One of the biggest challenges faced by those transitioning from an operator working for wages to becoming self-employed, is how to promote the business to ensure they get sufficient work to move the business in a forward direction.
Below are some basic tips on how to successfully promote a newly formed Earthmoving Business.
Create Stationery and Promotional Products Specific to Your Business
Find a good Graphic Designer that can formulate a unique logo for your Earthmoving Business. Once the logo has been created, you can design business cards, letterheads, templated tax invoices and other promotional materials such as stubby coolers, pens, hats and hi vis shirts.
Once you have business cards printed, you can distribute to all existing contacts you have in the industry advising that you are now self-employed. In addition to handing out as many business cards as possible, hand out stubby coolers, hats and hi vis work shirts with your contact details on. This means that other people will be promoting your business for you, when associating with others in the Earthmoving Industry.
Once you have all the above mentioned promotional products in place, you will be projecting a professional and well established business that will project confidence to those considering using your services.
Develop a Professional Website
In the rapidly evolving society of online service delivery and NBN rollout throughout Australia, it is imperative that any new or existing businesses have a strong online presence. A well-designed website, that promotes services and location is just the start of building an online presence.
Whilst it might be costly to engage the services of a specialist web designer – it will be worth it in the long run. A professionally designed website set up by a Web Design Specialist, will not only give you an advantage over your competitors, but it will also help your site come up in searches this will reduce the cost of Google advertising.
The well-designed site, needs to have well written content specific to Earthmoving and the Earthmoving Industry and the site needs to be designed to be mobile and tablet friendly.
Organic rankings (non paid Google advertising) relates to your site appearing on the first page of google for a specific search term. If you were an Earthmoving Contractor based in Brisbane and someone typed into Google, “Earthmoving Contractors Brisbane” your goal should be to have your site appear on page one of google. Using Heavy Vehicle Finance as an example, if someone types into Google Earthmoving Equipment Finance, our website appears organically for this search term.
Paid Google Advertising (Google AdWords) is an option for those that pay google to have their website appear in the top four positions on page one of google. For instance, you have the option to pay $2 for your website to appear in the top four positions on page one of Google when someone searches the term “Earthmoving Contractors Brisbane”. You would only incur the cost of $2 dollars if someone hits on your website, if they had searched that particular search term.
Organic rankings occur over time, whilst Google AdWords will get your website on page one of Google immediately. Google AdWords is an excellent way for any newly formed business to get business enquiries in the short term.
Given the fact that many more Australian Consumers are choosing to source goods and services from the Internet, it is very important that all businesses get the design of their website correct. As this is the case, it is well worth it to engage a professional web designer to start create and maintain your website going forward.
Active Social Media Presence
Promoting your Earthmoving Business through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and others is also a great way to get your business name out there. Taking photos of some of the earth works you have done and sharing it on social media is a great way of showing people what you can do.
Once you create your social media profile and start uploading pictures and information relating to your business, people view this information and start sharing it with their friends. If one person likes what you have posted and shares it to their friend’s profile, your business could be seen by 500 people – assuming they had that many friends. If two people shared your post potentially twice as many people will see your business. Social media is a great way to network with potential clients.
Taking videos showcasing the work you have done can be uploaded on YouTube and shared all across the internet. These same videos can be uploaded to your website, so when someone comes across your video on the internet, they will be directed to your website, whereby they can make either an online enquiry or phone call to you, enquiring about your services.
Become a Member of a Professional Body within your Industry
Paying an annual membership to an Association relating to the Earthmoving Industry is another way of getting your name out there and networking with other stakeholders in the Earthmoving Industry. These professional associations often list Earthmoving Contractors on their website along with keeping members informed on important information pertinent to the Civil Construction Industry. Just one example of such an association is the Civil Contractors Federation – www.civilcontractors.com .
Joining and participating in as many industry relevant associations will be helpful with all membership fees being 100% tax deductable.
Acquire Business through referrals
Referrals can come from professional contacts such as;
- Accountants
- Bookkeepers
- Finance Companies
- Insurance Brokers
- Web Designers
- IT Support Workers
To establish a successful referral program network, it is important to establish good relationships with people that operate in the above professions. On the basis you give them work, they are likely to throw your name out there to their customers.
For instance, at Heavy Vehicle Finance we refer specialists in their field to other clients we have on our books. We deal with clients in Civil Construction, Transport, Mining, Farming and Earthmoving and often get requests from clients asking if we know a good operator in a field. From there we bring the two clients together to perform the specific task required.
Referral can also come from closer contacts such as;
- Family
- Friends
- Existing Customers
- Fellow Earthmoving Contractors
- People that you network with from Civil Contracting seminars
Obtaining referrals from the above contacts, is as simple as just asking them. Don’t be afraid to ask others to pass your name out to people that might be looking to have Earthworks completed or if they know of anyone else that might need Earthworks completed. Even offer them an incentive for a referral – like a pre-paid gift voucher or gift hamper.
Developing a good Referral network is one of the most cost effective ways of acquiring new business. It is therefore very important to consider developing relationships with people in your industry so you can obtain a great referral network.
Email Marketing List
By creating a database of client email addresses, you can effectively communicate with existing customers or those that had previously enquired about your services. You can communicate with these customers by telling them about specific jobs you have recently completed, current promotions you are running or industry news that might be of interest to them. A popular online mail out service is called MailCimp https://mailchimp.com/ which is user friendly and gives business owners access to various reports and goal setting functionalities.
So if you are looking to hit the ground running when promoting your new Earthmoving business, follow these simple steps in order to get your business name out there and build a business that will guarantee you succeed in the Earthmoving Industry.
