advertising

[keith gigabyte]

how do all of you advertise your residential business..looking to some free places to give me a web site..just looking for a site that will put up a "poster" you know one page non interactive just a snapshot of types of work i do maybe a couple photos and my contact info..any ideas?
thanks

 

[kwired]

how do all of you advertise your residential business..looking to some free places to give me a web site..just looking for a site that will put up a "poster" you know one page non interactive just a snapshot of types of work i do maybe a couple photos and my contact info..any ideas?
thanks

Free means you are doing all the work of collecting, arranging, submitting, etc. the information provided on the site. This is something that can be done with a Facebook page for your business, and in some cases is arguably better for advertising purposes then a traditional company website.
Get people to like and share that page gets it in front of a lot of eyes pretty quickly sometimes, you may have to initiate the sharing from time to time but it works pretty well.

 

[goldstar]

In addition to what KW mentioned you can design your own website with wix.com. They have a lot of ready made templates to choose from. You can also get your name up on elocal electricians and yelp for a free. Don't expect a lot though. Unless you're giving something away (i.e coupons, discounts, etc.) most advertising only gets you a 1-2 % return on your investment if you're lucky. Just my opinion.

 

[DougAles]

Here are ideas for free business promotion. I am not including your time when I say free.

As previously mentioned, create a Facebook page. Ask friends, family and clients to like, share, and positively comment.

Do similar to the above at LinkedIn, this time you will create a personal accout for you then a business page. Join groups in your geography. Become active in these groups by posting, commenting, and liking.

Youtube, make a video. With GoogleHangouts, this can be created and edited by you, with free web based tools, for free.

Do similar at Google+ and twitter. Even if you are not active, by having the account you will be findable via search.

Make some sort of blog, including keywords that include your location and services.

Now cross post and link all the above. Get free, custom, key word rich URL's for the above.

Consider posting to your local Craigs list, Angie's list, and any other local free related groups you discover.

Consider joining local networking groups, often found via the above mentioned social media sites.

None of these items are truly free. They will take time and effort. But if you have available time, then you can do it yourself.

I assume you are doing the basics already, such as local yellow pages, vehicle and building signage, and other local advertising.

Whats interesting is the above is not limited to the small company. Some of the largest electrical contractors are very active with social media.

 

[troberts2007]

To me you cant beat Facebook for Promotion at least if you like residential Service work. In my area almost every small city has a "whats happening in ( insert name of city)" group page. and the Question of does anyone know a good electricain comes up a lot so engage your friends to look for those post and recommend you.offer a refferal bonus to them and your customers.

Once you have created your buisness FB Page have a drawing for everyone that likes and shares your page status will be entered into a drawing for a 25 dollar gift certificate to wall mart. your company page will spread like wildfire on FB. but you need to follow it up with frequent post to keep yourself active in peoples time line. offers specials. as an example I have run special on mine to replace 1 recptacle for a recptacle that has built in usb chargers so you never have to look for your charger again. just getting your foot in the door often leads to more work.

just be creative and look for other blog post you can share that make you look like your knowedgeable. just avoid sharing anything on your buisness page about religion,politics or college football. or you will offend potential customers.

 

[kwired]

. just avoid sharing anything on your buisness page about religion,politics or college football. or you will offend potential customers.

Well the college football thing may be a trickier subject in a place like Alabama, but not so much in Nebraska:happyyes:

If you are not a NU fan and you live in NE, that mostly means you were not originally from here, or you just have some kind of rebellion in your blood.

 

[goldstar]

Well the college football thing may be a trickier subject in a place like Alabama, but not so much in Nebraska:happyyes:

If you are not a NU fan and you live in NE, that mostly means you were not originally from here, or you just have some kind of rebellion in your blood.

Or you don't drink red beer on game day :lol:

 

[electricblue]

Anyone had any luck with elocalelectricians?

 

[goldstar]

I just signed up today. I'll let you know how it works out. BTW, I signed up with Yelp a few months ago and so far have had little or no response. Cost me a few $$$$$ too. Glad I only signed up for 6 months. Not worth it IMHO.

 

[electricblue]

Angies list was good for a while. But loosing steam. I'm gonna try facebook with a $27 home electrical safety check to drum up work. You can target a specific area

 

[John120/240]

Angies list was good for a while. But loosing steam. I'm gonna try facebook with a $27 home electrical safety check to drum up work. You can target a specific area

I realize this is a get your foot in the door idea. But how can you even show up at their home for $27 besides the hour you spend checking GFCI's ?

