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You want to grow your house painting company. You’re doing most things right, and are seeing steady growth, but you’re lacking a solid marketing strategy.
Based on my years of experience in house painting, I’m going to share with you the most successful strategies that you can implement right now to market your house painting business.
Why House Painting is a Unique Business
Service-oriented – you get to help people
You will be part of making people happy, satisfied, and feeling like they got a good deal when it comes to improving their property. This is especially true if you pick up any additional tasks such as window cleaning and gutter cleaning for your customers.
Tangible results
You get to see your work every day. This can be extremely satisfying, especially when you know how much money you saved your clients or how much time or energy they saved by allowing you to take care of the job for them.
Low startup cost
Estimates suggest that starting a painting business will cost between $5,000 and $15,000. This includes paint, brushes, tarpaulins, and other materials that are going to be necessary to get the job done right. Depending on where you live and prices in your area, this could be significantly more or less than this range but most house painters will not need more than $15,000 to start their business.
Builds a positive reputation
Having a house painting business is going to allow you to make lots of contacts in your area who will have an eye out for people who need work done.
Make your hours
You will set your hours. You can work when it is convenient for you whenever you want during the weekdays or weekends.
Variety in work
Painting houses is a physically active job that provides variety in work; you never paint the same thing twice. This also means that there will always be new things to learn about, which keeps the job exciting and interesting.
Job security
Thanks to the housing boom, job security for house painters is quite high as demand for their services has continued to grow steadily all over the country in recent years, especially with the growth of home renovations and improvement projects.
You gain free advertising and public relations
The money you need to start a house painting business doesn’t have to be yours at all. To get your business established, you can approach local businesses in your community to see if they would like to paint their buildings and offer you a contract to do it. Once you are established and highly recommended, the business will come to you.
House Painting Business Challenges
House painting jobs are seasonal
The busy season is spring through fall, as people prepare their homes for the winter months by painting their exteriors or repainting their interiors.
Long hours
Depending on how much demand there is for your services and how many clients you have, painting may not be a “set it and forget it” endeavor. You could spend long hours painting a client’s home or office after working at your day job all week.
Manual labor
The physical work of moving ladders around, carrying heavy buckets of paint upstairs, standing on your feet all day, and climbing over obstacles requires stamina and strength that some people don’t have.
It’s competitive
You will be competing with other businesses for jobs. Although some homeowners may hire you directly to paint their home, many people choose to save money by hiring a house painting company instead of an individual contractor because it’s cheaper to pay a company all in one shot rather than paying multiple contractors throughout the job.
You need insurance and permits
Depending on where you live, you might need an occupational license or permit to advertise as a house painter. In some areas, like New York City, you also need insurance because someone might sue if they slip on your stairs or injure themselves somehow after getting the paint job they wanted from you.
No room for mistakes
People expect the best from a professional house painter. Your job is to make sure that the homeowner’s property looks as good as new after you’ve finished painting it. If things don’t go according to plan or if you make a mistake (which can happen), you will have to deal with unhappy clients who can then file complaints about your workmanship or hire another painter to do the job over again for free.
Pros and Cons of House Painting
Pros
- Work outdoors.
- Learn new skills.
- There are fewer barriers to entry.
- Start small and expand over time.
Cons
- Controlling expenses to avoid going over budget or losing money on a job.
- Painting takes time to master and sometimes even years of practice before someone can become good at it.
- If you aren’t organized with your business finances, it is easy to lose track of how much money you are making.
- In the winter, freezing weather can make it hard to paint outside and if it rains, you can’t paint either.
- Customers will have many house painters to choose from and sometimes they may choose the cheapest option.
- The physical toll on your body.
Best House Painting Marketing Strategies
Sign up with Home Advisor
What is HomeAdvisor?
HomeAdvisor is a network of more than 3 million home service professionals — everything from plumbers to locksmiths to electricians. Customers can use HomeAdvisor to find a local pro, then schedule appointments through the site. Payment can be made online or upon completion of the service.
Signing up with HomeAdvisor as a house painting marketing strategy is a great way to grow your business. You do have to pay the membership fee and make a small investment in marketing materials, but it can be well worth it.
Trying to decide on whether or not to use this service can be difficult. The best way to decide is to try it out. You won’t lose any money by signing up with this company. You can get paid for the leads that they provide you.
Below are the steps you will need to follow when trying to sign up with Home Advisor as a house painting marketing strategy;
1. Create a free account on the Home Advisor website. Click on “Register.” When you register, you’ll have to agree to their terms of service.
