What led you to become a handyman? Maybe you like tackling challenges and finding unconventional solutions to problems. Perhaps you’re a people person. Or it’s possible you wanted to pursue a career where you can get out from behind a desk.
It probably wasn’t because you were passionate about marketing. But to run a successful business, you’ve got to get your name out there and connect with new prospects. And the good news is that many of the traits that make a great handyman are translatable into marketing skills.
From creative problem-solving to connecting with homeowners, you can use parts of your proverbial toolkit to build a marketing program that works for your business. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your company to the next level, these handyman marketing ideas will help you find more customers.
Contents
- Create a website
- Optimize your website for local search
- Claim your business listings
- Try a lead aggregator
- Build your organic social media following
- Run social media ads
- Ask for online reviews
- Establish a referral program
- Offer a discount to special customers
- Nurture local partnerships
- Manage your leads
- Set up Google Local Service Ads
- Buy ad space in local publications
- Send direct mailers
14 handyman marketing strategies to build your business
Try these handyman marketing strategies to reach, engage, and convert new customers and grow your business.
1. Create a website
While your handyman business might have started as a grassroots effort fueled by word-of-mouth advertising, a website is vital for connecting with a wider audience.
Many times, the internet is the first place a homeowner or renter looks for a home services provider. By establishing a website for your handyman business, you’re creating a resource for these searchers to find. But you’re doing more than that. A website proves your legitimacy and builds trust.
While any prospective clients who come to you through word-of-mouth recommendations already have reason to trust you, people looking for service providers on the internet are total strangers.
Building a website with your name, contact information, professional headshot, photos from past projects, and client testimonials shows that your business is legit. Your site doesn’t need to be fancy or overly complicated, but hitting these few marks can help you gain trust with people discovering you online.
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2. Optimize your website for local search
Want to take your handyman marketing to the next level? Optimize your website for local search.
Your business serves a specific geographic area. Incorporating local SEO tactics into your website design and copy helps you rank with homeowners or renters in the region you serve.
What does local SEO entail? It’s a combination of off-page and on-page tactics, including:
- Mobile-friendly or responsive design
- Fast page load times
- Local keywords in on-page copy and meta titles/descriptions
- Clear site architecture
- Structured data/Schema markup
Learn even more about local SEO tricks and see our full checklist here.
3. Claim your business listings
Another way to strengthen your rankings in local search is to claim your business listings. There are dozens of business directories where your handyman business can be added.
Some are sites that serve many industries (Think: Yelp or Google Business Profiles), while others are specific to the home service space (Think: Angi or Houzz). Establishing a profile for your business on all relevant listings sites helps you get discovered by homeowners who bypass search engines and go straight to a local listings site or app for help.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should forget Google! Claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile is crucial, as it can help you rank even higher on Google’s search engine results pages.
As you can see in the example above, Maps results (which pull in Google Business Profile information) appear at the top of the results page, ahead of paid advertising and regular organic results.
4. Try a lead aggregator
While it’s free to claim your profile on local listings sites, some of these businesses also offer lead aggregation services.
If you don’t have the time, energy, or capacity to go out and source your own leads, a lead aggregator can help deliver qualified prospects to you.
Here’s how it works: A homeowner in need of handyman services goes to a site like Angi or Thumbtack. They fill out a questionnaire with their contact information and details about their project. The aggregator then shares that information with relevant service providers, like you, who can follow up with the homeowner and compete for the work.
Aggregators may offer a subscription model to business owners, or they may charge for each lead delivered or for each job won.
5. Build your organic social media following
Your handyman marketing ideas don’t need to revolve solely around your website and organic search. In fact, they absolutely should include other marketing channels, like social media!
Handyman services typically fill the sweet spot between DIY projects and full-scale contractor jobs. You can create educational content for social media that helps homeowners and renters undertake tasks within their wheelhouse—and they’ll be glad to give you a follow if you regularly share useful tips and tricks for home maintenance.
But your content can also help them understand what types of projects they can DIY and when to call a professional. And if they know and trust you already through your social content, you’re more likely to be the one they call when needed.
6. Run social media ads
Posting regularly on social media can help you grow your following organically over time. However, social media advertising can supplement that slow and steady growth, helping you establish new connections with relevant social media users.
The great thing about most digital advertising, social media advertising included, is that you can target your ads toward your ideal customer.
For example, you can create a campaign designed to speak to expectant parents in your local area. The creative can show your team assembling a crib and hanging adorable animal wallpaper—everything parents-to-be need to get their nursery space ready. Behind the scenes, you can set your ads to display to people in your local area who are following accounts about becoming a new parent.
