Sectors · Trades
Marketing for tradesmen and trades businesses
The channels that actually fill a trades diary, what they cost, and how to get them working together, so you can lead the business instead of running every job.
In short
What marketing works for tradesmen?
Marketing for tradesmen works when a few channels are joined up: local SEO and a strong Google Business Profile, Google Ads for work on demand, a website that turns visitors into enquiries, a steady flow of reviews, and a CRM that follows up every lead. Word of mouth can't be turned up when the diary is thin.
Most trades businesses already have plenty of tactics to choose from. What's usually missing is the right few, done properly and in the right order. Digital marketing for tradesmen starts with being findable and trusted: a complete Google Business Profile, fresh reviews and a website that makes calling you easy. Then you add demand you control, usually Google Ads, and a follow-up system so no enquiry goes cold. Social media and video build trust on top. A growing trades business typically spends about £1,000 to £2,500 a month plus ad spend. This page covers each channel, what it costs and how to choose who does it.
The situation
Sound familiar?
You started this to build something of your own, not to be owned by it.
- Working 60-hour weeks and still not getting ahead
- Flat out one month, worrying about work the next
- Running every job yourself, with no time to build the business
- Tried marketing before and got burned
- A business that stops the moment you do
The channels
The marketing channels that win trades work.
A handful of channels do almost all the work for a local trades business. Here's what each one is for, and when it earns its keep.
Local SEO and your Google Business Profile
When someone searches "electrician near me", the map results sit above almost everything else. Getting into them comes down to a complete Google Business Profile, real photos, fresh reviews and a website with a page for each service you offer. It's slow to build, but once you're there it keeps producing calls without paying for every click. Videtta Heating's Google profile alone brought in 134 phone calls in six months. Start with our 90-day local SEO plan for trades.
Google Ads
Ads are the tap you control: turn them up in a quiet fortnight, ease them back when you're booked out. They pay when the foundations are in place (reviews, real photos and a page that converts) and burn money when they aren't. Videtta's Google Ads leads cost £22 each, against boiler installs worth thousands. The budgets and cost-per-lead maths are in Google Ads costs for plumbers, and the same logic holds for most trades.
Your website
Every other channel points here, so its only job is turning a visitor into an enquiry. The most common failure we see is hiding the till: every service lumped onto one page, a phone number buried in the footer and no proof that you're the safe pair of hands. A new website won't bring in work on its own, either. Traffic has to be earned with SEO and content, or bought with ads. See website essentials that convert.
Reviews
Reviews build trust before anyone calls, help you rank in the map results and make everything you say on your website believable. Most trades businesses don't have enough simply because nobody asks at the right moment. An automatic request sent when the job finishes fixes that. Our guide to getting more 5-star reviews shows how.
Social media
Social media rarely rings the phone on its own. It earns its place by showing real work to people deciding who to call, and keeping your name visible in local groups. Pick one or two platforms where your customers already are and post consistently. Short clips of the real team and finished jobs beat polished graphics. Our guide to social media marketing for trades covers the platforms, a posting routine you can keep and when to pay for management.
A CRM and follow-up
In our work with trades businesses, the problem is rarely lead volume. It's follow-up. Calls get missed on site, quotes go out and never get chased, and good jobs go to whoever answered first. A CRM catches every enquiry, texts back a missed call automatically and chases quotes on a schedule, so the leads you already pay for turn into work.
Lead platforms
Checkatrade, Rated People and MyBuilder can fill a quiet diary quickly, but you share leads with competitors and rent visibility you'll never own. Use them to plug gaps while you build your own channels. We compare them in Checkatrade vs Rated People vs your own website.
The cost
What marketing costs a trades business.
There's no single right number. It depends on your turnover, your margins and how much more work you can take on.
Most trades businesses land in one of three places:
- Ticking over. A few hundred pounds a month keeps your profile, reviews and website working and the diary steady. Often that's your own time plus a freelancer for one job.
- Ready to grow. Roughly £1,000 to £2,500 a month, plus ad spend, pays for a joined-up push: website, local SEO, Google Ads and follow-up, managed and reported.
- Pushing hard. £2,500 a month and up, plus a bigger ad budget, when you have the capacity and the margin to back it.
