It’s one thing to make the decision to start an electrician business and quite another to know how to successfully promote it.

You could be the best electrician in the world – you’re obviously in the top five, at least – but unless you are effective in how you promote yourself, nobody will ever benefit from your services.

Word of mouth will only carry your business so far, so it’s time to come up with a plan for how to advertise yourself so that those customers who have never heard of you can learn about your wealth of skills.

Last year, there were around 265,000 electricians and electrical fitters employed in the UK. So, competition is high in the industry. However, if you can master the following – which focuses on how to promote your electrician business online – you should have no trouble in acquiring work.

It goes without saying that any good tradesman will have the right contractor insurance in place to protect themselves and their customers. Insurance Choice can help you find a competitive quote that suits you and your business down to the ground.

Now let’s take a look at how you can keep those customers rolling in.
 

1. Design a great website

A website is the first thing you need to set about creating.

According to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey, 97% of consumers now go online to find local services. There’s an expectation from local consumers that a local business will have a website. If not, they will wonder why not.

When a customer visits your website, they’ll be looking primarily for what type of services you offer and some contact details. But they also want to see some signs of credibility.

Credibility comes in different ways. Reviews and testimonials certainly help, as do examples of your work and accreditations. But, website design is increasingly being used as a sign of credibility by local consumers.

Here are some stats to bear in mind when designing your website:
 

• 75% of customers look at web design to make credibility judgements
• 48% of ecommerce customers rely on trustmarks
• 88% refer to online reviews and customer testimonials
• 46% look for clear contact information
• 60% want detailed product information
• 51% want to see a comprehensive FAQ section

Make it easy for visitors to find the information they’re looking for. The slower your website or harder it is to navigate, the more customers are likely to leave it without making contact.

Sometimes when it comes to website design, the KISS principle applies: “keep it simple, stupid.” And don’t forget to ensure it’s optimised for mobile.
 

2. Optimise your website for the search engines

In an ideal world, you want your website to rank top when customers search for electrician businesses in your local area. How do you make that happen? Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the answer.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of optimising your website to get organic, or unpaid, traffic from the search engine results page. You’ll want your website to rank as high as possible as people rarely search past the first page.

Though SEO can get quite complex when it comes to all the different factors that impact your ranking, the basic process is not as difficult to understand. That’s because the search engines want to provide the best service for users.

Google describes it as: “SEO is often about making small modifications to parts of your website. When viewed individually, these changes might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with other optimisations, they could have a noticeable impact on your site's user experience and performance in organic search results.”

Here are some of the factors that impact SEO:
 

1. Site security

There has been a significant upsurge in the number of hacking attempts intended at websites both big and small. So, Google likes it when you take site security seriously. One of the best ways to show that is to enable HTTPS, also known as SSL (secure socket layers), so that any information going to and from your server is automatically encrypted.
 

2. Mobile friendliness

With more and more people preferring to browse online on their smartphones, you need to ensure your website is mobile-friendly, so it looks ‘right’ on a small screen as well as on a laptop or desktop.
 

3. Sitemap

If you want to get your site on Google, be sure that Google can find it by submitting a sitemap. This is a file on your website that tells search engines about pages that are new or have been changed recently.
 

4. Keywords

Make sure that your website includes the words and phrases that customers will or would use to search for your business.
 

5. Content

Content is another ranking factor that’s way up there at the top of the list. Google wants you to produce fresh content consistently so it knows that you’re still active, while helping to keep people on your site.
 

3. Produce quality content

Content isn’t just a way of ranking well in the search engines, it shows customers that you know what you’re talking about and helps to spread your expertise.

Of course, if you’re working 7am-6pm as an electrician, it can be tricky to find the time to produce regular content that’s of value to customers. But if you can set aside a couple of hours a week to write a blog post for your website, it could go a long way to driving new business.

When consumers read your content, they start to develop an opinion of your electrician business. If the content that they find is engaging, educational, and valuable, then they will start to think the same things about your company.

Still unconvinced? Here are few stats on why ‘content is king’ in the marketing world…
 

• Small businesses with blogs on their website get 126% higher lead growth than those without

• 72% of marketers say that content marketing has quantifiably improved prospect engagement

• 94% of businesses say that video is an effective marketing tool

Picking up on that last point, content doesn’t have to be written. Video content is more popular than it’s ever been, so why not capture a few clips of you at work or speaking to camera (your phone) about some of the issues that are important in the electrical industry right now?

