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promoting your business
Hi
Just wanted to ask how different people have gone about self promotion thru these dark days, im in a small town so i dont get the big amounts that city sign shops do, i have a good name in my area but people arent spending as much on advertising so its slim pickings + your up against the guys working from the house and working for nothing 🙁
im sure like me your phone goes every day with new business groups and ways to advertise but they are very dear to join, ive got the promo boards, the van and the web site but what other ways of advertising do you guys think work?
Thanks
John -
19 Replies
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Hi John
I’m also in a small town so know how you feel. 3 best options that work for me (after a lot of trial and error and wasted money)
1) B2B – go knock on doors
2) google searches, get well ranked for your area
3) put a small sticker on every empty shop door with you details on it.A decent website for a portfolio so they can see your work over any others in the area.
I tried and wasted money on;
local directories
yellow pages
yell.com
any other online search engineI’m still trying lots of other things but trial and error, I actually have an advert on the radio station that broadcasts my details after the news 4 times a day during peak times and after a month not 1 call 😕
good luck and keep pushing.
Oh last thought, make sure your van or car (or both if you have them) are sign written and will get noticed even if you do something big and bold, if it’s always around your town you will get noticed and remembered, mine had lots of bright coloured stripes on the car and even the 3 year old at my sons school knew who I was (although they only knew I was my sons daddy with a bright car 😕 :lol1: )
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Cheers warren, we are pretty much on the same promotion push apart from the radio station idea 🙂 its just tough right now and nowere in the town are even doing their shops up for crimbo, roll on feb and hopefully people will start spending again
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As I have a pigment ink printer I do a fair amount of posters and banners, I contacted all the local print, design and marketing companies in the area and offered trade pricing and have picked up a bit of work that way so might be worth a try.
Normally Nov – Feb are my quiet months but so far still busy so hope it keeps up.
cheers
Warren
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You have to analyse your own area and look at business types and the perceived level of Internet access. I probably buck the trend as I now have a larger advert in the big yellow book which has paid for its self in new business over the past 3 weeks alone. Im in a small town area with a lower than average Internet usage, hence the book being a good source.
Get yourself some flyers done and as Warren says, go door to door and introduce yourself. Look for your chamber of trade or local business networking group.
Get a local business adviser in e.g. business link, as the one I saw asked if I did business start up packages, which he now passes on details of to new businesses in my area……………
Lots of thinks you can do, just make them memorable, thats why door-to-door works after a couple of visits and not just the first. A 1 off leaflet drop has a poor return, but the 3% return level comes in after a couple of mailings.
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The best thing I’ve ever done for my business has been BNI.
Business Network International http://www.bni.com
I’ve picked up just over $50000 of new business this year from it.
I’ve done the yellow pages thing, the Chamber of Commerce thing, the large newspaper advert thing and the best has been BNI for me.
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the BNI is over here now, i have been looking into it, mabey i will look harder
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What can the BNI do for us?? Im just not familiar with it.
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what i can gather is it wants one company from every sector and then it wants a bubble effect, as we all stay in a this big bubble and if any other company needs what you offer then they go straight to you and vise versa i think, but its really strict as there is a breakfast every week and if you miss some you get fined!!!!! and thing like this, its £500.00 to join as well
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John Where are you based if you don’t mind me asking?? That’s a bit much for me at the minute.
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yeah its a bit dear for me too, ill leave it for a while because we know noone is spending in dec – jan
Im in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
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John, try doing a search as the BNI has been mentioned in the past. It does work for some but from my own experience it does not work for everyone and certain business sectors do much better than others.
If you want more details then PM me and I will happily answer any questions about it you may have.
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Best thing is to go to the BNI website and find a signie who is miles away from you and give them a ring to see if it’s working for them or not.
I know some other signies here who are in it but don’t do as well as I do. personality and ability play a large factor in your success, also not being in it for the short term. It usually takes 6 to 12 months to get any benefit. The type of people in your group and their ability to generate referrals for you are also important.
Basically you have to be able to do a good job, be fair with your pricing, be honest and give good service. If you can’t do any of those…What are you doing in business in the first place?
If you go to help others by giving referrals rather than waiting to receive yourself you’ll do well.One of the guys in my chapter now does over $250000 yep two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in business just generated in our chapter each year. He has his sales manager in another chapter and together they generate nearly half a mil in new sales per year.
I’ve done $6600 this week from one client, and have picked up about $1200 from this morning’s meeting. I have booked in for next week just over $7000 in work.
I’m really passionate about it because it works so well for me. I get absolutely nothing back from anyone by telling you about it. It’s working really well for me that’s all.
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Lee i can see you are very passionate about it and i see your point, i havent put it down as a bad thing, i know people in it, it seems to work really well in the big cities…
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😀 No worries at all buddy.
I do live in the most isolated Capital City in the world. Perth is like a country town 😉
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Lee, glad to hear it is working for you but there are a lot of factors to consider, some of which you have mentioned. I am guessing you have a very busy Chapter and possibly a waiting list to get in as some of the busier chapters do.
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You’re right Martin,
It’s all up the the group you’re with. When I started with mine, there were 15 members, now we’re up to nearly 30 and we’re a vibrant group constantly growing. We’re all about quality of people joining as well so we’re very selective who is accepted into the group as it directly affects the type of business that it does.
Once you join, you can also join the membership committee which picks and chooses members and directs the chapter where you want it to go, so you have a great chance to directly affect the group dynamic.
I’m just putting forward my experience of it. The biggest thing that seems to make it work is if you’re passionate about your business, if you’re willing to help others without expecting a direct return and you’re a dynamic personality then you’ll do really well.
If you’re a mean boring old git, then people won’t want to deal with you. We’ve had a couple like that as past members but they don’t seem to last long.
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Lee, I have my own experiences of BNI as I have been a member myself, that’s how I know it depends on so many different factors. I didn’t want to put the organisation down because I agree that it can be a very good thing but I don’t think they always get it right and it is a business itself so it is also looking to make money for the Franchisees.
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Martin
Love to hear your thoughts on the negatives to BNI, I am constantly being asked to join but like that famous quote i wouldn’t want to join a club that would have me as a member (or something like that).
john 😀
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No problem at all John, it’s not all negative by the way, I will PM you tomorrow. Sorry meant latter on today !! :lol1:
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