Independent and associated contractors have their own set of unique marketing challenges that brands and companies often don’t share. Turning leads into qualified sales may be tougher when you don’t have a full contractor marketing department to delegate specific channels too.
Luckily, there are some tried and tested contractor marketing strategies and ideas that you can employ to gain more leads and improve individual brand awareness.
Table of Contents
Let’s Jump Right Into The List.
⟹ Animated Explainer Videos
Video marketing is quickly becoming the centerpiece of a marketing strategy for most modern brands. 92% of marketers say video is a vital part of their overall marketing strategy.
Animated explainer videos are a creative medium for creating public awareness about the importance of your service and why you’re the best person for the job.
Plus, they’re ideal if you’d rather not be the literal face of the service offering. You can still inform your audience, engage with your specific client personas, and do it all via an inherently entertaining medium.
⟹ Targeted Google Ads
Pay-per-click (PPC) has long been the preferred channel for businesses in the service industry, at least in the paid marketing realm. Google Ads is at the center of that established channel.
Leveraging targeted Google Ads lets you do one of two major things:
- It lets you reach the customer in a place they’re most likely to explore first (Google search).
- It gives you a channel by which you can very easily track and measure performance.
If you know how Google Ads works, you can also gain a leg up in terms of smart advertising spend
⟹ Niche Twitter Marketing
Twitter marketing is all about creating an identity that speaks volumes about service quality, even before someone has the chance to see this quality in person.
Where niche Twitter marketing stands out from the standard business Twitter fare is that it targets specific audiences via hashtags and specific keywords. This means that people can find your tweets from Google search and engage with your content with buying intent.
Plus, there are tons of smart twitter marketing tips you can access to upgrade your Twitter game for improved engagement.
⟹ Mobile Marketing
Conventional mobile marketing via wraps on cars, buses, and trucks, bumper stickers, and promo vans is always a great option for contractors in the mobile service space.
Contractors who own, for example, a mobile truck repair business can benefit from the mobile component (even depend on it if the scope of their business is geographically limited).
Because mobile services and mobile marketing are related by their “mobile” nature, it makes sense to advertise on vehicles for a vehicle field repair service. This isn’t limited to repair services either, as mobile marketing can also be a viable part of a bigger marketing strategy.
⟹ Incentive-Based Promotional Marketing
Promotional marketing has traditionally been a conventional marketing tactic. However, it lends itself well to online marketing as well.
For example, if you have a fitness equipment installation service, you could offer gym memberships as an incentive for people who purchase your services.
Classes like Zumba and yoga can complement the equipment you install in your customers’ workout regimen, and it has the added benefit of being a long-term reminder of the benefits customers can reap by hiring you.
One important thing to consider here is that the promotional incentive has to closely match the service you offer (like the example provided). Doing so will enable customers to form a mental connection and avoid confusion regarding what services you offer.
⟹ Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) may be the single most important aspect of content marketing for any business. If a business puts any amount of content online, they need to optimize it for Google search.
SEO is important for both content positioning and visibility. Since there may be hundreds or thousands of contractors competing for the same customer base in a region, you’ll need to make sure your promotional and self-descriptive content appears above the rest.
Since SEO is slightly more complicated than simpler marketing channels such as PPC, you’ll need to invest time and effort in learning how to do it well. For example, you’ll need a decent content review process in place to ensure no badly edited content gets through.
Once learned, SEO optimization is great for organic reach and engagement.
⟹ YouTube Ads
Let’s face it, YouTube ads don’t have a stellar reputation, especially the repetitive ones. One survey concluded that around 90% of viewers are likely to skip a pre-roll video ad. That said, it all depends on the content and how it’s primed for viewing.
If you’re investing in video marketing as an independent contractor, make sure to create interesting and engaging content that informs the audience about what they’re interested in, instead of just talking about yourself.
Animated explainer videos are a great medium for this. Viewers may allow the entire ad if they find it interesting enough, and they will likely click on it if you’ve satisfied their informational demand enough.
⟹ Contractor Website
A website can serve as your base of online operations. It can also be the center of all your marketing efforts if you want to create a solid online presence.
A website helps legitimize businesses in the minds of customers. Even the aforementioned mobile contractors can benefit from having a website that informs people in detail about the various services you offer.
If you offer more than one service, you can even use a website as a commercial platform where customers sign up and schedule services. Plus, having a website that Google can feature on search is great for SEO.
⟹ Persona-Based Email Marketing
Email marketing is great for reaching out to customers who may have engaged with your online content but opted out at the last second. You can bolster this strategy by only using it for specific personas.
Buyer personas will help you specify your ideal customer. Once you have a persona in mind, you can go about creating email templates and assets specifically for them.
