advertising

[mickles]

hi gents, been trading quietly for 2 years and have recently moved house. i need to drum up some more trade. from your experience, what is the best, most cost effective method(s) of advertising?
when i started, i delivered around 2000 leaflets, put a weekly, very small add in local paper and also used some large company internal websites(free adds or charity donations). very little return from any of these with about 2 jobs from leaflets, 4 jobs from paper and the internal wb sites doing the best with about 10 jobs. a lot of my work has come from friends of friends etc, moving house will kill that avenue off
any advice/ experience appreciated

 

[HandySparks]

If you don't have one already, get your own website. It doesn't have to be posh (mine isn't), just have the information that potential customers need.

Then sign up for some free listings. I have ones on yell, 192.com, electrician near me, freeindex, my local electrician, netmums, scoot, thompson local. They may not bring in much business, but it doesn't cost anything except a bit of time. Also get a business listing on google places, again free. I'm now getting quite a lot of business from people searching online for a local electrician.

 

[Richard Burns]

I would agree with being findable on the web, first port of call for many, just make sure you have tags that apply to you so your metadata will get caught by search engines.
Leaflets can work but you only get about 2% return on the first drop but this can increase to 10% if you repeat the drop a few weeks later and then the same again.
Local retail businesses can offer cheap advertising and this can be OK for a small return, but since it does not cost much can be good.

Getting your name mentioned around the local area (in a positive light) is the best way to go forward, but this is slow (though sure).

Expensive advertising will work but you have to be able to stand the cost while you wait for a response and the advertising should be relevant to you and your work, no good doing national advertising if you are a 1 man band with a ten mile radius!

 

[Octopus]

Dare I ask if you have got logo'ed polo shirts, sweat shirts and fleeces? Appearances DO matter, and you can't buy a first impression if you look scruffy, are late or don't show any interest!

 

[mickles]

thanks everyone, will try all these suggestions, i dont have a website, thought i was too small, and i dont have clothing apart from overalls.will give that a go as well. thanks again

 

[Octopus]

thanks everyone, will try all these suggestions, i dont have a website, thought i was too small, and i dont have clothing apart from overalls.will give that a go as well. thanks again

Re the website just start with a couple of pages then add as and when you can afford it. and when you have got the logoed kit wear it all the time plus it's a business expense

 

[applemac]

Most of my work comes via my web site I made and via google ads, pay per click you control the cost. Problem is I ended up working Xmas morning but work it

 

[trbod]

best investment i made when i moved 5 year ago i joined a networking group and raked it in

 

[geordie]

Have a look at this http://jdewane.com/toolbox1/ , I am currently using this program and it works if you put in the time

 

[atm84]

Someone guy put a leaflet through my door the other day.

At a glance there was no landline number, no address, no website and email address was a gmail one.

Maybe it was just me but if I was going to get someone round to do any work in my house then I would want to check their website out first and find a bit of info about. Small companies may think a website won't do any good but it can say a lot about a company in my opinion. First impressions and everything.