Tips to help you successfully market your tradie business

A great way to have an edge above other businesses in the industry is staying in touch with industry trends. Keeping tabs on the latest construction industry news and developments can help you better serve your customers. Stay up-to-date by attending events and trade shows and building a strong network through local associations.

Check in with your market regularly to find out what’s currently in demand. Should you drop new builds, and put everything into home renovations? Or is there an opportunity to focus less on residential, and invest in commercial instead? You could identify growth areas and, if necessary, consider changing your services to meet demand.

A successful way to keep your business active and thriving is by nailing your marketing strategy. Have a thorough look into how you’re marketing and advertising your business to current and potential customers. How did your last 10 customers hear about you? Keep doing what works and drop anything that doesn’t.

Digital marketing is great for business, so it’s helpful to have a well-designed website that works on both desktop and mobile. Think about using social media, search engine optimisation, or paid search to help your business build a strong online presence.

The best advertising is specifically designed for the people it’s targeted to. Find out who your ideal customer is, where they spend their time, and what they need – then market to them accordingly. For example, large corporate clients might require pitching for contracts, while local home owners might rely more on digital marketing, local ads, or word-of-mouth.

Make your business easy to find

Create as many ways for your customers to get in touch as possible. You could consider going beyond the standard email, mobile phone, and business card options. Perhaps you could have a form on your website or an app where customers can enter their job details.

Directories are still a common place for people to look for tradies and construction services, both online and offline. So make a list of all your local directories and get yourself listed.

Keep in touch with your customers

Regularly tracking feedback from your customers is an effective way to assess your performance. Whenever you finish a job, reach out and ask your customers how it went. Keep an eye on what people are saying about your business on social media too. Find out what they liked and ways they thought you could improve. Positive word-of-mouth is one of the best ways to advertise your business, so don’t be afraid to ask satisfied customers for referrals.

Once you know what your customers think, use what you’ve learnt to come up with innovative business ideas. Can you evolve to meet specific customer requests? Are there any new products and services you could offer? Ask yourself the big questions and stay open to change.

Keep up-to-date with your industry

Look out for opportunities in other areas and consider being nimble enough to relocate for the duration of a project. If a project is big enough, you could even think about opening a branch in a new location or starting a joint venture with a local construction company.

Speaking at events is a great way to make networking connections, meet potential customers, and position yourself as an industry expert. Seek out opportunities by researching upcoming relevant events and reaching out with an offer to attend as an expert guest.