Contractor marketing ideas for small companies that would rather be building
Small contractors do not need a marketing department. They need a short list of things that work, done every week. Here is that list, in the order we would do them.
Most marketing advice for contractors is written for companies with an office manager and an ad budget. If you are the owner, the estimator and sometimes the crew, you need ideas that take an hour a week and pay off in signed jobs. These are in order of return on your time.
1. Ask for the review at handover
Reviews are the single biggest factor in whether a homeowner calls you from Google. Ask in person on the last day, then send the link the same evening. Ask them to mention the project ("new kitchen", "pool and spa"), which helps you show up for those searches.
2. Keep your Google Business Profile alive
Post one finished job a week with the town in the text, add photos and videos, list each service separately, and reply to every review. It is free, and it is the first thing homeowners see when they search for your trade nearby.
3. Turn every finished job into content
Take the same set of photos at every handover: wide shots, the main feature, a few details, and the before from the same spots. One job then gives you a reveal video, a before and after, a review post and a project spotlight, which is a month of posts.
The free post maker turns single photos into posts and short Reels, and Vizzmo turns the whole photo set into a reveal video in 48 hours. The first video is free.
4. Post three times a week, on a plan
A finished job, a review or before photo, and a tip or spotlight each week is enough. The free 30-day social media calendar plans a month for you, and Instagram for contractors covers the profile, captions and hashtags.
5. Market the street you just finished on
- Leave the yard sign up for two weeks after the job.
- Drop a before and after postcard to the twenty homes around it.
- Post the job on Nextdoor with the neighborhood name.
6. Build three referral partners
Pick three businesses that meet your customers before you do: a realtor, a designer or showroom, and a contractor in a neighboring trade (pool builders and landscapers, remodelers and cabinet shops). Send them a project video now and then, and send them work when you can.
7. Have one page per service on your website
A homeowner looking for a bathroom remodel should land on a page about bathroom remodels, with your bathrooms on it, not on a home page that lists twelve services. Add your best project video to each page.
8. Follow up on every estimate
Most contractors never follow up after sending a price. Send a short message a week later with a video of a similar finished job. It wins jobs you would have lost to silence.
9. Run one small video ad in your busy season
When you are ready to spend, put $10 to $20 a day behind your best finished-project video on Facebook and Instagram, shown to homeowners in your core area. Measure cost per signed job, not likes. More in remodeling advertising ideas.
10. Ask every client how they found you
Write it down. After six months you will know which of these ideas brings your jobs, and you can stop doing the ones that do not.
Trade-specific versions: remodeling, landscaping and pool builders.
Questions
What is the best marketing for a small contractor?
Reviews, an active Google Business Profile, and showing finished jobs: as posts, as videos the client shares, and around the street where you just worked. They cost time more than money.
How much time should a contractor spend on marketing?
About an hour a week is enough if it is spent on the same few things every week: asking for reviews, posting finished jobs and following up on estimates.