Is your painting business struggling to pull in clients? No matter how professional your work is, nobody can call you to repaint their home or spruce up their storefront if they don’t even know your business exists.

It’s the age-old question for small- and medium-sized businesses: In such a crowded market, how on earth can your painting company stand out from the rest of the pack?

The Painter Marketing Pros are here to help! Check out these 10 marketing ideas for your painting business to help you grow your roster of clients.

Claim Your Google Business Profile

Have you claimed your Google Business Profile yet? Many painting companies ignore this free (and powerful) tool, but that’s a big mistake. With a Business Profile, you can:

• Update the information about your business that displays in Google Search and Maps, such as your hours, phone number, and website.
• Add pictures of your work that show up when someone searches for your business.
• Answer questions from customers.

To claim your profile, just go to the Create a Profile page. Next, you’ll have to give some information and answer questions about:

• Your business’s name
• Whether you have a storefront customers can visit
• Your hours and phone number
• Your service area

Lastly, click “Verify Now.” You’re all set!

Google Business Pro Tip: Don’t set up more than one Business Profile per metro area. If Google finds more than one profile per location, it might suspend your account.

Respond to Reviews

Now that you’ve got a Business Profile, you’re ready to harness the power of customer reviews to market your painting company. Reviews are so important that your business can’t thrive without them. 

If your painting business has no reviews and your competition boasts dozens, guess which company a customer will choose? The odds sure aren’t in your favor!

Not convinced? Check out these statistics about online reviews:

• 95% of customers read online reviews before buying
• 97% of customers read reviews for local businesses
• Good reviews can boost spending by 31%
• 74% of customers say reviews increase their trust in a business
• 53% of people expect businesses to respond to bad reviews in less than a week

That last statistic is particularly noteworthy. No matter how awesome your work and service are, you’re bound to rack up few negative reviews now and then. It’s what you do after getting bad reviews that really counts.

By monitoring your Business Profile, you can see when someone leaves you a bad review. Whatever you do, don’t ignore it!

First things first, verify whether the reviewer was actually a client of yours. If they were, try to look up information about the job so you’re better able to help them.

You could say something like, “Hi, this [Name] from [Business Name]. I’m sorry to hear that you weren’t happy with our work. Please give us a call at [Phone Number], and we’ll do our best to make it right.”

It’s a good idea to respond to positive reviews too. Here’s an example of a response you could use: “We’re thrilled you’re pleased with our work! Thanks so much for choosing [Business Name], and we hope to serve you again.”

Practice Good Local SEO

If you want customers to find your business in the search results, you can’t afford to ignore local SEO. Basically, local SEO determines where your business shows up in the results when people search for “painting company near me.”

Google’s algorithms look at three factors when deciding whether to show your business to users:

• Distance (how far your business is from the user)
• Relevance (how closely your business matches the search terms)
• Prominence (how important Google thinks your business is to customers)

Your website content plays a big part in how Google ranks you in the search results. To take advantage, use a keyword research tool to find out what local customers are searching for. You can also start typing ideas into Google Search, and it’ll automatically give you relevant long-tail keywords to try.

Google heavily relies on your Business Profile here, too, so be sure to keep it updated.

Engage With Social Media Users

Many of today’s consumers would rather reach out to you on social media than pick up the phone or send an email. This gives you the perfect chance to connect with both current and prospective customers.

Don’t just use social media to advertise your painting business, though. It’s easy to turn people off if you’re hawking your services to them all the time.

Instead, try posting interesting things about what your business has been up to. For instance, if your employees volunteer at a local food bank, you could write a short post about it and share pictures of them in action. 

“A day in the life” posts appeal to social media users too. Try posting an engaging story that tells users what your painters do on the job.

If customers ask questions or post complaints about your business on social media, reply as soon as you can. Ignoring such posts makes it look like you don’t care, which means your reputation could take a big hit.

Learn To Master Pay-per-Click (PPC) Ads

Practicing good SEO helps your website show up in the search results, but you can’t solely rely on organic rankings. That’s where PPC ads come in.

With PPC ads, you place a bid for Google to show your website when someone searches for terms like “painters in [your city].” When someone clicks on your ad, you’ll pay a small fee.

Google PPC ads are a great choice because they show up at the top of the page before other websites. The more you bid for your chosen keywords, the higher your ad’s position will be.

Google isn’t the only platform offering PPC ads. Bing, Facebook, and LinkedIn have pay-per-click advertising models too.

Why shell out cash to advertise your business this way? Look at these benefits of PPC advertising:

• You could show up at the top of the search results regardless of your website’s ranking.
• You can easily test different ads to see which ones perform the best with the highest return on investment (ROI)
• You can target customers who are already interested in your services.
• You have complete control over how much you spend.
• Google’s algorithm changes don’t affect PPC ads.

