I am self employes with three businesses all of which are related. One (a retail store) is failing after two years and a couple hundred thousand dollars. I had advertised this one in newspapers. I am in the process of closing it down.
The other two ( a gym and an outdoor guide service) are ten years old and very lucrative. These are advertised with brochures and word of mouth. On a rare instance I do some print advertising.
I have two websites that drive cusomers to my companies. I feel if it wasn't for web advertising I would have to spend a fortune on print or TV.
A great way of getting your name out there is by donating to every school or church or disease auction. I put out around 12K a year in gift certificates and find a huge return. Not only do you get biz off the certificate holder I also hhave my name in the programs and am listed as a sponsor.
Cheap ways of advertising sometimes bring great results. Feel free to ask me if you have any specific questions
I find that yellow pages are a neccessary evil. I spend $1000 a month in two differant books. This depends on the market your in. Some areas that will not cover a small ad.
The best way I have found is to meet the people face to face. When I first started out I would part at one end of the block and walk down one side of the street talking at every door. I'd cross the street and do the other side. Move the truck and start on the next block. This is hard but effective.
I have found for my established customers is direct mail. I send out specials twice a year and get about 40% to call. Thats a cost of 32 cents a post card for a return of $44.95 each. I wish I could do that 10 times a year.
Word of mouth is very effective. Try giving rebates to customers if they refer you.
If you are established build from existing customers.
Forget newpspers, radio, or TV unless you do it big. Small advertising is worthless. Pick a media that works for your product and do it big.
Also if you us a vehicle. Go get a profesional job of getting signage. If people notice it they will remember it. Name recognition is everything. If they don't know your name before they get to the yellow pages then you loss half of your ad.
Those are some of my secrets of 19 yrs of the HVAC bizz.
Whenever I am looking for a local service (like carpet cleaning) I look in the yellow pages first. And, I tend to call the vendor that has an ad in there as well. I like it when the phone number is easy to read (large print).
Also,
Think about becoming a sponser for a sports team and/or sporting event.
When I get a flyer for an upcoming racquetball tournament, the flyer has a few corporate logo's on it...
I build and sell technology-related equipment. I have essentially no walk-in customers and about thirty percent of my sales are overseas.
I depend heavily on the internet, both for sales and tech support. We spend time gaming Google to optimize search results for our type of product and we purchase Google adwords. Keeping the websites current and accurate takes quite a bit of time, but it is way cheaper that what we used to do, which is place magazine ads.
I have a carpet cleaning/duct cleaning/restoration business. 80% of my business is commercial. I want to attract residential because of the better returns. I have used the yellow pages and find that they are unproductive. I used to spend 2000 a year on yellow pages. Most of my residential customers are a result of cleaning the businesses where they work. I want to accelerate the residential base. I do the neighborhood five around deal. Thats where you leave cards and info at the two next door neighbors and the 3 houses directly across the street. I am leaning towards the website deal but would like to hear more about its effectiveness and maybe the details on having a good one set up.
Thanks for your imput. I've read many good ideas here so far.
what about those monthly local mailer ad "magazine" things...or the biggy ADVO---mail to everymail box...---it can be used as a tax deduction becasue they throw in those "missing Kid" cards.
If I were to hire a carpet cleaner, I would be inclined to choose one from one of those Advo mailers.
Their ads always say "Special! Get two rooms done for the price of three! And if you act now, we'll even charge extra to do your hallways!" or something like that.
I guess KSearsMart does a lot of that kind of advertising. One thing that I continually keep learning is that you can't argue with success. Well, you can, but it doesn't make much sense to do so.
I was going to suggest the same thing, the mailers that go to every house, the coupons I hear work well, They are pretty reasonable, and even if you got a 1% response you would be doing OK.
Around here we also have cheap community newspapers whose advertising rates are incredibly low that reach anywhere from 15-40 thousand people each. Most communities have them. Print up a $20.00 Off -3 Room Specialcoupon or some such thing. I tried it one time and had to take the ad out because I was inundated with too many calls that I couldn't get to.
