What are the best contractor marketing tips to get more leads?
The best contractor marketing tips focus on improving the customer journey, tracking every lead, building a strong online presence, and protecting your brand.
In this guide, Elevation Marketing shares 10 essential contractor marketing strategies any roofer, landscaper, plumber, or remodeling contractor can start using today to win more customers.
Care to Listen? This blog was inspired by our Trade Secrets podcast episode on 10 contractor marketing tips. Listen in for the full conversation and extra insights before diving into the tips below.
Why Digital Marketing for Contractors Matters
Building a strong contractor business means mastering more than just your trade. Marketing plays a major role in getting leads, building trust, and growing your customer base. In this post, we share 10 focused tips from our latest episode of Trade Secrets, designed to help contractors sharpen their marketing efforts. These tips cover what we see as the most important areas—from internal processes and tracking to branding and digital presence.
Whether you’re a roofer, landscaper, plumber, or remodeling contractor, these straightforward strategies can make a real difference. They are practical, easy to understand, and ready to put into action. Let’s break them down.
1. Optimize the Customer Journey to Convert More Leads
Before spending a dollar on marketing, it’s critical to take a good look at how your business handles new leads. The customer journey from the first phone call or form submission to closing the sale needs to be smooth and well-organized.
Why this matters: Imagine your marketing efforts suddenly bring a flood of calls and messages. What will happen next?
- Who answers the phone?
- How quickly do they respond?
- Do they cheerfully collect the lead’s info and pass it on?
- Are there unnecessary roadblocks or “gatekeepers” who stop valuable leads from moving forward?
If your front office or admin team isn’t trained, enthusiastic, or empowered, leads can easily drop off before you even connect them with a salesperson. This is a common cause of frustration for contractors, where outside marketing is blamed, but internal systems are the real issue.
Key roles to consider:
- Admin/Reception: Your first line of contact, responsible for answering calls quickly and positively.
- Sales Consultant: The expert who decides if a lead is qualified and books the appointment.
- Project Manager: Sometimes the PM also acts as the sales lead, qualifying and managing projects from start to finish.
Consider how you manage leads outside of normal office hours. Can sales reps meet after 4 p.m., or on weekends? If your system rigidly locks leads out of these windows, you risk losing business.
Handling different job sizes:
- Should small repair calls be dismissed before a proper inspection?
- Could these smaller jobs turn into bigger opportunities after a site visit?
- Even if you decide to pass on a job, try to collect the customer’s contact info to keep them on your radar.
Internal Process Review Checklist
- Answer calls promptly with a friendly tone
- Train admin staff on basic lead qualification—avoid blocking good leads
- Set flexible appointment scheduling options for off-hours
- Define clear roles for lead handling (sales vs project management)
- Establish guidelines for minimum job sizes, but prioritize contact collection
- Plan follow-ups for leads that don’t immediately convert
Without these basics, marketing dollars will often go to waste. Fix your foundation first, and your leads will flow more smoothly through your sales funnel.
2. Track Every Marketing Effort to Know What’s Working
Tracking isn’t optional if you want to see real results. You need to know where your leads come from and which marketing efforts bring the best return on investment.
Call tracking is a must-have. It records calls, shows the origin of leads, and provides insights into call quality. This reveals how well your team manages calls and if important ones are being missed or mishandled.
Tracking isn’t limited to online ads or digital campaigns. Offline marketing like sponsorships, events, and direct mail can and should be tracked, too. Adding QR codes to banners, flyers, or mailbox drops can send interested people to specific landing pages on your website. This lets you connect offline efforts to online analytics.
Effective CTAs on offline materials include:
- “Scan to schedule a free estimate”
- “Enter our giveaway—scan here!”
- “Learn more about our services online”
Tracking Methods to Use
- Call tracking software (record and trace calls)
- QR codes linked to unique landing pages
- Website analytics for visitor sources
- Event sign-up forms to capture leads
- Tracking codes on paid ads and sponsorships
By consistently tracking, you can pin down what’s driving business and improve accordingly.
3. Having a Modern, User-Friendly Website Is a Must
Your website often serves as the first impression for prospects. It needs to work well—and fast.
Key website features:
- Quick loading times
- Clear, easy-to-follow navigation
- Prominent calls to action: “Call Now” or “Request a Quote”
- Fresh, up-to-date design (ideally updated every 2-3 years)
- Ongoing maintenance, especially if using platforms like WordPress, to avoid broken features
We see many contractors rely too heavily on stock photos or outdated designs. Your business is visual—roofers, remodelers, and landscapers especially should show authentic photos and completed projects. Visual proof builds trust and helps people picture what you can do for them.
What to include on your website:
- Contact information front and center
- A portfolio or gallery of past projects
- Clear service descriptions
- Customer testimonials
- A blog or resource section to build SEO and help visitors
You don’t need a $30,000 site to be effective—it just has to be well-maintained, clear, and user-friendly.
