advertising

[shawshank]

hi everyone
just wondering if anyone has any tips for advertising. I am just starting up and have
been advertising in the local rag for a couple of months not a sausage so far.
thanks all

 

[DHTiling]

introduce yourself at local tile/builders/plummers/flooring outlets get your name about... dave..

 

[uug197h]

Why not try Gumtree and vivastreet on the net we get a bit from that. theres also freeindex, yell free listing all worth a try

 

[GazLC81]

Hi Shawshank,

What area are you advertising in? I have been advertisinf for three weeks and have had 4 jobs booked in so far.

What does your advert say? What is your business called?

Gaz

 

[guy1976]

if you are advertising in paper and its not working bin it and try something else .why waste waste money on it. try some thing else such as leaflets,local free paper, yell.com,tile shops ,batroom showrooms ect and when someone calls you ask where they got your number from and whichever is best concentrate on that,why waste your time and money on non productive advertising?

 

[alberttrotter1]

Greetings mate,
I'm very new to this game myself and all i've done is blanket a specific area with business cards (No other advertising), I've had 1 guy offer me work because he did the same course as me only 3 years earlier and i've currently got a couple of quotes in the pipeline(Hopefully they will produce the goods), but word is gradually getting round.
I followed the great advice from this forum and got out there pounding the streets.
Good luck and get those walking boots on.

 

[shawshank]

thanks mate good luck to you too. i will get some cards printed and give that a go .
cheers

 

[UKTT Darren]

Tip to you all, when doing a job in a house, get some flyers knocked up and go and post them in the nearest 20 houses arround the house you are doing, doesnt take long to do and they will see you working there and take more notice of it rather than bin it as they usually do with flyers

 

[Fekin]

Well Im just about to start working for myself too, and my plan of attack is leaflets, getting a batch or 3 of 5000 printed, A5 sized, one colour for only £49.99 and bussy cards too.
Then go door to door all round my area, shop windows, supermarket notice boards, bussy cards in phone boxes, behind counters at DIY shops, call plasterers in my local area and ask if they tile too and if not then try and get some work through them, you get a tiling job that needs a plasterer he gets work off you and vice versa.

Im thinking about having another set of cards printed to give to people who I do a job for, giving anyone else who they give the card too a 20% discount off the price of their job from you, to be handed in before the quote is made, so you can always factor back in 10% or so

Theres many ways to advertise yourself while keeping costs quite low.

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Surely if you give a customer a card to give to other people saying they can have 20% off and they didn't have a card in the first place they wouldn't be very happy about that if they payed full price. I'd be hopping mad.Maybe you should give them a card saying they would get 20% off the next job you do for them instead.Just a thought...all your other ideas are spot on,you have to find the work it won't come looking for you.
Good luck mate

 

[uug197h]

why not offer the original customer £25 for every job you get through them this makes it cheaper for you as well

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Cracking idea,cheaper than advertising.

 

[Fekin]

Yeah, my dad used a voucher system when he ran his own car-hire company.
After each rental was over we would post of to them a £10 off voucher to use against the next hire, and that brought back in a hell of a lot of business.

I didn't really type out exactly what I meant before, as I was just thinking about it at the time.
A card that gave a discount for a next job and as you said maybe a small gesture back to them for any other work they put your way.

When you work out costs for constant advertising it's more than worth it.

 

[GazLC81]

why not offer the original customer £25 for every job you get through them this makes it cheaper for you as well

This is similar to what I am going to do. I will tell customers that every job that I get from their reccomendation wil result in them getting £15 in high street vouchers. Don't want to give too much away as the job you get may only be a small one.

Gaz

 

[brian c]

bung the lads in the tile shops for giving out your cards.
----
put leaflets through the doors of houses that are for sale because the chances are the house they are moving too will need some tiling.

Local factories is also a good bet as they normally employ a lot of people.