Marketing for Tradies

What marketing actually works for tradies?

The marketing that works best for most tradies is the stuff people use when they need a job done today: Google Maps, reviews and a website that shows the job they’re searching for. Referrals and a signwritten van then do quiet, steady work. Paid platforms and ads bring calls fast, but they cost money for every lead and stop the day you stop paying.

A common mistake is spreading thin: a little on Facebook boosts, a hipages subscription, a Yellow Pages leftover, a website nobody updates. None of them gets enough attention to work well. Get the owned channels right first, then add paid ones to fill gaps.

Channel	What it costs	How fast	Who owns the lead	Best for
Google Business Profile (Maps)	Free to run; time or an SEO fee to rank	6–12 weeks to move	You	Urgent local jobs like leaks, blocked drains, breakdowns
Website with job pages	Build cost plus SEO	3–6 months to build up	You	Bigger jobs people research first, like switchboards or roof restorations
Google Ads	Pay per click plus management	Days	You	Filling the diary this month, testing new job types
Lead platforms (hipages, Oneflare, ServiceSeeking)	Subscription, credits or membership	Days	Shared, via the platform	New businesses with few reviews
Referrals and repeat customers	Mostly free	Ongoing	You	Highest trust, best close rate
Van signage and site signs	One-off	Ongoing	You	Neighbours of current jobs

Before changing anything, look at where your last 50 jobs actually came from. The answer is often not what you’d guess. If Maps and referrals already bring most of the work, the fastest win is usually more reviews and a better Business Profile, not a new channel.

Are hipages, Oneflare and ServiceSeeking worth it?

Lead platforms are worth it when you need work quickly and don’t yet rank in Maps, but they’re a poor long-term base. You’re renting access to customers who are also getting quotes from your competitors, and the leads stop when the payments do. Use them as a bridge while you build your own channels.

How each one charges, based on their own published information:

• hipages moved its Australian tradies onto subscriptions, and its FY25 results put average revenue per Australian tradie at $2,381 a year. Homeowners are told they can get up to 3 quotes, so most jobs are contested.
• Oneflare uses quoting credits. Lead prices are set by a dynamic pricing system based on job location, job size and demand, and credits come off your balance when you accept a lead.
• ServiceSeeking sells a membership that varies by industry and location, priced mostly on the number of leads it expects to send you, and says it doesn’t charge commission on jobs.

The number to track is cost per won job, not cost per lead. If you spend $300 a month on a platform and win three jobs, each job cost you $100 before your time quoting. Compare that with the jobs from your Business Profile, which cost nothing per call once you rank.

One thing tradies miss: in Queensland, the QBCC lists online service directories such as hipages and ServiceSeeking as advertising, so your licence details need to be on those profiles too.

How do tradies get more Google reviews and referrals?

Ask every customer when the job’s finished and they’re happy, then text them your Google review link within the hour. For referrals, stay in touch with past customers, because the plumber or sparky someone used last time is the first one they recommend to a neighbour. Both cost almost nothing and convert better than any paid lead.

Reviews have rules. Google’s policy says businesses must not offer payment, discounts or free services in exchange for a review, and must not selectively ask only happy customers while discouraging negative ones. Ask everyone, reply to every review, and answer bad ones calmly with what you did to fix it.

Referrals need a simple system:

1. Keep a customer list. Name, suburb, job type and date, in your job management software or a spreadsheet.
2. Send a useful reminder. A hot water system service at the 5-year mark, a smoke alarm check, gutter cleaning before winter or bushfire season.
3. Make it easy to pass on. A short “thanks, and if a neighbour needs us, here’s our number” message after each job.

If those reminders promote a service, they’re commercial messages under the Spam Act 2003. The ACMA’s guidance is that you need consent, must identify your business, and must include a working unsubscribe that’s actioned within 5 working days. If you send SMS from a name rather than a number, people can’t reply STOP, so include another way to opt out.

What should digital marketing for tradies include?