4. Treat Your Google Business Profile Like Your Most Important Online Asset
Google Business Profiles (GBP) function like your online storefront on the world’s biggest search engine. Treat it as its own website and your key social platform.
Consistent updates build trust with Google and customers. Add photos of ongoing and finished work, post updates regularly, and reply to reviews quickly. This engagement signals reliability and keeps your profile fresh.
Google rewards profiles that actively provide new content. Think of Google as a narcissist—it wants you to play along with its new tools and features. Ignoring those updates means missing out on ranking benefits.
What to post on your GBP:
- Project photos and progress videos
- Customer shoutouts or testimonials
- Team spotlights and company news
- Special offers or service highlights
Engage daily or as often as possible to keep your business visible.
5. Utilize Google Local Service Ads For Qualified Leads
Google Local Service Ads (LSAs) offer an excellent opportunity for contractors. They provide a Google Guaranteed badge after screening your business and licenses, which reassures customers.
LSAs generate leads primarily through phone calls. Lead costs vary widely by market—from $40 to $130+ per call. Testing this platform is worth it if it’s available in your area.
Steps to get started:
- Complete background and license verifications
- Set up your profile and services
- Turn ads on and monitor performance
Don’t miss calls from these ads; a timely response is critical. If you receive irrelevant or spam calls, dispute them through Google to recover those costs.
6. Leverage High-Quality Images and Videos to Build Emotional Connection
People remember images. Strong photos and videos tell your story before you even speak to the customer.
Visual content is especially powerful in contractor marketing. Before-and-after shots from landscaping, roofing, or remodeling show what you can do. Real photos of your work add authenticity and build emotional appeal.
Creating visuals that connect:
- Use professional or well-shot photos instead of stock images
- Share customer success stories visually
- Highlight how your services improve lives and homes
- Include short videos of your crew at work or finished projects
A compelling brand image helps customers feel something about who you are beyond just price and service.
7. Build and Protect Your Brand for Long-Term Success
Your brand is more than a logo or slogan. It stands for trust, quality, and reliability. Building your brand consistently strengthens customer loyalty and improves your visibility in search.
Google now pays attention to brand mentions—whether linked or not. These signals affect your SEO. Protect your brand by:
- Avoiding low-quality websites or spammy guest blogs
- Monitoring who mentions your business online
- Encouraging employees to keep their personal social media separate if their views might harm your image
Your online reputation and branding influence customer decisions and your search rankings. Treat your brand as a valuable asset.
8. Invest in Quality Website Hosting to Avoid Performance Issues
Website hosting is often overlooked, but it is crucial for performance. Cheap hosting can lead to slow load times, downtime, and glitches—hurting both user experience and rankings.
Think of hosting as a service, not just a product. It includes support and optimizations that keep your site running smoothly.
Hosting tips:
- Avoid very cheap, shared hosting plans
- Consider private shared hosting for better speed
- Make sure your hosting provider offers reliable uptime and quick support
The few extra dollars spent on quality hosting can save headaches and lost business.
9. Focus on a Primary Service to Build Search Trust Before Expanding Focus
On Google Business Profile and SEO, choosing a clear primary service category helps you build trust faster.
If you offer roofing, gutter, and siding services, pick your strongest or most profitable service to lead with. Focus your website content and SEO efforts here first.
Once you rank well for the primary category, then start targeting other related services. This staged approach avoids diluting your efforts.
Steps for category optimization:
- Set your primary business category on Google
- Optimize website content around keywords for the main service
- Build backlinks and brand mentions related to the primary service
- Add secondary service optimizations only after ranking gains
This strategy helps establish authority and makes future growth easier.
10. Set Clear Marketing Goals Before You Spend a Dollar
Every marketing effort needs a purpose. Otherwise, you waste money and time.
Determine if a campaign aims for direct lead generation or brand awareness. For example:
- Social media might be for staying top of mind rather than immediate sales
- Paid ads could be directly driving calls or form submissions
Knowing your goals lets you measure success and adjust over time.
Reassess your marketing every few months. Track results and cut or boost efforts based on how well they hit your goals.
Put These Contractor Marketing Tips Into Action Today
Getting contractor marketing right starts with a solid foundation. When your internal systems are smooth, every marketing dollar works harder. Track where your leads come from, keep your website and Google Business Profile fresh, and focus on building a brand people trust.
At Elevation Marketing, we’ve helped contractors double their lead flow by applying these exact strategies. Whether you’re a roofer, landscaper, plumber, or remodeling contractor, you don’t need a massive budget — you just need to execute consistently.
The question isn’t whether these contractor marketing tips work — it’s whether you’ll take the first step. Your competitors will. Will you?
Explore more resources:
- Visit Elevation Marketing
- About Elevation Marketing
- Contractor Marketing Services
- Contact Us
- Listen to the full Trade Secrets episode
Every lead counts. Every interaction shapes your reputation. Let’s make sure your contractor marketing is working as hard as you do. Let’s do this!
