These are the questions painting company owners ask most often before they hire anyone to help with marketing. The short answers are above; the sections below add the reasoning behind them. If your question isn't here, call, text or email, and see the contact page for what to include.
Frequently asked questions
How much does marketing for a painting company cost?
Our plans start at $1,999 per month month-to-month, or $1,499 per month billed annually, plus GST/HST based on your province (GST and QST in Quebec). Ad spend, where used, is handled as set out in writing in your proposal.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. Plans are month-to-month with 30 days' notice to cancel. Annual billing is available if you want the lower monthly rate.
How soon will I see more estimate requests?
Fixes to your Google profile and new ad campaigns can show within weeks. Search rankings and content usually take several months. That is why autumn and winter are the right time to prepare for spring.
We tried a marketing agency before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
Ask what was measured. Many painters were sent reports about clicks and rankings, not estimates and signed jobs. We start from your estimate and close-rate numbers and report against them every month, and you can leave with 30 days' notice if it isn't working.
Who owns my website, Google profile and ad accounts?
Your company does. We work in accounts in your name, and the domain, content and photos stay yours. Ownership terms are confirmed in writing in your proposal.
Can you promise a number of leads or jobs?
No. Anyone who promises a fixed number of painting jobs is guessing. We show you the arithmetic behind the plan and report the real numbers.
What do your reports show?
Estimate requests by source, estimates run and signed, cost per booked estimate, cost per signed job, and what changed that month. We keep reports short enough to read in ten minutes.
Are you a painting contractor?
No. We are a marketing and business consulting service. We never paint, quote, supervise or bid on painting work.
Do you work with commercial and strata painters?
Yes. Strata, property-manager and commercial work needs a different approach from residential marketing, with capability pages, project sheets and steady contact with managers.
Do you work outside BC?
Yes, in all 10 provinces and 3 territories. For Quebec, advertising must meet French-language rules, and we plan French content accordingly.
Can you write reviews for us or remove bad ones?
No. We help you ask every satisfied customer for an honest review and respond well to criticism. Writing, buying or filtering reviews is something we never do.
Do we need to post on social media every day?
No. For most painters, a few strong before-and-after posts a month, plus seasonal ads, does more than daily posting. Social media helps most for interior and colour-refresh work.
What do you need from us to get started?
Your average job values, last season's estimate and signed-job counts, your service area, and access to your website and Google profile. Rough numbers are fine for the first conversation.
Cost and contracts
Answer first: plans start at $1,999 per month, or $1,499 per month on annual billing, with 30 days' notice to cancel.
Price is the first question for most painters, and it should be. A marketing plan is only worth it if the extra signed jobs earn more gross profit than the plan costs. The pricing page includes a worked affordability check, and the estimate maths guide shows how to work out what each estimate is worth to you.
Long contracts mostly protect whoever sells them, so we don't ask for one. If the work isn't paying for itself, you should be free to stop.
Timelines and seasons
Answer first: some changes work in weeks; the ones that last take months.
Painting is seasonal, which makes timing more important than in many trades. A Google profile clean-up or a new ad campaign can bring estimate requests within a few weeks. New service and neighbourhood pages, reviews and content build more slowly, often over a full season. Our exterior season calendar shows what to start in each month so spring isn't a scramble.
Ownership and trust
Answer first: everything we build for you is yours.
Some painters have been burned by agencies that registered the domain in the agency's name, or ran ads from an account the painter could never see. We work the other way round. Your company owns the website, domain, Google Business Profile, ad accounts, photos and content, and we confirm this in writing in the proposal.
Results and reporting
Answer first: we report estimates and jobs, not vanity metrics.
The numbers that matter to a painting company are estimate requests, close rate and cost per signed job. Rankings and website visits are useful only when they explain those numbers. Our results page shows real results from our HVAC work and explains which lessons carry over to painting.
Working together, week to week
Answer first: expect a short monthly report, a named contact, and decisions made in writing.
Once a plan starts, most of the contact is practical. We ask for your estimate outcomes each month, either from your job software or a shared sheet, because without them we can only report clicks. We send a short report showing estimates booked, jobs signed and cost per signed job, with a note on what we changed and why. Before the exterior season, we review the plan with you and adjust budgets to your crew capacity.
You will be asked for photos often. Real project photos are the raw material for local search, your website and your ads, so we help your crew build a simple habit of shooting each job before and after.
When we are not the right fit
Answer first: we say so early.
If your crews are booked months ahead and you have no plans to grow, you probably don't need a marketing plan; raising prices may be the better move. If your company is brand new and can't yet absorb a monthly plan, our guides cover what you can do yourself. And if you're a homeowner looking for a painter, we can't help, because we are not a painting contractor and don't refer jobs.
Who we are
Answer first: a Canadian marketing and consulting service for painters, not a painting company.
Painting.Marketing is part of the Sedighi.ca and SAZ.ca group, headquartered in Vancouver, BC, and led by Ali Sedighi, MBA. Read more on the about page, or browse our services.