Best ways you've promoted or advertised your business

Shane Hird

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I'm 5 weeks into started my own business and everythings going ok. But I'm constantly trying to think of other (cheap) ways to get more customers.

I'm in the service industry and my prospects that I target are mostly home owners. About 50% of commercial properties need my services too.

What type of methods do you use to promote your business and which methods have been most successful for you?

Small display ads- local paper, big daily papers, newsletters
Ads in directorys-local, yellow pages
Radio ads
Flyers
Roadside ads- billboards, bus stops...or those illegal signs planted beside main roads.
Shopping centre booths
Direct mail letters
Online advertising- yellow pages, blogs, own website..etc

It would be great to hear from anyone who's been in business for years and has worked out what advertising works best.
 
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If you have a work car / van / truck that's has your business' signwriting on it park it up on a busy road when you're not using it. Free advertising there.

We do it here at one of towns main intersections and it works a treat. Feedback has been great.
 

checkraiseulite

Norm Smith Medallist
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What sort of business is it? How locally targetted is it? How strong is it in google for search terms associated with the type of business it is?

What are your competition doing?
 

Helicopter Punt

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Get visible online.

Get your biz setup on Google+ and all local, state, national and industry online directories.
Do directories first then Google+(Places). Take time to fill completely - add photos, descriptions, categories etc. Free listings will suffice.

If you can afford it a small well designed website is easily the best value for marketing these days.
Paid ads stop producing when you stop paying - website is an asset which can promote your biz 24/7.

Target 'service' + 'location' eg. 'landscaping bunbury'.

Use a web designer who understands SEO. Come back to thread and thank me.

Good luck.
 

Shane Hird

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Get visible online.

Get your biz setup on Google+ and all local, state, national and industry online directories.
Do directories first then Google+(Places). Take time to fill completely - add photos, descriptions, categories etc. Free listings will suffice.

If you can afford it a small well designed website is easily the best value for marketing these days.
Paid ads stop producing when you stop paying - website is an asset which can promote your biz 24/7.

Target 'service' + 'location' eg. 'landscaping bunbury'.

Use a web designer who understands SEO. Come back to thread and thank me.

Good luck.


Can you give me more info on this area?

I've had a yellow pages rep ring me about google linked yellow pages stuff..i coundn't understand a word he was saying.

My business is in the cleaning industry...domestic and commercial..but it's not the usual 'cleaning services'..it's a specialized service that requires special equipment. Haven't got a great deal of competition.

I've had a great success so far with flyers in letterbox drops, pinning flyers to community boards in shopping centres and ads in local paper. Word of mouth referrals will start to kick in soon as I do more and more jobs.

Got a facebook page recently started which is an opportunity to post before and after shots of clients jobs and let them comment on their happiness with the work.

Whats SEO btw?
 

scottjr

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Knock on doors .... Be polite, don't try and sell just let them know who you are leave them something and move on....

It's hard work and few people know how to do well but still the best way of creating opportunities.
 

Shane Hird

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Knock on doors .... Be polite, don't try and sell just let them know who you are leave them something and move on....

It's hard work and few people know how to do well but still the best way of creating opportunities.



Yeah I'm going to do that next week.

I read a book once written by one of those American marketing experts and he said, without a doubt the best way to promote a business-new or old- is to knock on people's door, introduce yourself and give them something like a small free offer or discount voucher. No sell, just "how you going, Im such and such, Ive got a business that offers such and such. Can I give you this free thing..blah blah..hope to see you, hear from you in the future"

Restaurants, take-a-way shops and cafes are the perfect business for this...a free coffee or cake...chips etc. Something that costs #### all to the owner but gets the prospect into the shop and hopefully they'll be impressed by all the other stuff on offer.

Gotta have the nerve to do it..which I have...but unfortunately for a lot of people (the average Australian business owner) the idea of it makes them break into a cold sweat. Yanks have more nerve at doing this type of promotion.
 