This will allow you to address such customers directly and convert them into potential buyers.
Make sure to target email marketing to the pre-set personas, and make the email message engaging for the viewer. Include a discount as an added incentive.
⟹ Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) lets you create a virtual representation of your brick-and-mortar business on the internet, specifically in Google search.
It functions as a combination of a website and an online ad. Plus, it helps guide customers directly to your physical location.
If a customer is searching for a local business, Google gives you a chance to feature in the Local SEO 3-Pack, which is a trio of local business listings that Google features prominently in search.
⟹ Smart PPC
PPC is great for contractors since it connects them with customers who are most likely to convert into solid leads.
Although it works on several platforms, PPC is generally synonymous with Google Ads. To maximize reach via PPC, choose the right keywords and create interesting ad content around them for better customer appeal.
You can then start bidding on the ideal placement by choosing your ideal cost per click (CPC), which is the amount you’re willing to “pay per click.”
Although it’s beneficial, use PPC only as part of a bigger marketing strategy. Using it as the only channel is more likely to incur greater marketing costs since you’ll have to constantly invest for any visibility.
⟹ Multi-Channel Social Media Marketing
As a contractor, you’ll need to start a conversation around your services. The best way to do that is by making full use of social media channels to spread the word.
Although channels like Twitter and Facebook, which features their Marketplace, are ideal for your business, the best way to go about social media marketing is to leverage all the channels. This maximizes organic reach and ensures that people see your service offering.
Once again, this will require creating highly engaging content to draw people in. You can use modern marketing tactics such as viral marketing and meme-based marketing for more engagement.
⟹ Account-Based Marketing
This marketing approach uses client personas as “accounts” to market to. It’s all about creating messaging and content around those specific accounts that you want to sell your services.
You can do this by determining the qualities and needs of the ideal clients, and creating marketing assets that directly address those needs (while also providing solutions for them).
The best thing about this marketing tactic is that it works for both B2B and B2C contractors. It also gives you a great direction to move in terms of your marketing efforts.
⟹ Contractor-Specific Content Marketing
Content marketing is invaluable for any greater marketing strategy. This marketing method involves creating and distributing content that brings customers to you, instead of you reaching out to them.
If you’re looking to leverage organic marketing due to a limited budget, content is the way to go.
One important factor here is that not every business can (or should) create similar content, even if their services might be similar. Considering this, your content should be geared toward how you function as a contractor, not all contractors in your space.
Just make sure to have an agile content review process in place to streamline content marketing and save time as well as resources.
⟹ Geofencing Ads and Content
Geofencing refers to the act of positioning your content and business presence around a specific geographical location. When a person enters that location, they’ll receive an ad for the service on their Google or social media app.
The best way to go about this is to geofence specific locations that are related to your services, such as trade shows and marketplaces.
This approach is a double-edged sword, though. It may seem very intrusive if not done right. This is why it’s very important to stick to areas of prime interest, such as the aforementioned trade shows, and not geofence general locations.
⟹ General Video Marketing
Video marketing is great because it leverages the moving-visual medium, which is already much more engaging than the written word or still images.
You also have several of the top platforms to feature videos on, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and even LinkedIn.
Make sure to create interesting videos as marketing assets, since video marketing is heavily dependent on user interest to work well.
⟹ Q&A Board Marketing
This is a unique form of marketing in which you frequent question-and-answer boards such as Yahoo Answers, Quora, and Reddit to provide answers to users’ questions.
Of course, this gives you the chance to market your service as well, right along with useful information that informs the person asking the question (an almost-qualified lead).
⟹ Informative Instagram Marketing
This is related to the previous point, in that it involves answering user questions.
However, instead of going to the Q&A sources, you evaluate which relevant questions are being asked a lot, and then create informative Instagram posts around those questions.
These can feature pictures of you working on the specific issue (fixing an HVAC unit, creating a website header, etc.) and a description of how you approach these tasks.
⟹ In-Person Marketing
The single most direct contractor marketing approach is to visit places where your ideal client is likely to be located and hand out printed marketing materials such as flyers and brochures.
Once again, your best bet will be seminars, trade shows, and similar events. You can also invest in dedicated booths and kiosks if your budget allows.
⟹ Omnichannel Online Marketing
It’s no surprise that the best way to approach contractor marketing is to use all the channels at your disposal, instead of focusing on one or a few.
A powerful, targeted content strategy that uses all social media channels, is backed by a smart email marketing strategy and is pushed into greater visibility by paid ads.
This is an example of a functional omnichannel approach that’s more likely to turn leads into clients.
As with any far-reaching strategy, this one requires individual attention to each aspect of the omnichannel framework. To ensure success, pay attention to the content you create, and the audience for whom you’re creating the content.
