Last Updated on September 4, 2026
Most painters buy leads before they have finished the free work. That is backwards. Shared trade leads sell for roughly £2 to £40 each and go to three to six firms at once, in Whito’s July 2026 check of published platform prices, so you pay to race rivals for an enquiry you could have owned outright. Everything below costs nothing but an evening.
Invoice day is marketing day
The best moment to ask for a review is when the customer is standing in the freshly painted room. Ask for specifics: the job, the street or area, the finish. “Hall, stairs and landing in Beeston, spotless cut lines” is worth ten “great service” reviews, because it is the sentence a search engine can match to the next customer’s question. Send the Google review link by text while you load the van.
Photograph everything, publish weekly
A finished wall photographs beautifully, and the pictures are free. Before and after, same angle, daylight. Caption in plain English: job type, area, what was tricky. Upload to your site and your Google Business Profile; a Facebook group post vanishes in a day. In our August 2026 citation study, the business’s own website was cited in 90% of Google AI Mode answers and Google profiles in 81%. Those are the two shelves your photos need to sit on.
Publish a price
A day rate and two worked examples. Fewer than half of small business websites publish any price at all, per our price transparency study, so a published range alone puts you ahead, and it filters out the customers who were never going to pay your rate.
Put your proof in text
Company number, insurance, PDA or Dulux Select membership if you hold them, typed on the site footer and the About page. Thirty percent of tradespeople we checked could not be verified at Companies House, per our July 2026 study. Being checkable is a competitive feature, and it is free.
Then, and only then, consider paid
A lead is worth about 2.5% of the job it might win, on Whito’s break-even model. Run that maths on any platform quote. If the free foundations above are not done, paid leads just rent you visibility you could own.
Common questions
What free marketing works best for a painter and decorator?
Reviews requested on invoice day that name the job and area, a complete Google Business Profile with dated job photos, published prices, and proof such as your company number and memberships written in text on your site. All free, and all readable by search and AI engines.
Should a painter pay for leads from Checkatrade or MyBuilder?
Sometimes, but not first. Shared leads sell to several firms at once at £2 to £40 each at published rates, so finish the free channels you own before paying to race rivals for enquiries.
How many photos should a painter publish?
Ten good before-and-after pairs beat a hundred unlabelled shots. Same angle, daylight, plain English captions naming the job and area, uploaded to both your website and your Google Business Profile.
Before you spend any of this, check what the machines can read
The free Whito Visibility Check shows what engines can read on your site today. Seventeen checks, scored out of 100, no email needed.
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