advertising

[Rowden]

Hi all would like some help and advice for advertising. I haven't made the leap to self employed yet but looking to do all the ground work ready for the move iv been doing a lot of reading on the subject and would like to know what sits people use or any tips and tricks that can be used to get work. I do not have a budget set out as yet but am willing to put the money into it . All feed back welcome

 

[Thewiz]

Flyers are a waste of time. A local ad in the books that come around monthly are OK. Best advertising is word of mouth.

Need a website that looks professional

 

[trev]

Flyers are working for me just now.

 

[Thewiz]

When we 1st started we had 5000 delivered. Not one job or phone call.

 

[Thewiz]

He might of just threw them in the bin

 

[trev]

When we 1st started we had 5000 delivered. Not one job or phone call.

I pad £60 for 5k flyers, A6 double sided. Print and paper quality are superb, I've dished out about 2k and it's bringing work in. Pounding the doors is a pain but if I've got a slack day it's better than doing nothing and shy bairns get nee sweets.
One Saturday I plan on standing outside one of the sheds passing them out.

 

[Rowden]

Thanks for the reply I see a lot of mixed views with the flyers and yell across the forum but people have there own taste I will try anything and everything and see what works out the best. .. any sites you recommend for flyers, business cards ??

 

[Octopus]

Flyer should yield about 2% in jobs. So if you are doing nothing then it has to be worth while.

flimsy flyers will almost certainly get thrown away

 

[ImpededLoop]

For me, word of mouth is best, but the local monthly free magazine seems to get me a few jobs each month. I got a rewire via my website last month so that has also yealded a result.

Getting some sub contract work is handy whilst you get going.

Good luck!

 

[soulman]

Hi, I retrained at 37, started on my own in late 2011. I firstly tried the local paper which was o.k, but nothing exciting,I then got 5k leaflets printed & placed an ad in the yellow pages & yell.com. The ad in yell.com paid for itself within a week. I still have the flyers never needed to put them out. I have been working 7 days for most of this year. I now get a huge amount of work from word of mouth. My advice would be to put as much as you can into advertising when you start, always have some money set aside for cash flow. Get yourself a website, even if it just a basic one. Keep your pricing right & have a professional look to your business.

 

[urbanmonkey]

Yell.com, local parish newsletters and the local services guide booklet we have one that covers the whole postcode area and is bi-monthly, always get a fair few calls from that. Get a facebook business page (its free) and share it with all your friends, get the missus and kids to do the same, and keep it updated.

Get some proper business cards, (no vistaprint rubbish) and use a common logo/font for all your adverts, stationery, uniform etc, looks professional.

Be likeable, if people like you they will recommend you, if you do a cracking job but are as miserable as sin, they won't bother telling their friends how great you were!

Get it right and after 2-3 years most of your work will come from word of mouth with the advertising 'topping it up' so to speak. Also AVOID anybody who calls you offering to guarantee you work or get in the top google results etc or is offering advertising in emergency services magazines etc, mostly scammers!

Always, always have business cards with you when out and about.