When you start an electrical business, marketing is one area that often gets neglected. With so much else to do—from getting your electrician’s license to buying electrician insurance—you might feel like marketing is too hard to figure out right now. You don’t need to worry about advertising until everything else is set up, right?
Marketing is too important to keep pushing to the back burner. Reaching your ideal customers is an important way to get electrical work and grow your small business. Marketing helps you do both, and it could help keep you in business for years to come.
There are probably a million ways for electricians to spotlight their business and services. Let’s review some electrician marketing ideas to help you get started.
1. Create a Memorable Brand
The first step to marketing any business is creating a brand. Your brand is what makes your business unique. It is your business name, logo, the colors you use, and the way you communicate with customers. A good brand is one that people remember—when they think “electrician”, you want them to think of you first!
Starting a career as an electrician takes a lot of work, so branding may not be your first priority. It may make sense to hire a marketing expert or graphic designer to help you choose a business name and create a logo for you. Once you have these elements, you can use them in many places to catch people’s eye, including:
- Decals on your work vehicle
- Custom shirts you were while working
- Business cards
- Invoices and receipts
- Your website, social media accounts, and online directories
- Pens, notepads, and other items to leave behind with customers
- Flyers and advertising
2. Work On Your Website
A website is an important tool for any small business, including electricians. This is a space where you can showcase your work and communicate essential information to potential customers, like:
- The geographic area you work in
- Services you provide
- When you are available for work
- Basic pricing information
- How to get in touch
Getting your website to show up in search results is also vital to getting electrical work. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help your site “rank” higher in searches, so you have a better chance of attracting new customers.
To an electrician, SEO might be as mysterious as electrical systems are to your clients. This is why many electricians hire web developers with SEO expertise to help manage their websites. They can recommend and apply strategies to help your website stand out from your local competition (such as creating a blog or using local keywords).
If you can’t afford a web developer at this time, most online website design sites (such as Squarespace or WordPress) will provide in-built SEO tools to help non-experts.
3. Build Your Online Presence
Another part of building your electrician SEO is through online directories and customer reviews. Listing your company on several directories and review sites helps your business name spread across the internet and helps it rank higher in search engines. These listings could also give you more website visits from potential customers.
The most important business listing you may have is your Google Business profile. This helps you get on Google Maps, where local customers can discover your business when they are searching for electricians in your area. People can also review your business here, which may also help your ranking.
Other sites where you might list your electrical business are:
- Angie’s List
- Yellow Pages
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Yelp
You may consider keeping a list or spreadsheet of the sites you are listed on. That way, you can regularly review your business details to ensure they are always up to date. You’ll also want to respond to reviews, both negative and positive, so people know that someone is reading their feedback and trying to resolve their complaints.
4. Join Social Media
Social media is becoming more important for small businesses. Many customers now expect to find local businesses on Facebook, Instagram, and other sites. Skilled tradespeople could benefit from having and maintaining social media profiles.
It may be tempting to create business profiles on every social media site you can think of, but this might not be the best strategy. You probably won’t be able to keep up with posting on every platform. Empty or abandoned timelines could end up hurting you because it might look like you’re no longer in business.
Instead, focus on one or two sites and do them well. Electricians often get the most bang for their buck on Facebook. Many homeowners are active on this platform and use it to seek recommendations from their family and friends when they need an electrician. It also has good advertising options for small businesses that are affordable and let you target local users.
5. Send Helpful Emails
An email newsletter is a popular way for small businesses to touch base with existing customers and reach new ones. You might collect customer emails through your website when they book a job or after you’ve completed work for them. Once you have a collection of emails, start sending useful content to your email list.
Email marketing is a quick and affordable way to contact many people at once. You can easily tell your customers about upcoming discounts, remind them of the seasonal services you provide or send helpful tips that help paint you as their electrical expert.
Just be careful not to overdo it! Too many emails will make people want to unsubscribe and maybe find a new electrician. A marketing manager could help you set up an email plan to reach different types of customers on a reasonable schedule.
6. Don’t Overlook Other Methods
While online marketing is very important, many electricians still have success using “old school” techniques. Some traditional electrician marketing ideas you might use are:
- Mailbox flyers
- Newspaper ads
- Billboards
- Radio spots
- Event booths at local community fairs
Using a variety of marketing methods can help you reach a wide range of potential customers. Not only can they help older people who may not use the internet find your business, but they can also remind those that do about your services.
Getting your business name in front of people multiple times is a big part of many marketing plans, and these traditional methods can help make this happen. While some may be outside your current advertising budget (radio ads, for example, can be expensive), others might be worth the investment.
7. Reaching Customers and Making Sales
Starting a career as an electrician is often the easiest part of going into business for yourself. There’s a lot of work that comes after, especially when it comes to finding and keeping customers.
Marketing is a crucial way to get electrical work for your small business. A solid marketing plan, together with your skills and word-of-mouth recommendations, could help your electrical business grow.
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