Advice desperately sought on where to advertise?

Mark7799

Personally I think the money could be better spent elsewhere. Consider getting some good quality brochures printed and distributing these directly to local companies who may be potential customers.

Join any relevant trade associations, networking groups (its not easy but it can be effective) to promote himself directly. Get good business cards printed if he hasn't done so already.

anitamarie

On YP it depends how many other people are listing in it as to whether it is worth paying out to differentiate your ad but even then, I'm not convinced by the return on YP. Yell.com is slightly better but the free listing does it. It is cheeky of them to try and sell all 3 catchments at the same price. Typically you get the first one at least on Yell.com for c.£200-300 and then the next X number of areas for less than £100 - and that's for a high listing with a link to your site, haggle to see how high you can get and how low you can get your prices for additional areas You can haggle with them if you really want to do it, but I would say keep the cash in your back pocket and just go for a free listing. If you do haggle, start over with a new sales person so they know less about your story so far and you can outsavvy them.

On websites - well, my company builds them so obviously we have an interest here, but key points:
- It is an unregulated industry of largely amateurs producing poor websites, so if you do decide to get one 'professionally' designed ask the right questions first - happy to give you some tips on what to look for via a Private Message. We have more than our fair share of clients who come to us having been stung elsewhere for terrible sites.
- You get what you pay for - home-made websites look as good as home-made business cards, so it depends whether any of your customers are likely to care.
- You can indeed get something decent for less than £250 if your needs are straight-forward, which they probably would be.
- Hosting that is both cheaper and more reliable than Fasthosts is easy to find - reviewcentre is the place. Note the savaging Farcehosts gets.

On other marketing
- Those free online business directories do work wonders
- You need to get known by word of mouth - If I get a friendly lead I ask where they heard about our business, where else they would typically go to source our product and if appropriate, if they know anyone else who's looking for my product/service. Then first, send them an email to thank them (if they've been helpful) with your e-business card so they've got your details for next time they need someone and secondly, follow up on what they've suggested - leads first, then review marketing opportunities...

Good luck!

vivatifosi

Hi Lucy,

I have worked as a researcher in the area of lead generation for 20 years. I think paper ads are fine for companies who are working with consumers, but if your company will be aimed at businesses, you can save a lot of money by targeting them directly.

Start by thinking about the times at which people need your services. What triggers that need? Large warehouses with lots of staff may need periodical training, new companies setting up in your area may need more training but as a one-off.

Try looking in the YP and other local papers for companies recruiting in the area, call them and see if you can help. Also keep an eye out for info on companies moving into the area. Warehouses tend to be close to the motorways, so have a drive up and down the key local roads - M1, M62 and maybe A1M (I'm not from Yorkshire so there may be others) and work out where your workload could come from.

There are two things I think you need to do: one is to establish your credibility and brand identity - why they should work with you. The second is to identify tangible opportunities that are available to you now. You don't need to spend a ton of money on the first point, you just need to have some well written info about your business and why they should work with you. On the second point, its all about knowing your market and why they need your services.

Speak to your local Business Link. They often offer free training for new business owners. They may offer training in marketing, selling and negotiating skills. That could help you get trained up and confident calling these companies up.

There are business libraries in both Sheffield and Leeds (I was in the Sheffield one last week, and its great) with very helpful staff who may be able to help you work out from their business directories who to target, or at the very least, where to start in building a targeting list.

Feel free to PM me if I can help further. Good luck!

lindens

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi Lucy,




Speak to your local Business Link. They often offer free training for new business owners. They may offer training in marketing, selling and negotiating skills. That could help you get trained up and confident calling these companies up.

Some good points there, another good thing about the courses for new business owners is making contacts and networking. There will be others in the same situation as you, all touting their new business and despearate for work. There maybe someone there setting up a printing company who may give you good rates for leaflets, a web designer who may give you discount etc etc.
I went on one once and there was a landscape gardener(ie heavy stuff) and a garden designer (ie the pretty stuff) and hey presto they could suddenly each recommend each other to customers for the bits of the gardening they didn't do.

nickswift

Yes a website is the way to go and that way you can use....

£30 of free google adwords on your website.

Gumtree is great for free ads (owned by ebay) and I have developed a way to post my ad to all the cities in about 20 minutes, so thats about 40 odd adverts in one go... I get a lot of response from this.