just wondering.. what have you found to be the best way of advertising your business to the local community?? before i go any further i also will accept any info from THE MODS about how to advertise on here.

i wont go into too much detail (unless im allowed to) about what my company does other than we provide a service that includes the commercial sector.

i am used to sub contracting and travelling thousands of miles a year but want to specialise in providing a local service to south yorkshire and north derbyshire.

if im allowed to state what my company does then can a MOD please advise on the thread and i will personally edit.

any help/advice from anyone in the know would be greatfully received.





thanks
rob.:D

Probably by starting a thread on a forum like this with your company name and phone number on the left :P

Can't say I'm an expert but the internet, yellow pages (although a bit pricey) and word of mouth are always a good start.
I'd mark your vehicles up too if you haven't already it's free advertising space and there's some tax thing (sorry my memory is shoddy!) that means it can entitle you to paying a bit less (not sure if that's true for company/pool vehicles though)

hi, thanks for the reply, if you like i could remove the phone number, i didnt know whether that may cause a bad reaction from a MOD or not as i have never posted on here before, has my thread been deleted then because i cant seem to be able to find it in discussion and was counting on local feed back.

ive listed my company on here and will be upgrading soon depending on feedback i get on this thread. no offence intended honestly that is why i called for MODS too have a say on the matter. i have heard good things about this forum with regards to gathering usefull public opinion and also regarding company advertising etc..

I think rainresuce on here still wanting signe writing on van how about funding that and advertising your buisness on the van just a thought PM her if interested.

i have been self employed for a lot of years and to be homest my business requires national not local.

there cant be sufficient work for me locally as i work in a minority interest business so i have to travel a lot.

not a lot of point in me advertising locally really.

if your business can survive locally then there are loads of ways to promote that, but the first is more important.

isolate all the ways you can waste your time first. then what ever is left mailshot.

no point in pushing info to people not interested at all.

i have been self employed for a lot of years and to be homest my business requires national not local.

there cant be sufficient work for me locally as i work in a minority interest business so i have to travel a lot.

not a lot of point in me advertising locally really.

if your business can survive locally then there are loads of ways to promote that, but the first is more important.

isolate all the ways you can waste your time first. then what ever is left mailshot.

no point in pushing info to people not interested at all.

i agree totally, im in my second year now as a self employed engineer and need info on how to put my name out there to the correct people rather than try to get everyone to buy into it, i understand that putting myself in front of people that dont require my services is a waste of time and resources.

i thought about yell.com but some of the feedback i have had from people i know hasnt been too positive and it seems expensive for what it is.

what i would like is advice on how to get my company noticed within the area i work for the least amount of expenditure as possible. i.e letters, emails, phone calls etc.. what do people find to be the most effective channel?

I bit the bullet 25yrs ago with my business and advertised through YP. Advertised for a total of 6yrs and never advertised since. Advertising proves nothing of your competence or worth, it just puts you out there. The real test is your ability and accessibility to whatever it is you're trading.
100% of my work is word of mouth.
To the OP....you mention that you're an engineer...what type of engineer? (Just checked...refrigeration). does that mean domestic? Industrial?

On the left hand side of the screen, there is a link to "Advertise on SF", which may be useful as regards this site in particular. That should help you with regard to your location status, and how you can advertise on here ;)

hi, thanks for the reply, if you like i could remove the phone number, i didnt know whether that may cause a bad reaction from a MOD or not as i have never posted on here before, has my thread been deleted then because i cant seem to be able to find it in discussion and was counting on local feed back.

ive listed my company on here and will be upgrading soon depending on feedback i get on this thread. no offence intended honestly that is why i called for MODS too have a say on the matter. i have heard good things about this forum with regards to gathering usefull public opinion and also regarding company advertising etc..

Put the company details in your autosignature

For local businesses work on your SEO and register with Google maps. If the service you offer is an established type with a catagory recognised by Yell, put on Yell too.

If really local, try magazines like Grapevine for advertising too.

Good luck

There is a sticky thread at the top of the business forum index which details what you cannot do with regards advertising/promoting your business on the forums. But in a nutshell, it is not permitted within the posts themselves. As said above, stick details in your signature space and also add to the forum directory.

PS where your profile asks for location - it means exactly that - so you weill need to remove the company details and add only your location.

in my experience, it depends where you are situated. When I was in Sheffield, I found Y Pages the best, Thomsons worse, and parish magazines no help. here in North East Derbyshire, Y Pages don't work at all, parish magazines work, Thompsons to a small degree.

A good website containing the most apt words and phrases is probably one of the best ways.

Don't let your company vehicle (if signwritten) be seen every day in the pub car park!

SMITHY266 can i ask how much it cost you to be on yell for the year and what is a parish magazine? is it like the trader and the guardian etc...?

We advertised on Yell.com the other year and it cost about £110+ vat. We got about 4 calls from it, this could have been down to the recession. The best advertisement is word of mouth and it's free:hihi:. However if your a new company you have to start somewhere in order get your customers in the first place, so yell.com might be a starting point. But beware of how many other refrigeration engineers are on the site.

just wondering.. what have you found to be the best way of advertising your business to the local community?? before i go any further i also will accept any info from THE MODS about how to advertise on here.

i wont go into too much detail (unless im allowed to) about what my company does other than we provide a service that includes the commercial sector.

i am used to sub contracting and travelling thousands of miles a year but want to specialise in providing a local service to south yorkshire and north derbyshire.

if im allowed to state what my company does then can a MOD please advise on the thread and i will personally edit.

any help/advice from anyone in the know would be greatfully received.





thanks
rob.:D

The best way to advertise on the Forum what your company does, is in your signature.
Increasingly people are using the internet which appears recession proof in terms of numbers using it for goods and services, an example of this is that I today received the new Yellow Pages which each year reduces down from 1308 pages to 1064 it may work for certain well known trades Plumber Electrician etc but for other businesses there are more effective ways of advertising.

The best way to advertise on the Forum what your company does, is in your signature.
Increasingly people are using the internet which appears recession proof in terms of numbers using it for goods and services, an example of this is that I today received the new Yellow Pages which each year reduces down from 1308 pages to 1064 it may work for certain well known trades Plumber Electrician etc but for other businesses there are more effective ways of advertising.

thanks very much for this response, i think i will bite the bullet and register on yell.com. like you say its a surefire way of getting at least a few calls and im sure that after a few years i will gegin to see the fruits of the snowball effect. i'l give it a whirl and see what happens. thanks.

please, any more advice would be great.:D

I have just registered will yell I think for the price you may as well bite the bullet. Like was mentioned previously hopefully word of mouth will kick in shortly after you start building up but hopefully yell etc may get your name around.