How to market yourself to find new work as a tradie

  • magda
Tradie - Skilled labour

Tradies work on a different wavelength to the usual office job in more ways than one. One of them is that an office worker will generally know what they will be doing in a year’s time – a tradie will often still be booking in projects months and weeks ahead, so can’t always say where they will be working or what they will be working on.

That’s why a basic marketing strategy is important. It can help ensure that even if that tradie person does not know exactly what job they will be doing a few months away, they will at least know they have more working coming in.

Here are a few tips!  

Pick a USP

If there is one thing every good brand has, it is a great USP. That is a great Unique Selling Point.

This is what you, as a tradie will use to make you stand out from everyone else. Is it that you’re always on time? That you always get the job done on time? Offer the friendliest service? Whatever it is, be sure you can follow through!

Invest in basic marketing

If you have a work van or vehicle, consider having your name, trade, and contact number printed as a decal for the side and back. While this can help you bring in new inquiries simply by offering those contact details, it also helps to build up recognition of your name or brand in your local area. So even if someone doesn’t need your services now, they may recognise or remember your signage when it comes time to give you a call.  

Another affordable form of marketing is to create business cards. They don’t need to be anything fancy, they just need your basic information and USP. Plenty of printing companies offer good deals on printing business cards, to the point where if just one of them finds you a new project, it can easily pay off the cost of printing. Be sure to give each happy customer a couple of cards at the end of each job, that way they will remember which tradie to call for the next job and still have a spare to pass to a friend.

Another simple advertising technique is to have a large sign that you can plant on the edge of any work site you are on. If you are doing residential work for a homeowner with a house on a prominent site (such as on a busy street or by an intersection), you may be able to offer them a special deal or discount in return for letting you put up the sign for a certain period of time.

Ask for feedback and testimonials

At the end of every job, ask your customers for either feedback or a testimonial – or both.

If you get feedback, you can use it to consider ways to improve your services. If you get a great testimonial, you can add this to your website as proof of your happy customers. Both options are free and easy, and can help boost your overall brand!