Marketing and Advertising Your Painting Business Doesn’t
Have to be Hard or Expensive…
It Just Has to be Effective

Marketing seems to be a scary word to a lot of painting business owners but it doesn’t have to be.  If you ask the average painter they will most likely tell you they don’t much like to sell.

Painters see themselves more as artists not salesman…  For that reason alone many of them don’t make nearly the living they could with their skills.  They will spend a few hundred dollars placing a generic classified ad in the local newspaper or drive a few neighborhoods taping fliers to mailboxes in the hopes that someone will call.

Smart painting business owners (whether they’re a one man show or a large contractor) see themselves as business owners first and foremost.  They understand that marketing is the engine that drives their business and they spend the time and money to develop good systems.

Marketing and advertising your painting business doesn’t have to be hard or expensive, it just has to be effective.  A painting business can be marketed with many non-traditional methods that are both creative and inexpensive. 

Three cheap and easy ways to market your painting business:

1. Web site and internet marketing is one of the best ways to get exposure for your painting business.  The best way to use the internet to market your painting business is to use your home page as your sales and lead generator. 

Place a well written benefit driven sales message that gives your potential customers a good idea of what your painting business is all about. 

You do this by including testimonials from past satisfied customers, offering some kind of benefits such as “100% Satisfaction Guarantee.”

You might also consider offering a free newsletter so you can stay in touch with people.

Be sure to include your web site address on all of your paper marketing materials as well (business cards, letterhead, yard signs, etc.)

2. Another cost effective way to market your painting business is with vehicle signs, yard signs, business cards, and door hangers.  By far and away vehicle signs will give you the best ROI (return on investment).

There is not usually much room to get your marketing message across so you should think about choosing a name that is easy to remember and a nice catchy slogan to go with it. 

For example:  Andy’s Quality Painting “Where Quality and Affordably Meet” 

Keep these types of marketing pieces uniform.  By that I mean they should all look the same.  Be sure to use the same font, colors, logo, etc. doing this will keep your image consistent…  Not doing this may confuse potential customers so try to keep everything uniform.  (This goes for your web site also.)

3. Another good way to get your painting business well know in your area is to consistently look for ways to give back to your community. 

Is there a park that needs the toys re-painted?  Is there graffiti on a wall that can be painted over?  How about an elderly person who needs their trim painted?  There are always things in your neighborhood that you could volunteer a Saturday to help clean up.

So how does this help your painting business get noticed?  Good question!  Once you’ve decided what project you will target you simply write a quick press release to the local newspaper and tell them about who you are and why you are doing it. 

You could contact your local paint store and ask them if they would like to be involved and donate the paint.  That way both you and the paint store get publicity!  Guess who the local paint store is going to start referring jobs to after that… 

The point is there are dozens of creative, inexpensive and powerful ways to market and advertise your painting business!  I lay out 16 of them in step-by-step detail in my #1 rated painting business success system – Painting for Profits. 

There are thousands of painters who run very profitable painting businesses right out of their homes using little to no expensive traditional adverting at all.  Building a large referral base can be done quickly and easily following the simple steps I lay out in Painting for Profits.

Using multiple creative marketing methods simultaneously helps give your painting business name recognition.  Picking a market and targeting specific jobs (like residential interior repaints) gives you the best chance of staying booked. 

One last marketing idea that will help you grow your painting business long term is to stay in touch with past satisfied customers.  Never look at a paint job as a one time paycheck…

You should be developing long term relationships with your customers… If you painted for someone once there is no reason you shouldn’t paint for them again year after year.  Think about the lifetime value of each customer and continue to look for ways to profit. 

For Example:

1. Yearly exterior maintenance program -  power washing or touch ups
2. Simple handy man services like hanging ceiling fans, putting up crown molding etc.
3. Gutter cleaning
4. interior decorating ideas
5. Deck staining and/or building

If you can’t do these services yourself you can always recommend someone reliable and trustworthy who can and that goes a long way towards building that relationship!

If you are looking to build a profitable, respected long term painting business quickly - simply follow the proven steps laid out in Painting for Profits.