Advertising to grow business
- Thread starter chris1971
- Start date
- Status
I just got a call from the BBB. I haven't used them before, but it was around 500 bucks a year, and they then add me to a list of EC's that people will hit when searching online. I am not sure how much it would help, but just adding it to your list of things to consider.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I get calls and emails for that all the time. Does it really work? They guarantee first-page results, and search pages show 10 results per page. What happens if 11 companies give the same guarantee to 11 different EC's?
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
It helps a bit, and it allows you to have the BBB symbol in your advertising.
ksmith846
Senior Member
- Location
- Port St Lucie, Florida
I'm looking to grow my EC business. I have a website and I pay to have my companies name come up towards the top of a search engine. I'm looking for other ways I could advertise to bring in more business. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Look into bulk mailers in your area. Target 2 or 3 affluent neighborhoods in your area. Make sure you have a eye catch or sales gimmick. IE 10 % off any job over $300.
I assumed you were targeting service work.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
When I do that, it's 10% off of the labor only, and for new customers.
magictolight.com
Senior Member
- Location
- Indianola, Iowa
One of the things we have to keep in mind is who is our target market. Is it small businesses, general contractors, upper income residential, lower income residential, etc.? That will play a big part in how to direct your marketing. I had a guy ask me this week who ours was, and suggested that we find out where those people would spend time, shop, hang out. Then target those areas with our marketing. For example, upper income residential, 40 years +, women making the purchase, probably hanging out at the salon. What if you direct your marketing there. Give a coupon for an hour of free service to someone who has contact with that target market. There is a ton of different ways you can communicate to the market you want to sell to, just throw off the blinders (which I have alot of trouble doing myself) and open your eyes and think where those people are and how you will communicate. Marketing is expensive, and we don't want to throw money and energy to the wind in a shot gun approach hoping to hit something. Really nail down the market you want in your head, and the ideas will come to you.
e57
Senior Member
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
Depending on the search engine - you don't even have to pay for that.
Whoever did your site can tag the death out of it - sooner or later a bot (crawler) catches it - analyzes the tags and relevance.... Many of these bots also catch hit counts... The tags and relevance often put you at the top of the list... Depending on the search engine - many push all the payers up - or in the case of google to the side - but up top....
For instance I have an angry tirade about "Electrician Certification" in my state as a website.... I don't pay for it to show up in the top 5 (if you are on a server in California) - but there are those who do pay, (All the testing and course sellers out there) and mine often shows up on top of them and has for years. Why???? Tags, time and content relevance. I did it myself right here on this computer, (well my last one..) I spend days typing in tags... Every spelling variation I could think of, regional areas, NEC ref's, testing this and that - the entire content of the law comma spaced...
Then there is content of the site itself - which also counts for quite a lot of it.... And time for the bots to creep....FYI if you google some of the code type stuff we ramble about here - mike holt forum pages pop up near the top - and often recent content.... I don't think mike holt actually paid anyone to do this... But much of the meta-data is content - every time we put stuff in this forum we increase content by that much..... Over time the bots have recognized the pages on the site and dated them, cataloged them and sorted them over and over again, counted every one of our hits and theirs too.... And if you google code stuff - we show up....
That said - there are also all of the other sites that feed servers that show up in searches - and most of those take information right out of the phone book for much of it - but you can pay them too... (although I don't suggest it....) As there are a few other 'tricks' you can try - but I can't talk about them here....
Try stopping in with the geeks here...
Anyway - hope that helps....
And I would not depend on a website as your sole means of advertising....
rt66electric
Senior Member
- Location
- Oklahoma
get ad call all the time
get ad call all the time
I get more calls from people whom want $200 or more to be their "exclusive electrician" in their publication. (city directory,home team ad etc.) I ask them how they found my number,and say " if you can find it,my customers can too" I don't need you.
get ad call all the time
I get more calls from people whom want $200 or more to be their "exclusive electrician" in their publication. (city directory,home team ad etc.) I ask them how they found my number,and say " if you can find it,my customers can too" I don't need you.
12345rsmith
Member
The Blue Book is popular in the Northeast and is still pretty effective in North Carolina. Parts of SC have an online only version. Probably not as effective, but pretty inexpensive.
It is good for attracting the GC-developer market, and in or local (NC), GCs are starting to use it to distribute plans online (no charge). If you do not have plotter, you still have to pay for printing, but it is a great way to look at the project, and you will only need to plot the sheets you need to count (with magnifying glass most sheets are readable for general review).
It is good for attracting the GC-developer market, and in or local (NC), GCs are starting to use it to distribute plans online (no charge). If you do not have plotter, you still have to pay for printing, but it is a great way to look at the project, and you will only need to plot the sheets you need to count (with magnifying glass most sheets are readable for general review).
IMO, if you want to grow your company, flyers and Web sites etc. won't do what it will
take to see the growth. If a person needs an Electrician they either already have one that
they are happy with or they hit the yellow pages ( or the Web ) and find one.
Go after the work that you want, sell your self and your company face to face with the
person(s) who can get you on a bid list or award your company a job. In the current
economy it won't be easy, but if can grow now think of how much you will be able to grow
when things get more 'normal'. This is a chance for you to pick who you want to work for,
the GC who does the 'high dollar' jobs, who pays his subs on time, invest yourself in getting
these kind of customers and your company will grow.
take to see the growth. If a person needs an Electrician they either already have one that
they are happy with or they hit the yellow pages ( or the Web ) and find one.
Go after the work that you want, sell your self and your company face to face with the
person(s) who can get you on a bid list or award your company a job. In the current
economy it won't be easy, but if can grow now think of how much you will be able to grow
when things get more 'normal'. This is a chance for you to pick who you want to work for,
the GC who does the 'high dollar' jobs, who pays his subs on time, invest yourself in getting
these kind of customers and your company will grow.
- Status