Marketing a local business

[barringtonfreight]

A friend of mine runs a local business fitting bathrooms, kitchens, plumbing, tiling, fitting new boilers and power flushing heating systems.

He came to my house last night looking for help with getting new customers. I suggested leaflets, updating his website, some social media, but what other areas should he focus?

Your help and suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[astutiumRob]

but what other areas should he focus?

Yellow pages - people so still look for "tradesmen" (and takeaways) in there

But mostly, he needs to get the existing clients to tell their friends

 

[paulstewart64]

Gosh, there are so many things your friend can do.

Fliers done correctly can work, sandwich board advertising whilst working in a house, joining local Facebook business groups, good advertising, referrals, setting up correct maintenance programs for re-visits.

The list could go on but the important part is not so much of where your friend can be seen but the quality of the messages they present when they are seen.

Good luck

 

[billtheinvoice]

If he's at a loss and doesn't have a marketing head then he should see what his competitors do. Are they online? Are they on the Yellow Pages?

Get his business into local directories first. Do the leaflet thing and spend some hard graft posting them into households.

Spread the word on social media sites etc.

I'd also speak to building contractors and get yourself known to them.

 

[farnbeyond]

We find flyers are a very good place to start. If nothing else they are an opportunity to focus on the overall message and then looking at locally distributing these, especially on the streets he is working.

As Paul suggested the outdoor signage board is another good idea for building awareness.

Following on from this, utilising social networks with images of the completed work would be great for the bathrooms and kitchens. I think that the photographs would work well on facebook particularly.

Adding the photos as a news feed and gallery to the website would also be beneficial. We use wordpress for all our client websites which is great for adding a blog/news feed.

As everything spans the full range of design, print & digital requirements, i would recommend speaking to companies which offer all of these services as this should reduce costs and ensure consistency throughout everything.

 

[TheOpportunityMan]

The first thing your friend should do is research. Before spending time with a website and online marketing you should check to see how much web traffic there is for what he does. You should also define who would be good referral sources for what he does in other words who else is dealing with the same people he might be dealing with and how can you build a relationship with them to generate referrals. Something to remember, the more time you spend trying to figure out how to do your own marketing and how to make more sales on your own, the more likely you are going to be to struggle to grow the business. Sometimes it's better to consult with someone and help you get it right quickly and get the cash flowing. Just my insight from having built six companies and having done it both the easy way and the hard way.

Make it a great & profitable day,

Thomas Fulmer
Thomas Fulmer Company Inc.

 

[Rich Best]

I would suggest he concentrates on social media. It's such a useful tool and as it's free will be a great, no-lose way of promoting his new business.

Avoid Yell.com, businesses tend to see this as a great opportunity but in my experience people are still more likely to pick up the yellow pages and your business can easily get lost amongst the million other listed businesses on there with little opportunity to set yourself apart.

Get on Twitter, Facebook and G+ and you won't go too far wrong.

 

[TheDeacon]

Your recommendations are good!

I would suggest a leaflet door drop in areas that he has worked before & knows have potential.

5,000 A5 leaflets will cost around £50-70 to print.

If he can find some trustworthy youths to deliver them he could probably get away with £100-200 delivery costs.

Leaflet should be simple, brief and to the point.

They should detail his services and direct them to online pictures of his previous work on something free services like Tumblr, Flickr etc with a testimonials for each.

If this generates a 0.5% response he could expect 25 new leads then it is up to him to win the business.

This process can easily be repeated & upscaled.

I would also suggest contacting previous customers to see if they need any more work doing, if they don't he should offer them an attractive bounty (say £500 on a big job) to recommend a friend.

The beauty being he will have a trusted referral selling in his services with no incremental cost - reward payment can rolled into his invoice and only paid on completion of the work and full payment by the new client.

 

[telemax]

If he can find some trustworthy youths to deliver them he could probably get away with £100-200 delivery costs.

I'd go a step further and leave the trustworthy youths out of the equation. People do not buy leaflets, they buy people.

I'd do it myself and knock on every door and hand as many leaflets out personally as possible.

'I Just want to hand you our leaflet, so you can see the quality of our work for yourselves;'

I reckon a week of that would yield many more quotes than just dropping them in.

 

[hughsie0016]

A friend of mine runs a local business fitting bathrooms, kitchens, plumbing, tiling, fitting new boilers and power flushing heating systems.

