Best places to advertise a new small business!
Discussion
Am trying to set up a small part-time business offering website design to new and established small-businesses in my area, just trying to target companies who need a site for marketing with no heavy database driven stuff (which I can do just would rather not due to the level of stress it induces within me)
Basically I have the website set up and ready and the only thing I need to do is sort out some advertising and get some work in. There is a little competition in the area but looking at their sites and portfolios I truely believe I can do a much better job.
It's registered with all the search engines, but I was thinking of how to best market it to my target audience of local business owners, obviously i'm on a budget though so won't be in between coronation street and the bill. Was thinking of local papers of which there is one main one and a couple of free papers that are distributed monthly and shop windows although not sure how successful this is. I realise the best advertising is word of mouth and i've received a bit of work this way already, however this certainly doesn't reach everyone who could be interested in the service i'm offering. Not too keen on the idea of cold calling and certainly not keen on SPAM emailing people either as this drives me mad, can it be effective if done correctly though?
Know there's a wealth of knowledge on here so was wondering if anyone had any ideas??
Cheers,
Andy
Basically I have the website set up and ready and the only thing I need to do is sort out some advertising and get some work in. There is a little competition in the area but looking at their sites and portfolios I truely believe I can do a much better job.
It's registered with all the search engines, but I was thinking of how to best market it to my target audience of local business owners, obviously i'm on a budget though so won't be in between coronation street and the bill. Was thinking of local papers of which there is one main one and a couple of free papers that are distributed monthly and shop windows although not sure how successful this is. I realise the best advertising is word of mouth and i've received a bit of work this way already, however this certainly doesn't reach everyone who could be interested in the service i'm offering. Not too keen on the idea of cold calling and certainly not keen on SPAM emailing people either as this drives me mad, can it be effective if done correctly though?
Know there's a wealth of knowledge on here so was wondering if anyone had any ideas??
Cheers,
Andy
I wouldn't bother with local papers unless it can be done very cheaply as they're not targetted at all. Unless there is a special business or technology issue then spend your cash elsewhere.
Do you need to stay local? Self employed webdesigners usually work from home and the only time you may need visit people is for the initial design meeting. Broaden your market and advertise further within your surrounding area.
Have you thought of using google adwords? I'd consider bottom-feeding on relevent keywords to the UK. Just make sure you trach your ROI and conversion rates closely and don't go overboard with your budget!
Cold-calling wouldn't get you too far if you aren't enthusiastic about doing it. I have done a fair bit lately and it's suprisingly easy once you get used to it and can be quite effective. You could always do 'slightly-warmer' calling, where you only target businesses who've got dire sites and point out to them the benefits of investing in yuor services.
I'll post more when I think of it.
p.s. Probably best moved to the business forum
Do you need to stay local? Self employed webdesigners usually work from home and the only time you may need visit people is for the initial design meeting. Broaden your market and advertise further within your surrounding area.
Have you thought of using google adwords? I'd consider bottom-feeding on relevent keywords to the UK. Just make sure you trach your ROI and conversion rates closely and don't go overboard with your budget!
Cold-calling wouldn't get you too far if you aren't enthusiastic about doing it. I have done a fair bit lately and it's suprisingly easy once you get used to it and can be quite effective. You could always do 'slightly-warmer' calling, where you only target businesses who've got dire sites and point out to them the benefits of investing in yuor services.
I'll post more when I think of it.
p.s. Probably best moved to the business forum
Yell.com is pretty good 
Don't waste your money on expensive magazine and newspaper adverts (like me
). Choose your intended market very carefully and send them a well designed A5 flyer. Follow this up with a phone call. If your web site hasn't got one already, a link to other sites that you have designed would be a good way to self-publicise and get prospective clients' attention and interest.
Good luck!
Don't waste your money on expensive magazine and newspaper adverts (like me
). Choose your intended market very carefully and send them a well designed A5 flyer. Follow this up with a phone call. If your web site hasn't got one already, a link to other sites that you have designed would be a good way to self-publicise and get prospective clients' attention and interest. Good luck!
Make up a small inexpensive flyer explaining what you do and how to contact you and then target the business with this that you believe may benefit.
You can go in and hand them over face to face - trying to introduce yourself and your product.
Or
Simply post through their mailbox and hope they get in touch to discuss.
If its not too big an area you could take a couple of days and wander/drive round yourself.
Total cost - Maybe £80 for 1000 A5 flyers...
Its a start anyway and much cheaper than persistent advertising in local papers.
You can go in and hand them over face to face - trying to introduce yourself and your product.
Or
Simply post through their mailbox and hope they get in touch to discuss.
If its not too big an area you could take a couple of days and wander/drive round yourself.
Total cost - Maybe £80 for 1000 A5 flyers...
Its a start anyway and much cheaper than persistent advertising in local papers.
Thanks for all the comments,
I guess marketing it to a larger area would be a good idea, although I figured I'd start small and local, I suppose with web design there's not really any point in doing so. Still, now i've got to work out how to market it to a larger area, and the issue of a much larger list of competitors.
I was considering Yell, but they seemed rather expensive, have you received business through them then EmmaP??
The flyers are definitly in the works, I guess i'm just a little conscious that what i've worked on and delivered will just be discarded and thrown out with the rest of the junk mail (something i'm definitly guilty of doing) Of course I don't expect everyone to be interested and read it, just wish I could be sure someone will!!
As for the free websites, I have built a small portfolio of around 6 sites from doing this kind of work for friends of the family (a bouncy castle company is one of them) and i've also got permission to list some of the larger websites I've worked on for the company im at now and the last place I worked, which is a bonus for the portfolio.
Thanks again for all the advice, appreciate any more people can offer...
Andy
ps. Seems that local paper advertising isn't recommended, i'll stay well away!!
I guess marketing it to a larger area would be a good idea, although I figured I'd start small and local, I suppose with web design there's not really any point in doing so. Still, now i've got to work out how to market it to a larger area, and the issue of a much larger list of competitors.
I was considering Yell, but they seemed rather expensive, have you received business through them then EmmaP??
The flyers are definitly in the works, I guess i'm just a little conscious that what i've worked on and delivered will just be discarded and thrown out with the rest of the junk mail (something i'm definitly guilty of doing) Of course I don't expect everyone to be interested and read it, just wish I could be sure someone will!!
As for the free websites, I have built a small portfolio of around 6 sites from doing this kind of work for friends of the family (a bouncy castle company is one of them) and i've also got permission to list some of the larger websites I've worked on for the company im at now and the last place I worked, which is a bonus for the portfolio.
Thanks again for all the advice, appreciate any more people can offer...
Andy
ps. Seems that local paper advertising isn't recommended, i'll stay well away!!
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