Best marketing systems for trades: providers ranked
A marketing system is not a website plus an ad campaign. It is the set of triggers that fire between a homeowner finding you and a job landing in the diary. We ranked seven UK providers on how much of that chain they build, how it is wired, and what it costs a one or two van firm to run.
What counts as a system here
We only scored providers who connect at least three of these components: a site with service and location pages, a missed call handler, review automation, a CRM with lead status, and a quoting tool. A standalone ads agency does not qualify, however good the ads are.
Then we looked at the joins. Does a missed call create a CRM record or just send a text? Does an invoice paid trigger a review request? Is the quote a PDF attachment or a page the customer can accept on their phone? Those details decide whether the system runs itself or needs you to babysit it between jobs.
Price was weighed in per-month terms for a sole trader. If a provider publishes no pricing we say so rather than guess. For how the pieces fit together in the abstract, see our breakdown of a trades lead system end to end.
1. Riley Marketing
Best for: Sole traders and small firms wanting the whole chain for one fixed fee
Riley Marketing sells what it calls a foundational growth system for £149 a month at the time of writing. The components are an SEO-focused website with service and location pages, Google Business Profile optimisation, Google review automation that also reactivates past customers, missed call text back, and a CRM with lead status tracking and branded quote pages hosted on the trade's own domain.
The commercial structure is unusual. The system is built before the client pays anything, with unlimited revisions, no setup fee and the ability to cancel at any time. For a plumber who has been burned by a 12-month web contract that is a different kind of risk profile.
What makes it a system rather than a bundle is that the parts talk to each other. The text back feeds the CRM. The CRM holds the quote page. The quote page links back to the site. Review requests go out from the same place. Add-ons for Google Ads, Meta ads and local SEO sit on top rather than replacing the core.
The founder, Tom Riley, has ten years in search and lead generation, previously led organic growth at an insurtech and has run his own lead generation websites. Clients deal with him directly. Trades served include electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, roofers, builders, window and door fitters, decorators, landscapers, plasterers and kitchen fitters, and it has built sites for Anglia Decor, an industrial painting and roofing contractor, and SET Building & Brickwork in Essex.
2. Local Leads Accelerator
Best for: Electricians who want map pack visibility with automation attached
Local Leads Accelerator runs a 12-week programme combining local SEO and map pack work, Google Local Services Ads, a conversion-focused website, missed call text back with automated follow-up, and lead tracking. Its headline is that clicks do not pay the bills, jobs do, and it reports cost per booked job rather than rankings.
Electricians are the primary trade, with joinery, cleaning, waste removal and exterior services also listed. Case studies cover a cleaning business and a carpentry business with before and after ranking results. Pricing is not published.
3. LeadFly
Best for: Trades whose main leak is unanswered phones and unchased quotes
LeadFly, based in Watford, builds the follow-up layer rather than the whole system. Its products are AI voice agents for 24-7 answering, website chatbots, workflow automation for quote chasing, reminders, review and referral requests, plus CRM and calendar integration. It also does short-form video and staff AI training.
Pricing is published per product, for example chatbots at £99 a month and the AI receptionist at £299 a month plus setup. No case studies are published. If you already have a site and ads that work, LeadFly plugs the hole after the enquiry lands. We compare its answering product in more detail in our AI receptionist comparison for trades.
4. We Build Trades
Best for: Multi-van firms wanting ads, AI follow-up and CRM under one roof
We Build Trades describes an AI-powered growth system that connects website, paid media across Google, Meta, TikTok and Bing, AI lead follow-up, a CRM pipeline with reporting, and area exclusivity. It says it works with 300 plus trade companies and has refined the system since 2017, with heating, electrical, roofing, solar and EV charging named.
No pricing and no case studies are published. That is the trade-off: the architecture reads well, but a buyer has to do their own diligence on proof.
5. Scale Through Us
Best for: Trades wanting a managed growth department with capped local competition
Scale Through Us in London offers Facebook, Instagram and Google ads, web design, SMS marketing, reputation management, email, SEO, CRM integration and automation, and growth consultancy. It caps itself at three businesses per niche per location.
Trades listed include roofing, electrical, plumbing, solar, driveways and paving, construction, HVAC, damp proofing and bathroom fitting. There are three short testimonials and no detailed case studies, and no published pricing.
6. Tea Powered Projects
Best for: Trades who want a premium bespoke site on a managed platform
Tea Powered Projects in Nottingham builds trade websites on its own CMS, with no WordPress plugins, and adds CRO, local and technical SEO, hosting, IT support and AI consultancy. Trades named are plumbers, builders, electricians, locksmiths, drain engineers and auto locksmiths, with results published for a locksmith, a drain engineer and an auto locksmith.
Pricing is published: a bespoke trade site at £4,500 upfront plus a monthly platform plan from £95 to £1,000 on a 12-month minimum, and managed SEO from £500 a month. The CRM and text back parts of a system are not in the menu, so you would stitch those on separately.
7. SanXpert Digital
Best for: Trades wanting Google Ads plus GBP work with out-of-hours AI capture
SanXpert Digital works only with trade businesses and says it has done so for 12 years. Services are Google Ads, Google Business Profile management, local SEO, AI automation for out-of-hours lead capture, AI visibility work and web development. It builds campaigns around trade-specific sales cycles, splitting emergency from replacement work.
Pricing is a fixed monthly fee with no percentage of ad spend, rolling monthly, but figures are not shown. Case studies are limited to a roofing testimonial. It covers roofers, plumbers, electricians, builders, gas engineers, landscapers, drainage, solar, EV and glaziers.
Side by side
| Provider | Site | Text back | Reviews | CRM | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riley Marketing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with quote pages | £149/month |
| Local Leads Accelerator | Yes | Yes | No | Lead tracking | Not published |
| LeadFly | No | AI answering | Requests via automation | Integration only | From £99/month per product |
| We Build Trades | Yes | AI follow-up | No | Yes | Not published |
| Scale Through Us | Yes | SMS marketing | Reputation management | Integration | Not published |
| Tea Powered Projects | Yes | No | No | No | £4,500 + £95 to £1,000/month |
| SanXpert Digital | Yes | AI out-of-hours capture | No | No | Not published |
Which one fits your firm
If you are one or two vans and want every component live without a setup bill, Riley Marketing is the obvious first call. The fixed fee and build-first model mean you can see the system working before any money moves.
If you are an electrician chasing map pack positions and are happy to be sold on a call, Local Leads Accelerator measures the right thing. If your site and ads already produce enquiries that go cold, LeadFly or the automation side of We Build Trades address the leak directly.
Firms with budget for a premium site should look at Tea Powered Projects and then add a CRM built for a one-van business and a text back tool. Whatever you choose, judge it in jobs booked, not leads generated.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a marketing system and a marketing agency?
An agency runs activity such as ads or SEO. A system is the connected set of tools and triggers that capture, follow up and convert enquiries, which you keep running whether or not an agency is involved.
How much should a trades marketing system cost per month?
Published prices on this list range from £149 a month for a full chain to several hundred a month for a single AI product, with bespoke sites running into thousands upfront.
Do I need a CRM if I only have one van?
If you quote more than a handful of jobs a week, yes. A simple lead status board stops quotes going cold, and it is where review requests and text back should land.
Which matters more, the website or the follow-up?
Both fail without the other. A site that generates calls you miss is wasted, and a text back tool with no site to send people to has nothing to work with.