Shane Hird

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Knock on doors .... Be polite, don't try and sell just let them know who you are leave them something and move on....

It's hard work and few people know how to do well but still the best way of creating opportunities.


Have you done it yourself scott?

Results?
 

Helicopter Punt

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Can you give me more info on this area?
Go to Google and search for your industry + directory, your city + directory, your state + directory and business directory.
Scan thru first few pages of each search results. Go to any directories in results and look for free listing (most, but not all, have it). List your new biz as fully as allowed*. List your Facebook page as your website until you get one. Rinse and repeat.

Most important listing after above is done would be Google+. Set up a page and post at least fortnightly like you might in Facebook.

I've had a yellow pages rep ring me about google linked yellow pages stuff..i coundn't understand a word he was saying.
That's intentional. If you did, he/she knows you will hang up laughing when you hear the price.
You can submit a free listing online at YP. Take that option.

You will get far more value from a properly submitted directory listing showing up in search engine results pages than anyone actually searching for a directory and then looking for a service/product within it. Type in a service and local suburb into Google and see for yourself
(that's what the YP rep was going to bill you handsomely for - apply SEO to your paid ad so it shows up in SERPS).
Learn the basics, then apply it to ALL your free listings yourself.
One to two nights work once off to set up (+ occasional Facebook ,Google+ posts) and it will earn its keep for years to come - without maintenance and without cost.



Whats SEO btw?
Search engine optimisation.

Google knows if it throws up crap results to your searches you will use another search engine. If they want to keep their tens of billions in ad revenue their job is to produce results that are relevant so you keep coming back (and eyeball their ads) and not piss off to Bing.

Your job is to target your keywords (what people might type in when looking for your service/product) - for instance my previous example 'landscaping bunbury' - and then convince Google that your online property (website/blog/social pages/directory ads etc.) is relevant to that particular search.

The above para is SEO in a nutshell.

If you get it right it's like a yellow pages from Harry Potter - every time someone opens it up there you are:)

* PM me your biz details and your area and I'll give you a chopout with your keywords to get you started
 

Shane Hird

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Go to Google and search for your industry + directory, your city + directory, your state + directory and business directory.
* PM me your biz details and your area and I'll give you a chopout with your keywords to get you started


thanks chopper:thumbsu:
 

scottjr

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Have you done it yourself scott?

Results?

Yes selling homes...20 per day and would be confident it would generate at least one opportunity per day to list a property from that alone plus the bonus of having people put a face to the name when looking at signs or going past the office making other forms of advertising more effective creating futher opportunities... over 3 years it took me being broke to being broke able to take a couple of years off and travel..There was a guy by the name of Chris Williams running sales courses in Sydney that was teaching the best technique I have seen but this was early 2000 and I have lost track of him...it was a very soft approach but very effective if you persisted with it
 

Shane Hird

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Yes selling homes...20 per day and would be confident it would generate at least one opportunity per day to list a property from that alone plus the bonus of having people put a face to the name when looking at signs or going past the office making other forms of advertising more effective creating futher opportunities... over 3 years it took me being broke to being broke able to take a couple of years off and travel..There was a guy by the name of Chris Williams running sales courses in Sydney that was teaching the best technique I have seen but this was early 2000 and I have lost track of him...it was a very soft approach but very effective if you persisted with it


Yeah everything I've ever read on serious marketing says that knockin on doors works the best. Knock on 20 doors- 1 in 20 says "yes" and it's a winner.

I'm going to do it for sure. The best thing about my business is that I have a FB page that shows heaps of before and after photos..picture says a thousand words...and all I have to do is get them to say "Yeah Ill check it out and have a look"

Once they have a look and like what they see, they can contact me easy..phone number displayed etc.

gotta do it:thumbsu:
 

carn tigez

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About to boot up my own online retail business and have been coming across similar issues.

We've been planning to go with a Facebook page, website and flyers, with door-to-door sales to soon follow. A lot of the stuff in this thread has been helpful, cheers.
 

