How Trevor Started Fixing His Marketing For His Decorating Business.

Prefer to give this a watch?

Here’s the video for your viewing pleasure…

Mentioned in this video:

• Ideal Clients
• Brand Audit (now called Brand MOT)

Rather read all about it?

Here’s what we chatted about in the video…

Introduce yourself and your Trade.

I'm Trevor and I run TJ Painting and Decorating, here in Hampshire.

We’re a small decorating business that cater for the domestic client.

We're actually trying to move more into spraying kitchens and furniture.

Tell me, what do you struggle with most when running your Decorating Business?

I think like most Trades, I struggle with finding decent people to get the work done and to work with.

There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day and you need to have a thousand hats on.

You need to be an accountant, a buyer, you need to actually go to site to do the work.

It’s hectic.

It's a good feeling when you've got loads of work on, but it can very soon get out of control.

And then there’s the marketing side.

When I started my decorating business, you didn't have to do as much on your brand and marketing.

But now it's really important to keep your marketing up to date for your Trades business.

How did you come to find out about Marshmallow, the No Fluff Creative agency for Trades?

I found out about Marshmallow because they appeared everywhere on Facebook and they were giving out really good advice.

That’s the thing with sales now.

I don't think you have to push yourself with, ‘try me ‘cause I'm the best’.

You need to be more helpful and help people with their business problems.

They were sharing ideas, hints and tips for Trade businesses.

And when people do that, you start to take notice.

So I started to follow their Facebook group, Tricks of the Trade.

What work did Marshmallow help you with in your Decorating business?

Marshmallow spent a lot of time with me doing an Ideal Client profile and also a Brand Audit - which was really helpful.

The Ideal Client Workshop helped to nail down the people that I really needed to target with my branding.

For the Brand Audit, Marshmallow spent time going through all my current branding to check it was in line with my Ideal Client and consistent across everything I used it for, so that it all flowed and looked good.

What did our Ideal Client Workshop allow you to do for your Decorating Business?

The Ideal Client Workshop has made it easier for me to target my ideal clients.

I now know who I'm targeting, what they do, where they spend their time.

So every time I put an advert together or write a social media posts, I've got this person in mind – would this post or advert appeal to them? My marketing is now really focused.

did you find our Brand Audit helpful for your Decorating Business?

The Brand Audit was really good.

I had bits and piece I’d created over the years and Marshmallow looked over it and really sorted it out.

For example. I had a company brochure that was more like a book. (Too lengthy for my ideal client).

Now I've turned it into more of a magazine. So it's easier to read. It's laid out better.

It's having a fresh set of eyes looking over your stuff, someone that knows what they're doing.

And the improvement has been immense!

It's really made a difference.

I've already had comments from customers on the new company magazine that I send out.

They really enjoy reading it.

Ok Trev. But what is a Trade and construction Brand MOT?

A Brand MOT is a video (to make it easy to digest) that goes through all your brand and marketing - online and offline.

So everything related to your company - your website, your Facebook page, quotations, terms and conditions - they go through it all and suggest improvements, things to take out or things you should add in, all to cater to the types of clients and work that you are after.

It can save you time and it can save you a fine.

Ha! I like that. I'm going to write that down. That’s brilliant!

**Cue Trev scurrying around trying to find a pad and pen to jot it down.

Did we make everything Brand and Marketing related easy to understand for your Decorating Business?

Everything I got from Marshmallow was really simple to understand.

If you know Marshmallow, they are a lot like Trades people.

They're quite direct, straight talking and they don't mess around.

How did you find the service and quality of work Marshmallow produced for your Decorating Business?

The service was amazing. Second to none.

Everything was turned around really quickly. 

Any questions I had, I could just email them and I'd get a really swift answer.

It was like having your own marketing department as part of your business.

If it could be done, it would be done.

Everything was in plain English.

None of that marketing jargon and ‘we've got to think outside the box’.

None of that bollocks. It's just straight talking. Easy to understand.

Working with Marshmallow was fun too, which is so important.

Easy to get on with, easy to exchange ideas with. It just made the whole process enjoyable.

It will be the start of a good relationship.

Just get involved with Marshmallow. I don't think you can go wrong.

You’re a member of our Trades Only Community. Tell us about it.

I’m a member of the Marshmallow, Trades only Facebook group, Tricks of the Trade. (Click here to join).

I’ve been in there about a year now. It's really good.

A good bunch of trades in there. They all seem to help each other.

Every Monday you get a motivational quote. It kick-starts your week.

Marshmallow also put out videos that are really helpful. Different ideas to help other Trades out, so you’re referring each other.

Join the group and watch the videos. There’s loads on there and they’re really useful.

Also, the best thing about being in there - you should go join the group just for this - is every month you get a Social Media Calendar, which tells you the highlights of what's happened in that month. So you can actually, if you get yourself organised, get some posts ready for your Trades business.

Worth joining the group just for that.

Find it. Join it. Get involved.

You also took part in our Trades Bootcamp. Explain what that is.

The Trades Bootcamp is really good.

It’s a week long, for an hour every evening, starting off with who your Ideal Client is.

I found this really useful… Actually sorting out a Facebook Cover Image for your Facebook Business page, using Canva.

It was worth doing the Bootcamp just for that! I’ve improved mine massively.

Just go to TJ Painting & Decorating on Facebook and you’ll see the header that I created.

And it’s so simple. You just wonder how something so good could be so easy to do!

The Bootcamp is well worth doing. If Marshmallow run another one, definitely get involved in it.

Incase you were wondering what Trevor’s Facebook Cover Image that we helped him design looked like…

BEFORE.

AFTER.

We helped him create this all by himself.
Impressive. Right?

Need a little more help nailing your Trades Brand?

Course you do.

First. Let’s work out where you are with your Trades brand.
Got 3 minutes?

Take our Trades Quiz to discover how you score with all things ‘Off The Tools’.

We have heaps of tips, tricks and hacks for your Trades business in our cheat sheets, videos and ideas waiting for you on the other side… i.e. your results page.

So you can improve your score. And NAIL your Trades business.