He came to my house last night looking for help with getting new customers. I suggested leaflets, updating his website, some social media, but what other areas should he focus?

Your help and suggestions would be appreciated.

Google + Local Listing and Google + Business Page - provides perfect ranking opportunities for a local business

Mobile Friendly Website - 72% plus or minus now search for local service providers on mobile devices.

Explore and potentially advertise on london.backpage.com - allegedly bigger than Craigslist - sorry can't post actual links as new to the forum.

Blog a lot as really easy to optimise a blog article for local based businesses.

Hope that helps as a start

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

1). Get a good website with good copy
2). Start a geo-targeted Adwords campaign
3). Do some basic SEO to target local search terms

It's usually far less competitive for local businesses to get a lot of exposure in-front of local people looking for such services online. I would at least get something in place to cover that source of prospect clients whilst looking at alternative marketing methods as well. It doesn't require anything particularly flashy.

 

[degadar]

… and try buying some leads from a quality lead provider

 

[patientlady]

I'd go a step further and leave the trustworthy youths out of the equation. People do not buy leaflets, they buy people.

I'd do it myself and knock on every door and hand as many leaflets out personally as possible.

'I Just want to hand you our leaflet, so you can see the quality of our work for yourselves;'

I reckon a week of that would yield many more quotes than just dropping them in.

And remember to call 101 first, and when you have finshed call again

 

[Steve@WMG]

You could advertise on the entertainment section on Sky Tv for £1,000. Which will enhance your business and get you some global recognition. By doing this you can also place a banner on your website stating "As Seen On Tv"

 

[CallboxInc]

Make sure that they have a website, a really good one. SEO, social media and yellow pages. Start with those first.

 

[Cynic]

His best bet is working with developers and contractors and focusing on getting the bigger orders not these mass market 'hail mary' strategies.

 

[johnmark03]

Hello, You have to use local classified sites to promote your local business..
The local ad posting sites will give you best advantage ...

 

[Storage King]

Does he have a sign written van?

 

[S-Marketing]

… and try buying some leads from a quality lead provider

If the guy needs to buy leads, he will know he has hit rock bottom, which may be the kick he needs to sort his business out.

A radical plan, but it just might work.

 

[petersoftware]

Hello, You have to use local classified sites to promote your local business..
The local ad posting sites will give you best advantage ...

I agree in using a local classified website. Most people these days search online rather that through a Yellow Pages.

Take a look at LocalSquare where they could list their business in the Services section. It is completely free and they can link back to their business website as well.

Also could try Gumtree and there are a few others as well.

 

[icleary]

Needtagger and social123 are good tools to find business on social media.

 

[Nord20]

Instead of leaflets, I would do fridge magnets, although it would obviously be more expensive.

I get dozens of tradesman's leaflets every week, so unless I need something doing on the day it arrives, it invariably goes in the bin.

A fridge magnet gives you somewhere obvious to put it and it's right in front you several times a day - perfect for being at the front of the mind when you decide you need some work doing.

 

[Marketester]

The first thing your friend should do is research. Before spending time with a website and online marketing you should check to see how much web traffic there is for what he does. You should also define who would be good referral sources for what he does in other words who else is dealing with the same people he might be dealing with and how can you build a relationship with them to generate referrals. Something to remember, the more time you spend trying to figure out how to do your own marketing and how to make more sales on your own, the more likely you are going to be to struggle to grow the business. Sometimes it's better to consult with someone and help you get it right quickly and get the cash flowing. Just my insight from having built six companies and having done it both the easy way and the hard way.

Make it a great & profitable day,

Thomas Fulmer
Thomas Fulmer Company Inc.

Well I couldn’t have said it been myself TheOpportunityMan!

 

[BusyVids]

Local newspapers and free papers might bring in some enquiries, the Yellow Pages and Thompson Local are becoming a thing of the past and a waste of money. Door to door leaflets might bring the odd enquiry but most people google these days so that's where he needs to be. A good website with good content, before and after photos, and fully optimised for the search engines. A Facebook page and referrals from friends, family and satisfied cutomers also.

 

[JandJC]

Tell your friend to contact every Estate Agents in the area and develop a partnership - suggest that he is willing to offer landlords (Private renting sector) 15% cheaper than the competitors.

Try and become a referred tradesman by an Estate Agency - think of Property Management as the key to broker some type of deal; even if it means dealing with the actual agents premises at a greater discount.

Think about it!