As a contractor, you are a business owner. And, though you might only be running a small or part-time business, all of the lessons you need to learn about running a business still apply.
The modern business world encompasses every industry known to man. No matter if you’re a restaurateur, a web designer, or a home construction contractor, you’ll have to market yourself and your business if you want to keep getting customers and gain the attention of potential customers around your local community.
Most business owners are clueless when it comes to marketing, and this is also true within the contracting world. However, anyone can learn how to market their businesses more effectively, and in doing so, can help to grow their brand through the simplest of means.
Here, we’ll explore how you can grow your business and gain customer attention as a contractor.
Advertising
Maybe you don’t have time to learn the art of advertising, or to actively produce advertising elements. But, you don’t necessarily need “time” to help you advertise.
Simply by having visible elements that contain your name, logo, or your business name can greatly increase your chances of gaining the attention of potential customers. This can be as simple as having a brand logo on your shirt or on a business card.
In addition, if you’re just starting out and you don’t even have a fleet of trucks or employees, you can rent a work truck and apply a magnetic or vinyl logo to the side of the truck complete with your logo, name and contact information. This will get the attention of those who pass by throughout the day.
While these are simply advertising elements, it’s also a great practice to put up signage at property sites as you’re working. This way everyone will know that you’re a professional and you’re ready to talk about providing services.
Marketing Team
You might not think that hiring an additional marketing team will be necessary as a contractor, but depending on how large you want to scale your business, marketing professionals might be able to assist you.
While it’s nice to work only in your local community, branching out will not only bring you more revenue, it will also increase your visibility. More people will know that you’re in business if you have marketing professionals at your side, and they’ll be able to assist you with any ideas that you may have as far as self-promotion is concerned.
In addition, marketing teams are well-versed in terminology that may be unfamiliar to you. Whether this be a co-branding strategy, leveraging existing efforts, or creating a strong brand voice, a marketing professional or a team of professionals can provide invaluable assistance to anyone in the contracting business.
Word of Mouth
Perhaps your biggest asset as a contractor is going to be word-of-mouth advertising that you’ll organically gain by producing quality work. Now, word of mouth can also go both ways. If you produce subpar work, word of this is also going to spread, and this will ultimately ruin your chances of securing future business.
This is why you should give your best effort on every job, so that any word of mouth advertising you gain will be of positive content, and it won’t hurt your business efforts.
In addition, asking your clients and customers to provide a review or referral for a reduced fee of some sort is also a good practice to get into. You could offer a client $100 for every referral, thus, providing incentive for them to seek out customers for you.
At the end of the day, as a contractor, you’re also a business professional. As such, it becomes a part of your job to help secure the future of your business venture and to seek out as many resources as possible to make this a reality.