Contractor acquisition campaigns are paid and owned-channel programs that bring new contractors into your sales pipeline. The goal is not clicks or impressions; it is opened trade accounts that place a second and third order. TradeAgency.ca plans and runs these campaigns for suppliers as a marketing service. We are not a contractor, and we never do installation or service work ourselves.
What it is
An acquisition campaign has three parts: reaching the right contractors, giving them a reason to start a conversation, and getting that conversation to a rep quickly.
- Reach. Search ads on the terms contractors use when they are looking for a new supplier ("electrical wholesaler Surrey", "HVAC distributor trade account"), LinkedIn for larger commercial firms, and retargeting for contractors who have visited your site.
- Reason. An offer that matters to a tradesperson: a branch opening, a product line they can't get elsewhere, delivery to site, extended counter hours, training nights or a dedicated rep.
- Response. A short path to a human. Contractors can call, text or email from any page, and the inquiry goes straight to the right branch or rep, not to a general inbox.
Who it's for
It suits suppliers who know what a good account looks like and want more of them: distributors opening branches, manufacturers launching direct-to-contractor lines, and wholesalers trying to win share in one trade. It is less useful if your team can't follow up within a business day, because paid leads go cold fast.
What's included
- Account profile. We define the target: trade, company size, territory, typical spend and credit fit. This decides everything else.
- Offer and landing pages. Pages written for contractors, with the offer, the territory and a one-tap call, text or email.
- Campaign build. Search, LinkedIn and retargeting, with tight geographic targeting by branch radius or rep territory.
- Follow-up sequences. Messages only to contractors who gave consent, timed around your sales process. CASL requires consent for most commercial electronic messages, so we design around it; the CRTC's CASL FAQ and ISED's consent guidance explain the basics.
- Call and lead tracking. Each inquiry tagged by campaign, so you know which spend opened which account.
- Monthly review. What worked, what to cut, and where to shift budget.
Timeline
Planning and build usually take three to five weeks. Search campaigns can start producing inquiries within a few weeks of launch. A fair read on account quality needs at least one full sales cycle, often 60 to 90 days for distributors.
How results are measured
We track cost per qualified inquiry, cost per opened account and, most importantly, how many of those accounts are still buying after 90 days. That last number is the one that tells you whether you are buying real customers or one-off cash sales. Our guide on trade-account economics shows how to set a sensible target cost per account.
Proof from our HVAC work
HVACDeal.ca generated 500+ leads at a 12:1 ROI, and CombiBoiler.ca reached 300% ROI with 300+ monthly leads. These are results from our HVAC work on the contractor side, not supplier campaigns, but they show the discipline we bring: tight targeting, fast response paths and tracking tied to revenue. More detail is on the results page.
What we need from your team
A named person for each territory or branch who receives inquiries, a commitment to reply within one business day, and a simple way to tell us which inquiries became accounts. That feedback is what lets us cut weak campaigns quickly.
Mistakes to avoid
- Targeting "contractors" in general. A residential plumber and a commercial mechanical firm buy completely differently. Pick one profile per campaign.
- Sending leads to a general inbox. If the branch manager doesn't see it until Thursday, the contractor has already gone elsewhere.
- Counting applications instead of active accounts. Credit applications that never place an order cost you money and tell you nothing.
- Skipping consent. Bought lists and scraped addresses create legal risk and damage your sender reputation.
Want to know what an account should cost you? Call, text or email for a free consultation, or compare this with our other services.
Frequently asked questions
Can we buy a list of contractors and email them?
Be careful. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation requires consent for commercial electronic messages, with limited exceptions, and buying a list rarely gives you that. We build campaigns around consent you collect yourself; check the CRTC's guidance or your lawyer for specific cases.
Does LinkedIn work for reaching tradespeople?
It works for some buyers and not others. Estimators, project managers and owners of larger mechanical or electrical firms are often reachable there. Small residential trades are usually easier to reach through search and their supplier counter.
What counts as a lead for you?
We agree on it with you before launch. Usually it is a contractor who calls, texts or emails asking about an account, pricing or a product, and who fits your target trade and territory.
How quickly do campaigns produce accounts?
Search campaigns can produce conversations in the first few weeks. Turning those into active accounts depends on your sales cycle, credit process and how fast your reps follow up.