 

[electricblue]

Look at the best franchise companies. 79$ drain cleaning from Ben Franklin plumbing and so forth. It works. You have to up-sell the job is not to sell the check up. If they are getting a home safety check up. They are already concerned.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Anyone had any luck with elocalelectricians?

i signed up with them, and get periodic spam. that's about it.

if you *really* want a bang for your advertising dollar... do this:

go to all the churches in your target area, and ask if they have a CHURCH NEWSLETTER.

those usually have a page of eighth page ads you can purchase for a nominal sum.
get some camera ready line art for your biz, and go see them, checkbook in hand.

if you want residential work, give this a shot. betcha it works well.

while you are at it, go here.... http://www.ellenrohr.com/

 

[Fulthrotl]

I realize this is a get your foot in the door idea. But how can you even show up at their home for $27 besides the hour you spend checking GFCI's ?

because you don't know where the money is going to come from.
god hides opportunities in plain sight, disguised as crap.
anything that can produce that large a pile of crap must be a
pretty impressive pony. look for the biggest pile.

i gave a hand to someone, for free. he'd just finished a 72 hour
5150 lockdown, after a drunk driving arrest. not his finest hour.
so at that point, he's not a pillar of the community.

he told me i should meet his uncle, who is a general contractor,
and we could all work together, and it'd be fun. he asked me
three different times to come meet his uncle... until i finally did.

nice guy. we talked, and three months later, he asked if i wanted
to bid something for him. i did. work, and referrals followed.

i looked at last year, and my gross receipts from that single source
amounted to $204,000. this year, so far, it's $377,000. probably end
up at around $450,000.

being nice to one person, with no expectation attached. $581,000.

next year, i'm going to try being nice to another person. who knows
what might happen.

 

[ActionDave]

because you don't know where the money is going to come from. god hides opportunities in plain sight, disguised as crap.
anything that can produce that large a pile of crap must be a
pretty impressive pony. look for the biggest pile.

I'm stealing that.

.....next year, i'm going to try being nice to another person. who knows what might happen.

It is right that you should pace yourself.

 

[kwired]

i signed up with them, and get periodic spam. that's about it.

if you *really* want a bang for your advertising dollar... do this:

go to all the churches in your target area, and ask if they have a CHURCH NEWSLETTER.

those usually have a page of eighth page ads you can purchase for a nominal sum.
get some camera ready line art for your biz, and go see them, checkbook in hand.

if you want residential work, give this a shot. betcha it works well.

while you are at it, go here.... http://www.ellenrohr.com/

Kind of curious how common it is to see advertising in church newsletters. I guess it wouldn't surprise me if it is common - I just have not seen it around here. Of course I haven't been around churches with more then a few hundred members either. These small churches get creative at times with fundraisers. One local one has an annual fish fry - no admission charge just free will donation - and they make a lot of money from this event for such a small congregation but it is one thing they have that helps keeps their doors open. This same church probably only averages 20-30 people if that in attendance on Sundays, it's not that there are several not showing up, that is about all there is for members.

 

[goldstar]

Just thought I'd report back on this thread regarding Yelp advertising and my experience with Yelp. Last winter was a disaster for me in terms of work. The snows came early, then the cold and it stayed until March. Except for some small service calls my phone stopped ringing around 12/15 and didn't start up until 3/1. So, I thought spending a few $$ with Yelp would help get me through the winter with the possibility of some new work.

Advertising with Yelp was, by far, the worst decision I've ever made. Their advertising campaigns are extremely expensive. Before you commit to advertising with them you have to have a very well created website with photos, bios, work experiences, etc. and you'll need to have various social media outlets (like Facebook, Twitter, etc.) working for you. You'll get monthly (useless) reports from Yelp showing how much activity you've had but with no way of knowing who tried to contact you or that whoever tried to contact you was from a cell phone account. When you speak with an account manager from Yelp they'll ask whether you've updated your website, your bio, posted new photos, etc. After you do all that they'll ask you to do more to improve your chances but finally they'll tell you that they can't make potential customers call you. Well, that's obvious. The sad part is - you can't back out of the contract without a $$ penalty. IMHO, you are better off advertising in a printed version of the Yellow Pages or have a free listing with E-local electricians. I would not go any further than a basic listing. You don't get the bang for the buck by spending more.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I hate advertising and am very lucky as I have never had an ad in the paper. I did have a line in the phone book for years but about 4 years ago I decided why pay for that as nobody uses the phone books anymore.

The problem with the internet is that once they get something wrong no one knows how to change it because it is picked up by everyone else. For example, for the past 8 years or so I am listed online as a TV repair company as well as an electrical contractor. I got so many calls there for awhile I started to think about doing TV repair.. I still get the calls so I put a message on my recording saying I don't do TV's or appliances. Still people leave their info. :weeping:

 

[kwired]

I hate advertising and am very lucky as I have never had an ad in the paper. I did have a line in the phone book for years but about 4 years ago I decided why pay for that as nobody uses the phone books anymore.

The problem with the internet is that once they get something wrong no one knows how to change it because it is picked up by everyone else. For example, for the past 8 years or so I am listed online as a TV repair company as well as an electrical contractor. I got so many calls there for awhile I started to think about doing TV repair.. I still get the calls so I put a message on my recording saying I don't do TV's or appliances. Still people leave their info. :weeping:

Wrong info in a telephone directory is not easy to overcome either though. I know of a funeral director that opened (been 10-12 years ago now) shop in a small village, there was already another funeral director in this village - but town was able to handle a new one because the old one was getting old enough they were going to need their own services sometime soon:huh:

Anyway when they set up their telephone service they got a number as usual, but when the next new directory came out it had their name published but the competitor's phone number listed, that is somewhat of a big blow for someone starting up a new business of any kind, to have your competition number posted with your business name. Of course they can correct the directory, but it will not change those sent out, and will be at least one year before new directories were sent out.

 

[USMC1302]

Church bulletin ads are pretty common around here.Helps if you're a congregation member too. Many family diners have placemats with ads as well, seems to work well for some. I know I look at them