TBCS, help me out; Small business marketing ideas.

[Omega]

aha, yes. I'm sure most of you didn't know, but my dad and I started a small business here in the north bay.

Anywho, I'm looking for tips on marketing. We're an IT Support business (we do both in-home personal computer support, and full-on professional grade network building and full support for businesses... yeah), and we're trying to get as much work as we can, but I need ideas.

Pretty much, I've been tasked with figuring out marketing and business partnerships, but I figure tB will be able to give me at least SOME decent ideas to get our name out there and start making some money.

So other entrepreneurs/business owners/marketing students or professionals/etc, help me out!

Thanks,
Mike

[Trace]

Website,
Word-o-mouth,
Local Paper Ad, around here, we have a GoldPanner which is a free paper, so it gets alot of reading,
If I think of more, I will post here.

[Omega]

Website

Check. http://www.MIBsupport.com



Word-o-mouth,

need clients for that to work. :dead:



Local Paper Ad, around here, we have a GoldPanner which is a free paper, so it gets alot of reading,

costs waaaaay too much money, only decent local newspaper is The Press Democrat, and they want too much

[nevermind1534]

Some restaurants put paper placemats with ads on them at the tables.

There's also church papers, but they can be somewhat expensive.

[Trace]

Your website's news page needs updating, FYI

Post some flyers on telephone poles maybe?

[Datech]

If you are doing residential and just basic computer support, you may want to reach out to local area blogs.

Do a search for all the blogs run by a person or group in your area, or blogs that deal with a subject in your area. Comment on the blogs regularly and try and get to know the author, then ask them if they would put a small blurb or ad about you on their site. Say you will offer a 50% discount to any website owner that does that, and a 10% discount to any client who finds you through one of those sites.

Then there is always Craigslist and your local Starbucks.

[Omega]

Your website's news page needs updating, FYI

Post some flyers on telephone poles maybe?

Trust me, I already know about the website. I edited and uploaded it after I revised it, but my dad re-uploaded the ENTIRE website to add a page or two. :facepalm:




If you are doing residential and just basic computer support, you may want to reach out to local area blogs.

Do a search for all the blogs run by a person or group in your area, or blogs that deal with a subject in your area. Comment on the blogs regularly and try and get to know the author, then ask them if they would put a small blurb or ad about you on their site. Say you will offer a 50% discount to any website owner that does that, and a 10% discount to any client who finds you through one of those sites.

Then there is always Craigslist and your local Starbucks.

eww, starbucks. i would see them as a viable advertising opportunity, but we don't service Macs and I don't want to answer a ton of phone-calls and e-mails explaining that.

but to that degree, there's a few local chains with corkboards for community businesses and events to advertise, so we were planning that. Already have a CL ad up, but planning on redoing it (it's not exactly stellar).

[Trace]

And I believe Costco has a wall for you to put your business card up. Should get a fair amount of traffic from that.

[BuzzKillington]

Craigslist, pennysaver ads, business cards, custom pens, magnets.

Large stickers on your vehicles. I would personally only target to nicer/newer vehicles of the family. A business sticker on a beater vehicle will scare people away.

t-shirts. 100 bucks will get you at least 10 printed shirts. Give them to friends who are out a lot in techy places.

[Omega]

Craigslist, pennysaver ads, business cards, custom pens, magnets.

Large stickers on your vehicles. I would personally only target to nicer/newer vehicles of the family. A business sticker on a beater vehicle will scare people away.

t-shirts. 100 bucks will get you at least 10 printed shirts. Give them to friends who are out a lot in techy places.

business vehicle is a white ford escape, 2004.

we're getting 20 shirts customly embroidered for free (one of our buddies does that kind of stuff for a living)

[si-skyline]

Hi,

good stuff on starting your own business. I'm doing the same thing with the Save Our Stuff business and can understand how hard things are.

to be honnet its all about return on investment. I dont think the prey and spray idea is the best and should target your self to one segment of a market. there is no worries in supporting the other segments. just they will not be on a higher prioity.

know who your customers are and where they are. that helps you a lot on where to market.

If you want to support businesses get you and your dad out to a network meeting. (i mean business/social networking) armed with business cards. both take opersite sides of a room and dont talk to one another and get those cards flying.
networking events are extremely cheapo and can build a huge friendship ring. who possibly come back to you and say. hey we got too much work. or i have got a guy who will do this.

hopes that helps
Simon

[Luke122]

Quote: When founding the company Michael stated "I have watched people blow this for 20 years, Maybe it time for me to do it right." He did.

Also on the same page, "He has is having tremendous success."

