Advertising as a local electrician ...How?

normandylife

I went it alone nearly 20 years ago as a small electrical firm(most 4 employees at peak)commercial and Domestic. These days I am just slowly getting older and winding down to retirement, but healthy and still loving it apart from a recent 18 months of illness that has now past.
In the last 12 years I have had an insane work load where I barely advertised and only really used my local Village Newsletters, and that was more about supporting me local Villages. I was cherry picking work.
Now things are starting to slow down a little, I am starting to suspect an in coming recession(I am getting good at that if not just wiser and older). I am OK at the moment, but am looking several months ahead where for the first time in yonks I think I will need to get my marketing head on, though I will always have my word of mouth stream.
How do you advertise these days?
I am only doing Domestic electrical work now and nothing bigger than whole re-wires and decent sized extensions down to someone just wanting a few lights or a power point, that work suits me fine these days.
Do you use websites, Wix etc, how do you get people to find you online or do you have to pay for someone to do all that?
One thing I have never done though or will never do is pay for leads from strangers, Trust a Trade for example.
Really could do with some advice here

Undervalued

Where I live three churches have got together and jointly produce and distribute a presentable printed newsletter every couple of months. That is partly (entirely??) funded by advertisements for local businesses and tradesmen like yourself. The rates are very reasonable and any I've spoken to find it brings in local work.

Worth looking for similar?

Grumpy_chap

normandylife said:

I went it alone nearly 20 years ago as a small electrical firm(most 4 employees at peak)commercial and Domestic. These days I am just slowly getting older and winding down to retirement, but healthy and still loving it apart from a recent 18 months of illness that has now past.
In the last 12 years I have had an insane work load where I barely advertised and only really used my local Village Newsletters, and that was more about supporting me local Villages. I was cherry picking work.
Now things are starting to slow down a little, I am starting to suspect an in coming recession(I am getting good at that if not just wiser and older). I am OK at the moment, but am looking several months ahead where for the first time in yonks I think I will need to get my marketing head on, though I will always have my word of mouth stream.
How do you advertise these days?
I am only doing Domestic electrical work now and nothing bigger than whole re-wires and decent sized extensions down to someone just wanting a few lights or a power point, that work suits me fine these days.
Do you use websites, Wix etc, how do you get people to find you online or do you have to pay for someone to do all that?
One thing I have never done though or will never do is pay for leads from strangers, Trust a Trade for example.
Really could do with some advice here

Do you have any local Facebook groups or other social media?

In our area, there is a village FB page and regular posters requesting a plumber, electrician, handyman to do whatever.  It is often the small jobs that people post about as many tradespeople seem reluctant to take the same but that seems to be what you are happy to go with.  If there is such a social media presence for where you live, you would just have to start by responding to the requests and then delivering a good job.

You might also be able to approach local charities such as Help the Aged, who offer trades of various kinds on a "discounted" rate.  You would need to assess whether the "discounted" rate works for you, but reading between the lines, maximum revenue is not your biggest driver.

Local village news-sheets / church flyers, etc can also be a good route to simply promote your availability.

Savvy_Sue

I skim NextDoor, and there are quite a few 'trades' using it to advertise. I found a decent plasterer that way. However you'll need to use your Word of Mouth skills a bit, because if someone asks for a recommendation and gets 5 replies saying "I can do that", you need a few "I've used Fred and he's good" responses to stand out from the crowd.

One plumber asks his customers to leave a comment on ND, which works well, because he can post "lots of recommendations if you search here."

Otherwise, sound advice already given.