Advertisement is something that all businesses need to look into, especially in the beginning, otherwise nobody will know who you are and what you do.
I’ve tried it all, be it magazines, newspapers, social media, leaflets and more. I don’t envy anyone who is starting out in business and trying to find the right type of advertisement that works for them. Sometimes what works for some, may not work for you and vice versa.
I spend a lot less money now on advertisement compared to the start of my business adventure because I have now built a customer base and don’t need to worry too much about the quiet periods that I used to go through on a regular basis.
You will always have some older people who have been in business for a long time, who will give you advice on where you should advertise and how well their business done out of that particular newspaper or whatever, but the truth of the matter is, that’s old school advertisement and things have changed. I’m not saying don’t listen to these people at all, keep it all in mind when considering your options on advertising.
I’ve tried and tested these magazines and newspapers and no matter how many thousands of people that can potentially view your advert with this company, it’s usually a complete and utter waste of money. I just find these methods out dated now and you’ll always get the pushy sales person who wants to try to sign you up with them.
If it does sound good then do some research into what businesses think of that magazine who want you to sign up with them, by contacting some of the smaller businesses who advertise with that magazine, find out if it’s been good for them or a complete waste of time and money.
Don’t commit because it sounds good, that’s just a good sales spiel and that’s the job of the sales person trying to sign you up.
New forms of advertisement are online in the form of your website working in collaboration with good SEO (Search Engine Optimisation e.g. Google search), social media like Facebook & Instagram or reputable companies who can get you noticed on their website such as Yell, which for anyone outside of the U.K, it’s the big book of all businesses that everyone gets posted each year. Even these guys are moving online because it’s where people look for what they want.
Having social media can give you some attention which is good because first of all it’s free, and second, it’s where most people ‘hang about’, be it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram etc.
So, you might get the odd job with social media but personally I think it’s more important to have a presence which allows you to update your status if you have to shut the business early that day.
It also helps with showing people previous work carried out and current jobs that you are working on, and as the old saying goes ‘a picture can say a thousand words’.
On Facebook, there is your ‘review’ section which allows people to leave a review and a star rating which can build your reputation up. Most importantly though, it’s free!
Another method which I have found works pretty good is branding my company vehicle because it shows the business off to so many people with a glance, it doesn’t cost a lot of money to do either but thousands upon thousands of people will look at your vehicle each year and statistically you will get something out of this.
Just remember to keep your vehicle presentable by making sure it’s clean and isn’t all dented and scratched, make sure that your branding isn’t a headache to look at either, and by headache, I mean too much information which is unattractive to look at, just keep it simple.
And one more thing if you brand your vehicle, drive with courtesy and not like a maniac with road rage because remember, you are promoting your business in that vehicle and you don’t want to make too much of a scene for that split second of road rage.
The thing about advertising, is that you need to try things that work for your business and what works for one business may not work for your business.
@sheeshkababage