Ad spend sits on top of any management fee and is paid straight to Google or Meta. For Google Ads we usually recommend £750 to £1,000 a month for a trades business, depending on your area.
The figure to watch is what a booked job costs you, set against what that job earns. A £50 lead is expensive for a tap washer and cheap for a boiler install.
For worked examples by turnover, read how much a tradesman should spend on marketing. Our own programme, the Booked Solid System, is £1,500 + VAT a month, and everything it includes is set out further down this page. Every price we publish, from single services to both programmes, is on our pricing page.
How to choose
How to choose who does your marketing.
You have four realistic options. The right one depends on your time, your budget and how fast you want to grow.
Do it yourself
Suits you when you're early on, the budget is tight and you're happy learning as you go. The cost is your evenings, and progress is slow. The trap we see most often is trying every channel at once and never giving any of them long enough to work.
A freelancer
Good for one specific job, like a website rebuild or setting up Google Ads. The gaps show when you need several channels joined up, or when they're busy with someone else.
A generalist agency
Can do good work if you already have a clear plan. Expect to pay for their learning curve on how trades businesses win work, from seasonality to lead quality.
A specialist trades partner
Makes sense when you want the whole system built and run, and you have room for more work. Expect a longer commitment and a bigger monthly figure, and hold them to reporting on booked jobs, not clicks.
Whoever you pick, ask for proof with businesses like yours, a written plan for the first 90 days, reporting on cost per lead and jobs won, and confirmation that you own your website, ad accounts and data. Our guide to the best marketing agencies for tradesmen sets out the selection criteria, red flags and questions to ask. If you've been let down before, read why tradesmen get burned by marketing agencies.
By trade
Marketing guides for your trade.
Every trade wins work differently. An emergency plumber and a solar installer need very different marketing, so each guide covers the channels, costs and mistakes for that trade.
- Marketing for air conditioning installers
- Marketing for constructionHow to win frameworks, tenders and repeat contracts
- Marketing for electriciansWhat works, what to ignore and how to book more work
- Marketing for landscape gardenersFill the season, smooth the trough
- Marketing for plumbersWhat actually brings in the work
- Marketing for roofing contractorsHow to win storm work and re-roofs
- Marketing for solar installersHonest numbers over hype
Further reading
Guides worth reading next.
- The 2026 marketing plan UK trades businesses need
Set the target, pick your channels, budget sensibly and track the numbers that matter.
- How to get more leads for a UK trades business
What counts as a good lead, the channels that produce them and why your website might not convert.
- Trade marketing budget: what should you spend per month?
Realistic monthly budgets by turnover and growth stage, with worked examples.
- Local SEO for trades: a 90-day Google Maps plan
Profile fixes, reviews and local pages, in the order that moves the needle.
- Google Ads costs and budgets for plumbers
Budgets, cost per lead and the mistakes that waste ad spend.
- Best marketing agencies for tradesmen in the UK
Transparent criteria for judging any agency before you sign.
- How to scale your trades business from solo to 7 figures
Getting off the tools and building a business that runs without you.
What we do
The Booked Solid System.
The Booked Solid System is our programme for trades businesses. It builds the channels above as one connected system, run in house by our team, so the diary stays full and you can step back from running every job.
On one side it wins demand: a website that converts (Videtta’s turns 18.7% of visitors into leads), local SEO, Google Ads and a brand film that builds trust before you’ve met the customer. On the other it runs the operations: a CRM that captures every enquiry, texts back missed calls and asks for reviews automatically.
Strategy first, then delivery
None of it is guesswork. We start with marketing strategy to decide what will win you work and in what order, then deliver it through marketing implementation, month on month. One team, rather than three suppliers who never talk to each other.
A business you could sell one day
A full diary is good. A business that grows, scales and could one day be sold is the real prize. Five years ago, Jordan at Videtta Heating was running every job himself. He built the system and grew from £223k to £1.3m.
If you run a civils or construction firm rather than a local trade, the Preferred Contractor Programme is built for you.
What's included
Everything in the programme.
No piece parts, no gaps: one complete system. Each part links to how it works.
- A high-converting website, not a brochure
- Local SEO and Google Business optimisation
- Google Ads managed for leads on demand (ad spend separate)
- A CRM with automated follow-up and missed-call text-back
- Automated review generation
- Monthly strategy calls
- A professionally produced brand film (12-month minimum term)
The proof
Meet Jordan. He was exactly where you are now.
