Trade marketing is marketing aimed at the shops and wholesalers that sell a product, not at the people who end up buying it. If you searched for trade marketing in Bendigo hoping for help getting more work as a tradie, you are after marketing for tradies, and this guide covers both so you know which one you need.
What is trade marketing?
Trade marketing is how a manufacturer or brand gets retailers, wholesalers and distributors to stock its products, display them well and push them to customers. Think of a drinks company paying for a branded fridge in the bottle shop, a paint brand training the staff at the hardware counter, or a tool maker running a deal for trade accounts. The audience is the reseller, and the goal is shelf space, displays and sales through the store.
That is why a search for trade marketing in Bendigo is mostly job ads. Trade marketing managers work for food, drink, farm and building supply brands, looking after retail accounts, promotions, point of sale and the numbers behind them. It is a real career, and a very different job from getting a plumber's phone to ring.
There is one place where trade marketing does touch tradies: the trade counter. When a tool or materials brand runs a bonus deal, a demo day or a raffle for account holders at your local supplier, that is trade marketing, and you are the customer it is aimed at. Useful to know, but it will not bring a single job to your business.
What tradies actually need: marketing for tradies
Marketing for tradies is marketing a trade business to the people who hire it: homeowners, builders, property managers and businesses nearby. The goal is calls and quote requests for the jobs you want, in the suburbs you want to work in. For most Bendigo tradies it comes down to six things that work together.
Your Google Business Profile. The right category, services, service area and real photos, with a review asked for after every job. This is what puts you in the map when someone searches electrician Bendigo or concreter near me.
A website that wins jobs. Your trade and suburbs up front, your licence, photos of real jobs, your reviews and a quote form that lands on your phone. Our websites for tradies are built around exactly that.
Local SEO. Pages for the work you do and the towns you cover, so Google knows to show you for them. More on how local SEO in Bendigo works.
Ads that bring calls. Google Ads aimed at the jobs you want more of, for when you are new, quiet or want to fill a gap. See Google Ads management.
The ute, van and trailer. Your name, what you do and your number, readable from the next lane. Our guide to trade vehicle branding goes through it.
Workwear and site signs. Matching shirts for the crew and a corflute on every job, so people connect the work with the name. See our signs, ute signage and workwear for tradies.
Trade marketing vs marketing for tradies, side by side
Who it is for. Trade marketing is done by brands for the stores that stock them. Marketing for tradies is done for a trade business, aimed at its customers.
What it wants. Trade marketing wants stock on shelves and sales through the store. Marketing for tradies wants the phone to ring with the right jobs.
How it works. Trade marketing uses deals, displays, point of sale and reps. Marketing for tradies uses your Google profile, reviews, a website, ads and the signage people see on the road and on site.
Where a Bendigo tradie should start
Start where each call costs the least. Get your Google Business Profile right and start asking for reviews, because the map brings free calls once it trusts you. Next, make sure the website turns a look into a call: clear trade, clear suburbs, one tap to ring. Then make the ute and site signs match, so every job advertises the next one. Ads come last, or first if you are new and need work while the rest builds.
National Heating & Cooling is a good example of the joined up version. They do heating, cooling, hot water, solar and electrical across regional Victoria, and we run their posts, Google reviews, Google and Meta ads and their hiring ads for electricians and apprentice plumbers, while the same team makes their uniforms and showroom graphics. You can read their story.
If you work out of Kangaroo Flat, Eaglehawk or Strathfieldsaye, the same plan works: your service area on Google should list the suburbs you actually cover, and our Kangaroo Flat page shows how we work with businesses there.
You can do a lot of this yourself. Claiming your Google profile, asking every happy customer for a review and putting your number on the ute cost nothing but time. Where tradies usually get stuck is keeping it going when the work is busy, which is when the listing goes stale and the reviews dry up.
What marketing for tradies costs
Our Marketing Plans start at $349 a month + GST on Local, which suits a sole trader: your Google profile rebuilt, a review request texted after each job, every review answered and a text back to every call you miss. Growth, at $990, adds social posts, ads and up to five design jobs a month for a small crew. Department, at $2,500, is a whole marketing department for an established trade business. All are month to month with no lock-in, and every price is on the plans page.
Want help with marketing for tradies in Bendigo? Tell us your trade and where your work comes from now on our enquiry page, and we will point you at the plan that fits.