Did you know that customers will retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video, compared to 10% when reading it in a text? So, there’s more chance that what you tell them will stay with them. Just don’t forget to mention the name of your business.
 

4. Post on social media

Quality content also perfect for sharing on social media. However, getting started with social media can feel overwhelming for small businesses. But you don’t need to rack up millions of followers or have a slick brand campaign to make effective use of these budget-friendly tools.

Social media is one of the quickest and smartest ways to connect with potential customers. Facebook is a great place to start for small businesses, especially if you’re trying to attract more business in your local area.

At the start, the key is to keep things simple:
 

1. Share any content you create

Images of successful installations; links to your services and testimonials; short clips with electrical tips and advice
 

2. Respond to customers

In lots of ways, social media has become the new customer service help desk. Where in the past, potential customers would have made an inquiry via the phone or email – many still do, of course – more and more people are preferring to reach out to businesses via social channels such as Facebook and Twitter.
 

3. Try to build a following

It's a good idea to put social media follow buttons on every page of your website and in your emails at the very least. Use hashtags where appropriate and don’t be afraid to ask others to share your content.

You can start to level-up your social media strategy once you’re comfortable with the basics.
 

5. Get in people’s email inboxes

Email marketing enables an electrician business like yours to build a marketing system that’s both, manageable and affordable.

Did you know that you’re 40 times more likely to gain a new customer through email than through Facebook or Twitter? If you’re not that confident with social media, email is a good way to start.

Every day, you are constantly in touch with customers and prospects, either in person or on the phone. So why not ask them for their email address, too? Many people will actually find this a better, more convenient way of keeping in touch.

When you finish a job, ask the customer if they would like to know about special offers you’ve got coming up, or perhaps seasonal discounts. If they say yes – which most people will – ask them to fill in a form which asks for their email address along with their signature giving you permission to email them.

Use Microsoft Outlook or a similar program to manage your email lists. That way, you can easily segment your audience and create groups of new or returning customers, and target offers and news appropriately.

It’s all about staying “top of mind”, so that the next time they have an electrical job that needs doing, your business is the first name they think of.
 

6. Get on reviews sites

It’s all well and good promoting yourself, but it’s always more effective when your customers are doing the legwork for you.

Customer reviews are everything in 2019. With 92% of consumers now read online reviews before making a purchasing decision online, you want to ensure that:

A) They’re exposed to primarily good reviews, and

B) There are lots of good reviews for them to base their decision on:

Some quick stats:

·         More than 8 in 10 (85%) see online reviews as trustworthy as personal recommendations
·         Positive reviews go a long way to helping customers trust a local business, according to 73% of those surveyed 
·         Responding to customer reviews is key for 30% of consumers
·         Out of 74% of customers who were asked to leave a review,  68% did so
·         Yelp & Facebook are the most trusted review sites locally, followed by Google & BBB.org
·         Consumers read up to seven reviews before they start to have trust in a company

Source: BrightLocal’s 2017 Local Consumer Review Survey

So, sign up to reviews sites like Checkatrade.com and encourage your customers to submit their reviews. And don’t forget to thank them for taking the time to offer the opinion.

Good reviews not only help to provide some social proof about the trustworthiness of your electrician business, they help to boost SEO and provide great social media content.

Finding it hard to get customer feedback? Why not give your clients a little incentive? Money-back vouchers, seasonal discounts, or money off their next bill if they recommend a friend are all good ways of getting people to leave reviews.

A little encouragement goes a long way, and most people won’t mind giving up their time or opinion if they know they’ll get something in return.
 

Don’t forget to purchase contractor insurance

As you go about promoting your electrician business, don’t forget to find the time to take out some contractor insurance.

As a contractor, no day or job is ever the same. Contractor insurance arranged by Insurance Choice Commercial is designed with that in mind and reflects the ever-changing industry and challenges you might face. The insurance policies can be tailored to suit your needs and aim to cover your business from the unexpected.

Contractor insurance policies can include cover for:

·         Negligence
·         Public liability cover
·         Professional indemnity insurance
·         Employers’ liability
·         Business insurance cover
·         Buildings insurance
·         Contents insurance
·         Business interruption cover

It couldn’t be simpler to get a quote with us, call 01384 429900 now.