The most common mistake in contractor marketing is paying for visibility before the basics that turn a search into a phone call are in place. An ad that sends a homeowner to a profile with no reviews and no photos of finished work spends money twice: once on the click, and again on the job that goes to someone else.
The contractor marketing ideas below start with three: a Google Business Profile set up for a business that works at customers’ homes, a review request after every job, and photos and short video from every site.
Then add search ads for urgent work, neighborhood ads and mail around your jobs, and a routine that brings back past customers and partners. Each idea below comes with the rule that limits it, because several of the usual tips break a platform policy or a federal rule when done carelessly.
The three ideas every other one depends on
1. A Google Business Profile set up for the way you work
Most contractors are what Google calls a service-area business: you travel to the customer instead of receiving them at a storefront.
Google’s guidelines for representing your business say such a business gets one profile with a designated service area, should hide its address from customers (the example given is a plumber working from a home address), and should keep the service area within about two hours’ driving time of its base in most cases.
A “virtual” office is not allowed unless it is staffed during business hours.
Two more rules from the same page save trouble later: the business name on the profile must match the name you use in the real world, with no keywords added, and you get one profile per location, not one per town you serve.
2. One review request after every finished job
Ask everyone, the same way, at the same moment: when the final walk-through is done and the customer is happy with what they see. A text with the direct review link works better than a promise to send it later.
The rules are strict. Google’s policy for content on Maps says businesses may not offer incentives for reviews, may not discourage negative ones and may not ask only satisfied customers.
The Federal Trade Commission’s final rule on fake reviews and testimonials (announced August 14, 2024) prohibits offering anything in exchange for a review that is conditioned on it being positive or negative. Reply to every review, the critical ones included; future customers read the replies.
3. Photos and short video from every job site
Before, during and after, from the same angle each time, plus a few seconds of the crew at work.
This one habit feeds almost everything else on the list: the Google profile, social posts, ads, mailers and the estimate you send next week. Ask the homeowner before you publish anything that shows their house, and leave out house numbers and plates.
Photographing and filming on location is part of what we do for clients. VMS Home Painting, a Charleston painting company, is on our client list for social media and for video and photo production. For a painter’s full picture, from licensing proof to estimate follow-up, see our page on marketing for painting contractors.
Ideas for homeowners who are searching right now
4. Search ads, and Local Services Ads for urgent work
Someone typing “roof leak repair” or “water heater replacement” this afternoon wants a contractor today. Google search ads put you in front of that search, and Local Services Ads charge per lead rather than per click; the differences are laid out in our guide to Local Services Ads and search campaigns.
Two settings matter most for a contractor: a tight service area and negative keywords such as “jobs”, “salary” and “DIY”, so the budget is not spent on job seekers and hobbyists. When you want the campaigns built and checked every week, that is our Google Ads management in Charleston.
5. Meta ads around the area you serve
Facebook and Instagram ads work earlier in the decision: they show your finished kitchens or repainted porches to people around your service area before they search. Check one rule before you draw that area.
Meta requires certain ads to be declared in a Special Ad Category, and its housing category lists “housing repairs” among its examples.
In those categories, U.S. advertisers lose some audience tools, including targeting by ZIP code, age and gender, so the area is drawn around a city or an address instead, and the ad reaches everyone there. Our guide to running Facebook ads for a small business walks through that check.
Ideas for the street where you just finished
6. Every Door Direct Mail on the routes around the job
Neighbors have just watched your truck for a week. The U.S. Postal Service’s Every Door Direct Mail lets you pick mail carrier routes on a map, filter for residential addresses, and send a postcard to every address on those routes, addressed to “Postal Customer”, with no mailing list to buy.
A card with a before-and-after photo of the house down the street does the talking.
7. A Nextdoor business page and posts
Nextdoor offers businesses a free Business Page and free Business Posts to nearby neighbors. Neighbors ask each other for contractor recommendations there, and a page with your service area and a few job photos gives them something to point to when your name comes up.
8. A yard sign, with the homeowner’s yes
A sign during the job and for a few days after is the oldest local ad there is. Ask permission, check whether the neighborhood association limits signs, and put a short web address or QR code on it that leads to photos of that kind of job.
Ideas that bring repeat work and referrals
9. Partners who meet homeowners before you do
Real estate agents, property managers and other trades see homeowners at the moment work is needed.
A short list of three or four people who have watched you finish a job, and get a quick reply when they send someone, is worth more than a long list of contacts. Our article on how to get painting jobs describes how each of these doors works.
10. Check-ins timed to hurricane season
Along the Lowcountry coast, the calendar gives you a reason to call. The National Hurricane Center lists the Atlantic hurricane season as June 1 to November 30, with the peak around September 10 and most activity between mid-August and mid-October.
A message to past customers in May, with a short pre-season checklist for your trade (roof, gutters, shutters, exterior caulk, generators), is useful to them and keeps your name on their phone.
After a storm, homeowners meet a wave of strangers at the door. Make it easy to check you: the name on your truck matches your Google profile, your reviews are visible, and you put nothing in writing that you cannot deliver.
11. An answer to every inquiry within the hour
Every idea above produces calls, texts and forms. They only turn into jobs if someone answers them quickly and the quote follows. Our article on speed to lead covers what the research found and how to measure your own reply time.
The checklist to print
| ☐ | Idea | When | What it needs | How to count it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ☐ | 1. Google Business Profile as a service-area business | Once, then check monthly | Real business name, service area, hours, job photos | Calls and website clicks in the profile’s performance view |
| ☐ | 2. Review request after every job | At the final walk-through | Direct review link saved on your phone | Reviews per month, and replies sent |
| ☐ | 3. Photos and video from every site | Every job: before, during, after | Homeowner’s permission; same angles | Jobs documented out of jobs finished |
| ☐ | 4. Search ads and Local Services Ads | When the schedule has room | Service area, negative keywords, call tracking | Calls and leads that became booked jobs |
| ☐ | 5. Meta ads around your service area | Before your busy season | Special Ad Category check; job photos and video | Messages and forms from the ads |
| ☐ | 6. Every Door Direct Mail | Within two weeks of a finished job | Routes around the job; before-and-after card | Calls that mention the card or a code on it |
| ☐ | 7. Nextdoor page and posts | Once, then a post per finished job | Service area and photos | Messages from Nextdoor |
| ☐ | 8. Yard sign | During each job | Homeowner’s yes; association rules | Visits from the sign’s QR code |
| ☐ | 9. Referral partners | Monthly check-in | Three or four names; fast replies | Jobs by partner |
| ☐ | 10. Hurricane-season check-in | May, and after storms | Past-customer list; one-page checklist | Repeat jobs from past customers |
| ☐ | 11. Reply within the hour | Every day | One person responsible for each channel | Median reply time, weekly |
Which three to start with
A new company with few reviews: ideas 1, 2 and 3, before any ad money. An established company with a quiet phone: ideas 2, 4 and 6, because a review habit, search ads and mail around recent jobs each produce calls you can count within weeks.
A company that is booked now and dreads the winter: ideas 9, 10 and 11, started while the schedule is still full.
Ideas 3, 4 and 5 are where our work sits: filming and photographing on the job, Meta ads around your service area, and Google Ads management for Charleston-area contractors.