England 24/06/2013 – There is growing evidence that, in the UK, more people are actively seeking out local tradespeople rather than automatically using a large company.
Websites like toptradespeople.co.uk are seeing an increase in traffic as more and more consumers seek out a local tradesperson to carry out work on their home or business.
In the UK, there are 907,000 businesses operating in, or closely related to, the construction business. Some of these firms are international firms, but the majority are SMEs who employ just a few people and carry out the majority of their work locally.
Many of these local construction firms have been in business for a decade or more. Typically, they have extremely small marketing budgets, so cannot engage in a lot of advertising. Most brand themselves, but only by adding a decal to their work vehicles and including their logo on their paperwork and work clothes. However, despite limited branding and advertising many small firms are still able to compete successfully against much larger companies.
Surveys show that the majority of the work local businesses do is because of word of mouth. People like to use firms they have heard good things about.
It seems that local tradespeople are also benefitting from a backlash against large corporations. Consumers are increasingly fed up with reading about large multi-nationals who do not pay their taxes, treat their employees poorly and do not provide good aftercare. Increasingly people in the UK feel that using a local firm helps their community and the environment as well as ensuring that they get a good job done. In many people’s eyes small really is beautiful, they appreciate that the person who comes to their home to do the work is the person who actually owns the company.
Smaller firms marketing techniques have evolved
Consumers in the UK are increasingly feeling more comfortable using local firms than they do using multi-nationals, but that does not mean that local construction firms have simply sat back and waited for work. Traders who advertise locally and join networks like Top Tradespeople are the ones who are securing the most work. Doing so ensures that they benefit from the fact that 90% of internet users go online when looking for a tradesperson.