Best way to get name about, business offering services

rictus123

Would like to know about other self employed/business owners offering their services what the best way of getting your name about is/which form of advertising you find is best. Name on van, flyer drop and ad in local paper being the most obvious. Word of mouth will come eventually once get some jobs from the above first.

steve1980

Surely it depends on what your business is? What "services" are you offering?

am

Online. It's relatively easy to do online marketing i.e anyone can do it and it's also relatively in-expensive. (Particularly in comparison to traditional offline methods)

A good article here explains all you need to know with regards to online marketing.

nickj_2

you haven't said what services you are offering , but i have been s/e for ages , when i moved to the village where i live , i got involved with all village groups/ clubs and did a lot of groundwork making sure that people knew who i was and what i did , i did have a sign written van but i'm now in the position where i've got more than enough work to keep me going . you'll only get out what you're prepared to put in. all my work now comes from word of mouth , you won't get better than that

rictus123

Building work. Almost desperate for as much work as possible. I have done about 15 jobs outside main employment in the last year. I would say 4 of them is from one of the first couple of homers i did and they passed my details on. Its just to get my name about then more word of mouth jobs will come with time.

Online isnt really best idea for it, other than facebook.

Horace

Networking, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.

If you are doing building work - then start making friends with plumbers, electricians, landscape gardeners that way you can recommend each other.

Look and see what your local council is offering in the form of networking - in Birmingham we have something called FinditInBirmingham which has an annual membership of £50 - this gives you a webpage on the FindItinBirmingham website plus it includes the cost of all the breakfast meetings. Typically there can be around 80 businesses at those meetings and sometimes as many as 180. Sometimes the meetings are ideal opportunities to find out what contracts are being looked to being filled either in the council, the Olympics etc.

nickj_2

rictus123 wrote: »

Building work. Almost desperate for as much work as possible. I have done about 15 jobs outside main employment in the last year. I would say 4 of them is from one of the first couple of homers i did and they passed my details on. Its just to get my name about then more word of mouth jobs will come with time.

Online isnt really best idea for it, other than facebook.

go back to those customers and let them know that you're on the look out for more work if they hear of anyone .
also if you have kids at school that is a good source of not necessarily customers , but people who could reccomend you

paulwf

rictus123 wrote: »

Online isnt really best idea for it, other than facebook.

I'd have to disagree. Firstly I like many people haven't used the Yellow Pages for years so the first place I'd look for a builder is online. Secondly the town I'm in is medium sized so the same names keep popping up on Twitter, for a global networking tool it can have a very local feel to it. Most builders appear to be much of a muchness from their websites, if you're built a name for yourself locally online using the various networking tools I'd contact you before anyone else.

Given my recent experience with builders anyone who can give a quote in a sensible timescale has a good chance of getting work.

paulwf

nickj wrote: »

i got involved with all village groups/ clubs and did a lot of groundwork making sure that people knew who i was and what i did ,

Couldn't agree more - make sure everyone knows what you do. You don't need to make a big deal of it but if you get chatting to people make sure you mention what you do for a living. Have a tshirt/polo shirt with your logo on it and wear it when possible. Always have a pile of business cards in your wallet.

There are probably shops you use regularly and people you meet regularly and some of them will need a builder from time to time. If they know who you are they'll use you but if you're just an anonymous face they'll just pick the first listing on google.

CKhalvashi

rictus123 wrote: »

Building work. Almost desperate for as much work as possible. I have done about 15 jobs outside main employment in the last year. I would say 4 of them is from one of the first couple of homers i did and they passed my details on. Its just to get my name about then more word of mouth jobs will come with time.

Online isnt really best idea for it, other than facebook.

I’ve spent the last half hour flicking between here and Facebook, and the amount of ads offering services on the site is rather large, to include some of the big-name companies (we do a lot of this in Europe)

On the site, you can link to your own FB page/website relatively cheaply (did a 6-month old, 15 driver taxi company last week at 9p per 1000 implants with a 15-ish% rise in fares since then). There are ways of programming the site to run within x miles of (insert your location here), meaning that you’re targeting local people.

CK

greenface

Being a decent nice and approachable person is the first step in the door.Being helpful and knowledgable is a must and keep your eyes out for potential work without being pushy,example new shop(newsagent) owner. Went in for normal morning paper he had a broken small window behind icecream machine . "would you like me to ring a mate to fix it he will give you a decent quote i will tell him to do it at mates rates" (that makes me his mate)My mate looked after him and did him a decent job. Since that i have fitted windows in his house, his mums, his sisters cafe and a fair few customers. I cannot say to others if you want a daily mirror go there but he is the centre of a decent village and word gets out, being a nice and decent person but letting people know who you are is worth treble yellow pages and interweb info.
We also have a decent well run holiday let property if i am full we will find another lodge on site for them to stay without making profit we tell them to check out ours when there . We can ask upto 6 other homeowners and only one gets the booking but we are first on all their lists to ask us for dates to fill.