There are many ways to advertise your painting business but they are definitely not all created equal. In this article I’m going to focus on one advertising method that will get you business as quickly as possible and give you the best bang for your buck. After all, if you’re just starting your painting business then it’s extremely important to start making some money as soon as possible. Cash flow problems are the number one reason why most businesses fail and that includes painting businesses too. I’ll help you so you don’t become just another statistic.
Get Started Advertising Right Away
It’s extremely important that you get started advertising your painting business right away. So many people have a strange notion that just because they have now started a painting business that customers will automatically start calling. Don’t worry, I’ve fallen into this same trap too. You need to get yourself out there and make it possible for customers to find you. When someone is looking for a painting business, you need to be right there so they can call you. This is going to take some work though!
Starting any business from scratch is not easy at all. However, if you have a plan and you attack it relentlessly you have a good chance at succeeding. This article is the start to your plan and if you take the time to implement everything I suggest in this article there is a very good chance that you can get customers calling you right away. However, if you read this and fail to take action immediately, there’s nothing more I can do to help you. Success follows those who take action. If you’re a “go getter”, the customers will come. Now it’s time to get started.
First Way To Get Customers: Advertise On Craigslist
Craigslist is really an amazing website. You can literally get your first paint job today just by posting an ad on Craigslist. Craigslist can get you instant results, and it’s free! You really can’t beat that. Craigslist is also highly targeted. You can post an ad in your area only and customers looking for painting services can contact you and hire you.
There are some drawbacks to Craigslist that I should mention. Everyone knows how well it works so there’s a lot of competition. You’ll probably find a ton of painting contractors advertising in your area. Don’t let that discourage you though. Chances are there are a good amount of people searching for painters in your area and even if there are a lot of painting companies you’ll still be found and people will still call you. Some painters might not even answer their phone so that customer will just move down the list to the next one until they get a hold of one.
Because there are probably a lot of painters advertising on Craigslist in your area, your ad will probably get pushed down fairly quickly. Don’t let that discourage you either. You’ll still be found.
Posting on Craigslist
I highly recommend that you post an ad at least once a day. If you can do more, that’s great. You want to give yourself the best chance at getting found that you possibly can. You also need to think about when to post. Mornings before 9am and evenings after 5pm are pretty good times to post. Most people are usually at work during the day so you’ve got a lot better chance at being found when they get home. If you post in the middle of the day your ad will get pushed down by the new ads that are being posted.
Ad Details
A successful painting ad on Craigslist will include most of the information of a good looking ad that you’d find in mail advertisements. You definitely should include a link to your website so customers can read more about your company (Don’t have a website yet? Get on it asap!).
Here is an example of a link that you can post on Craigslist so customers can click back to your website. This is the html code that you’ll need to copy and paste into your ad:
<a href=”http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com”>Click Here For A Free Estimate!</a>
or
<a href=”http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com”>Visit Our Website!</a>
You can choose to word it any way you want. Make sure you replace YOURDOMAIN with your actual website. It’s important to bring people to your website from Craigslist. If your website is professional looking and contains good information on your business, there is a very good chance that they won’t even go back to Craigslist.
You want to make sure your ad contains a good amount of information but not too much. The idea is to get them to go to your website and call or call directly from the ad itself. Make sure your phone number is easily seen in the ad. Also, include the text: “Free Estimates” in your ad. Free Estimates are often expected but it’s always nice to see it in an ad.
The best ads are often made of images. This would be like something you’d see in a mail advertisement or door hanger. A full image ad looks very good on Craigslist and sets you apart from all the other painters posting basic looking ads. You will probably have to get a designer to create an image ad for you unless you are good with graphic design applications like Adobe Photoshop. Chances are you are not though. If you are creating a full image ad you also want to make sure you include text in the ad as well. It’s the text that will help your ad show up when people are searching for a painter on Craigslist.
Get Posting Right Away!
Head on over to Craigslist right now and post your first ad. Incorporate some of the things I suggested in this article and there is a very good chance that you could get your first call today! If you don’t take action and actually do this, you’re not giving yourself a very good chance at succeeding with your new painting business. Remember, be a “go getter”. Customers won’t find you if you don’t actively put yourself out there.
