Uncategorized – Page 11 – IFTS, Inc. Blog

Create Content For Your Painting Company That Your Clients Care About

Do you find it challenging to come up with new content to post online for your painting business? You may even think that it’s not worth it, because who would see it? In a survey conducted by Facebook, 81% of people said that they use Instagram to learn about products and business services. We’re here to tell you that your content definitely won’t go unnoticed.

Today, you would be surprised at how many people seeking painting services turn to social media to check out different painting companies. 58% of consumers visit a brand’s social media pages before visiting their website. Sure, people can take others’ recommendations on a painting company. But if you can show these potential clients your work first hand, you’ll be able to win them over without hesitation!

Your target audience wants to see original content that is valuable and actionable. Whether the content that you are putting out is in the form of a blog, video, or infographic, it has to be digestible for your audience.

In this article, we are going to cover the top 3 types of content that your clients REALLY care about. We also suggest some content ideas that will grab your audience’s attention!

Video Content

Video content allows you to capture the attention of your viewers within seconds. 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. Post your video to YouTube, then break it up into shorter video clips to be used on your social channels. This way, you can get many pieces of content from one single video!

Here are a few video content ideas for your painting business:

“Oddly satisfying” videos

Oddly enough, people love to watch other people paint! This content can be seen as “oddly satisfying” to users. If your audience is like most of us, it’s very easy to fall down a rabbit hole watching these satisfying videos!

Testimonials

People that are looking to hire you love to hear directly from others that have had work done by your business. What better way to showcase your work and a five-star testimonial all in one?

Day In The Life Video

Everyone loves to see a little behind the scenes, am I right? This is a great way to show customers what they can expect when they hire you for a project!

Blog Content

Blog articles are a fantastic way to provide long-form content to those searching for information.

FUN FACT: Any blog topic can be turned into a video! These videos can then be turned into informational social media posts. NOW we’re talking about getting the most out of your content!

Here are a few ideas for blogging that your audience will definitely want to read:

Paint recommendations

As we all know, there are many different kinds of paint out there. For some people, choosing the correct paint for their project can be a daunting decision to make. Between chelpbrand, finish AND color, a little assistance and good word from a pro can go a long way!

Frequently asked questions

Everyone is going to have questions. There are tools available such as SEMrush that can provide you with FAQ’s surrounding any given topic. This tool will also tell you how many times those questions are searched per month. Use this information to your advantage and write about the topics that you know people are searching for.

Why you should hire a professional

Many people don’t realize what they are getting themselves into when it comes to tackling projects around the house. How many times have you had to complete a project that has already been started? Give your reasoning as to why it is more time and cost effective to hire a professional from the start!

Social Content

Social content can be displayed many ways, especially depending upon the platform you are using. Whether you are posting to your Facebook feed or Instagram stories, keeping your audience engaged and interested is your number one goal.

Here are a few ideas that you can use to create content for your social channels:

Before and after

These photos are always a hit! Who doesn’t love to see a great transformation? You have the opportunity to lay out the quality of your work right in front of a potential client’s eyes.

Helpful information + tips and tricks

Providing helpful tips and tricks shows that you aren’t just about making a sale. You can provide information about handyman services done by painters and tips on how to know when your home needs a fresh coat of paint. You can also give tips on different painting techniques. Who knows, you just may end up with a sale after all!

Images of your team

A great way to humanize your business is by showing pictures of your crew hard at work. People love to have an idea of who will be working on their project and this way, they are able to put a name to a face. Plus, if they see quality work before their eyes, they’ll be sold!

If you aren’t sure where to begin with posting content on social media, don’t panic! Give IFTS a call at 412-715-6266 and we can discuss a social strategy that will work for you.

What Social Media Platforms Should My Painting Business be Active on?

Is finding customers online proving to be quite the struggle? If it is, then social media would be the remedy to that.

Traditionally, painting businesses have predominantly relied on word of mouth to gain new customers. While this is still a very valid – and constructive form of marketing, modern-day digital advertising is gaining more and more ground thanks to technology. The Internet particularly gives companies an array of opportunities to reach wider audiences and control their reputation. One such tool is social media.

And to be fair, it’s one of the best tools for businesses.

Social media platforms are not just places where business pages and profiles are housed. They are hubs for people to communicate, share their opinions, make recommendations, and express their likes or dislikes — now doesn’t that sound a lot like word-of-mouth marketing?

So how do you select the right social media platform for your business?

It all comes down to each platform’s rules and restrictions, content specifications, marketing options and available audiences. It also boils down to your personal preference, and how you prefer to showcase your services, promote your business, and interact with customers.

In this article, we are going to list the top 5 social media platforms and reveal the specifications of each platform.

The Top 5 Social Media Platforms for Painting Businesses

YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search platform globally after Google. It appeals to an audience of 18 to 65 years and has more than 2 billion active users.

