Contractors of all types, including restoration, construction, and drywall contractors, must generate good leads to secure new projects and improve their revenue.  The best way for contractors to generate good leads is through effective marketing.

Contractors should engage in a multi-faceted marketing campaign that focuses on digital marketing as well as some traditional marketing tactics to help improve brand awareness and generate more leads.  More consumers are starting their search for a contractor online and contractors that do not devote enough time and effort to digital marketing can lose out on these leads to their competitors.

In this guide, we will discuss the best marketing ideas to help contractors generate more leads to grow their business and increase revenue.

Create a Message for your Target Audience

Your entire marketing campaign should be based on the message that you want to convey directly to your target audience.  You need to define who your target audience is to make sure you are targeting the right people, and then craft a message that speaks to them about your brand.

First, you need to determine who your target audience is.  Think of your ideal clients, whether they are homeowners or businesses, and create an archetype including age and income level.  After identifying your target audience, consider their struggles, needs, and desires to craft a message that speaks directly to them.  For instance, if you notice a certain problem that many potential customers face when dealing with contractors or trying put a budget together for a project, create a message that explains how your business deals with this issue.  This is an example of a specific message crafted for a specific target audience.

Now that you have your target audience identified and crafted your message to them, you need to make sure you deliver your message where your audience will see it.  Think about where they are most likely to be found, including social media platforms like Facebook, or if it is better to reach them through email.  Your message will be much more effective when delivered in the spaces where you can find your audience.

Update your Website

When someone needs a drywall contractor or construction professional, they will most likely start their search on the internet.  This makes it important for your business to have a good website so that those searching online will find you.

You can boost your marketing campaign by updating your website or building a new one if you do not currently have a website.  Your website must feature an appealing design, easy to use navigation, and mobile responsiveness so that it displays and functions properly for those searching on mobile devices.  You should also make sure that your site is well optimized with valuable, relevant content to help improve your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Create Content

Every aspect of your marketing campaign, including building your website, creating ads, posting on social media, and sending email newsletters, requires the creation of effective content.  You should make sure that all of your marketing materials feature content that is informative and concise while conveying the message you want to your target audience.  Your content should also be optimized with your main keywords to help improve your rankings in the SERPs.

Post Content on Social Media

The content you create should include content for social media posts.  Social media content should not only incude textual posts, but also posts with media like pictures and videos of your projects.  Your social media content should spread your main message and include your branding to help build trust and familiarity.  Creating a content planner will help you plan out different types of posts so that your social media profiles are always active with new content.

The following are the best social media platforms for contractors to target:

• Facebook: In the U.S., 69 percent of adults use Facebook according to the Pew Research Center. This makes Facebook a good place for contractors to start to reach their target audience. You can post videos and pictures on Facebook and even create groups related to your industry or brand in which you can have a direct conversation with your audience.
• Instagram: Instagram posts are more visual than posts on other platforms and generally feature pictures and videos. You can post pictures and videos of completed jobs or your process as well as video testimonials.
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is great for contractors looking for commercial clients as you can post text, videos, and pictures. The algorithm for LinkedIn is also more organic than that of other social media platforms which means that more people will see your content if you post consistently.

Generate Leads with a Lead Magnet

Creating and offering a lead magnet is a great way to generate potential leads.  A lead magnet is an offer that is free if a consumer signs up for something or provides an email address.  An example may include a “how-to” video that they can access after providing their contact information.  With this approach, all the information you collect will be given to you voluntarily and you can use this information to reach out again through marketing emails.

Send Regular Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are one of the most cost-effective marketing tactics and they are a great way to reach out to potential customers as well as stay connected to existing customers.  A regular email newsletter allows you to provide important information directly to your customers regarding your services, special offers, and more.  You can also promote your social media profiles and posts and include content your audience may find entertaining or interesting.

After compiling a list of email addresses from newsletter signups and lead magnets, separate the email addresses into current customers and potential customers so that you can send them different content.  You can help turn potential customers into quality leads by sending emails that detail your services or promote your social media profiles, followed by emails that include a sales pitch.

