Whether youâre a painter, a decorator, an interior designer or a builder, youâll know that working in the home improvement trade is big business.
In the UK alone, consumers spend more than ÂŁ14 billion every year on making their properties feel like homes, and figures show no signs of slowing down.
But in order to capture a slice of that market, your business needs to stand out from the crowd and make a good impression face to face, and also from a digital perspective.
Digital marketing has transformed the way we find and interact with businesses online, and in the home improvement industry, consumers need to be able to trust you before they hand over the keys to their properties.
Thatâs why reviews are so important, with 84% trusting the reviews that we read on sites like Google and Facebook as much as recommendations from friends.
As well as reviews, marketing techniques like search engine optimisation and social media can help to spread the word about your business and ensure youâre the first choice.
But one other method is commonly overlooked, and that is content marketing.
Writing high-quality blog posts about your business, interior design and home improvement can help to position you as an authority figure in your niche and ensure customers choose you over one of your competitors.
See also: The benefits of content marketing for small businesses
To give you a helping hand, weâve put together content marketing ideas for home improvement businesses.
Use these ideas as a starting point for your blog posts and social media content, and youâll soon be on your way to content marketing success.
Interior design style guides
If you run an interior design business or you sell fabrics and home furnishings, then you could write blog posts about interior style.
â10 of the best ways to dress your living roomâ or â5 of our favourite curtains for 2018â are just two blog post ideas, but you can use your imagination and come up with something unique that you think your audience would enjoy.
Oh, and when you write such guides, remember to incorporate references of your products or services, as people will be more likely to get in touch if theyâve read a piece and are inspired to make changes.
See also: The best calls to action examples to give you ideas
A quick mention of your new sofa range or wallpaper lineup will do the trick.
Do-it-yourself tutorials
DIY is big business, and if homeowners can do a job on their own without calling in an expert, they will.
Empart some of your wisdom and create a do-it-yourself guide on an improvement task, like installing a new ceiling light, replacing a front door or creating a custom shoebox.
If youâre willing to give your readers some free information and helpful advice, theyâll naturally then come to you with any questions they have, and you can use it as an opportunity to sell.
Again, feel free to mention the products that you sell when writing a how-to guide or tutorial.
Add links back to your products pages to make it easy for readers to add items to their basket, and youâll naturally increase conversion rates and deliver an ROI on your content marketing.
Just look at the following blog post from Trade Plumbing.
The company sells plumbing parts and accessories and created a do-it-yourself guide to fitting a new radiator.
Thanks to an effective SEO strategy, their article on fitting a radiator ranks on the first page of Google, which gives them thousands of unique visitors to their website every month – all of whom are potential customers.
In their blog post, they break down steps in an easy-to-follow way and include images and links back to their accessories to encourage users to add an item to their basket, without being overly promotional or salesy.
A ârequest a callbackâ button further increases on-page conversion rates.
TradePlumbing uses content to boost sales and position themselves as an authority
A roundup of best local home improvement companies
Roundup posts rank well on search engines, can be written in as little as half an hour, and they are valuable to your users.
If you work within the home improvement niche, then consider creating a local roundup post that serves as a resource for local builders, homeowners, and DIY enthusiasts, listing the best DIY shops, builders, plumbers, joiners, designers and more.
The best part about creating a well-ranking round-up post is that you can include a mention of your own business, which will naturally encourage people to get in touch with you.
Remember to add a link to some of your competitors, too, so that your roundup post remains genuine and offers alternatives to your readers, and regularly update it to include links to new businesses.
Home improvement case studies
If youâve been working on an impressive home makeover for a client, or youâve built a property from the ground up, then consider writing a case study as a blog post.
Case studies are great because they allow you to explain the processes behind your work, demonstrate why your skills and services were so important, and give your readers an insight into the quality of your work.
Rather than a blog post such as âWeâve finished a new build in Londonâ, choose something more engaging, such as âThis impressive London new-build will give you food for thoughtâ.
In case studies, itâs always a good idea to include images and videos, interesting statistics, and give insight into the people you helped, as well as the challenges you overcame when working.