Shane Hird

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Kudos to you man for being brave and having your own business.


I felt sick in the guts the first 3 weeks...but a few months on it's the best thing I've ever done.

Free from time clocks, 30 minute lunches and saying good morning every day to 50 odd people couldn't stand.. :thumbsu:
 

carn tigez

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If you don't mind me asking, how did you experience success through flyers? By that I mean, did it lead to a phone call, website check, facebook page, how did it convert to success?
 

Shane Hird

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If you don't mind me asking, how did you experience success through flyers? By that I mean, did it lead to a phone call, website check, facebook page, how did it convert to success?


The usual 3 to 4% hit rate that comes with flyers. Delivered about 4000 over 6 weeks. People either ring up the day it falls into their letterbox or hang onto them for weeks and then contact you.

Had a lady yesterday who had a flyer from the very first batch I delivered...12 weeks ago.

It's a pain in the arse getting them out but it's worth the effort. I walked the streets too...good for fitness.:thumbsu:
 

carn tigez

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The usual 3 to 4% hit rate that comes with flyers. Delivered about 4000 over 6 weeks. People either ring up the day it falls into their letterbox or hang onto them for weeks and then contact you.

Had a lady yesterday who had a flyer from the very first batch I delivered...12 weeks ago.

It's a pain in the arse getting them out but it's worth the effort. I walked the streets too...good for fitness.:thumbsu:

Interesting. Obviously being service based you would be getting phone calls more than direct sales, whereas for me being online retail it would be a different conversion method.

When you say 3-4% hit rate though, do you mean 3-4% call or 3-4% actually buy your service?
 

Shane Hird

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Interesting. Obviously being service based you would be getting phone calls more than direct sales, whereas for me being online retail it would be a different conversion method.

When you say 3-4% hit rate though, do you mean 3-4% call or 3-4% actually buy your service?


I've got a tile cleaning business. Once I get the call, 90% of people want me to come to their house and do a quote. So they have already made up their minds pretty much that they want it done. Some haggle over the price, but most are happy with the quote and book the job.

Online retail is a whole different story. I'm targeting prospects who live with-in a 20 km radius of my home. You have the whole country to target...:)
 

carn tigez

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I've got a tile cleaning business. Once I get the call, 90% of people want me to come to their house and do a quote. So they have already made up their minds pretty much that they want it done. Some haggle over the price, but most are happy with the quote and book the job.

Online retail is a whole different story. I'm targeting prospects who live with-in a 20 km radius of my home. You have the whole country to target...:)

Yeah I do, but at the same time there's a lot more easily accessed competition in online retail. We have the whole country in competition, you only have local companies. So I'd say those factors probably cancel out to an extent.

Anywhere around a 0.25% hit rate would be enough for me to be profitable, so the target is pretty low. Cheers for the valuable responses.
 

Shane Hird

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Yeah I do, but at the same time there's a lot more easily accessed competition in online retail. We have the whole country in competition, you only have local companies. So I'd say those factors probably cancel out to an extent.

Anywhere around a 0.25% hit rate would be enough for me to be profitable, so the target is pretty low. Cheers for the valuable responses.


I didn't think of it that way....what type of product u selling btw?
 

carn tigez

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I didn't think of it that way....what type of product u selling btw?

Cosmetics for women - it's taken me a long time just to scrape the surface in terms of knowledge, the important thing is that there are great margins available if you know the right products and plenty of demand, now its just a matter of successful marketing to get success.

That is the hardest part though!
 

Shane Hird

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Cosmetics for women - it's taken me a long time just to scrape the surface in terms of knowledge, the important thing is that there are great margins available if you know the right products and plenty of demand, now its just a matter of successful marketing to get success.

That is the hardest part though!

My sister used to sell Estee Lauder at a Myer counter. I used to be amazed at the amount of money that gets handed over for cosmetics...not just Lauder but all the other companies.

Talk about big profit margins...insane stuff.
 
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