promoting your business

[jase158]

This is what i do at moment,

1. ebay listing
2. google organic/ maps
3. yell
4. leaflets
5. looking on planning portal and writing to everyone who has planning permission granted

I am thinking of other ways and 1 way is these trusted tradesmen sites but last time i went on one of these was doing quote after quote and getting nothing in return, anybody else have any experiences with these.

I am also thinking about paper but it is £40 per week and 8 weeks in advance, so very expensive.

And leaflets are very slow at moment as waiting for somebody to design me the leaflets and also waiting to become gas safe as dont want to produce hundreds until i get my gas safe number.

Oh and estate agents, but again will be waiting until I have Gas safe registration

any other ideas /suggestions/ experiences appreciated

 

[R1CKY]

Create a Facebook business page, great for sharing photos of your work, the occasional update always keeps you in peoples minds. I hate Facebook with a passion, but it is a good marketing tool.

 

[jase158]

forgot to mention that and linkedin and twitter and google plus!!!
but none of my customers add me.

 

[R1CKY]

I keep hinting for one customer to add me, just so I can perv at her holiday pics

 

[Whl4852]

I find church notice boards are really good, plus I'm always doing little jobs for church people, it seems to work for me

 

[Keefy]

I find church notice boards are really good, plus I'm always doing little jobs for church people, it seems to work for me

Never thought of that, might have to get someone else to put them up for me because I reckon I'd burst into flames. I did have my barber tell me I could stick an ad in his window if I wanted. I looked at putting an ad on the side of a local bus but the prices are scandalous.

 

[Whl4852]

I once asked a driving instructor if I could put an add on the boot of his car, he said yeah, no problem, I want £30 a day. I hope his house floods.

 

[Keefy]

I once asked a driving instructor if I could put an add on the boot of his car, he said yeah, no problem, I want £30 a day. I hope his house floods.

Pffft! NASA would charge less.

 

[Mike Jackson]

I'm with Checkatrade and it's really good. None of this buying leads stuff. You pay your annual fee and once you've got your minimum 5 feedback you go live on the site. It's then up to you to provide feedback cards for the customers to fill in and send back.

When a customer searches for a tradesmen in brings up those nearby but lists those with the most recent feedback first so there is an incentive to keep on giving the cards out.

 

[hammers4spanner]

I think in some circumstances you need checkacustomer!!

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Roughly how much is check a trade?

 

[SimonG]

Roughly how much is check a trade?

I think it's expensive, but MJ is your man.

 

[cr0ft]

I've just dropped Checkatrade.com as they were quoting me £800 to renew this year. It's brought me some work but £800 a year is expensive. I've just spent $700 on a payment by results basis to have my website search engine optimised. Already up to #4 on google for one of my keywords I need.

Got my first bathroom & kitchen install quote as a result. Google lets customers leave reviews for free. Sadly I feel that Checkatrade is going to have a harder and harder time making money with Google allowing the same for free.

 

[Mike Jackson]

For just being on the net it's £600 which is not that much compared to the amount of work it brings in for me. You need to remember to hand out the feedback forms to the customers as when customers search it brings up tradesmen within a certain area but those with the most recent feedback are listed first. Had one job yesterday that came from them and this morning I've got two small jobs. I've had a fair few boiler swaps via it as well.

 

[R1CKY]

Going to have a look at checkatrade. I've ditched rated people, wasted money buying leads and the customers just want quotes or want small jobs done for a tenner!

 

[PlumbersMate]

There's a way round it Ricky mate

 

[TFGplumbing]

Leaflets every time for me £50 for 1000 @ roughly a 2-4% return on work that's 20-40 jobs. Watch out for the nasty dogs ha.

 

[Bunker]

As above, leaflets. I always have them done on good quality cream coloured paper - most leaflets are thin and glossy. Find a reliable local schoolboy/ girl to distribute them, best is child of a friend but tell them you'll do spot checks. Only have them distributed on days where there isn't a free local paper going through the door too.

 

[cr0ft]

Leaflets can work really well, but in my experience you need a unique selling point to stop them going in the bin (i.e. to get good conversion rates). A good conversion rate with leafleting is about 1 in 100 houses giving you a call by the way.

I employ someone on a 10hr a week basis to leaflet drop for me. The work I get from that pays his wage many times over.

 

[SimonG]

I was going to do a leaflet offering the Centramag install as a 'Spring Offer'. Haven't found the time to do it yet.