This platform is video-based and has other sections that allow you to share photos, go live with an audience when premiering videos, and build a community. Want to show off your painting skills? Or maybe share a DIY tutorial on how to paint like a pro? If you want to go the video route, YouTube is your best option.

YouTube’s algorithm, however, like all other platforms, periodically changes to keep up with consumer needs. Hence, when making content for YouTube, keep it informative and in line with the platform’s rules. Keep the videos short, interesting, and high quality.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the platforms that have continually changed its settings to accommodate business needs. It has more than 2 billion active users globally, most of whom are between 18 and 65 years old.

Creating a Facebook Business Page is a top choice for all types of businesses. You can utilize it to create a wide range of content aimed at attracting, nurturing, and retaining clients. Facebook allows you to post text, images, videos, contests, events, and build an e-commerce page on the platform where you can sell products/services or book appointments.

With Facebook, you can also automate a good number of marketing activities and take advantage of targeted advertising and paid ads.

Instagram

Instagram is relatively newer than Facebook and has more than 1 billion active users globally. It attracts a younger crowd than Facebook, and has quickly grown into the easiest platform to advertise services to a younger target audience. But who ever said that young people aren’t homeowners or ever in need of painting services? Many people like to spend time on Instagram looking for new ways to spice up their home, especially DIYers.

This site supports photos and short videos; using the right hashtags when posting these may draw in more followers than you expect! The platform also offers various tools that allow you to run surveys and polls, create longer videos, and share something interesting from within the platform. You can also integrate Instagram with other platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.

To win on Instagram, you need to have good quality images and videos and be consistent in your posting schedule. Make the content interesting, and use paid ads whenever you need to reach a bigger audience. You can also make use of IG influencer marketing as it has done wonders for numerous businesses.

Twitter

With more than 330 million active users, Twitter is a platform that appeals to businesses and experts of all sorts. It particularly attracts an audience aged 18 to 49 years and is more formal than Facebook and Instagram.

If you are looking for a formal way to communicate with your audience, Twitter is a good option. Text content on Twitter is limited to 280 characters. As such, if you have a longer message, you can create a thread or use other platforms to pass the message across.

If you want to grow your market using Twitter, be sure to optimize your business profile and use such tools as hashtags, retweets, mentions, and replies.

When it comes to professionalism, LinkedIn takes the cake. It is the one social media platform where formality is the order of the day. However, you won’t see business pages with a lot of action on LinkedIn; rather it’s the business owners and their employees who are more actively and constantly in pursuit of connections. B2B networking is a big thing on LinkedIn.

The audience you will find on this platform aged between 25 and 64 years – and most of them have a higher education and several degrees to flaunt. But that should not deter you, especially if you are looking to make connections with other companies — and you never know what that may bring your business down the line…

It is not necessary for your business to be present on every single one of these platforms to become noticed on social media. Some sites are increasingly gaining popularity within a short period of time, that it’s only natural that others slip through the cracks.

To make your decision easier, think about your marketing. All the social media platforms we mentioned come with inbuilt statistics that show the return on investment (ROI) for organic and paid marketing efforts, and some of them come with inbuilt ad campaign management tools you should learn to be savvy at — but if it all sounds like too much to stay on top of, you can turn to us at IFTS for advice.

Your success on any platform depends on the audience you want to reach, the type of content you post, and your understanding of the platform’s algorithms. Remember that these algorithms change periodically, so you need to always be at the top of your game.

Download our free guide, The Painter Marketing Broad Brush Effect. This guide will walk you through 7 simple steps to bring in more painting customers than you can handle in 2021 and beyond!

The Painter Marketing Broad Brush Effect

Get a FREE download of our 7 simple steps that will bring in more painting customers than you can handle in 2021 and beyond.

Ready to roll?

If you would like more information on the best social platforms for your business specifically, Give IFTS a call at 412.715.6266 for a free consultation.

How To Build a Website for Your Painting Business + 5 Alternatives

A professional website is an essential element for every business’s brand strategy. Apart from being an authoritative platform on which the company communicates its brand, it also helps considerably with engagement and conveying your services.

Having a website makes it very easy for people to find you and discover what you do. It also makes you stand out as a professional in your field.

Then, there’s marketing. Through website analytics, a business owner can quickly tell the demographics of those who show interest. On-page and off-page SEO also goes a long way in building online visibility and search engine ranking.

But how do you actually build a website? And what are other options if you can’t afford one?

Before we get started.. We have 7 simple steps that will help you get your business in front of the right customers, downloadable as a free guide.

The Painter Marketing Broad Brush Effect

Get a FREE download of our 7 simple steps that will bring in more painting customers than you can handle in 2021 and beyond.

Ready to roll?

How Do I Build A Website For My Painting Business?

