Digital marketing for tradespeople in Manchester

Whether your business is based in Rochdale or Stockport, or covers the Great Manchester area, local digital marketing is crucial.

Without it, you’ll find it difficult to put your business name in front of new customers. And that will make it harder for you to grow.

Fortunately, digital marketing for tradespeople is not nearly as tricky as it sounds. Even if you want to target a specific location or region of work.

If you’re based in Manchester itself or the surrounding area, read on to learn exactly what strategies you can try. Market your business in your area, optimise for audiences, and discover why Checkatrade might a good choice for you to reach people locally.

How to digitally market yourself in Manchester

Given how big Manchester is, it can be tempting to cast a wider marketing net to reach more customers. However, with an area this large, broader strategies like these tend to be less effective for small businesses.

Unless your trade business covers the whole of Greater Manchester area, your marketing won’t be targeting the right customers. That means you could be using time and money putting yourself in front of people who you can’t actually help.

Instead, when digitally marketing in Manchester, it is better to think about a district level, e.g.:

• Bolton
• Bury
• Manchester
• Oldham
• Rochdale
• Salford
• Stockport
• Tameside
• Trafford
• Wigan

By doing this, you can narrow the direction of your marketing strategy to target customers within your work area. Which in turn will generate fewer but far more high-quality jobs that are likely to be more profitable.

Not only that, but by focusing on a local digital strategy, you’ll also be more visible over your direct competition.

Manchester digital marketing strategies

With the general bits covered, let’s now look at the specific marketing strategies. Especially when you’re a Manchester-based business.

From local SEO and PPC to joining online directories, there is a lot to consider when you want more tradesperson leads in the North West.

1. Target local social media

Given its popularity, it’s no surprise that marketing on social media is a major tool for promoting your business.

From posting pictures of your work to highlighting the reviews of satisfied customers, there’s so much you can do here.

First though, before you post anything, you want to get your profiles set up properly. This means doing all of the following:

• Signing up your account under your business name
• Providing a brief, top-level description of who your business is
• Offering a quick list of the sort of work you provide
• Highlighting the areas you work in
• Clearly displaying your address and contact details for potential customers

Once this is all done, you’re free to start posting on your preferred platform. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all of these apps are ideal for posting as a tradesperson.

And there’s no reason you can’t use more than one. Just make sure you post regularly with relevant, Manchester-related content.

Of course, to get the most out of these social media posts, you need to localise them to your area. So, as a Manchester business, you want to include some or all of the below information in each post:

• Tagging or including your business name
• Tagging the general area in which the work was complete. For example, if you operate around Wigan, reference the direct area in which completed your most recent job (but don’t include a customer’s specific address)
• Tagging in the names of various team members (assuming they’re ok with this)
• Links to your reviews and testimonials page, be that on your website or social media profile
• A call-to-action that makes it clear how potential customers can get in touch with you, as well as listing the general area in which you operate, e.g., Trafford, Oldham, Great Manchester, etc…

And don’t forget that, on top of posting you can also run social media adverts and join local groups.

These ads are another great way to put your business in front of customers local to you. While many social media groups allow you to interact with customers directly to find work.

2. Construct a business website

Next, once your social media presence is up and running, you’ll want to make sure you build a business website.

Needless to say, a business website is a fundamental aspect of any modern business. And this includes those running trade businesses. Simply put, it provides a platform for your customers to understand your services and contact you directly.

But if you currently don’t have a business website, don’t worry. You can quickly set one up on a low-cost subscription via WordPress, Squarespace or Wix.

From here, you can tailor any branding and customer-specific information to a local level.

• Highlighting where in Manchester you work
• Tell people if you’re willing to travel further afield for specialist jobs
• Create a review and testimonial page where satisfied customers can praise your work
• Tailor these to a local level by including details on where you did the work

Compared to social media, setting up your own business website is going to take a bit more work.

But it’s work that will pay off quickly by flagging you as a reputable business. As well as encouraging Google to show your business to customers making local Manchester-based searches.

