Trades businesses are my people. I’ve been in the building industry. I know what it’s like to work with your hands, run a van, manage jobs, and somehow also be expected to be a marketing expert. The good news is that the marketing fundamentals that work for any service business work brilliantly for trades – and the competition online is often lower than you might think.
Where Trades Clients Come From
For most trades businesses, leads come from three places: word of mouth and referrals, Google search (organic or paid), and platforms like Checkatrade or MyBuilder. The goal of a proper marketing system is to make you less dependent on any single source – and particularly to reduce reliance on expensive third-party lead platforms that often provide shared, low-quality leads.
Google Ads for Trades
Trades businesses are ideal candidates for Google Ads. When someone searches “emergency plumber Newbury” or “kitchen fitter Swindon”, they’re not researching – they have an immediate, specific need. These high-intent searches convert at excellent rates when your ad is relevant and your landing page makes it easy to get in touch. A well-managed campaign for a local trades business often delivers a return of 5:1 or better on ad spend.
Your Website: The Make-or-Break Factor
A trades website needs five things: photos of real work, genuine customer reviews, a clear description of your service area, a mobile-friendly design (most searches happen on phones), and a phone number that’s impossible to miss. Photos of completed jobs are particularly powerful – they answer the customer’s fundamental question: “Can this person actually do the work?”
Follow-Up: The Trades Advantage
Most trades businesses don’t follow up effectively. A lead comes in, they’re on a job, they don’t get back to it until the evening – by which time the prospect has booked someone else. A CRM with automated immediate response (a text message acknowledging the enquiry within seconds of it coming in) can dramatically increase conversion rates without adding any workload.
I have significant experience in the trades and construction sectors. Get in touch to talk about what a marketing system could do for your trades business.