There are various ways to go about building your painting business website. And frankly, anyone can create a website these days with a good Internet connection. Here are your options:

Template-based website builders

These require no design or development skills at all and are exceptionally popular when it comes to building a website on a low budget. Some of the best website builders out there include:

Do keep in mind that you will still need to pay for things like a domain name, business email, hosting, and customized themes. There’s also photography to take into account, or the purchase of stock images. You will additionally need to put in some time and effort to learn the platform of your choice. WordPress, in particular, is the trickiest but also the best when it comes to ranking on the search engines.

Seek out a freelance web designer/developer

It is not a secret that you can hire freelancers online these days for a fraction of the price you would pay your local creative agency. This again applies to those on a small budget who are also short on time and other resources.

Some of the most popular freelance outsourcing sites include:

While this is an affordable option, finding the right freelancer will take some time and effort. To streamline the process, make sure you create an ad with specific details about what you want, so that the freelancer can bid on it knowing all the specs of the job.

Don’t hire someone simply because they’re cheap; check out their profile and portfolio first and have a look at what projects they are currently working on (you would want to avoid anyone already working on 27 other projects!).

Before you decide to hire, hop on a video call with your candidates to verify that they are not scammers or fake profiles — unfortunately, this does tend to happen when there is no supervision or control over who creates a profile.

Hire an agency

Agencies will be your best option when it comes to creating a professional-looking, fully functional website.

They won’t limit your options with template designs and quick fixes, and they usually consist of specialists, in which case you may be able to get a full package of web design, marketing, and branding services by a team of real experts who know what they’re doing.

But do be aware, these professional services come at a higher cost due to the quality they offer, and a website alone could cost you anywhere from $500 to $10,000!

As a small business that requires an uncomplicated website with only a few pages, consider putting aside $1000-$3000. If you’re serious about your painting business, you will not hesitate at making such an important investment.

At IFTS we work with our clients to make customized solutions for your website development and marketing needs.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you are considering creating a professional website for your painting business.

5 Alternatives to Building a Painting Business Website

Are you hoping to avoid the whole website-building hassle altogether? If you are, you can still build your online brand and presence. It’s only the platform that will be different.

A website is not the only tool that a business can utilize to create an online presence. There are various alternatives you can look at which are much less pricey, too. Below are some of the most commonly sought after alternatives for painting businesses:

1. Google My Business

A Google My Business page is an all-in-one listing management tool. This tool displays your business information and your business’s location will also appear on Google Maps.

You can also take advantage of other tools, like Reviews and Insights. You can even create a DIY site if you like and promote events and special offers. It will boost your visibility on the search engine results page when a relevant query is placed.

A GMB page is responsive, mobile-friendly, and can be optimized for SEO.

Need help creating or optimizing your Google My Business profile? Check out our Introduction to Google My Business for tips on how to set up your profile correctly and accurately.

2. Online Local Business Directories

Yes, you can pay for a listing on your local online business directories such as Yellow Pages and Foursquare.

These online directories allow you to optimize your listing for SEO and showcase as much information about the business as you can. You can also just list the basics – name and contact information of the business and services and working hours, and you’re good to go.

3. Review Sites Listings

Review sites such as HomeAdvisor, Yelp, and Angi are well-optimized for search results. Hence, a listing on these sites will allow you to take advantage of their undeniably impressive business-boosting functions.

The best part of registering your business with review sites is that clients tend to trust any review they read on them! And if you’re low on reviews, you can always invite your current customers to these platforms and have them give their two cents.

Want to know how to win over customers with your online reputation? Here, we discuss proactive tactics for online reputation management to get more clients.

4. Facebook Business Page

Facebook has over two billion active users. It is one of the few platforms that are continuously improving their B2B offerings and helping new businesses promote themselves.

With a Facebook business page, you can create an ecommerce store, accept payments, book appointments, share content through posts, create promotions, announce events, set up ad campaigns, and do pretty much anything you need to attract and retain customers.

You can also use Facebook for SEO purposes or targeted advertising. The possibilities are endless!

5. Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces perform well on the search engines, and a listing on them can significantly boost your presence and sales.

They are also a great starting point for small niche businesses, as you can position your business in front of your target audience without the need to resort to advertising.

For home services business, your go-to marketplaces should be Handy, ProReferral, and Serviz.

Regardless of the options you choose, you must maintain a professional online presence at all times.

Be sure to craft an online marketing strategy and implement, review, and improve your online marketing efforts constantly.

Click the button below to download our free guide, The Painter Marketing Broad Brush Effect. This guide will walk you through 7 simple steps to bring in more painting customers than you can handle in 2021 and beyond.

If you need help creating a website for your painting business, or figuring out a marketing strategy that drives results, feel free to ask us any questions! Give IFTS a call at 412.715.6266 for a free consultation.