What is a contractor? In a professional sense, contractors are individuals or entities who provide skills or services to clients for specific periods. Essentially, you’re provided with a contract, you complete your work, and you get paid.
Naturally, this means that one of the toughest tasks for a contractor is finding clients to pay you. It’s somewhat similar to freelance work, only with a bit more job security. You can secure one contract and work with that client for months, ensuring a steady flow of income. Today, you’re going to see some strategies to generate more clients as a contractor. Alongside these ideas, we’ll sprinkle in a few examples from different industries, showing you how the strategies work!
Create a website
Did you know that 63% of online experiences begin with a search engine? This means that, if someone is looking for the service you provide, they’ll start their search via Google. With a website, you can manipulate the search results to ensure that your site appears for multiple search terms relating to what you do. Therefore, creating a website is the first step to drawing in more clients.
As an example, let’s say you’re a marketing contractor who runs digital campaigns for businesses. You need to create a website that sells your services and showcases your brilliance, then you have to improve the SEO for search terms relating to marketing services. Ideally, when someone searches for ‘marketing contractors’ or ‘digital marketing services’, your website should be one of the first they see, increasing clicks, generating traffic, and helping you find lots of juicy new clients.
Offer something unique
Every contractor needs a USP – something to set your service apart from all the other companies and contractors out there. Once you find your USP, you have a reason for people to choose you over your rivals, generating new clients.
We see this in the construction industry all the time, with general contractors looking for new ways to entice clients. Whether this means offering unique services, like structural rehabilitation, or using more eco-friendly construction methods – the results are the same. You put your business on a pedestal above the others, encouraging people to come to you.
Produce free content
Often, the best way to gain clients is by showing them the value you can add to their business. This is done by developing and creating free content for them to see. This could be videos, podcasts, or just simple blogs. Regardless, you show off your skills and abilities for free, generating trust with potential clients. They like what they see, making it more likely that they’ll contact you.
As an example, an IT contractor looking for work can produce loads of content relating to the services they provide. This can include how-to guides to help with tech issues, content on cybersecurity, and so on. It builds up the contractor’s reputation as a knowledge source while also generating the all-important trust needed to gain clients.
Try these three strategies if you’re new to the contracting game. Regardless of the industry, these tips will help you bring in more clientele.