In 2020, Jordan ran Videtta Heating on his own, doing every job himself and working most weekends, wondering if it would ever change. Five years on he runs a real business: multiple vans, a team, the choice of which work to take, and something he could sell one day.
- Revenue in 2020
- £223kRunning it single-handed
- Five years later
- £1.3mMultiple vans and a team
- Growth
- 486%Now leading, not delivering
In their words
“Steve and his team at We Are SMC have been working with Videtta Heating & Plumbing since February 2020 helping with our overall strategy and marketing. In that time their skills and expertise in marketing have seen us massively increase our leads, and as a result has increased our revenue, enabling us to take on more engineers. Steve and the team have also helped us integrate a new CRM system and job management tool in the business to handle leads and has also overseen the adoption of our finance offering for customers. I would not hesitate in recommending Steve and his team at We Are SMC to any business looking to grow online.”
Pricing
Ready to build your version of the Booked Solid System?
£1,500 + VATper month · 12-month minimum term with a six month break clause tied to specific deliverables
The Booked Solid System is £1,500 + VAT a month on a 12-month minimum term, because most of the work happens up front and in the first six months: a high-converting website (worth £4k + VAT) and a professionally produced brand film (worth £5k + VAT). There is a six month break clause tied to specific deliverables. Book a call and we will map out what your version could look like: an honest 30-minute growth call, no pressure and no hard sell.
- A high-converting website built for trades
- Local SEO and Google Business optimisation
- Google Ads management (ad spend separate)
- A CRM with automated follow-up and missed-call text-back
- Automated review generation
- Monthly strategy calls
- A professionally produced brand film (12-month minimum term)
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
What is the best marketing for a small trades business?
Start with what makes you findable and trusted: a complete Google Business Profile, a steady flow of reviews and a website that makes contacting you easy. Then add Google Ads for work on demand and a CRM so every enquiry gets followed up. Social media and video build trust on top once those basics are working.
How much should a tradesman spend on marketing?
A few hundred pounds a month keeps a steady business visible. Roughly £1,000 to £2,500 a month plus ad spend funds a proper growth push, and £2,500 and up suits firms pushing hard with the capacity to match. Judge it on what a booked job costs you against what that job earns, not on the monthly fee.
Can I do my own marketing as a tradesman?
Yes, especially early on. Complete your Google Business Profile, ask every happy customer for a review, and make sure your website has a page for each service and a phone number that's easy to find. The risk is trying every channel at once and never giving one long enough to work. Pick two, do them properly, then add more.
I've been burned by marketing agencies before. How is this different?
We lead with proof, not promises. Jordan's five-year journey from £223k to £1.3m is documented, and we will show you exactly what we did, step by step. If it does not feel right after the call, no hard feelings.
Why is there a 12-month minimum term?
Because most of the work happens up front and in the first six months. You get a high-converting website (worth £4k + VAT) and a professionally produced brand film (worth £5k + VAT) built into the programme, and the SEO, brand and follow-up systems then build month on month. Twelve months is what it takes to build something that lasts. There is a six month break clause tied to specific deliverables.
I get enough work through word of mouth.
Word of mouth is a good sign, but you cannot control it or scale it. Jordan had good word of mouth too, and still could not grow with it alone. The system adds predictability on top, so your next month is not left to chance.
What is the ad spend on top?
We usually recommend £750 to £1,000 a month for Google Ads, depending on your area and goals. We will give you a specific figure on the call. The ad spend is separate and always yours, paid straight to the platform.
Will this actually let me step back from the day-to-day?
That is the whole point. The systems keep the diary full and the follow-up running without you touching every job, so you move from delivering the work to leading the business. Over time, that is what turns it into something you could sell, rather than a job that owns you.
How we work
From first call to live, in four steps.
No jargon, no long tie-ins before you see value. A clear path from conversation to execution.
Book a call
A conversation about where you are and where you want to grow, with an expert.
Discovery & audit
We evaluate your current situation across marketing, systems and operations.
The plan
An intelligent, costed proposal built around your goals and the investment involved.
Implementation
We get started and execute the strategy, then keep building as you grow.
Next step