings new goals for tradies and often at the top is “How do I get more customers?” Time poor tradies wanting to grow your business look no further, you have come to the right place!
Owning your business means you don’t have a lot of spare time to think about marketing. You need to rely on traditional and digital methods to grow your business, as there is lots of competition vying for your customers and prospects’ attention. By following these tips, you can successfully market your trade business and stand out in a crowded market.
Whether you are a sparky, chippy, mechanic, gardener or painter we have 13 marketing tips to increase your customers. Let’s get cracking.
- Build a simple website. Google, WordPress or Squarespace have ways to make websites quickly and easily. Design in a mobile view, as most customers see your website on a mobile first and first impressions count. Take the time to make sure it is secure, with 2 factor identification
- Have multiple ways to contact you. Make it easy to see and clear to read online. People don’t have a lot of time to look for information they expect to see quickly. A mobile phone number, a short online form and an email address for contact are great ways to contact you.
- Outbound links – Outbound links are crucial to your webpage success for search engines like Google. A link to your page is called a ‘backlink’. The more links you have to your page, the more Google views your homepage as ‘trusted’. You can get backlinks from directories like HiPages, Oneflare.com.au and Airtasker.
- Free Google business listing – Google business listings is the box that appear on the right hand side of the page that tell you about the company. It often has a couple of photos, gives you the phone number, and lists the opening hours, the location and reviews.
- Word of Mouth – An oldie but a goodie. Aside from online, lots of customers go with a word of mouth referral from a trusted friend or family member. According to Referral Rock, 61% of people have recommended a local business through word of mouth. Word of mouth helps to build the bridge between you and potential customers.
- Get Google reviews – Google reviews matter and should be added to your website. According to Forbes.com Google reviews raise the profile of your business online, the star rating based on your average rating appears under your company name in your Google business listing. If you have 4 or 5 stars, this will result in more people clicking on your business listing.
- Identify your target customer – Understanding the demographic of your potential customers will save you a lot of wasted time. Do you know what age range most of your customers fall between? Do you know which suburbs they are likely to live? Once you identify your target customer you can market to them through local SEO and social media.
- Local SEO – Helps your business be more visible in local search results on Google and Bing. Build your site’s digital footprint in the local oriented search ecosystem and this way your business can show up higher on the results page, leading to an increase in customers.
- Use social media – Take pictures and short videos on site and add them to your socials for your target customer. It doesn’t take much time and it give potential customers a visual on the type of work you do and they are more likely to contact you if they like what they see.
- Ask for a review – It’s a very common practise to request a review these days so it’s not out of the ordinary. According to Oberlo – 9/10 people say online reviews play a part in discovering local business. Take it further and amplify your reviews on your socials
- Signage on vehicles, worksite and uniforms to get your brand out there, get people to recognise your brand when they look for it online. People are more likely to click on an image they recognise than one they don’t. Providing a uniform means staff don’t have to think about what to wear each day and you look unified and more professional onsite when you all wear the same branding on your uniforms.
- Consider hiring a digital marketer on contract – If you are keen to improve your marketing but don’t have the time, effort or desire, consider hiring a digital marketer on contract from Upwork or HireDigitial eg: $1500 per month, they can take care of your website, implement local SEO, monitor reviews and create your socials.
- Create a fridge magnet – I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve been given a magnet, it’s gone on my fridge to hold a picture, award or list up and never come down. It’s free advertising to new people to the house and a constant brand reminder to your customers. Invest in a thicker magnet, that way it will be able to hold up a larger variety of items, ensuring it doesn’t leave its prided position.
Most of our suggestions are free or aren’t too expensive, so whether you are a sole trader, own a small business or large business, these 13 marketing tips will help to increase your customers in 2023.
Best of luck in the new financial year with your tradie businesses, at imar we look forward to working with you, protecting your business and providing insurance advice tailored to your unique needs.
General Advice Warning: To the extent that any material in this document may be considered advice, it does not take into account your objectives, needs or financial situation. You should consider whether this advice is appropriate for you and review any relevant Product Disclosure Statement, Financial Services Guide (FSG) and policy wording before taking out an insurance policy.
