Easy Marketing Strategies For Contractors In 2023

Easy Marketing Strategies 1

Marketing is a challenge for many home service providers. After all, you started your business to provide valuable services to your customers, not to dabble in website maintenance or online advertising. If you want your business to grow, however, you need to have a comprehensive marketing strategy. Marketing makes people aware of what you offer, establishes your credibility, and helps you convert prospects into paying customers. To help you make 2023 your company's best year yet, here's an overview of some of the best marketing strategies for contractors. 

Easy Marketing Strategies for Contractors. Sign up with CraftJack. 


Utilizing Paid Search And Paid Social Advertising To Reach A Wider Audience

Paid Search

Paid search and paid social advertising are cornerstones of contractor marketing. While you wait for your organic SEO results to take effect, paid search can help you drive traffic to your website and increase your company's revenue. Paid search involves paying for ads to appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) that are relevant to your business. If you offer carpentry services in Tallahassee, for example, you might pay to have ads placed at the top of the SERPs for queries like "Tallahassee carpenter" and "carpentry services in Tallahassee."

One of the main benefits of paid search is increased visibility. If your site isn't ranking for relevant keywords yet, it's difficult for customers to find you with their favorite search engines. Paid search bumps you to the top of the SERPs, making more people aware of your company and what it offers. Another benefit is that people who click on your ads are likely to have a strong interest in your services. They were already searching for keywords related to your business, making them more likely to buy from you.

Once you start using paid search, keep a close eye on your analytics (data). You should be able to find out where users are located, how much time they're spending on your website, and how many pages they've visited. You can use this information to make your ads even more effective.

Paid Social Advertising

Paid social advertising harnesses the power of social media to make your business more visible to potential customers. If you've ever seen an ad on Facebook, you already have a basic understanding of what paid social advertising is. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer this type of advertising to their user bases, making it possible to connect with different segments of your audience.

Facebook Targeted Ads

Facebook lets you define an audience for your ads, resulting in higher conversion rates. You can be as specific as you want, showing ads to people in specific age groups or geographic areas. For example, you can have Facebook display ads for homeowners between the ages of 35 and 45 who live in Houston and have an interest in gardening. The social network also allows you to market to "lookalike audiences," or people who have interests similar to those of people who've already purchased from you.

Instagram Ads

Instagram lets you set a small budget, making it a little easier to experiment with social media advertising. Just remember that your budget dictates the size of your audience. If you set it at just a few dollars, not many people will see your ads. When you're ready to get started, consider hiring a graphic designer to create your ad graphics, as each ad must be visually appealing and relevant to your target audience. It's also important to write compelling ad copy. If writing isn't your thing, a freelance copywriter can help you come up with ads that get results.

Twitter Advertising

Twitter offers several types of advertisements, including Trend Takeover, Follower Ads, and Promoted Ads. Trend Takeovers display your advertisements alongside trending topics, increasing exposure for your business. Follower Ads suggest your company to Twitter users who aren't following you yet. Twitter makes suggestions based on each account holder's interests. With Promoted Ads, you pay to reach new users or increase engagement among your current follower base.

Leveraging Local SEO To Target Customers In Your Service Area

One of the best marketing strategies for contractors is search engine optimization, a set of techniques that make your company more visible to search engine users. When someone searches for service providers in your area, you want them to see your website at the top of the search results pages. SEO improves your page rankings, allowing you to outperform competitors with bigger budgets.

Local SEO focuses on optimizing your website for local search results. In some industries, customers can order from any website offering the right product or service at the right price. For example, a business owner in the United States can easily order an e-book from a company in Canada or South Africa. Location really doesn't make a difference. In contrast, people who need contractor services can't hire just anyone. They need to find someone who services their neighborhood. That's why local SEO is so important.

Local Ranking Factors

Google and other search engines use algorithms to search through billions of pages and return the most relevant results for each query. When it comes to local rankings, Google considers distance, relevance, and prominence. Distance accounts for how far each business is from the location mentioned in the user's search string. For local searches, Google prioritizes businesses that are close to where the user lives or works.

Relevance is how well a business matches the user's needs. If someone is looking for asphalt shingle work in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, for example, a roofing company that specifically mentions asphalt shingles is going to be more relevant than a company that only mentions roofing in general terms. That's why it's critical to have plenty of content describing what your business does.

