If you're setting up as a painter and decorator, or maybe you're struggling to fill your weeks with work, you might be asking yourself, how to get more customers as a painter and decorator, especially one's where you don't need to pay to acquire those leads. In this article we will look at the various ways you can get leads, both free and paid and looks at the options to you and your business. You could try one of them, or you could incorporate all of them. We'll look at the options and let you decide what is best for your business.
Word of Mouth is Dead?
They say word of mouth is dead. Well not quite but, you can't run your business on word of mouth alone, especially if you are new to the game. You need customers. Ideally more customers than you can service so you can keep you prices higher and make more profit. This sounds great but the question is how? Read on and we'll tell you how!
Marketing for Painters and Decorators
You could be the best decorator in the world but, if no-one knows about you, you won't get any work. That's why marketing is so important. The thing with marketing is it comes in many guises. Some free, some almost free and some quite expensive. We'll look at what we did for one painting and decorating company, Pure Perfection Painters and see what worked for them as a new business with no customers, going to 3 months worth of bookings in 2 a month period.
Now you might think that paying for marketing is only going to make you work more days for less money. You will have higher out doings for sure but, if you book one more days work a month, this will cover all your marketing costs. There is also the fact that marketing and a website, done correctly, improves your companies reputation and credibility, which means you can charge more money per day, thus increasing your profit and getting you better customers as well. This sounds great but isn't this just a marketing company dishing out empty promises? That's up to you to decide! We're going to look at the various levels of marketing and let you pick and choose how far you want to take it!
Website
If you want to showcase your work, then a website is the place to do it. However, two websites are not the same and a website will be your biggest one-off cost, when it comes to marketing. Forget a one page websites which have your details and a few pictures. This WILL NOT get you customers. Remember we are looking to attract customers and not simply show off your work. People need to find your website and contact you. That is the only way to justify spending the money on getting a website built.
A website should be constructed of many pages. Pages for service locations, as well as the services you offer. It should also be optimised so that Google pushes potential customers to your page (SEO), so when someone types in Painter and Decorator Birmingham for instance, your page is at the top of the list. If you can do this, you will have a stream of enquiries and this is all the marketing you will need.
Another huge benefit of a website is that you own it. Rather than paying money to "CheckaTrade" or "Rated People", you own the website and it stays with your, rather than when you stop paying your advertising and all your details are removed.
The cost of a website is very wide ranging but expect to pay anywhere from £1000-£2500 however companies usually let you spread the cost.
Google Business Profile
Another extremely important area for marketing is setting up a Google Business Profile. Like the website, if you can rank highly it will show your business when someone searches for a decorator online. A Google Business Profile is equally as important as a website and the good news is it's completely free! There are ways to optimise this to help you rank higher as simply filling in your details won't make you come out at the top of the list. It's also a great way for customers to see pictures and reviews of all you 5 start work!!!
Social Media For a Painter and Decorator
Social media is great and it can get you lots of customers. There are however big plus's and minus's, especially for a new business.
The minus's are it can take a long time to build up a "following" and this "following" might be all over the country, when you only cover a 15 mile radius from your home. It is also is VERY time consuming.
That being said it is very important for a new business. It's a great way of pointing people to your new website to get traffic. It's also free and done correctly you can target local groups ensuring your message is going to the people in your local area.
Google Ads
Nowadays when people think of marketing they think of Google Ads. Done correctly they can attract customers over night, where most of the other options take time. They do however need a structure to work. They need a very good website for the ad to direct a potential customer too. They need a good advert to be displayed on Google and they also need a reasonable budget. Expect to pay anywhere from £150 - £500 per month if done yourself. However we would recommend a marketing company to do this for you to get best results.
Advertising Booklets and Flyers
For a Painter and Decorator we think print media is a great option. There are many people still not using the internet and social media and print media literally puts your business right in front of them and in their hands. It's something else we have used which works very well for a relatively low cost and little time involved. Adverts are typically anywhere from £50-£100 per month.
Conclusion
A lot of what we have discussed comes down to whether you are starting a business or simply trying to grow and existing one. If you are new then be agressive and use all of the above. You will incur some setup costs but, you will et your business up and running quicker. Especially when not many Painter and Decorators are doing this.
If you're an existing business then implement all the free options first. You might only need an extra one or two customer per month to take you to full capacity. Try these and then start looking at the paid options.
If you're not sure and want to discuss what option are open to your business contact us and we can talk you through how we might be able to help.
Comments