HOW TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS AS A TRADESMAN?
Many tradesmen ask the same question “how do I attract customers?”
These are testing times with the current coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot still grow your business while the tools are down.
Right now is the prime time to grow your business online. During the pandemic, almost everyone has turned to online apps and services from talking to loved ones to doing an essential online shop.
The key to growing any business online is marketing. All successful businesses will tell you that marketing, whether word of mouth, social media or using business directories is necessary.
There are many methods available to you. You don’t need a lot of experience in marketing to use them. We have many customers who started off growing their businesses with very little marketing knowledge.
We have compiled a short guide below on how you can do this with very little expense to your pocket.
How do customers search online?
Think about how you would search for a product or service online. Typically you would go to google and search for what you need. Like you, your customers will do this by searching for terms such as “plumbers near me” or DIY stores in Hull.
These words or terms customers use are known as keywords. These are what you want your business to appear for on Google.
For instance, if you search “Electricians in Hull” you will get about 2,350,000 results. This gives you an idea of the number of people who have websites relevant to this search term.
Google will come up with something that looks like this:
The top will have an Ad symbol next to them, meaning these businesses are paying google to run adverts for them, known as Google ads.
The next section is Google Maps listings. These are businesses that have added their business on to Google Maps showing their company name and areas they cover.
Below this section is known as organic listings. They are not running ads but have shown Google that they have a website relevant to the search term used above.
GOOGLE ADS
Google Ads will give you quick results, it is often a good option as you can set up adverts quickly. If you already have a website it doesn’t take long at all, just a matter of hours.
As the majority of customers use Google to search for products or services Google Ads is a good place to start with online paid advertising.
You can create a Google Ad account itself easily enough. It is free to sign up and you can get a £75 voucher to get you started with your campaign.
If you decide to employ an agency to do this for you then ensure you choose a Google Partner Agency. We can recommend Get Noticed Locally. This will avoid you using a company that doesn’t have the knowledge in the area of running adverts effectively, ensuring you get the best results for your money.
Next up is:
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
Google My Business is a tool that people use daily. The way customers view these listings is on Google Maps, you may have done this yourself many times.
The steps needed to appear on Google Maps are
- Create a Google account. You can sign up for one through Gmail or Gsuite and you can create a business email address if you don’t already have one.
- Complete the necessary steps required, completing all your business details. See our blog post on creating a Google My Business page for more help with this.
- Google will send you a letter via post to verify your location is correct. Don’t worry if you haven’t decided on your business hours etc as these can be changed once your listing has been verified.
- Once the My Google Business page is up and running you can add posts, offers and new to this which all helps with your rankings on Google Maps.
WEBSITES
The above-mentioned methods are suitable for those who do not have a website.
If you are just starting out then the above options are fine to start with but as your workload and business grows, you might want to consider one.
Websites are the best way to display your range of services, showcase your work and reviews. A website is like an online shop and allows your customers to go inside and browse to see what projects you are on with and what makes you stand out from the competition.
If you think the time has come for you to get a website then we again we can highly recommend using the services of a local business Get Noticed Locally.
This brings us nicely onto the complicated bit
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
Once you have your website, you now need to consider how people will find your website on Google. This bit is vital as there hundreds of competitors out there in your industry.
It is important to understand that Google will consider a long list of factors in deciding which one is most relevant. The most relevant one will be the one that is listed first, underneath the Google Ads and Google Maps we have mentioned above.
It is said that 25% of people will click on the first listing on Google. Therefore, it is crucial to get your business to the top of Google.
Search Engine Optimisation is a more long-term way of generating business online and isn’t always suitable for tradesmen who are looking for immediate results. Google Ads is a better format for that.
SEO can take months to get a business to the top of Google. It takes commitment and an understanding of what SEO is. With SEO we would always suggest getting the experts in to help.
Last but not by any means least we move on to social media
SOCIAL MEDIA
The good news is that social media is a cost-effective way of reaching customers online. This is especially so when combined with the other marketing methods above. In today’s competitive market it is vital for any business, big or small to have some form of social media to reach their customers.
The most popular social media platform for Tradesmen is Facebook as such a wide variety of people use it every day.
Using social media as a stand-alone method of marketing your business isn’t something we would advise though. The reason why is because you need to be getting your business in front of customers in a competitive market.
We would always recommend combining social media with other methods such as SEO or paid advertising to make sure your business is in front of people when they search for a business online. Think about it, would you prefer to use a company you had seen on Facebook alone or one you had seen on both Facebook and Google search?
Setting up social media platforms is a straightforward process. The key to marketing on social media platforms is to make sure you show up regularly with posts that your customers will find interesting or useful. Remember though, there is no point in having a Facebook business page or Instagram account if you never post anything. The key is in the phrase social media – you need to be sociable to have any impact.
Conclusion
As you can see there is a range of methods you can use to attract customers from paid advertising to social media.
You don’t have to be an expert to use any of these methods, just the time to do it, if that is something you are struggling with then we can help
If you are a tradesman and the prospect of creating a google account or social media account sends you into a tizzy. Or if you don’t have the time to properly manage the ones you already then let us help you. We are experts at getting things done and have a range of services and packages to suit every budget.
We hope you have found this article useful, in the meantime stay home and stay safe from Admin Made Easy Ltd