2. Enter your business name, contact information, billing address, and so on. Be sure to select “Home Improvement” as your category.
3. Verify your email address by clicking the link Home Advisor sends to you.
4. Verify your contact information by clicking the link in an email from Home Advisor that asks you to do so.
5. Fill out the remaining information on the registration page and click “Next.” A sales representative from Home Advisor will contact you with more details about your account setup and lead generation opportunities.
6. You’ll receive a welcome email once your registration has been approved by Home Advisor’s sales department. Once approved, you’ll be able to start creating listings right away!
Invest in a color consultation
Color is a powerful and essential part of our lives. It can change our moods, influence our actions and affect our feelings. The right color can make a room look bigger or smaller, brighter or dimmer, crisper or duller.
If you own a house painting company that intends to generate more business, consider investing in a color consultation as part of your marketing strategy.
A great way to promote your house painting services is by “selling” homeowners on the concept of color psychology. For example:
- Red is a powerful color that stimulates appetite and speeds up the heart rate.
- Green is associated with nature, growth, and money.
- Orange promotes enthusiasm and creativity.
- Purple inspires creativity and imagination.
- Blue encourages tranquility, loyalty, and calmness.
The key to successfully selling homeowners on the benefits of color psychology is to be knowledgeable about the subject, which means taking some time to do some research before offering this service to your customers. For example:
Learn about basic color theory so you have a firm understanding of how colors work together when used together within a room or home.
Investigate the various psychological effects different colors have on people before promoting them in your marketing materials.
Host painting parties
Trying to get your friends and neighbors to paint their homes for free just doesn’t work. The right way to make money as a house painter is to find people who want their homes painted – and then set up a system that allows you to do so at an affordable price while making some extra cash in the process!
Hosting painting parties can be a win-win opportunity to market your painting company and expand your client base. It allows you to reach out to potential clients in your local community, while also providing homeowners with a convenient way to get their houses painted.
Host at your office – If you are just getting started, you can host your painting parties at your office. The benefit of doing this is that you can save on the cost of painting supplies. You can also easily control the environment and ensure a healthy experience for everyone. However, this might not be the best option if you are not located in the same city or state as your customers. TIP
Decorate the space – Make it fun! When hosting a painting party in your home or office, enjoyably decorate the space. Provide snacks and drinks and make sure people feel comfortable. Add some background music or a movie playing in the background.
Plan ahead – Be sure to plan and schedule outdoor activities to keep guests engaged while waiting for their paint to dry. This will help reduce their discomfort while sitting around waiting for their turn.
Invest In your online presence
Strategically identifying your objectives and then using the right tools and techniques to accomplish them is essential. You need to know what you’re trying to achieve and have a plan to get there.
Here are some tips that can help you in your quest for success.
Allow customers to contact you
Give your customers a way to contact you, whether it’s through social media or an email address that’s easy to find on your website. When they have a question or concern, they’ll know who to ask. Your social media pages are public, so make sure you address their questions there as well, rather than directing them through personal messages. This will also help establish yourself as an expert within the industry, which can help bring in more business.
Develop brand images
Seeing how other businesses present themselves online can help you decide how to proceed with your online presence. Use search engines to find businesses that offer products or services similar to yours and see how they present themselves online. Pay attention to both the content of their website as well as the style of design used throughout the site. This will give you ideas about how you’ll want to promote yourself online.
Create a blog
Blogs are a great way for companies of all sizes to reach out to their target audience.
Get social
Get involved in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with people who might be interested in your house painting services. You can also advertise on these sites for pennies per day. If you have time, it’s worth setting up an account and posting a few things to see how it works for your business.
Print marketing
The marketing strategy of printing is a good one to use in house painting marketing because it is inexpensive and effective. There are many different ways to print marketing. They include:
1. Flyers – Flyers are a great way to advertise your house painting services. You can hand these flyers out, or you can leave them on doors if you do not want to bother the homeowners. This is an inexpensive way to get your name out there.
2. Business cards – Your business cards should have your phone number, address, and website. These are very easy for customers to carry with them, and they are also small enough that they fit easily into a wallet. The customer can just carry them around until they need your services!
3. Postcards – These are another great way for your business to get the word out about its services. They are like flyers in that you can hand them out or leave them on doors, but they are larger than flyers. This makes them more expensive but also more eye-catching and attractive to potential customers who will be more likely to hang onto these postcards than a flier for future reference when they decide that they want your services!
