How do you advertise your small business?

I have to start advertising my Tiling and decorating business and was wondering how all you small businessmen/women do your advertising? I’d obviously like to create a basic website so someone Googling could find me, but I don’t really understand how the advertising on Google works? Could anyone give me pointers on costs for Google and any other means of advertising that you’ve found that’s worked for you? We have the usual freebie magazines locally, but even advertising in these isn’t cheap. I have someone trying to get me to advertise on Yell.com but have read that it’s not all that and a bit of a waste of time? Obviously if customers are happy with my work then I’ll hopefully get recommendations, but its finding those first customers.
Many thanks.

(I used to do some house rental management and project managed doing up some houses)
I used postcards in shop windows and back of supermarket.
I also offered £50 for anyone who recomended me a new someone who became a customer or new tenant.
I used to ask happy customers to recomend me. (most effective)
I had a two-page website – one of pics of my work and some customers saying nice things, second page with phone number on.
I spent a few months going to one of those cheesy business network things once a week for breakfast.
Anytime we did work, I had a sign I put up at the front of the house.
.
I would have thought a similar approach would be better than paying for any google advertising.

Try to get on the recommended tilers/decorators list at the retail outlets. I used to work for a tile importer and we had a few tilers we would suggest if people asked us. One guy got most of his work this way

(oh, and do your own website via WordPress, if need be buy the take away and beers for a mate to assist)

I don’t know the ins and outs of it as Mrs yunki is the marketing exec in our little family business, but ‘google adwords’ is a big part of it..

cost around £20 quid per month and gets you way up in the google results

it depends on what your business is, but I can’t think of any company really now that gets work from anywhere much other than word of mouth and google.. on saying that though, we get a fair old bit from trade fairs, but I think that’s just the way the wedding industry works

I used to just write it in big black marker pen on the back of the cubicle door but since they have mocked most of the public toilets down I have resorted to placing cards in public telephone boxes

Ps avoid yell like public toilets

Well you’ve already missed the opportunity to tell us where you are based so if any of us need a tiler or decorator we’ll have your name in mind. 🙂

Surrey…and I don’t drive an Audi.
Will have a look at the WordPress site and set something up.
£20 per month to promote on Google sounds good.
I’ve got Yell phoning me every five minutes now, so maybe I’ll give them a miss?
Does anyone think the local freebies would be worth a go even though they start at around the £100 an issue mark?

We used to do alot of work with start ups via the local Chamber of Horrors / Business Links (but stopped as its about as much fun as riding a road bike).

Organic SEO is better than adwords, a well optimised site with a quick couple of months Adwords should do the trick for the website. If you are a tiler get a gallery up there too, always nice to show off good work.

If you are building your own site, get a proper domain name and associated emai – looks a lot more pro than cantbearsed@gmail.com

Get recommendations, the best sales tool you will ever have. Our local tiler has a 12 month waiting list but he’s brilliant and everyone round here want him to do their work.

Nice business cards (go here cards made easy[/url] but get a proper design done) – Beers & pizza for the design work is a good swap with anyone creative and get lots of them, then scatter them like confetti. Make sure your web address is on them.

Post office windows, shops, supermarkets, petrol stations, builders merchants, DIY stores, bathroom & kitchen sales offices – lots of them have noticeboards or will let you pop them on counters.

Approach building firms who may sub tiling work, see if there is a free sheet newspaper locally, they can be cheap for the occasional ad.

If you have a van/vehicle get it sign written and make it stand out, we have a van and it gets spotted all over the place.

Good luck and pity you’re not round here.

a 12 month waiting list

Seriously, who would wait 12 months for a tiler? And who plans tiling 12 months in advance?