If your feeling really gutsy, and with the influx of stadiums being named after corporate and business sponsors. You could get namimg rights to the Bills stadium, I for one would love to watch an NFL game from Hillsbro Rug and Duct Cleaning Stadium :D--> ;)-->
Hills if you do carpet cleaning then go by all the plumbers in the area and offer thema finders fee for evety call from flooding. Also insurance agents are a good lead sorce.
One nice thing about your bizz is that you can pay on a commission basis. They get 30% and you get 70%. Just follow up to make sure they do a good job.
If you are not in a major metro area try the newpaper. A two by two ad that shows up every day. On a plan like that they give some good discounts.
Remember that the more you advertise the more you have to and can charge. Talk quality in every ad. Give senior discounts.
And as somone else said and its true. Have your number in large print.
I us to have a carpet cleaning place next to my shop. They were telling me that one time they got a call from a little old lady. She called for help. Their number was the only one large enough for her to read.
I'm wanting to increase my residential window cleaning work this year, since its too late to run a yellow page ad for this year I am gonna run a couple of ads in the newspaper and hang a sign off the foot end of my truck. I do a fair amount of commercial work so my truck is 1)readily seen and 2) easily recongised. I've got a small base of upper end residentials and enjoy the pace of residential work.
We have quite a bit of mold and mildew here and oftentimes I find myself cleaning off more gunk from around the glass than off the glass itself. I've also noticed many many homes and yards reeking of mold and mildew and god knows what else so one service I plan to offer is a house scrub, basicly a scrubdown of the windows, frames shutters and doors, no squeegee, just a waterline, soapfeed and brush. So ssentially look at what other *things* you can offer you current clientele. Like you I am growing weary of this labor intensive way of paying the bills so I am in school to get smarter, but even after I am, I plan on working this window gig for a few more years to sorta catch-up with life and buy a nice sized tractor n canoe
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dmiller
Hills Bro -- It might help if we knew what kind of business you are in.
;)-->
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reikilady
I firmly believe in the yellow pages. I have a website and it has helped.
Do you do construction and remodeling?
It would help to know what you are trying to sell. Also, do you have pictures of the work you have done?
What is your budget for advertising?
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Out There
I am self employes with three businesses all of which are related. One (a retail store) is failing after two years and a couple hundred thousand dollars. I had advertised this one in newspapers. I am in the process of closing it down.
The other two ( a gym and an outdoor guide service) are ten years old and very lucrative. These are advertised with brochures and word of mouth. On a rare instance I do some print advertising.
I have two websites that drive cusomers to my companies. I feel if it wasn't for web advertising I would have to spend a fortune on print or TV.
A great way of getting your name out there is by donating to every school or church or disease auction. I put out around 12K a year in gift certificates and find a huge return. Not only do you get biz off the certificate holder I also hhave my name in the programs and am listed as a sponsor.
Cheap ways of advertising sometimes bring great results. Feel free to ask me if you have any specific questions
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ex70sHouston
I find that yellow pages are a neccessary evil. I spend $1000 a month in two differant books. This depends on the market your in. Some areas that will not cover a small ad.
The best way I have found is to meet the people face to face. When I first started out I would part at one end of the block and walk down one side of the street talking at every door. I'd cross the street and do the other side. Move the truck and start on the next block. This is hard but effective.
I have found for my established customers is direct mail. I send out specials twice a year and get about 40% to call. Thats a cost of 32 cents a post card for a return of $44.95 each. I wish I could do that 10 times a year.
Word of mouth is very effective. Try giving rebates to customers if they refer you.
If you are established build from existing customers.
Forget newpspers, radio, or TV unless you do it big. Small advertising is worthless. Pick a media that works for your product and do it big.
Also if you us a vehicle. Go get a profesional job of getting signage. If people notice it they will remember it. Name recognition is everything. If they don't know your name before they get to the yellow pages then you loss half of your ad.
Those are some of my secrets of 19 yrs of the HVAC bizz.
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Zshot
Whenever I am looking for a local service (like carpet cleaning) I look in the yellow pages first. And, I tend to call the vendor that has an ad in there as well. I like it when the phone number is easy to read (large print).
Also,
Think about becoming a sponser for a sports team and/or sporting event.
When I get a flyer for an upcoming racquetball tournament, the flyer has a few corporate logo's on it...