Get Reviews and Referrals

Reviews and word of mouth referrals are highly effective for demonstrating the quality of your services and trustworthiness of your brand to potential customers.  Many consumers do not make a decision on working with a contractor without first reading the available reviews.

When you have a good experience with a customer, ask them for a referral if they know someone else who could benefit from your services.  This is especially helpful for contractors seeking commercial clients. You should also encourage satisfied customers to write reviews.

Invest in Local SEO

Construction and drywall contractors generally serve a local area which makes it important to focus on local SEO.  Increasing your visibility and brand awareness online is great, but it is much more effective when you make yourself more visible to potential customers within your service area.

The first thing you need to do to improve your local SEO is to optimize your Google Business Profile.  These profiles are free from Google, and they show up on Google Maps for geo-based searches.  You should make sure your profile is filled out entirely with your business information so that it is more likely to be found in searches for your services.

You can also improve your local SEO by optimizing your content on your website and social media posts for your main service areas.  This will help generate more local leads.

Attend Networking Events in your Local Area

Another great way to increase brand awareness in your local area is to attend local networking events.  These events give you a chance to network with local businesses and get your name out there which can be especially helpful for contractors looking for commercial clients.  You can also sponsor local events to help build trust and recognition with your local community.

Advertise on Your Fleet

Contractors of all types generally have a fleet of vehicles that drive through their service areas on the way to jobs.  You should advertise on your vehicle with vehicle wraps that display your company name and branding.  Hundreds of people see your vehicles as they drive across town, advertising on your vehicles is worth it.

Invest in Paid Advertising

The digital marketing strategies discussed so far are all designed to attract more organic traffic from searches to your website and social media platforms.  You can further supplement your digital marketing efforts by investing in paid advertising on Google and social media platforms.  With paid ads, you will create content for the ads that includes a link to your website and set the parameters for who you want to target and where.  The more you invest, the wider reach your paid ads will have.

You should consider paid advertising on the following platforms:

• Google: You can run a pay per click (PPC) campaign on Google in which you set a budget and pay a certain amount every time a user clicks on your ad. The amount you pay per click is determined by the keywords you choose to target.  Your PPC ads can be set to appear to a certain demographic within a chosen geographical area.  They also appear high in the SERPs, above the organic results, which helps them get a lot of clicks.
• Facebook: Facebook advertising is ideal for contractors looking for residential customers. Like with Google ads, you can set your Facebook ads to appeal to people of a certain demographic within your chosen service area.
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn ads are ideal for contractors targeting commercial customers. You can create ads on LinkedIn that target specific businesses and industries in your area to help increase leads for commercial jobs.

Invest in Lead Generation Services

The goal of your marketing campaign is to generate quality leads and convert them into customers.  You can generate even more leads by also working with a lead generation service provider that specializes in generating leads for your industry.  These professionals already have their system in place that is proven to generate quality leads.  By working with a lead generation service provider, these leads will come straight to you, you just need to close on the sale.

Track Your Leads

It is important to make sure you track every lead that comes in, including where the leads came from.  You will likely get leads through your website from people who found you with a Google search, leads from a lead generation service, leads through social media, and leads from word of mouth.  Keeping track of your leads will help ensure that each lead is followed up and knowing where the leads came from can help you determine which strategies are working well to generate leads and which strategies need improvement to generate more leads.

Lead Generation Services from RestorationMaster

Contractors including construction and drywall contractors rely on good leads to get more jobs and increase their revenue.  The marketing tips outlined above can help contractors generate more quality leads in their service area which will helps improve conversions rates for higher revenue.

Contractors can supplement their marketing efforts by working with a lead generation service provider that can bring them more quality leads.  RestorationMaster provides lead generation services for restoration and drywall contractors.  Our website consists of highly optimized, geo-based micro-sites that help generate quality leads within specific service areas.  Contractors that work with us can expect exclusive leads from their targeted areas, meaning you will not be competing with others for the same leads.

You can call RestorationMaster at (888) 846-1992 for more about our lead generation services for contractors.