The Best Print Marketing Ideas for Painting Contractors

No, print marketing is not dead. In fact, printed advertisements are one of the best supplemental marketing channels your painting business can invest in today.

Did you catch that?

If your business acquires most of its repaint leads through a single marketing or advertising source, you’re asking for trouble. This is why it’s important to supplement and diversify your lead sources.

Secondary lead flows are the best way to ensure stable and predictable growth.

Why?

Because markets fluctuate and the world never stops changing. What worked yesterday may not work today.

I’m sure this makes sense to most, but it produces a few questions:

Keep reading for answers to these questions and more!

Any advertising that is not conducted online is considered print marketing, but this wasn’t always the case.

Before written words, people were using symbols to identify their families and businesses.

Fast forward a century or two and we’re in the Mad Men era. Billboards and magazines dominated the marketing industry until TV commercials were front and center in every living room across America.

Finally, comes the age of the internet where the cost of advertising drops to a point that even a small business can afford.

I know… you came here to learn about marketing your painting business, not a history lesson. But it’s important to explain HOW we got here so we can understand WHY it works.

So Why Does Print Marketing Still Work?

Simply, people who grew up in the era of TV ads, billboards and magazines are still alive today *gasp*!

Right, but there is more to it than that.

In an age of goldfish marketing (advertisements that grab your subconscious 2-second attention span) it’s refreshing to hold something physical, like a postcard!

Compared to internet ads which often come across as cold and robotic, postcards and door hangers that arrive directly at your front door feel personalized, perhaps even sentimental. 

More so, those between the ages of 65-75 hold the most wealth in this country. This is the same age group that still orders newspapers to their house, so rest assured, your printed marketing campaigns are still relevant today.

As a painting business owner, you’re probably aware of where most of your business comes from.

The numbers vary from market to market, but a 70/30 split between digital and print marketing is generally accepted as a healthy lead generation strategy for the professional painting industry. This is primarily due to the ultra-low CPL that comes from digital marketing.

Most Painting Business Owners fail to recognize that just because you’re busy now it doesn’t mean that strategy will work next year, next month, or even tomorrow.

I know this because we talk to hundreds of painting business owners every year, and nearly every single one has a similar story — “Our leads dried up, I’m not sure what changed.”

If you haven’t experienced this yet you’ve either adopted a healthy marketing plan with various lead sources, or your time is coming.

The best way to avoid this problem is to plan ahead. Test various marketing strategies to determine what works best in your service area. For instance, what works for a painting business in Texas might not work for someone in Florida.

The primary purpose of diversifying your marketing strategy is to maintain a predictable source of new business. 

Ok we determined what Print Marketing is and why it works. Now let’s discuss how best to implement this marketing strategy for your painting business.

The more you drive your vehicle(s) the more business they will capture.

The best part about this marketing strategy is other than general vehicle maintenance, it’s a one-time investment!

For best results we recommend including the following elements on your vehicle:

Some things to avoid adding to your vehicle include:

Have you ever noticed an influx of yard signs around town during election season? They are hard to miss, and for a good reason. Politicians know that name recognition goes a long way, and as a smart business owner, you’ve probably recognized the same.

Now before you start throwing yard signs around town be sure to check your local ordinances first to avoid fines or trashed signs.

For best results we recommend asking your customer if they would mind you placing a sign in their front yard while you’re working on their property. If they push back don’t be afraid to incentivize the ask with a $50 discount or an extended warranty. It only takes one call from that sign for a discount to pay for itself.

When placing a yard sign check the direction of traffic to make sure your phone number is readable from the street. If cars park on the road consider moving your sign closer to the house for better visibility.

Remember, even if you’re working in a cul-de-sac with little traffic, your sign can still attract the neighbor’s attention.

Elements to include on your yard sign include:

Like yard signs, door hangers are a great way to capture the neighbor’s attention. Like any other form of print marketing, there are some strategies you can implement to improve results:

We recommend door hangers over paper flyers as they’re typically made of a better material that can withstand the elements, they won’t blow away in the wind, and they require that someone physically remove them from the door.

If you’re targeting your customer’s neighbors try knocking on the door first to provide them with an in-person promo or quote. This will generate better results and save you the overhead of blowing through your stash of door hangers.

Another strategy that gets results is hiring a local crew to blanket an entire subdivision with door hangers. While this can be costly, if you target an area full of prequalified prospects it only takes one or two jobs to make a return.

How many postcards from local businesses do you receive that end up right in the trash? Do you ever wonder why they keep sending them? Don’t they know you keep throwing them away?!?

If you have a large advertising budget direct mailers can produce great results at scale, but what about the local painting companies with a limited budget?

Postcards and other forms of direct mail advertising are best utilized with a hyper-local targeting approach. The best part? This tactic doesn’t require mass mailing to generate a return.

Consider these examples:

Business cards are a no-brainer. In fact, we wrote an entire article about how to design a high-quality business card for your painting business!

Include them with your estimate, hand them out to the neighbors, or ask if you can add a stack to the front desk at your local real estate office. They’re a low-cost marketing solution that should come standard with every painting business.

Promotional materials like hats, t-shirts and drink coozies can be expensive, but they serve an important purpose in generating customer loyalty, and referrals. A simple parting gift on your final walkthrough can become a walking billboard from a satisfied customer.

Since these gifts can be expensive it’s best to reserve them for customers, not prospects. Let your finished product do the heavy lifting. A satisfied customer will be more than happy to wear your hat around town!

While the use of printed material is a great marketing strategy, the cost per lead will always remain lowest with a solid digital marketing strategy. This is the primary reason we consider print marketing a good secondary lead source.

More so, the line between digital and print marketing is becoming less obvious. For instance, when is the last time you were handed a business card without a website or email address?

As these two marketing mediums continue to converge it’s best to leave your strategy to the experts.

Here a Base Coat Marketing, we’re a results-focused company with over a decade of lead generation and digital marketing experience.

Our team of marketing experts located in Wilmington, North Carolina caters exclusively to residential and commercial painting companies, like yours!

Give us a call or schedule a free strategy call today to learn more about how we can help take your painting business to the next level.