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Jim
I build and sell technology-related equipment. I have essentially no walk-in customers and about thirty percent of my sales are overseas.
I depend heavily on the internet, both for sales and tech support. We spend time gaming Google to optimize search results for our type of product and we purchase Google adwords. Keeping the websites current and accurate takes quite a bit of time, but it is way cheaper that what we used to do, which is place magazine ads.
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Hills Bro
I have a carpet cleaning/duct cleaning/restoration business. 80% of my business is commercial. I want to attract residential because of the better returns. I have used the yellow pages and find that they are unproductive. I used to spend 2000 a year on yellow pages. Most of my residential customers are a result of cleaning the businesses where they work. I want to accelerate the residential base. I do the neighborhood five around deal. Thats where you leave cards and info at the two next door neighbors and the 3 houses directly across the street. I am leaning towards the website deal but would like to hear more about its effectiveness and maybe the details on having a good one set up.
Thanks for your imput. I've read many good ideas here so far.
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1searcher
I suggest contacting all of the realtors in your area.
Perhaps you could do some work for them to establish your reputation and gain their confidence.
Whenever I need any work done at my house, I call my realtor and ask who they recommend.
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DaddyHoundog
what about those monthly local mailer ad "magazine" things...or the biggy ADVO---mail to everymail box...---it can be used as a tax deduction becasue they throw in those "missing Kid" cards.
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Steve!
If I were to hire a carpet cleaner, I would be inclined to choose one from one of those Advo mailers.
Their ads always say "Special! Get two rooms done for the price of three! And if you act now, we'll even charge extra to do your hallways!" or something like that.
I guess KSearsMart does a lot of that kind of advertising. One thing that I continually keep learning is that you can't argue with success. Well, you can, but it doesn't make much sense to do so.
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mstar1
I was going to suggest the same thing, the mailers that go to every house, the coupons I hear work well, They are pretty reasonable, and even if you got a 1% response you would be doing OK.
Around here we also have cheap community newspapers whose advertising rates are incredibly low that reach anywhere from 15-40 thousand people each. Most communities have them. Print up a $20.00 Off -3 Room Specialcoupon or some such thing. I tried it one time and had to take the ad out because I was inundated with too many calls that I couldn't get to.
If your feeling really gutsy, and with the influx of stadiums being named after corporate and business sponsors. You could get namimg rights to the Bills stadium, I for one would love to watch an NFL game from Hillsbro Rug and Duct Cleaning Stadium
:D--> 
;)-->
just joking---the first two ideas may work though
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ex70sHouston
Hills if you do carpet cleaning then go by all the plumbers in the area and offer thema finders fee for evety call from flooding. Also insurance agents are a good lead sorce.
One nice thing about your bizz is that you can pay on a commission basis. They get 30% and you get 70%. Just follow up to make sure they do a good job.
If you are not in a major metro area try the newpaper. A two by two ad that shows up every day. On a plan like that they give some good discounts.
Remember that the more you advertise the more you have to and can charge. Talk quality in every ad. Give senior discounts.
And as somone else said and its true. Have your number in large print.
I us to have a carpet cleaning place next to my shop. They were telling me that one time they got a call from a little old lady. She called for help. Their number was the only one large enough for her to read.
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herbiejuan
I'm wanting to increase my residential window cleaning work this year, since its too late to run a yellow page ad for this year I am gonna run a couple of ads in the newspaper and hang a sign off the foot end of my truck. I do a fair amount of commercial work so my truck is 1)readily seen and 2) easily recongised. I've got a small base of upper end residentials and enjoy the pace of residential work.
We have quite a bit of mold and mildew here and oftentimes I find myself cleaning off more gunk from around the glass than off the glass itself. I've also noticed many many homes and yards reeking of mold and mildew and god knows what else so one service I plan to offer is a house scrub, basicly a scrubdown of the windows, frames shutters and doors, no squeegee, just a waterline, soapfeed and brush. So ssentially look at what other *things* you can offer you current clientele. Like you I am growing weary of this labor intensive way of paying the bills so I am in school to get smarter, but even after I am, I plan on working this window gig for a few more years to sorta catch-up with life and buy a nice sized tractor n canoe
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