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.

normandylife

Undervalued said:

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?

Yes that is a good idea and something I have been doing on and off for a while now(I think I mentioned that). Even when it wasn't working though I did it to support the local Newsletters who provide a good local service.

normandylife

Grumpy_chap said:

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.

I am not a massive FB fan.
I was actually trying to get a team of tradesman to volunteer one free day a month to help aged folks who do not have much money, went through Help The Aged etc.
More difficult than you would imagine.
As for advertising my work, young, old or in-between, why would I just go for one specific group if they are all wage earners? or hold wealth, that's just making life more difficult

normandylife

Savvy_Sue said:

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.

I was actually getting tons of work from an "internet group" and I could not understand what was going on, turned out my name was mentioned quite a lot in that very website, brilliant service I think and people can get 2nd, 3rd and even 4th opinions on various trades and services. Nextdoor is something I might actually dive deeper into because it seems I already have a head start.
I could really do with some online webpage type thingy though(for want of a better word) and where search engines show me in certain areas that I cover, mostly my local Villages

Savvy_Sue

normandylife said:

Savvy_Sue said:

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.

I was actually getting tons of work from an "internet group" and I could not understand what was going on, turned out my name was mentioned quite a lot in that very website, brilliant service I think and people can get 2nd, 3rd and even 4th opinions on various trades and services. Nextdoor is something I might actually dive deeper into because it seems I already have a head start.
I could really do with some online webpage type thingy though(for want of a better word) and where search engines show me in certain areas that I cover, mostly my local Villages

You might find it enough to register on as many free directories as you can - and I don't know what they are. But a Google search often turns up such sites.

Or find a teenager to help you set up a static one page website. (You could DIY, but a teenager might cast a final eye over it.) It shouldn't cost a lot for hosting, and all you want is contact details, areas covered, and types of work you do. Maybe a paragraph along the lines of "I've been an electrician for 90 years and I keep myself up to date with current standards and training. I've got my Part P, and a good track record of repeat business." Or whatever.

Some people have pages of photos of previous jobs (before and after), videos of top tips or work in progress. That might help you be 'found', but if there's not too much competition you just want a Google for "electrician village 1" to find you.

user1977

I get a quarterly free magazine which has a large proportion of tradespeople's adverts, many from outside the catchment area of the magazine so you might have options you're not aware of because you don't receive them yourself - not sure how big an area your customers are likely to come from.

normandylife

user1977 said:

I get a quarterly free magazine which has a large proportion of tradespeople's adverts, many from outside the catchment area of the magazine so you might have options you're not aware of because you don't receive them yourself - not sure how big an area your customers are likely to come from.

That has been one of my favourite ways of advertising in the last 20 years, it was always enough to keep me topped up with work and more.
It's amazing that I was turning work away 5 years ago and even getting irritated with constant customers pushing for quotes, how things can turn.

lincroft1710

normandylife said:

user1977 said:

I get a quarterly free magazine which has a large proportion of tradespeople's adverts, many from outside the catchment area of the magazine so you might have options you're not aware of because you don't receive them yourself - not sure how big an area your customers are likely to come from.

.
It's amazing that I was turning work away 5 years ago and even getting irritated with constant customers pushing for quotes, how things can turn.

I used to say to business owners/tradespeople "never complain you have too much work"