Advertising

[tshea]

I'm done with Yellow Pages. Customer rep called and said we are not publishing a book next year. BUT, HOWEVER, you can still advertise with us on the internet for #125/month. No thanks! We have enough work. Our trucks are rolling billboards. We do community service projects or high visibility projects and get our picture in the news paper.
I get work from the different organizations I belong to and referrals along with those.
We've done mailings and may try it again. I have been in Maintenance Offices and seen the mailings...in the trash so that is going to be a touchy one. Direct emails are also something we have considered. Even thought about using Constant Contact as a mailing list with opt in.
I have advertised with different websites and have not seen many responses. These websites claimed to have large followings or high traffic.
I still think the trucks is the best idea. Rolling billboards seen everywhere.

 

[Coppersmith]

... cool things that consumers want.

The curiosity is overwhelming me. Give me a list please.

(Does it include AFCI's?)

 

[kwired]

The curiosity is overwhelming me. Give me a list please.

(Does it include AFCI's?)

Those are not cool, they are fantasy for code makers, and users see them as a nuisance if they trip, whether it be for good reason or not.

Think of gadgets that are cool yet maybe not really all that necessary for daily life. You know, anything that has the ability to be controlled by a smart phone is at the top of the list today. That gets outside the product lines that a lot of us sell to some degree, but doesn't exempt us altogether either.

Not something I sell, but now there is WIFI enabled garage door openers. Don't know what they all can do, but some think this is great. Refrigerators that have a camera inside so you can see what you need from your phone while at the grocery store - again getting out of typical electrician's goods sold - but then there is doorbells, intercoms, and other things that sort of go along with those items and maybe even have ability to all tie together with some sort of security system - that gets closer to what a lot of us do. The needs can be a little greater for commercial and industrial equipment maybe than for typical home uses, though for second homes maybe they like remote abilities to check up on things without having to go to the site.

Any of the stuff that serves no purpose other than for the "designers" is usually going to get some interest from the high end customers.

Whole house generators also draws interest - especially if you have had any kind of extended power outage in your area recently. I won't say they are going to be an easy sell to everyone, but it gets their interest and they come to your booth where they may see whatever else you may have to show them while at your booth you can give away those pens or other cheap things with your business info on them and that helps some.

The ability to wire a new home isn't getting too much attention in itself, there are many out there that do that, you need to convince them why you are a better choice than others.

If the scammers can sell a little black box that is supposed to cut your electric bill dramatically, certainly we electricians at the very least can promote things like LED lamps and sell a few of those. Then have your booth not too far from the black box dealer and have a presentation of some sort on why that black box is useless. Or a few "Sun heaters" with melted cord ends and receptacle it was plugged into when it melted, and explanation of why those heaters that 'can't start a fire" can, while the Sun heater dealer has a booth right down the aisle from you

Just don't have a booth that doesn't have something to spark enough interest for people to at least check it out, or it is almost as useless as an ad in today's hard copy yellow pages, and do make sure there is at least some cheap giveaways of some kind with your company information on it.

 

[Coppersmith]

Those are not cool

Guess I should have put a on my sarcastic remark.

*Not something I sell, but ...
*again getting out of typical electrician's goods sold ...
*but then there is doorbells, intercoms ...
*some sort of security system - that gets closer to what a lot of us do.
*The ability to wire a new home isn't getting too much attention in itself

You appear to be grasping at straws. Doorbells and intercoms? Really? I think intercoms went out in the '80's

Whole house generators also draws interest

This is possible I suppose if you want to haul a generator mock-up to a show. But nobody just decides to spend $10K+ on a generator. Generators are sold to people who already want one.

...you can give away those pens or other cheap things with your business info on them...
...do make sure there is at least some cheap giveaways of some kind with your company information on it.

Yeah because we all know that cheap stuff with your name on it that gets thrown in the shopping bag at a home show will inevitably be fished out when they get home and cherished for years while waiting for an electrical emergency to occur -- not! :happyno:

I sincerely hope all my local competitors spend all their marketing money on home show booths.

 

[kwired]

Guess I should have put a on my sarcastic remark.