But (as someone who has recently been looking for tradesmen) I usually prefer the local freebie ad mags as a one-stop shop mainly because even if I type in a location, Google finds regional tradesmen/small businesses that spend money on AdWords to get a larger geographic spread – if I want a tiler to do my house in Harrogate, I want a local tradesman, not somebody coming 15 or 20 miles from Bradford or Guiseley…

But you can’t beat recommendations…

johndoh – Member
a 12 month waiting list
Seriously, who would wait 12 months for a tiler? And who plans tiling 12 months in advance?

Yep, and lots of people round here who want a proper job.
Never knew tiling was considered an impulse purchase,we are building an extension with an en-suite and started planning it in Jan/Feb for start April next year – planning permissions etc. Even retiling the kitchen was planned well in advance so we could buy a cooker/cupboards etc

From a design point of view (thinking of your van livery and website), keep it simple and VERY easy to use / remember. Good design is worth spending money on and makes a difference to how people view your business.

People hunting for tilers aren’t always too web-savvy and unless it’s really good, an overly-liveried van can look awful.

Advertising is really costly for a small business/self employed/sole trader.

I wouldn’t go onto the ‘yell’ as it’s a waste of time and money.
Start small with some postcards (that look professional) in various shop/post office windows and hopefully you’ll start to get ‘word of mouth’ custom.

My one and only time of local paper advertising, the paper left off my phone number – arrgghhh.

rogerthecat – Member
johndoh – Member
a 12 month waiting list
Seriously, who would wait 12 months for a tiler? And who plans tiling 12 months in advance?
Yep, and lots of people round here who want a proper job.
Never knew tiling was considered an impulse purchase,we are building an extension with an en-suite and started planning it in Jan/Feb for start April next year – planning permissions etc. Even retiling the kitchen was planned well in advance so we could buy a cooker/cupboards etc

Fair enough, but how on earth can you plan tiling 12 months in advance? Do you know the exact date in 12 months time your kitchen will be ready to be tiled or are you saying there is a broad agreement that the guy will come out in around 12 months (which will be 18 months by the time the extension is actually fitted).

A friend of mine has set up a company specialising in building websites for local tradespeople. The sites are built up so they maximise local SEO so if someone searches for “decorators” in your local area, you will come top.

There’s a set up fee of £350 then it’s £20 a month thereafter. Email me if you want further details.

then it’s £20 a month thereafter

Ouch

What on earth is that for?

And which one of these links is his site?

I don’t think anyone has mentioned

Checkatrade
Ratedpeople.com
Try your local council .. in sussex here there’s a ‘buy with confidence scheme’

As a business you have to subscribe to them by I think around £100 (give or take) a year, and go through various vetting/security procedures and customers can feedback on you .. hopefully creating more business .. modern version of word of mouth I guess.

EDIT I might add I thought about using these for our business, but due to involvement of subcontractors I don’t have as tight a rein as I’d quite like if issues arose, though I could bin them .. but one of them does stunning work if you get around his personality (and criminal record for something stupid ages ago; which the council would vet at least)

@johndoh – I use a calendar, then it’s easy to book all of the appropriate tradespeople to arrive at the correct time, they seem to like this too as they can plan their work on a similar device.

It’s a handy thing and we hang ours on the kitchen wall so we can all see it, a sort of domestic dropbox without the connectivity issue.

They’ll be as popular as iPhones soon, mark my words. 😀

Ouch
What on earth is that for?

SEO needs updating, he has looked at doing it as one big fee.

Anyhow, I’ve polluted this forum enough with sales-type chat.

But £20 a month for a successful tradesman…I see them spending that in the pubs every five minutes.

Some good suggestions above, I’ve tried most things, and now dont advertise at all.

Yell.com/yellow pages – complete waste of time and money. I paid £360ish for a smallish ad in there, and got 4 or 5 calls in the year from it – (I ask new customers where they got my number from). Yellow pages enquirers are after the cheapest price, or, someone to do it immediately.
Neither are the people you want to work for generally – genuine emergencies, no problem, others who need a sparky today, as their kitchen is being fitted tomorrow are to be avoided.