4. Newspaper ads – A newspaper ad is a great house painting marketing tool. It’s affordable to run but can still reach a large audience. In addition, it allows you to sell your services directly to customers who are more likely to hire you than they would be if you were only relying on referrals and cold canvassing.
List your business with Google My Business
Google My Business is a free local business listing service provided by Google that helps businesses manage their online presence. It allows you to create a free Google+ page for your business and add information such as business description, address, hours of operation, photos, and a link to your website.
If you’re a house painting business, you can use Google My Business to create a page for your business. This free and easy-to-use tool helps people find your business online and on Google Maps.
Here are the steps for Listing your house painting business on Google My Business;
Step 1: Create a Google My Business page for your business. To do this, click on the “Add” button in the bottom, left-hand corner of Google Search results and locate your local area. You can also access this area by going to Google.com, clicking on the three lines in the top, right-hand corner, and clicking on “Businesses.”
Step 2: Verify that you are who you say you are by clicking on the link that says “Verify Your Business.” After providing some information about your location and a phone number, Google will call to verify your information.
Step 3: Plan out your content and make sure it is 100% unique. This can include photos of your work, an embedded video (such as one hosted on YouTube), reviews from happy customers, and anything else that will help potential clients select you over the competition.
Step 4: Start adding relevant keywords to your description, title, and/or tags so that people searching for house painters near them will find you. This will help increase search engine results page (SERP) rankings for relevant searches.
Step 5: Make sure you have all of the steps above completed before publishing your page to ensure maximum success!
Chain referrals
Chains of referrals are crucial in house painting marketing. The process is based on the idea that one person will refer another person, who will, in turn, refer another person, and so on.
You can create a referral chain by offering your customers rewards for referring their friends.
A referral chain is easy to set up, provided you know some basic steps to follow.
Here are a few tips:
1. Find out what your customers need.
2. Identify your target audience.
3. Offer incentives.
4. Decide the reward structure.
5. Establish the rules.
6. Set up a system to track referrals.
7. Follow up with customers who introduce friends.
Create a unique value proposition
Creating a value proposition is a critical step for any marketing strategy. If you can communicate your value proposition to customers, then you can successfully differentiate your product or service from the competition.
When it comes to house painting, many homeowners are concerned about three elements: quality, cost, and convenience. Your value proposition should be centered on addressing each of those concerns in a unique way. This will help you create the best marketing strategy for your business.
After you’ve identified the primary concerns of your target customers, talk to them about what’s important to them when they hire a house painter. Is it the quality of work? The cost or price? The convenience of being able to have someone else do the work while they are away at work or running errands?
Once you know what your target customer prioritizes most, use that information to build your value proposition around that particular element.
Step 1: Know your competition.
You need to know if there are other companies in your area that are also painting homes. You can do this by doing a simple Google search for “house painting” in your city.
Step 2: Know your target market.
You want to make sure that you know who your target market is. This will help you determine how much to charge for your services and how you want your business to be represented.
Step 3: Determine what makes you different from the competition.
Your goal here is to make people want to hire you, not the other guys down the street! You need to be able to quickly identify what makes you unique from the competitors. It could be that you offer a better price or have more experience than the next guy down the street. Whatever it is, make sure that you can quickly and easily communicate this point to potential customers and clients!
Step 4: Come up with ideas on how to communicate your value proposition.
You need to come up with a way of conveying all of this information about yourself through marketing. Your website is one great way of doing so, but don’t forget about other ways such as flyers, brochures, and business cards. Have these materials ready for when someone asks.
Use inbound marketing
If you’re in the business of painting houses, you should be using inbound marketing as part of your house painting marketing strategy. But what is inbound marketing? Inbound marketing is a type of online marketing that focuses on attracting customers to your website by creating valuable content and encouraging customer interaction.
Protip: It’s important to remember that inbound marketing is not just about blogging. You can use podcasts, videos, infographics, guest posts, or social media to reach people who are interested in your industry or your products. If you are just getting started with inbound marketing for your house painting company, start with one platform first and see what kind of results you get. Consider asking friends and family to give you their honest feedback on the quality of the content you produce.
Final Thoughts
We hope that you’ve learned something valuable from the tips we’ve shared in this article.
Use them to inform your next marketing campaign and you can be sure that your house painting business will not just survive, but thrive!
