The short version
Twelve ideas, roughly in order of return per hour spent. The first four are free and most contractors have not done them. Start there before you spend a dollar on anything else.
Most contractor marketing advice is written by people who have never quoted a job. Here is the version that assumes you have about an hour a week and want the phone to ring.
1Finish your Google Business Profile
Free, one afternoon, and the highest-return item on the list for any local trade. Every field, the most specific primary category, real photos, honest hours.
2Turn on missed-call text back
You are already paying to make the phone ring. This stops you throwing away the calls you cannot answer. Fastest-acting item here by a wide margin.
3Send a review request after every job
Not when you remember, every time, automatically, with follow-ups. Reviews compound into ranking, and ranking compounds into calls.
4Text your past customers for referrals
Not a newsletter. A short, personal text. "Hey Dave, hope the deck's holding up, if anyone you know needs work done, I'd appreciate the mention." Costs nothing, works remarkably well.
If you stop reading here, you have the 80%. Those four are free or nearly free, take a few hours total to set up, and outperform most paid campaigns.
5Reactivate dead quotes
Pull every quote from the last 18 months that never closed and send one message. A real share of those people never chose anyone, they just got busy.
6Offer financing, loudly
The most underused idea in the trades. Plenty of homeowners want the work and quietly assume they cannot afford it, so they never call. "We can do this from $X a month" unlocks jobs that would not otherwise exist.
7Take before-and-after photos on every job
Two minutes per job. They become your website, your social posts, your Google photos, and your proof when someone is deciding between you and two others. Nothing else you can do in two minutes returns as much.
8Build town pages
One real page per town you serve. Slow, boring, and it ranks for years. See the contractor SEO guide.
9Get your website loading fast
Usually just compressing your photos. A slow site loses people before they ever see your work.
10Run Local Services Ads
Pay per lead rather than per click, with the Google Guaranteed badge sitting above everything else in the results. Requires verification, and the economics work for most trades.
11Post job photos consistently
Not daily, not curated, not a content strategy. A couple of real job photos a week keeps you in front of past customers, which is where referrals come from.
12Put your truck to work
Clear signage with your trade, your town, and your number in a font readable at 60km/h. Old-fashioned and still effective, especially parked at a job in the neighbourhood you want more work in.
Where to actually start
Pick one. Do it this week. The contractors who grow are not the ones with the cleverest marketing, they are the ones who did four boring things consistently while everyone else was researching the fifth.
Keep reading
How to Get More Contractor Leads in 2026
Nine proven ways to fill your pipeline, ranked by cost and speed.
How to Get More Google Reviews
The after-the-job system that turns customers into 5-star reviews.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best marketing for a contractor with no budget?
Your Google Business Profile, a consistent review request after every job, and texting past customers for referrals. All three are free and they outperform most paid channels for local trades. They are also exactly what to lean on when work slows down.
How much should a contractor spend on marketing?
A common benchmark is 5 to 10 percent of revenue, but the honest answer is to fix the free things first. Paid channels work far better once your profile, reviews, and response time are sorted.
Does social media work for contractors?
Indirectly. It rarely produces cold leads, but consistent job photos keep you visible to past customers, and that is where referrals come from. Treat it as referral maintenance, not lead generation.