This study from the Right to Buy Toolkit, for example, is thousands of words long, and goes into detail about the type of project it was, the people they helped and the issues they faced.
Itâs highly engaging, offers an insight into the company, and drives lots of organic traffic to the site.
Focus your case studies on the people you helped and the changes you made to their lives.
Arts and crafts ideas
âHome hacksâ and useful arts and crafts ideas to make home life easier and more convenient and always well-received and attract lots of shares and engagement on social media.
Todayâs consumers love posts on organisation and the environment, so centre your posts on those topics and you wonât go too far wrong. Just remember that, when you post an article about arts and crafts, you should connect with homeowners on social media to give your post a head start.
Video walk-through of a property redesign
Video marketing is bigger than ever, with research suggesting that by 2020, online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic.
Creating engaging video content is a great idea because it can not only be shared on your blog as part of a post, but it can be shared on social media to boost engagement and give users an insight into what you do as a business.
See also: How to create content that complements your video marketing
If youâve worked on a project for a homeowner, whether it was redesigning a living room, fitting a new bathroom, fixing a broken wall or simply painting a front door, then create a short video walk-through to show off your hard work.
Video attracts lots of attention online, and you might just be surprised by how many people log on to check out your content once itâs published.
User-generated content showcase
If youâre a decorator and your customers take lots of photographs of their newly-designed rooms, drop them an email and ask whether theyâd be happy for you to feature them on your website.
User-generated content is one of the most powerful methods of digital marketing, as consumers enjoy the âsocial proofâ thatâs associated with tweets and Instagram posts from satisfied customers.
Put together some of your favourite design projects, and feature them in an article titled â5 of our favourite home improvement projects of the year so farâ, embedding posts and giving some insight into the work youâve carried out.
If you want to take your post even further, you could ask for comments or testimonials from your customers to add further insight.
“What your home says about youâ quiz
Interactive content is huge, with social media making it easy to share your results and get friends and family to take part.
77% of all quizzes published on Playbuzz are personality quizzes, so consider creating your own home improvement-style quiz that stands the chance of going viral on the internet.
The already-mentioned Playbuzz is a popular free tool to create a viral quiz, but other options include Backstitch, LeadQuizzes, or a custom WordPress plugin.
Create a quiz thatâs easy to complete and includes engaging, humorous answers that your readers will want to share and talk about.
Make sure that you have clear social media share buttons to increase the chances of going viral, and include images that feature your products or services (complete with branding) to put your stamp on the quiz and boost brand awareness.
Home improvement trends for 2018
Time-sensitive content is trickier to get right because a blog post about trends in 2018 is only going to be relevant for a year.
However, such content can also be a great way to drive more traffic to your website and get backlinks from authoritative sources, so donât be put off from it.
Round up some of the biggest trends in your industry right now, include your sources, and add a couple of your own recommendations and predictions to boot.
Youâll soon have created an article thatâs fresh, relevant and current; but youâll need to work hard to promote it if you donât want it to get lost in the crowd.
Oh, and consider refreshing your content at the end of each year, rather than writing a new blog post, and youâll have a blog post that lasts for years and years.
Money-saving interior design tips
Todayâs consumers are savvy with their money and love a good bargain.
Itâs little wonder why MoneySavingExpert.com is now one of the UKâs most visited website, driving 15 million users every single month.
Jump on the bandwagon and create a blog post thatâs centred on improving your home on a budget, and youâll likely have some success with it – especially if the tips are relevant, affordable and help homeowners save money without compromising on quality.
One way that you can increase conversions at the end of your cost-cutting blog post is to add a coupon code or special offers that readers can use to get money off your products and services.
An incredible 93% of all consumers use a coupon or discount code when buying online every year, so while you may take a slight hit to your profit margin, youâll no doubt find new customers.
Wrapping up
Marketing your home improvement business online can be hard work because thereâs so much competition from local and national businesses.
Make sure you work on a content marketing campaign to boost your chances of standing out and try to put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers if youâre struggling for new ideas for your blog. Good luck!