7. Ask for online reviews
With 93% of people reading online reviews before making a purchase decision, and 84% of people weighing online reviews the same as they would a word-of-mouth recommendation, it’s easy to see how this handyman marketing idea can build trust with prospective customers.
When people search for a handyman or head to your website, you want the first things they see to be positive. A Google Business Profile with lots of 4- and 5-star reviews or a website with positive testimonials on the homepage makes a strong first impression.
To build up your reviews, all you have to do is ask! While happy customers might not proactively rate you online, consider reaching out after you finish a job to ask for feedback.
Provide a link to your Google Business Profile to make it easy for them to share their thoughts. Then, take the time to respond, thanking them for their feedback and addressing any points of concern.
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8. Establish a referral program
Referrals are a great way to generate a steady stream of inquiries and grow your business. And while some happy clients will refer you on their own, a formalized referral program can incentivize the behavior.
There are different ways to structure your referral program. Some businesses offer a reward to the referring party only, while others give something to the person referring and the person being referred.
What you do is up to you! Providing a discount on future services is common, as is offering a gift card. Typically, the business only offers the incentive once the referred party books their service.
9. Offer a discount to special customers
Besides the discount you may offer as part of your referral program, there are other discount structures you can experiment with as part of your handyman marketing ideas.
You may offer a discount to reward different customer behaviors. For example, you could:
- Offer a discount on a package service deal. (e.g., “Summer A/C install promo! Get 10% off your full service fee when you have us install three or more window units.”)
- Offer a discount to customers you haven’t heard from in a while. (e.g., “We miss you! Book a service with us by [date], and you’ll get 10% off.”)
- Offer a loyalty discount to returning customers. (e.g., “Book 4 handyman services, get 10% off the 5th service.”)
10. Nurture local partnerships
Past customers can pass your name along to friends and family, but they’re not the only ones who can recommend you.
Look to other home service providers as a source of referral business. Just like you, other local home service businesses are talking to homeowners and renters all the time. They might learn of someone who needs handyman services. And if you’re friendly with them, they may become a marketing partner and recommend your business.
You can even formalize this relationship and agree to refer each other. A local pool service business that’s opening clients’ pools for the season can recommend your team to help assemble outdoor furniture for the pool deck. In the fall, you can do the reverse!
11. Manage your leads
You won’t want to lose any of the leads that come in from these marketing strategies. That’s where lead management comes in.
Lead management is how you track, organize, and prioritize your leads. With a lead-management system in place, you’ll get back to the most important prospects quickly and know which of your lead-generation strategies work best.
You can manage leads with a simple spreadsheet and a calendar reminder. Or you can use something like Dash™ by LocaliQ
Dash summarizes calls, replies to texts, prioritizes leads, and lets you know which marketing channels generate the most new business.
12. Set up Google Local Services Ads (LSAs)
Did you know Google has an advertising product available only for local service businesses?
Google Local Services Ads appear at the top of the results page and invite searchers to connect directly with the business via phone call or message.
Besides their prominent placement on the page, the other benefit LSAs offer to advertisers is that businesses only pay when someone contacts them through the ad—not for impressions.
A prospective customer who calls or messages your business is likely a more serious lead than the browsers who simply see your website in search results, so with LSAs, you’re paying for better-quality leads.
13. Buy ad space in local publications
This handyman marketing idea invites you to place a print ad in the local paper. While it may feel like an old-school tactic, print advertising remains effective, and it can complement your digital efforts.
The major benefit of advertising locally is that you know you’ll reach a relevant, engaged local audience. Your print ads serve as yet another touchpoint (alongside your digital efforts) for homeowners and renters in your area.
And you can integrate your print ads with your digital strategy. Add a QR code or custom URL to your print ad that drives visitors to a custom landing page on your website. Not only does this allow you to share a targeted message on the landing page, but it also empowers you to track attribution—you can see exactly how many people visit your site after reading the ad.
14. Send direct mailers
Another tried-and-true analog handyman marketing idea is to send printed materials right to your target audience’s homes.
Send a postcard or brochure to addresses within the geography you serve, introducing yourself and outlining your services. Consider including some social proof, like quotes from happy customers or any credentials your business has (like accreditation with the Better Business Bureau).
As with print ads in the paper, you can incorporate a custom trackable URL or QR code element to attribute incoming inquiries to your direct mailers.
Assemble these handyman marketing ideas to grow your business
The most effective marketing strategies incorporate a range of tactics to enhance visibility with your target audience. By using a mix of analog and digital tactics, this set of handyman marketing ideas can help you reach local homeowners and renters in need of an extra set of hands around the house.
Of course, you don’t have to do it all by yourself. Contact us and we’ll show you how we can help you create predictable sources of lead generation.
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