How to use your marketing in new regions

As a skilled tradesperson, it’s only natural to want more work. After all, your trade is your livelihood. Even if your business is not big enough for national marketing, you might be at the stage of needing regional marketing strategies.

But what could that look like for your business?

If you’ve got a team of people, and a fleet of vans, then your marketing needs to be scaled too. Read on for some things to consider, and see what you could try.

Regional marketing strategies for trade businesses

Switching from local to regional can be daunting.

While it is exciting to branch out and attract new customers over a larger area, you’re also going to have to stand out from the crowd in order to beat the competition.

The best place to start when marketing in new regions is to look at your existing marketing strategy. This is the base on which you will need to build.

Regional marketing strategies should be considered logically. It is just like local marketing done on a larger scale. If you’re planning to open new offices, stores or depots in different areas, now is the perfect time to target your marketing strategy for this new location.

The importance of updating your website details

The best place to start when expanding your company into new regions is with your website. Before you actually open a new depot or start working in a new area, you can add a message telling people about the change.

A ‘Coming Soon’ message will inform your existing customers of your plans. It will also help improve your website ranking if you use targeted keywords and content focussed on your new area.

As it gets closer to the launch of your new depot or store:

• You’ll need to post regular updates
• Keep visitors informed
• Create a buzz around your plans
• Provide information about any promotional offers you may want to run

Once you’re ready, add the new contact details including phone number and address of your new location.

Post any information you have about a grand opening and make sure that you have sufficient measures in place to handle customer enquiries.

As you expand, you may consider setting up lead automation software. That could be chatbots or virtual assistants to deal with new enquiries.

Consider expanding your search marketing

As part of your digital marketing strategy, you’ve probably been using SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and/or PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising.

Whether you’re using one or both of these marketing tools, you’ll have been focussed on targeting a certain geographical area. This will need to be changed to include your new broader reach.

Don’t forget to:

• Keep your existing locations in your target searches
• Add in new locations and contact details
• Make sure your existing customers don’t get lost or forgotten as you reach a broader area

Local directory listings are also an important part of your geo-targeted search strategy. These will also need to be updated to keep your business details fresh.

Update your Google My Business, Bing Business, and Yelp pages to ensure that customers in your new area can find you more easily.

Use social media to enhance your profile

When you start targeting a new area, you’ll need to adjust your social media profiles accordingly.

This may involve creating new profiles for different business locations or simply adding in new locations to your existing profiles.

Social media is also a great place to post updates about your business expansion plans. You could consider posting:

• Opening dates
• Progress photos
• New employee announcements
• Opening events
• Special deals

Social media is a powerful tool. The more you post about your new business, the more likely people in your new area will come to a new store opening or be interested in your services.

Create partnerships with local businesses

Although you will have to be competitive in your new area to win a share of your rivals’ customers, you may also want to make strategic partnerships with other local businesses.

Do some research to find out if there are any businesses in your new area that may complement yours.

• If you’re a property developer, are there any particular trades you’d like to partner with?
• If you’re expanding a cleaning business, do you want to create links with other local enterprises or landlords?
• If you fit kitchens, do you need the services of plasterers or decorators that could also refer your business in return?
• If you’re an electrician, are there builders in the area that might need a new partner?

Whatever your speciality, inviting local businesses to your grand opening will help you to make business connections and further expand your scope.

Direct marketing (using both print and digital)

Just before the grand opening in your new area, you want to ensure that as many people know about your plans as possible.

Direct marketing is the perfect way to do this.

By now, you should have the details of potential new customers from interactions on your website and social media.

Some ideas to consider:

• Why not send them direct messages with an e-mail marketing campaign? (Be sure to keep these messages positive and friendly)
• Consider branching out to the regional media or even the national media
• Leaflet drops may be considered ‘old hat’ but will raise awareness in your new region

The same goes for any mail drops you carry out. Expanding your geographical reach now will help you to reap the rewards of loads of new customers in the near future.

Using and updating your Checkatrade profile

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, you must update your Checkatrade profile with all your new details.

As a Checkatrade member, you get instant access to loads of customers in your chosen area. Plus you can also expand by investing in new postcode areas, when you want to expand into a new region.

Whether local, regional, or national, Checkatrade is a name that people trust when they need skilled jobs doing in their homes.

If you’re not already a Checkatrade member, now is the perfect time to sign up. Becoming Checkatrade approved will look great as part of your business expansion plans.
It can be part of your grand opening announcements and feature on all your social media posts and be posted on your website updates.

Still not convinced? Here are some other reasons why Checkatrade might work with your regional marketing strategies:

• Increase in the number of leads you receive
• Business profile to show off your reviews and photos
• Jobs booked through us will be guaranteed up to £1,000 (T&Cs apply)
• Exclusive offers and discounts on a range of business essentials
• Dedicated trades app – giving job management, quoting/invoicing tool, direct messaging and so much more!

Getting on board with Checkatrade will provide so much more than membership. We want to be the foundations of every good home, and you could play a part in making that happen.

Content disclaimer: This content has been created for general information purposes and should not be taken as formal advice. Read our full disclaimer here.