In short, if you’d like to nab new customers fast, you really can’t go wrong with PPC ads.

Create a Referral Program

If you’ve already got a loyal following, creating a referral program is one of the best marketing ideas for your painting business. With a referral program, you reward your customers when they refer new business to you.

Referrals needn’t all be through word of mouth. You could also ask customers to leave you reviews to help you pull in new clients.

For the best chance of success, you’ll first need to define what your ideal customer looks like and explain that to your referral program members. For instance, you could target:

• People who live within 10 miles of your city
• People who want to renovate their old home
• People who’d like to repaint their house before selling

You’ll need to make it easy for customers to refer their friends to you. One of the best ways to do this is by making a referral program page on your website. Here, you can explain all the details of the program, as well as what customers will get when they send you new business.

Rewards could include:

• Gift cards
• Discounts on painting services
• Free products
• Service add-ons, such as deck staining, cabinetry painting, or drywall repair

If you don’t want to set up a new page for your website, you could also try asking for referrals via email. Give out a special referral code that newsletter subscribers can send to their friends. When those friends use the code to book services with you, reward your customers by sending a gift their way.

Use Lead Providers

Lead providers are similar to referral programs, except you pay a company to send qualified leads to you. If a company has good leads, you can typically turn up to 80% of them into estimates. About one in three of those estimates becomes a paying job.

How exactly do these programs work? First, a potential customer asks for an estimate from a lead provider company like HomeAdvisor, CraftJack, or Painter Choice. The company then sends you their information and the project details.

Lead provider companies charge various rates. You can either pay by the lead or create a monthly budget for how much you’re willing to pay for a certain amount of leads.

Set Up Lawn Signs

Using lawn signs to advertise your painting business is a timeless strategy, and for a good reason: this tactic really works! With lawn signs, you can target local customers who may not have found your business online yet. Plus, you could score free advertising for months.

Of course, you can’t simply stick lawn signs wherever you please. Try asking customers if it’s okay to leave a sign in their yard after you’re done with a job. 

You could also strategically target homes and businesses in high-traffic areas. Ask to put up a lawn sign in exchange for a reward, such as a discount on your services.

When designing your lawn signs, make sure they’re eye-catching and easy to read from a distance, so avoid small text. Potential customers should be able to get the gist of your business in seconds.

If you’re unsure what to put on your lawn signs, stick with your company’s logo and a short call-to-action, such as “Call for a free estimate.”

Try Door-to-Door Marketing

Door-to-door marketing is another tried-and-true marketing strategy to consider. You may think this is a waste of time because few people open their doors to strangers anymore, but the results could surprise you!

Most people will say no to you, but you’re likely to nab at least one or two leads an hour this way. Those leads could become valuable customers, so going door-to-door can be worth it.

For the best results, seek out high-income neighborhoods with older houses that look like they could use new paint. Homeowners in such neighborhoods are more likely to have the disposable income to spend on a new paint job. Neighborhoods that are part of homeowners’ associations (HOAs) are good to focus your marketing efforts on, too.

What should you say when someone answers the door? Keep it friendly and simple. You could say, “Hi, I’m [Name] from [Business Name]. I was just passing by and noticed you had some peeling paint around your windows. Would you be interested in getting a free estimate on our painting services?”

Don’t give an estimate on the spot, though. It’s better to set up a time to do it later because you’re more likely to get a higher bid this way.

Send Direct Mail Advertisements

Direct mail advertising can be far faster than walking door to door, but depending on your offer, you may not enjoy a great ROI. Still, this strategy could be worth the cost if your advertising budget allows it.

Benefits of direct mail marketing include:

• Different demographic: Compared to email, direct mail lets you reach customers who don’t check their inboxes very often, such as the Baby Boomer demographic (age 57 to 75).
• More personal: Direct mail can feel warmer and friendlier than email, especially if you personalize each piece with the homeowner’s name.
• Professionalism: A well-designed piece of direct mail gives your business an air of trustworthiness and expertise.
• Simple: Direct mail is easy to share with others.

To boost your response rate, use eye-catching imagery and short messaging. Include a compelling offer, such as 25% off house painting or a discount for your add-on services.

Reach Out to Our Marketing Agency for Painters Today

Want more marketing ideas for your painting business? Painter Marketing Pros is here to help! We’ll give you actionable advice on Google Ads, email marketing, SEO, and so much more.

Contact Painter Marketing Pros at (800) 813-4385 or book a free strategy call online now.