Digital marketing for tradies should include, in this order: a complete Google Business Profile, a review process, a mobile-friendly website with a page per money job, call and form tracking, then Google Ads if you need more volume. Social media supports trust, but for most trades it isn’t where ready-to-book customers start.

What to prioritise depends on where the business is:

Stage	Focus first	Leave for later
New sole trader, under 20 reviews	Business Profile, reviews from every job, a simple 5-page site	Heavy SEO spend, multiple ad campaigns
Established, 2–5 vans	Job pages for your highest-margin work, suburb pages, Google Ads for gaps	New platforms you can’t keep up with
Growing into new areas or trades	Region pages, a second Business Profile only if you have a real staffed location there, Ads in the new area	Fake addresses or virtual offices, which risk suspension

Two things make digital marketing work for trades specifically. First, target jobs, not your trade name: “switchboard upgrade” or “roof leak repair” brings people who already know what they need. Second, show proof: real photos from real jobs, your licence number, and reviews that mention the suburb and the job. Stock photos of smiling models in clean hi-vis convince nobody.

For the SEO side in detail, see our guide to SEO for tradies. If your site is the weak link, see website design for tradies.

Do vans, signage and uniforms still matter for tradie marketing?

Yes. A signwritten van parked outside a job is seen by every neighbour on the street, and those neighbours often have the same age of house and the same problems. Branded shirts and site signs do the same at a smaller scale. We don’t sell signage, but it’s some of the cheapest advertising a tradie can buy.

Keep the van simple: business name, the main job you want more of, phone number, website, and your licence number where your state requires it. A van covered in twelve services is hard to read at 60 km/h.

Licence-number rules vary by state. In plain English:

State	Rule	Where it applies
Queensland	QBCC licensees must include the licensed name, a statement that they’re licensed under the QBCC Act, and the licence number, legible and reasonably prominent	QBCC lists websites, social media pages, online directories like hipages, vehicle signage, flyers, business cards and on-hold messages. High-vis clothing is exempt
New South Wales	The licensee’s name and licence number must be shown in all advertising; Fair Trading also lists the correct category of work and a business phone number	Print, internet, TV, radio and other advertising
Western Australia	Section 8 of the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 requires builders and painters to include their registration number in advertisements, with penalties up to $25,000. Regulation 45(1) of the Electricity (Licensing) Regulations 1991 requires electrical contractors to display their licence number conspicuously in any advertisement	Newspaper, radio, TV and website advertising for builders and painters; any advertisement for electrical contractors

This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Victoria, South Australia and the territories have their own rules, so check your regulator before you print.

How much should a tradie spend on marketing?

Work it out from jobs, not from a percentage of turnover. Decide how many extra jobs a month you want, what each is worth in profit, and what you can afford to pay to win one. Typical Australian market ranges are $800–$1,500 a month for SEO in a low-competition trade, $1,500–$3,000 for competitive trades or multi-service businesses, and $500–$1,500 for Google Ads management plus ad spend.

Item	Typical Australian market range
SEO and Maps, single-location low-competition trade	$800–$1,500 per month
SEO and Maps, competitive trade or multi-service business	$1,500–$3,000 per month
Google Ads management (ad spend separate)	$500–$1,500 per month, or 10–20% of spend
One-off SEO audit	$500–$2,500
Lead platform subscription	Varies by trade and area; hipages averaged $2,381 per Australian tradie in FY25

A hypothetical worked example: an electrician in Ballarat makes about $900 gross profit on a switchboard upgrade. Two extra upgrades a month from Maps and job pages cover a $1,500 SEO retainer with room left over. If the same electrician pays $40 a lead on a platform and wins one in four, each won job costs $160 in leads alone.

See SEO pricing for what drives the cost up or down, and Google Ads for tradies for the paid side. Before going independent, Dyllan spent years inside a Perth SEO agency working on the websites of hundreds of local businesses, including electricians, landscapers, builders and other trades. Work is month-to-month, with no lock-in.

Want to know which of your channels is pulling its weight? Get a free tradie marketing audit.