Advertising Help

natanddan1

Wondered if any of you clever MSE's could give some advice.

I have started a business. We carry out defect inspections on new properties both pre-completion (before the customer completes and moves in) and also a post -completion inspection (prior to the end of defect liability period). We set this up due to the excessive number of poor quality workmanship in new homes and feel it gives the customer some power baack to get the work rectified by the builder.

I can reach the Post- completion customers as i can target new homes, the problem is reaching the customers Pre- completion as I do not know the details of customers buying properties?

Where would you suggest I advertise to reach these customers?

Any advice / ideas on how I can get my business advertised at people who are in the process of buying their new home would be appreciated.

1. Is their a data base of people applying for morgages on new homes?

2. Would estate agents be a good way of advertising as more and more seem to be selling on behalf of builders? (offering % back per inspection)

3. Advertising in property papers (not sure how expensive this would be)?

$. Conveyancing solicitors ( would this be a valuble tool for them to offer this service to their customers as they would know if their customer was buying a new property.

really appreciate any advice.

Savvy_Sue

natanddan1 wrote:

1. Is their a data base of people applying for morgages on new homes?

I can't see why there would be, and even if there were then getting access to it could be tricky - data protection and all that!

natanddan1 wrote:

2. Would estate agents be a good way of advertising as more and more seem to be selling on behalf of builders? (offering % back per inspection)

It might be, although they might also be hand in glove with the builders, who might not be so keen to have such a service offered ...

natanddan1 wrote:

3. Advertising in property papers (not sure how expensive this would be)?

Expensive! But you'd have to ask. And what might work better is an Advertorial - ie you pay for an advert, but the paper writes an article about you as well.

natanddan1 wrote:

$. Conveyancing solicitors ( would this be a valuble tool for them to offer this service to their customers as they would know if their customer was buying a new property.

That immediately strikes me as your most targetted suggestion so far. But again, if the builder is recommending a solicitor and has negotiated a good deal with them, it may be difficult to get your foot in the door.

Sorry, I'm sounding a bit negative about what actually seems a very good idea to me! So here's a positive - is it possible to check with the Land Registry when new properties are registered, and contact buyers direct? I don't know anything about how you'd do this, but presume that it IS possible, because otherwise what use would the register be if you wanted to know who owned a particular property?

Good luck!

Kilty_2

This seems like a difficult service to advertise.

The approach I'd consider would be advertising in local newspapers, obviously with an ad with the tagline "Did you know that new homes can have an average of 65 defects?" as is on your website.

Should catch people's attention, especially those who are considering buying a new home.

Just my two pence worth, probably pretty worthless .

PS. natanddan1, I need you to contact me ASAP.

natanddan1

Kilty wrote:

This seems like a difficult service to advertise.

The approach I'd consider would be advertising in local newspapers, obviously with an ad with the tagline "Did you know that new homes can have an average of 65 defects?" as is on your website.

Should catch people's attention, especially those who are considering buying a new home.

Just my two pence worth, probably pretty worthless .

PS. natanddan1, I need you to contact me ASAP.

Its a good slogan to use.

PS sorry for the confusion Kilty

Iffy'swifey

Have you thought about letting someone else advertise on your site in exchange for you advertising on theirs?

natanddan1

Iffy'swifey wrote:

Have you thought about letting someone else advertise on your site in exchange for you advertising on theirs?

Hi
Yes I have, I have asked the designer to create a links page, I will be offering other businesses the option to link their site/business for a small fee (12 month subscription) or the link can be placed free of charge in exchange for my link being placed on their site.

Do you thinks thats a good idea or not, there should be lots of businesses that want to be seen by my customer base

Astaroth

I personally dont agree with links to other sites from any form of commerce website (different if your site is information only) as they take potential customers away from your site and worse, the site they go to may offer (or advertise) competing services.

Advertising like on this site is fine, people leaving it to get a quote from Confused.com isnt a problem as their is no products to sell on here and MSE gets its affiliate fee if they buy and it is the main/ sole source of revenue.

If there are companies that have complimentary services then it may be worth having a mutual client sharing system - they recommend your services to their clients and visa versa.

natanddan1

Astaroth wrote:

I personally dont agree with links to other sites from any form of commerce website (different if your site is information only) as they take potential customers away from your site and worse, the site they go to may offer (or advertise) competing services.

Advertising like on this site is fine, people leaving it to get a quote from Confused.com isnt a problem as their is no products to sell on here and MSE gets its affiliate fee if they buy and it is the main/ sole source of revenue.

If there are companies that have complimentary services then it may be worth having a mutual client sharing system - they recommend your services to their clients and visa versa.

Hi
I fully understand where you are coming from, however in my case I would fully investigate the business before acceptong their link. Links that are beneficial to my client base is a good way of promoting the company, also if the business does not want my link added to their site then what is the problem with charging for this service.
There are many businesses like mine that have links and it works very well, unfortunately many have links to the very businesses they are working against which seems a conflict of interest, especially when they promote themselves as the only turely independent inspection company!!!!!!