Local free newspapers – generally useless. It may generate a few calls, but at £50/month for each one, it doesnt really pay – see how many others of the same trade advertise there.

Local paper shops/ post offices. Got a load of wok through these when I started.Good quality, clear, easily readable ads are viewed by 1000’s a week. £1 a week is a bargain, and, keeps the work local. An ad written in biro on the back of an envelope will not work, make it look good, but not too fancy.

Eventually, you will meet a number of other trades, either on a job, or at the wholesalers. Talk to them, get their card, and give them yours, in fact give them 3 or 4. If you start recommending them, and they get work through you, they’ll be doing the same back to you, so get as many contacts as possible.
Networking etc. Mates/workmates go to the pub after work on a Friday, go along, or find a pub with a lot of workvans outside. Become friends with people and they’ll recommend you.
Give all customers a few of your cards.
Local wholesalers – leave a pile of your cards there.

Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you dont really have to think about advertising, your reputation should be selling you after 2 years, maybe less.

That’s why I love this forum. It’s a fountain of useful information and all for free.
Will use my time wisely next week, take all this good advice and start my plan of action.
Thanks for all the help everyone.

we aertise in the local paper published twice a week it costs 46 plus vat a fortnight get 1 to 3 calls a week from it on average. lots of desperate last minute work i call them distress sales. mostly under £100 jobs but enough 3.5k jobs to make it viable and the important thing is builds up contacts/client base.

thomson local costs 486 inc pa .. get bigger jobs and maybe 1 call a week from it. yell .com 511 inc pa two ads plus online. similar to above

cant emphasise enought that its not the job you do from the call that you get the benifit from its the follow up work etc you get. my biggest customer came to me via a distress call from the local paper ad and they spend 1k a month with me now.

equally the more work you do the more trade contacts youll meet, some blokes will take you for a ride .. just do this or that for a favour etc but i ‘work’ with a bathroom fitter and electrcian we give work and leads to each other and it works very well for us all. if i get a especially large job 3k plus i always make sure they get a decent thank you.

dont refuse even the smallest job 20 quid jobs quickly can be large projects if the customer likes you.

Ouch
What on earth is that for?
SEO needs updating, he has looked at doing it as one big fee.
Anyhow, I’ve polluted this forum enough with sales-type chat.
But £20 a month for a successful tradesman…I see them spending that in the pubs every five minutes.

£20 a month to do what exactly? I wager he doesn’t look at Analytics once after the listing has been set up – it’s hardly a crowded marketplace.

Anyway – which one of the links in that Google search I did WAS his site?

Anyway – which one of the links in that Google search I did WAS his site?

Calm down big boy, he’s selling through a uk trade directory as an affiliate.

Calm down big boy, he’s selling through a uk trade directory as an affiliate.

I agree with your previous sentiment then…

Anyhow, I’ve polluted this forum enough with sales-type chat.

I agree with your previous sentiment then…

We always agree in the end:-

Advertise Locally in the free sheets that drop through people’s doors. You need a small advert along the lines of –

Dingabell Quality Tiling and Decorating
*LIMITED DATES AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER*
Call Today 01234 567890 for availability
FREE Quotations

By doing that you create what the advertising boys would call Urgency, The Impression that you are already busy without telling any lies (September dates are limited to 30 every year), and you include both a call to action – ‘Call today’ and the most important word in advertising – Free.

I have a friend who is a painter and decorator, he placed this exact advert locally for the first three months that he operated his business and has never advertised since as his clients recommend him to friends and reuse him again and again.

cant emphasise enought that its not the job you do from the call that you get the benifit from its the follow up work etc you get. my biggest customer came to me via a distress call from the local paper ad and they spend 1k a month with me now.

This.

Flyers never worked for me. It cost £100. Half a day walking around certain roads in our area, not one single phone call or enquiry.

Find a local eye-sore of a building. Tile over it and include your number in the pattern.

eg