You appear to be grasping at straws. Doorbells and intercoms? Really? I think intercoms went out in the '80's



This is possible I suppose if you want to haul a generator mock-up to a show. But nobody just decides to spend $10K+ on a generator. Generators are sold to people who already want one.



Yeah because we all know that cheap stuff with your name on it that gets thrown in the shopping bag at a home show will inevitably be fished out when they get home and cherished for years while waiting for an electrical emergency to occur -- not! :happyno:

I sincerely hope all my local competitors spend all their marketing money on home show booths.

I am grasping for straws to some extent. If you have something you do specialize in that is the thing you will want to push at such shows. Those that do primarily residential work - IDK what to suggest, a lot of the "cool stuff" is temporary fad type of thing and something you will need to keep changing if you are into those things. Around here we have "home and farm" shows and I can probably come up with more things for the farm than for the home that might be good ideas for displaying.

Yes those little junky items are seemingly worthless, but something as simple as a bunch of pens is still better advertising IMO than current day printed yellow page ads. I don't know about you, but I have several pens with several advertisers on them. The ones that write really well are the ones that get looked at even if I have no immediate need for the services of the advertiser. Just seeing your name constantly may trigger something when your services are needed.

I do agree the average EC that doesn't specialize in any particular area or type of items, may not have a lot to gain from a home show.

Home show in metro area is going to be different results than a home show in rural areas also. If I just had a plain table and business cards at a home show around here, chances are good that I end up scheduling some jobs while there. Many with people I already know, just seeing me there reminds them, hey I should ask him if he has time to ..... I don't even need to do the home show thing, just show up at local coffee shop and I sometimes get work requests.

 

[jmellc]

I'm done with Yellow Pages. Customer rep called and said we are not publishing a book next year. BUT, HOWEVER, you can still advertise with us on the internet for #125/month. No thanks! We have enough work. Our trucks are rolling billboards. We do community service projects or high visibility projects and get our picture in the news paper.
I get work from the different organizations I belong to and referrals along with those.
We've done mailings and may try it again. I have been in Maintenance Offices and seen the mailings...in the trash so that is going to be a touchy one. Direct emails are also something we have considered. Even thought about using Constant Contact as a mailing list with opt in.
I have advertised with different websites and have not seen many responses. These websites claimed to have large followings or high traffic.
I still think the trucks is the best idea. Rolling billboards seen everywhere.

A few months of YP and you could buy a simple website. I still think that is a good idea for most companies. But if you are getting plenty of business, you don't need to spend the money at all.

 

[kwired]

A few months of YP and you could buy a simple website. I still think that is a good idea for most companies. But if you are getting plenty of business, you don't need to spend the money at all.

You still need to bring your site to potential clients somehow or it is useless.

 

[GUNNING]

SEO and Google.

SEO and Google.

Have you not Googled your business and seen exactly what comes up and from where?

Over the years I have done the DIY SEO where you sign up on a list of sites for the web crawlers to run across and list you in the top 10 Google has a site to create a google web site. I also do Google My Business site which lets you localize your service area time open services etc... Google is the 500 pound Gorilla in the room. I have an old simple web site which is now mobile phone friendly. I put on my business cards for people to get online and goto Goolge and give me a review. This has kept me on the front page of google so far. The lead services are a no starter. YP has gone electronic and are feeding the search engines. Door hangers will get you in trouble. What you need is to get your name in front of everyone else on a smart phone being held by a millennial. Either buy that service (SEO), or work it on the weekends with free DIY services. It will take time to get the search engines to notice you and list you regularly. Everything with your name on it will get vacuumed up by the Search Engines so do the Neighborhood listings and Porch and such. Look out for Builder.com and Angies List. They are green mail operations. Good luck.

 

[sully1975]

Buy a domain name direct, I like NAMECHEAP as they don't hose you for a renewal like GODADDY. NAMECHEAP is beyond reasonable and such, with a free whois protection included.

Try for a dot com or secondary dot net website address. If you are Smythe Electrical Company and someone has that try for Electric by Smythe instead. If you have a large area near you like a city, try other names like Dallas Electrician or Electrician in Dallas.

If you have a new site, always go for the HTTPS upgrade which has a tiny benefit. Make sure your site is not SLOW and mobile friendly.

Buy a professional citation package with EXACT NAP site filled with structured citations and unstructured as well.