Marketing That Fits a Trade Business
Most marketing agencies are built for companies with a marketing manager. Tradies do not have one. You quote in the evening, answer the phone in the van, and you need to know two things about your marketing: is the phone ringing, and what did each call cost. We have worked with New Zealand trades since 2015 - plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, painters, fencers, arborists, concrete and earthworks contractors and the businesses around them - and we have shaped everything around those two questions. Fixed prices before work starts. Plain language. Reports in leads and cost per lead. A small team where the person who built your site answers when you call.
Most trade businesses do not need everything at once. The right sequence is usually a website that converts, then the lead channel that fits your timeline, then the rest as the phone allows. Our guide to doing digital marketing in the right order explains why.
What We Do for Tradies
Websites for tradies
One page per service, your suburbs named, a number in the header and a form that reaches you on site. Live in about three weeks, hosting and updates included.
SEO for tradies
Rank for the trade-and-suburb searches that lead to paid jobs and get into the map pack. Fixed monthly scope, measured in Search Console.
Google Ads for tradies
Search and call-only campaigns for the jobs you want, in the suburbs you cover, tuned weekly for cost per lead. No minimum spend.
Facebook and Instagram ads
Lead campaigns built on your job photos, with lead forms that filter out time-wasters and follow-up that stops leads going cold.
Local SEO and reviews
Google Business Profile, consistent details everywhere you are listed, and a review habit that mentions the job and the suburb.
Our work
Forty-plus live trade websites, grouped by trade, that you can open on your own phone.
Tell Us About Your Trade Business
Your trade, your area, how many more jobs a month you could take, and what you have tried. We come back with a plan, a fixed price and an honest view of what will work first.
Get a PlanTrade Businesses We Work With
A few of the live sites we have built and market for trades around New Zealand.
See more of the websites we have built for New Zealand trades and services on our work page.
How We Work With a Tradie
Understand the business
Which jobs make you money, which you would rather not do, where you will drive to, how many more you can take, and what a job is worth.
Fix the foundation
A website that converts, a Google Business Profile that is complete, tracking that counts calls and forms. Without these every channel costs more than it should.
Turn on the right channel
Google Ads for work now, SEO for the long game, social ads once there are photos. One at a time, each measured before the next starts.
Report in leads
Monthly, one page: leads, cost per lead, what changed. Scale what works, stop what does not, and add the next service or suburb.
The Leads Side of the Business
Getting the phone to ring is half the job. We also write about the other half, because it decides whether the marketing pays: working out what a lead is worth, qualifying leads before you drive to quote, why speed to first response wins jobs, following up quotes and tracking where leads actually come from. The blog publishes a new guide for New Zealand trades every week.
Marketing for Tradies FAQs
What should a tradie do first - website, SEO or Google Ads?
A website that can convert, then whichever lead channel fits your timeline: Google Ads if you need work this month, SEO if you can invest for the year. Social ads once you have a stock of job photos. Our guide to digital marketing in the right order explains why that sequence saves money.
How much should a trade business spend on marketing?
It depends on what a job is worth to you and how many you can take. We work back from that figure rather than forward from a package price, and we write the maths down before you spend. See our guide to setting a digital marketing budget for Auckland trades.
Do you lock clients into contracts?
No. Fixed quotes for builds, fixed monthly fees for campaigns, and you stay because the phone rings. The Google Ads account and the website are yours.
Do you only work with Auckland tradies?
No. We are based in Auckland and most of our clients are outside it - across Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. Everything happens by phone and email.
How do you report?
In leads and cost per lead, monthly, on one page, plus a real-time client dashboard showing every enquiry. Not impressions, not a score we made up.
Can you take over marketing another agency set up?
Yes. We start by reading what is actually happening in Search Console, Analytics and the Ads account, tell you honestly what is working, and only change what is not.
Talk to Us
Call 0800 254 251 between jobs or send an enquiry. Tell us your trade and area and we will come back with what we would do first, and what it would cost.