sole tradesman....where to advertise?

scousedave

Hello.
I am starting up.by myself as a sole trader as a kitchen, bathroom fitter and was wondering if anyone has any tips of where to advertise.
The local, free papers is an obvious place to advertise but can anyone pls recommend other places to get noticed.
Thank you.

Wywth

scousedave wrote: »

Hello.
I am starting up.by myself as a sole trader as a kitchen, bathroom fitter and was wondering if anyone has any tips of where to advertise.
The local, free papers is an obvious place to advertise but can anyone pls recommend other places to get noticed.
Thank you.

My mate does this.

He started off on his own (after learning the trade) by approaching a local kitchen supplier and asking for casual work.
It didn't pay too well, but it paid the bills and allowed him to show off his skills. He cheekily left his own card at the completion of every job.

Soon he was getting phone calls direct from friends and neighbours of those he had installed kitchens for.

He soon gave up the casual work with the kitchen supplier, for more lucrative, privately sourced work.

He doesn't advertise at all now - he is overwealmed with work all gained by word of mouth.

greyteam1959

Don't bother paying for advertising......
Do a good job at a fair price & you will soon have more work than you can cope with.

trailingspouse

Don't bother with free papers - no-one reads them.

Mrs_Huggett

If your area has local community forums you could try that, I know that our ones here in South East London are very useful. But you may have to join and do a few posts before you are able to promote yourself. I agree with all the other posters thus far too, sound advice!

Pennywise

trailingspouse wrote: »

Don't bother with free papers - no-one reads them.

Depends on how many free newspapers you have in your area and their quality. I can imagine that in major cities, there'll be loads, most of which will be poor quality,

But in my town, we don't have any free newspapers at all. All we have is a free monthly magazine that is delivered by RM to all households in the town. It's a quality publication with local news/articles. Loads of local quality businesses advertise, including several of my clients (blind fitter, carpet fitter, plumber) who tell me that they get plenty of prospects from this freebie magazine.

So, don't discount all freebies - think about whether you use them yourself or not and their quality and circulation.

PlutoinCapricorn

Scousedave, I am getting a good service from my bathroom designer so am telling people I know how good they are.

Personal recommendation is by far the best way to get clients: I also know this because I am a sole trader and get all my work that way.

It may be different if you have a company and several employees of course.

Having said that, I have often seen adverts for handyman and similar services stuck onto the glass in bus shelters: they have many tear-off strips with contact details, and there are always many gaps.

lardlikesdogs

Leaflets get some printed off Ebay is a good place buy them and deliver them yourself they have a hit rate of 0.5-4% so for every 100 you should get at least 1 call, Pick housing estates that have been built about 10-20 years ago and bingo.

zaax

Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get. So do a very good job and you will find work coming out of your ears.

And people say we are in a recession

warwicktiger

I am a sole trader - Carpet Cleaner

Word of mouth obviously best, but takes time to get the word round.
Free/Local papers - did not work for me.
Leaflets - the mainstay of my advertising. Look at what comes through your own letter box and follow the trail back to the distributor, obviously this firm actually delivers - pun intended!
Best £/£ are local parish magazines.
Do not use a freephone or only a mobile number, use your phone number, people like the ideal of dealing locally.

None of the above are guaranteed facts, just 7 years personal experience!

fishybusiness

Parish magazines work well for local business people.

Word of mouth is great when you have the work, and reputation from even a small customer base, but you have to get that first.

I found mobile numbers do work, I know some people say they don't but the world has moved on. People need to know who you are and where you live if you are small local business.

Also, using a mobile number means you can pickup every single call that comes in - how many people looking for a service call a phone number that does not pickup, and then try another business - many many do, and once you get the call you have the chance to sell yourself and get the work.

No answer = no customer very often.

I also found Yellow Pages still a good source of income, I'm not sure going forward it will be the same, ours how shrunk beyond recognition so the world is obviously moving on,

I have a builder friend who swears by Yell.com, yet for me it didn't work so I take from that success on Yell could be business specific.