Advertising

[beechhunter]

Looking to do some advertising to bring some more domestic work in. We used to do mostly domestic work which then led us to local authority and mostly commercial clients whilst retaining some regular domestic work, we used to use Yell, local letter box mags, add words, website and facebook basically we would be  starting over with the advertising in are area. What do people use and find works best dont mind spending money on something that will bring the enquiries in.

Many thanks. 

[maybelateron]

Can't beat word of mouth recommendations. Other than that I use Yell.com I don't bother with Facebook at all. We are 95 per cent domestic, and this generally means working for people in middle age and beyond, ie those who own a property with trees big enough to need arb workers. As a (?late) middle ager myself I tend to regard Facebook as a less serious/professional advertsing source than Yell/your own website.

[Steve Bullman]

Personally I think looking back to more traditional ways of marketing would be a good idea. Google ads are becoming more and more expensive, and will only get worse this year as the market slumps, with more and more firms paying to promote their websites.

 

We are looking at new and different ways to advertise a new local business ourselves in the coming months so if I think of anything original I will post here.

 

Definetly keep up with updating your website blog with fresh content though, thats free for the most part assuming you are doing it yourself.

 

[Mark Bolam]

FB ads are properly winding me up.

Tree firms from all over the country spamming their shit nationwide.

 

Do I really want a firm in Derby to come and give me a quote in Kent?

Not really.

 

It seems to mainly contain bottom feeders who want the job doing that day.

£30, cash waiting.

 

The starting gun has definitely gone off on the race to the bottom.

[Mick Dempsey]

18 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Personally I think looking back to more traditional ways of marketing would be a good idea. Google ads are becoming more and more expensive, and will only get worse this year as the market slumps, with more and more firms paying to promote their websites.

 

We are looking at new and different ways to advertise a new local business ourselves in the coming months so if I think of anything original I will post here.

 

Definetly keep up with updating your website blog with fresh content though, thats free for the most part assuming you are doing it yourself.

 

What do you mean when you say ‘more traditional ways’?

[Steve Bullman]

3 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

What do you mean when you say ‘more traditional ways’?

Leaflets, local rags, parish mags, billboards 

[Mick Dempsey]

Ah, thought so.

I only use a local free paper/magazine, don’t bother with google etc.

Not cheap, but in a local area you build up a kind of momentum/recognisability.

 

People always go on about ‘word of mouth’ which, of course is good, but it does lead to some awkward conversations about why you charged their friend €xxx and you’re charging them €yyy.

You cannot beat the buzz of a new client saying yes to some decent work at a good price.

[tim361]

I only do advertising through parish magazines. I have a fairly good return on the 5-6 I advertise in. Plus it’s a good way of of getting the right customers. The people I want to work for read through parish magazines for a local person who does a job well. The people who want the job doing as cheap as possible just tend to use Facebook or Google and start calling. 

[Shaunpaul]

I find FB is good for getting your profile and reviews out there, but for us it only brings the people who have already arranged for 5 quotes and will still want it cheaper than the “cash in hand local handyman”. To be fair, I’m thinking of deleting the business page off there, less hassle and wasted callbacks. We do pay for advertising in local mags which gets us a good return. Like anything, you get what you pay for.

[oldwoodcutter]

I’ve always been a big fan of village magazines, you’d be surprised how many customers/clients prefer to use ‘local’  people, and a good deal of our business comes from them.

Yes our website and Facebook page bring it in too, indeed we pay extra to get at the top of local searches.

What is a waste of time usually are those village selling page posts on Facebook from the  Karen Loosedrawers out there wanting that 80ft conifer over some greenhouses gone this week , and willing to go as high as £50 as that’s top wack due to being on universal credit.