Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Ways of advertising a small business
Hi all members of Harringay Online
What are the best known to you ways of advertising a small business today?
Yellow Pages, Local Newspapers, Online References or maybe Google browser?
The time still goes on and methods successful 5 years ago are probably no longer working
I am writing this post as today when the new business starts almost immediately you have phone calls from companies such as Yell.com or Yelp.com offering suspiciously successful ways of achieving a fast success. This discussion could help people some people to realise the situation on the market
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by L F T Snowflake on
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Whats the business?
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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He couldn't possibly say, Reggie. or he'd get deleted for advertising!
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Permalink Reply by Marek on
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So far I have two ways of advertising: word of mouth and door-knocking.
At the beginning the best way of advertising was individual door-knocking and leaf-letting residents one after one. At that time the word of mouth almost did not exist for almost first six months.
Right now the proportion is 50/50 and I am really pleased with this situation as time spent with physical walking around is getting shorter and shorter during each month. I suspect that during next year I will need no leaf-letting at all to exist and run the business.
HoL reviews has definitely very important part of share and I did not even suspected this at the day when I registered myself with HoL. From the beginning the business was oriented for local market and the HoL impact is on the second position.
If anybody could tell me how twitter could help the business I would be more than happy to use it. So far twitting is almost insignificant for me.
I put this question on HoL as I was tempted by Yell.com and Yelp.com to put an advert with them and I can imagine possible scenario in future.
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I make you right Jessica. When I had a small business in the 1980's my customer did my advertising for me.
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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What about showcasing your skills at the market? Or at a local cafe? Just a thought.
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What local business would be possible to advertise in the meantime of Local Market?
What about this bicycle experiment? Gardening?
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Permalink Reply by abstractjuz on
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Some points that might help...
1) Ask your existing customers where and how they found you. If all your customers look on HoL and the local newspaper then you should make sure you're visible on HoL and you should consider advertising in the local newspaper(s).
Put a short, polite email together and send it to all your customers. Be honest - tell them you're a small, local business looking to expand and you just wanted to ask them a few simple questions about how they found you and where they look for local services like yours.
Make it easy for them to answer, don't fill it full of advertising jargon and if you're not confident with writing it yourself - I bet there's a few people on here with PR experience who could help.
2) Sell more stuff to your existing customers. When you send the email above - give them a reason to help you. Offer 5% off their next callout, or a free consultation to answer a tech question via email or a discount on a coffee at your favourite coffee shop - or whatever your customers might value.
3) Try different things. I think they call this the 'marketing mix'. Maybe one advert in one place will bring you lots of business but another advert in some other place might be completely ignored.
If none of your customers ever look at a local newspaper then maybe that's not a good place to advertise - but maybe there's new customers waiting to be discovered? You might just have to try some stuff and see how it goes.
It's important to remember also that what works for one type of business - might not work for another. I would never consider advertising my business in a local paper because I could almost guarantee that none of my customers would ever look there for my type of business - but maybe your customers would look for you there?
Haggle!. Ask for a discount. It's tough times out there - don't pay full price.
4) Use free advertising. The internet is full of link pages where you can put in your own info at no charge. Some of them rank pretty highly in search engines as well. They link to Google maps which lets people know where you are - I think the 'local' thing would be an important angle for you.
You mentioned yell - I'm pretty sure you used to be able to get a free listing from them? Yes, they'll call you up and ask you for paid advertising (they've been calling me for years) but there's no need for you to pay for advertising until you start getting paying customers from yell.
5) Website. If you don't already have one - get a decent one. Simple, not too expensive, make sure it works on desktop and mobile and cross-platform. Put some reviews and customer testimonials on there too.
6) Word of Mouth is vital - especially electronic word of mouth.For you that means being on the local forums (not just HoL), mailing lists and whatever else is out there. Answer questions if you can, offer advice when you can. Remember though - it's a conversation. Don't constantly get in peoples faces yelling 'BUY MY STUFF!!!!' Word of mouth is subtle, it takes time to build a solid reputation.
7) Social Media. I use Twitter and it's a valuable asset for my business - but my customers are spread all over the world and I deal with them via email. Twitter is good because I can put up info that is relevant to my business - not just advertising.
You have to ask what it would offer your business?
If you think that you can communicate with potential customers via Twitter and that you have something to say that might be useful and relevant to them - then Twitter is great. Don't be one of these people with 10,000 followers that never *interacts* with anyone - those people are just wasting their time.
I don't use Facebook - but the same things apply - if you can use it to politely introduce yourself and your services or help people when you can so that maybe they'll pay for your help next time, then it's worth it. If you're just going to be swamped in baby and cat photos - then maybe you should pass.
This was a long message - marketing is a big topic. I hope some of this helps :)
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Thank you for this long long description and hope it will be useful by others
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Permalink Reply by Wawicka on
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Thanks for this great post, there are some very good points made here.
Point 1 is very interesting regarding staying in touch with customers. I usually find that if I enquire out of the blue how a client's doing they sometimes say "glad you've got in touch we need XYX... done, can you help?"
Point 6 has been the one I've found most rewarding.
…and 7, I usually pick up on requests on Twitter from people looking for help. It's a quick way to get in touch and has had some great benefits, I find you do however need to keep the tweet momentum going.
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Permalink Reply by Mat Day on
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A few thoughts:
The first port of call for people finding local services will be Google. If you have budget you can get sponsored search results on a pay-per-click basis, or if not just make sure that your information is clear and easy to find on web search and through google maps.
I couldnt suggest how you should use social media without knowing what your business is. But Ive seen small/medium business use it very successfully to maintain relationships with customers, distribute new product info and offers etc. Generally its not great for reaching people en mass unless you can use it in some kind of promotion.
Again, it depends on what you're selling, but look for branding opportunities on your collateral e.g. bags that people take away from the business, as these can be good and often missed communication opportunities.
Events or even 'stunt' kind of things can get you the talkability you want and, if your lucky, could earn you coverage in the local press or on forums like this without having to pay for advertising.
Hope this helps - ping me a PM and tell me what your biz is and I might have more ideas for you
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