3. Grab your GMB listing

And speaking of local searches. As we touched on when discussing lead generation in Manchester, one thing you must do is get your GMB listing.

Your Google My Business listing acts as your home address on Google. It means you not only appear on Google Maps but also in the info box when customers search locally.

For example, if you run a plumbing business in Salford and have claimed your GMB listing, you’ll appear for searches relating to this.

Of course, your GMB listing is only as good as the info you provide to Google. So when setting yours up, be sure to include all the following information:

• Your primary business category
• Your core services
• Your main area of work (Oldham, Trafford, Wigan, etc…)
• Your business USPs
• Links to your reviews
• Your contact details
• Your address
• Your opening hours
• Any other business information you think is relevant

Just remember to keep your business description short and to the point as there is a tight character limit.

4. Implement local SEO optimisation

Rather than being a direct way to market yourself digitally online, local SEO should instead underpin your whole marketing strategy. This means that you need to tailor your website and content to directly target people in your work area.

That means if you operate an electrician business across Greater Manchester, then you want to target Greater Manchester keywords, e.g.:

• Greater Manchester electricians
• Electricians in Greater Manchester
• Professional electricians in Manchester
• Local Manchester electricians
• Electrician services in Manchester

These are just a few examples, and you naturally want to target keywords relevant to your business.

Just make sure that the words you’re picking feel organic and don’t come across as spammy. And don’t include the same keywords on each page as this will confuse Google.

Remember, when it comes to optimising for SEO, less is often more.

5. PPC marketing

Moving away from low-cost and free digital marketing strategies, pay-per-click marketing is a potent tool if don’t mind spending money. It’s one of the main ways larger businesses choose to market on Google as it puts you right in front of your customers.

In its most basic form, PPC is all about creating tailored ads that directly target certain customers or areas.

This means that you can promote your business in areas you have fewer customers or plan to expand into. For example, creating an ad to highlight your painter-decorating business in Salford.

Through these ads, you can place yourself at the top of a Google search page, Making sure you’re seen ahead of your competitors. However, PPC is not always the easiest thing to understand. You may want to speak to an expert in this area before committing to using it.

6. Online directories

Last but not least, we have online directories, such as us here at Checkatrade!

Now, we know what you’re thinking, ‘don’t you cover the whole of the UK?’ Yes, we do, but that just lets us tailor the leads we give you to the exact areas you operate in!

So, if you only serve customers in Tameside, then we’ll only ever provide you with leads for customers in this area; unless you state otherwise.

Best of all, you get to decide how many leads we send your way. Our fixed membership option lets you build the plan that’s perfect for you and your business needs.

Are there any other digital marketing strategies for Manchester?

All of the strategies we’ve listed above are certainly viable ways to market your business in Manchester. But sadly, there are no Manchester-specific things you can do to put yourself in front of more customers.

Instead, you should use your knowledge of your local area to promote your business in the way that works best for you.

• Good reviews and testimonials are a tradesperson’s best friend
• They act as a free form of passive marketing
• Build your business’s reputation online
• Get referrals from word-of-mouth success

Reviews show that you’re a professional tradesperson who delivers reliable and high-quality work.

In other words, sometimes the best type of marketing is simply having a good work ethic and providing excellent customer service.

Market in Manchester with Checkatrade

Hopefully, you should now have a much better idea of how to market your business in the Manchester area. You just need to decide which type of marketing best fits your business plan.

And if we caught your eye as a potential pillar of your marketing strategy, then you can get in touch with our team today! Because it’s not just lead generation we offer at Checkatrade.

You could also benefit from:

• Giving your business its own profile
• Displaying your work and testimonials
• Great discounts on tools and training from all of our partner brands
• Guarantee for jobs booked through us (T&Cs apply)
• Save 20% off the cost of your public liability insurance

Reach out to us directly to see what else we can do for you and get more insight into our vetting process.