It’s The Quickest And MOST Profitable Marketing Activity For Trade Business Owners… So, WHY Aren’t You Doing It?

The potential marketing activities available to trade business owners are in abundance… YET, those making full use of these options are FEW and far between.

Many trade business owners tell us that they aimlessly spend money dabbling here and there in marketing activities. They find themselves rarely marketing with consistency and missing any real quantifiable measurement as to whether or not their loose efforts are actually giving them a return.

You’re probably reading this thinking “Well yes… That’s why they’re tradies and not marketing gurus”.

However, these guys are reaching out to us because they’re clever businessmen who are well aware of ‘the snowball effect’ that marketing has on the growth of business. They know (and you would as well!) that marketing brings in customers, and without customers trade businesses can’t and won’t exist.

It was from these conversations that we decided to develop ‘The Marketing Maximiser’ specifically for trade business owners.

Any trade business owner who’s seriously looking at investing in marketing needs to consider a holistic approach to their marketing activities. Using one avenue to reach your target audience simply won’t cut it!

‘The Marketing Maximiser’ helps trade business owners develop this holistic approach to marketing. It directs three different levels of online and offline marketing activities for trade business owners who want to;

  1. a) Get new customers (pre-love)
  2. b) Make the right impression and build trust with customers on site (present-love). And,
  3. c) Encourage repeat customers (post-love).

We’re very excited to reveal, in depth, ‘The Marketing Maximiser’ at our live event The Future Tradie touring around Australia over the coming months.

‘Post-love’ is BY FAR the most forgotten part of ‘The Marketing Maximiser’…

Interestingly, ‘post-love’ marketing is the quickest and most profitable marketing activity. “Why?”, because you’ve already developed a relationship with your customer and you have the details to reach them directly.

In our own trade business we analysed our customer data and measured that our repeat customers have a 28% higher average dollar sale than new customers.

It seems silly not to market to them, doesn’t it?

Here are three examples of how you can give ‘post-love’ to your customers.

These examples will make your customers feel important and keep your trade business ‘front of mind’. Both of which will increase customer loyalty and encourage them to use your service over and over again!

1) Membership

We developed a membership program and offered it to every member.

Then 3 years into the program we gifted lifetime membership to our customers who had originally said no to membership. It was an investment of $3,500 saw a return of $80,000 to date…and still counting.

This is how we did it in 4 simple steps!

Step 1: We eliminated all customers that were already members.

Step 2: We cut our database based on how much they had spent with us, starting with those who spent the most, until all customers were included:

  • Over $1000
  • $800 – $1000
  • $600 – $800 etc.

Step 3: We started with a sample of 200 clients to see if this was a successful marketing venture.

These customers received a personalised letter (name on envelope and letter).  The letter read that the customer had been especially selected for our lifetime membership program, making them feel important and encouraging a long-term relationship with us.

It specified the benefits they’ll receive to encourage them to book a job immediately. We also included a membership card.

Step 4: We proved it was working, so we rolled it out to the remainder of our customers whom weren’t already members.

It’s so easy to implement!

2) Newsletter

Once a customer is a member (every customer is provided membership!), they have provided an ‘okay’ to stay in touch. So do it.
Send a newsletter via postal address or even better, using an automated email-marketing platform such as MailChimp or Active Campaign.

We have found a bi-monthly newsletter manageable in our business.

Keep your newsletter topical so that you’re always producing something a little different. You may wish to focus it around certain holiday periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, Easter) or around common problems experienced during different seasons (e.g. Winter – hot water systems & burst pipes, Spring – blocked drains).

In your newsletter you can include information about;

  • The company so that all stakeholders can stay informed
  • New technologies you’re using
  • Accomplishmentsg. awards, features in any news publications
  • New products and services you are offering
  • A profile of a particular product you use – list its features and benefits
  • Special discounts and offers
  • The employee of the month
  • Topical news g. family news (such as the addition of a new puppy) or eventful jobs that we fixed (such as exploding hot water systems and major gas leaks)

3) Keep in touch

Stay in touch with your customers regularly with helpful information that is NOT pushing a sale.

This could be using any mode of communication that your customer also uses. For example, you could reach them via email or Facebook posts.

You could send them information about your company or the industry, testimonials you’ve received, handy tips related to your industry or sharing useful resources such as articles related to your industry.

So there you have it… Providing ‘post-love’ to your customers might be simple, but with repeat customers reaching a 28% higher average dollar sale than new customers in our trade business the benefits are (seriously!) undeniable.

On a side note: It’s important not to forget that ‘post-love’ is just one aspect of your trade business marketing strategy. ‘Pre-love’ and ‘present-love’ marketing are also extremely important and ‘The Marketing Maximiser’ helps trade business owners spread themselves effectively between all three of these key marketing aspects.

What’s next?
  1. Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
  2. Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.

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