[Luke122]

Services page, another typo:

"Each division is tailored to SUITE your needs." - suit

"All prices fixed rate and come with.." grammar issue here.. "are fixed rate"

"Our goal is to OVER you the" - offer

"... please click on the (Name the icon)." - just an incomplete here

[slaveofconvention]

One of the cheapest ways to get your message out there is flyers on car windscreens - as annoying as they are, there aren't many ways you can get 4-6 ad's into the hands of real people for the price of a single sheet of A4... Sure - 95% of them will go into the bin, but the other 5% will more than cover the cost - as a not-so-nice side benefit - the litter may even get you a little business too... Best thing about this method is it can seriously kick-start the whole word-of-mouth aspect which is, frankly, the BEST advertising money can't buy..... Make them small - 4-6 to a sheet - people are more likely (albeit slightly) to keep a small piece of paper than a whole big sheet...

One word of warning though - I once knew a guy who lived somewhere there was a law which made HIM liable for the litter if the general public threw the flyers on the floor.

[Oneslowz28]

I get a decent surge whenever I send out post cards. I will send out about 1000 and get about 200 inquiries and 30-50 or so customers in return.

Another great thing to do is get listed in the yellow pages for your area. Most people advise against this now days but it has netted me lots of business.

The last thing I do is hand out discount coupons to my customers for them to give to their friends. Usually 5%-15% off. This brings in some business.

Well I guess I should add that the best advertising you could possibly have is word of mouth from current and past clients. People tend to trust their friends more than any review or website. Maybe offer a referral system. Give the person a $10 bill or a discount on your services for every client they send you.

This has worked for me for 2 years and I have been in the green since the first six month mark. Most businesses stay in the red for the first 2-5 years. So my strategies have been working out great.

[Oneslowz28]

Oh... I would advise against fliers on windshields. There are states and cities where they will fine you for doing that, a guy here in town did it for his tanning salon and the city fined him a $2000 littering fine for every flier they found on the ground. He wound up having to pay over $100,000 in fines. $$$ is tight right now in most local governments and they will bend and stretch the rules how ever they need to to shore up the budgets.

Maybe have a vinyl sign put on your rear window of your vehicle too. Shouldn't cost more than $50 and will be constant advertising.

I budget about 15% of my estimated annual gross for marketing. I know construction companies and other local companies who budget 25%. its all in how busy you want to be.

[slaveofconvention]

One word of warning though - I once knew a guy who lived somewhere there was a law which made HIM liable for the litter if the general public threw the flyers on the floor.


Oh... I would advise against fliers on windshields. There are states and cities where they will fine you for doing that

I did kinda put that warning out there - I only mention it because, lets face it, 6 to a page, you can realistically do 3000 ad's for a ream of paper and a quarter of a toner cartridge - even ONE job from them would probably pay for the cost of doing it in the first place.

Combine it with Oneslowz suggestion about the discount voucher - might be a little more of a draw then...

One other thing - if you get a job for a company - get there 10-15 mins early - and be friendly with the staff - even the ones you aren't there to see - I've lost count of the number of private jobs I've picked up from employees of businesses who have hired me...

[Luke122]

One other thing - if you get a job for a company - get there 10-15 mins early - and be friendly with the staff - even the ones you aren't there to see - I've lost count of the number of private jobs I've picked up from employees of businesses who have hired me...

+1 - Same here!

[Trace]

I have to agree with the discount idea. Print the discount coupon on the back of your business card.

Some coupon clippers will hold on to it, pass it along, etc, and it has all your information.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Omega,

1. You are going for two markets that are very different - you will need different strategies. I would even consider creating two brands - particularly for the business sector an "all round shop" is less inviting than what appears to be a business dedicated service.

2. Good idea for homes: leaflet through doors with a targetted campaign. Go for the middle class and wealthy areas near you where people have more money than computer skills and put a well designed and made, preferably card, promotional flyer that lists your relevant services. Also yellow pages, free papers etc and local computer fairs are worth investigating.

3. In the business market the sales technique is totally different. You can use flyers. You want a yellow pages listing. You can cold call small businesses and sell your services in a soft way by introducing yourselves and asking how they are supported and how well it works ... just get talking to people and networking ... you will find out who your competitors are and get good ideas. Then when you have one of these contacts decide they want to change their supplier you will be in the door already. You may also in making such calls find people who are unhappy now and ready to change but lazy.

Once you have your first business client treat them well and the word of mouth will start. Still keep up any other activities. You loose clients as well as winning them in business.

Most new businesses fail from lack of capital - in a service business your clients and goodwill are your capital. Don't be scared to spend a little $$ on marketing but spend it wisely to get some capital (clients).

Best wishes with your new venture - it sounds like an exciting move forward.

Matthew