Tradie Promotion - How to Get More Work With Half the Stress
A lot of tradespeople didn't pick up a tool to waste hours doing marketing. You got into it because you're skilled at your craft — not because you wanted a career in marketing yourself online.
The reality is: doing quality work doesn't guarantee a full calendar. Mates recommending you is still gold, but it's unpredictable - mostly when work drops off after a busy run.
What are the busy tradies doing differently? Here are a few practical strategies that shift the needle - no thousands of dollars.
Sort Out Your Digital Footprint
When someone Googles "local roofer" - can they find you? A surprising number of owner-operators still don't have any real web presence.
It doesn't need to be anything over the top. A straightforward site that displays what you actually do, lists where you work, and doesn't make people hunt for your number - that's where you start.
A basic landing page showing your work and how to reach you puts you ahead of the blokes relying on Facebook alone.
Google Business Profile - Costs Nothing, Does a Lot
If you've been sleeping on your GBP, you're handing work to your competition. It costs nothing.
That map pack that appears first when someone searches for a trade - that's where you want to be. And getting there comes down to having a complete, active profile.
- Add pictures from actual jobs - not some generic handshake pic
- Build up your review count with genuine feedback - this is massive for trust
- Engage with what people write - it shows you're active and approachable
- Update your info when anything changes
This stuff compounds over time. Blokes who put 20 minutes a month into this end up above those who filled it out once and walked away.
Posting Your Work Online - Keep It Simple
Forget about being an influencer. The tradies who get results from social media aren't doing anything fancy.
Grab a shot before you pack up and leave site. Before and afters are absolute gold. A finished bathroom reno - that tells the story on its own.
Add where the job was and what you did and you're sorted. Even once or twice a week is plenty. Each post is another piece of proof.
People trust actual results over polished ads. Real work on display outperforms any amount of fancy marketing - because it's real.
Paid Ads - Worth It If Done Right
Spending money on online ads is effective for trades businesses - but you can't just throw money at it. Where most people waste their budget is running ads with no clear target.
If you're going to invest in ads: have a landing page that works. All the clicks in the world won't help to a site that doesn't load properly.
Don't go all-in on day one. Track which ads bring actual calls. Scale the campaigns that convert and cut what doesn't.
Customer Reviews - What People Check Before They Call
One thing a lot of tradies underestimate: most people checks reviews before making contact. A trades business with strong reviews gets the call over a tradie with none - regardless of price.
Get into the routine to follow up with a review request. Most customers are happy to help - they just don't think of it. Send them a direct link and the reviews will stack up faster than you'd expect.
Respond to negative reviews professionally - your response to complaints is source just as important as the positive ones.
Wrapping It Up
Marketing your trades business shouldn't be a second full-time job. The busy ones haven't cracked some secret code - they got the fundamentals right and stuck with it.
Get your online profile in order. Let your jobs do the talking. Build your reputation with real feedback. And if you go the paid route, do it with a plan, not a prayer.
The quality of your work speaks for itself - getting found online doesn't take as much as you'd expect once you get the ball rolling.