Prominence refers to your company's reputation. If you just opened a few months ago, your business is less prominent than a company that's been in business for a decade. This can affect your local search rankings. To increase your prominence, publish customer testimonials and other content to help Google's algorithm understand that you run a reputable business.

Getting Started With Local Search

Before you get started with this form of contractor digital marketing, take a few minutes to learn how to improve your local search rankings. Here are a few tips:

  • Create a Google Business Profile.
  • Choose the right GBP category for your business.
  • Make sure the title of your profile includes your primary keyword.
  • Add your physical address to your website and other digital assets.
  • Encourage customers to write reviews of your business.
  • Add as much information to your GBP as possible.
  • Focus on building high-quality inbound links to your website.
Easy Marketing Strategies 2

Developing A Strong Social Media Presence To Connect With Customers

If you're on a budget, you can't get more cost-effective than social media marketing for contractors. It's free to set up accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, so you don't have to worry about high up-front costs. Even if you decide to do paid social advertising, social media ads cost much less than television, magazine, or newspaper ads.

The best social media marketing strategies for contractors focus on consistency. You're not going to gain much traction if you open an account, post once, and then forget about posting again for 2 or 3 months. If you can't post every day, try posting a few times per week to strengthen the connections between your brand and your customers. Here are a few types of content to try:

  • Company announcements
  • Photos of recent projects
  • Video walkthroughs of a job site
  • Industry news
  • Q&A sessions
  • Customer reviews
  • Tips related to your area of expertise

Implementing Display Marketing To Increase Brand Awareness

When you surf the web, do you ever notice ads displayed on the sites you visit? These are display ads. Each ad has text, images, and a link to another website where the user can learn more about the advertiser and its products or services. This is one of the most effective forms of marketing for contractors, as it allows you to deliver a more personalized experience to people who are interested in what you have to offer.

You can also purchase contextually targeted ads, which are displayed according to specific criteria. Sites serve these ads based on a user's browsing history, the theme of the host website, the keywords included in your ad, and your location preferences, among other factors. The more you advertise to potential customers, the more they'll get used to seeing your company's name and branding. This can help you convert more website users into customers.

Creating Engaging Content To Educate And Convert Customers

Dollar for dollar, content marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for contractors in 2023. Content marketing refers to the systematic creation and distribution of content that's relevant to the people in your target audience. Good content must also be valuable to potential customers. It doesn't do much good to offer a free guide to tile roofing if the people in your area are more interested in slate or metal, for example.

If your website doesn't have much content yet, start by adding pages to describe each of your services and explain why potential customers should hire you. Make sure each page incorporates a keyword that's relevant to your business and your potential customers' needs.

Blogging

Once your site is stocked with valuable content, consider setting up a blog. Blogging positions you as an expert in your industry, helps improve your search engine rankings, reinforces your branding, and increases customer engagement. You don't need to be the next Ernest Hemingway to maintain a successful blog. Simply write about what you know. If you run a landscaping business, for example, you might want to talk about the best plants for your service area or provide tips for landscaping around a water feature.

If you're too busy to blog or not confident in your writing skills, consider hiring a freelance content writer. An experienced writer can take your keywords and ideas and turn them into valuable blog content for the people in your target audience.

Video Marketing

YouTube attracts millions of users daily, making it one of the best places to publish content promoting your business. Video marketing is especially helpful for contractors, as it makes it easy to show off finished projects and convince potential customers that you do quality work. Best of all, you don't need expensive equipment to get started. If you're on a budget, a smartphone camera is really all you need to shoot quick videos.

Additional Content Ideas

Once your blog is up and running and you're using video marketing to its full potential, consider expanding your marketing strategy with the following types of content:

  • E-books
  • Product guides
  • Infographics
  • Emails
  • Press releases

Using Email Marketing To Nurture Leads And Build Customer Loyalty

Email marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for contractors because it lets you send highly personalized messages to the people who sign up for your mailing list. If you're not already using email marketing, start by collecting email addresses. You can offer something of value in exchange for each address, such as a discount on one of your services or a coupon for a free home inspection. 

Once you have those emails in hand, start sending relevant messages on a regular basis. You can use email marketing to announce new services, inform customers about upcoming events, highlight recent projects, or share industry news with your subscribers. Just make sure every message offers something of value to the people on your list.

At CraftJack, our contractor marketing services make it easier to find qualified leads and convert them into customers. Once you have high-quality leads in hand, you can market to them via email and nurture the relationship over time, increasing your sales conversion rate.