Five Marketing Opportunities You’re Probably Missing

To grow your computer repair business, you always need to be marketing. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re overwhelmed with business or barely surviving. It’s a constant process. However, that doesn’t mean you need to spend money to do it. In the course of your business, you might be missing both inexpensive and easy ways to get your message out.

Voicemail: Keep it Timely and Relevant

When people call your business, your voicemail probably says something to the effect of “You’ve reached my business, leave a message, and we’ll call you back.” It’s boring and predictable. It’s also obvious. If someone has a computer, they probably have left a voicemail message before, so they don’t need instructions.

If you’ve ever been on an airplane, you’ve probably heard the safety instructions countless times before. Since airlines compete, they’ve used these safety messages as a way of branding and creating a memorable experience. Take a cue from them and do that on your voicemail. Start marketing the minute someone hears your voice.

Change Your Voicemail Regularly

Although we’ve covered this, it’s work revisiting. Some of the best voicemail messages I hear say the day or at least the week. That communicates to the caller that you’re going to return their call promptly.  After all, if you go into your system to change the message daily, well then you’re probably going to hear their message. It’s subtle, but it will stand out because everyone else’s message is so boring.

Tell Them Why You Aren’t Available

Again, a caller can figure out you aren’t there, so saying you’re unavailable doesn’t promote your business. If you’re changing your voicemail regularly, then you can add a little snippet about what you do in your business and how it might help the caller. You could say something like “I’m checking client backup systems to make sure local small businesses don’t lose valuable data.” You’ve got a wide range of services and clients, so use this as a way to educate callers about things they might not think about.

Make a Marketing Call to Action

Instead of just asking them to leave a message, invite them to ask you about something. Typically it’s related to why you’re not available. You might even offer a discount as part of the call to action. Using the previous example, you could say, “If you’d like to protect your business too, mention it in your message for a free evaluation.”

It’s Easier Than You Think

It might sound like a pain, pardon the pun, changing your message daily or weekly, but it doesn’t need to be hard. Services like YouMail and Google Voice let you upload audio files for outgoing messages. If you record these a week at a time, part of your morning routine can be uploading a new message. Write out your scripts beforehand, so you don’t flub, and feel free to reuse stuff on occasion. Although it might be a little longer than “I’m out, leave a message” you’ve got a captive audience already interested in your product or service.

Email Signature Lines: Marketing Every Interaction

Email isn’t going away, and it’s vital to any computer repair business. Most businesses have a generic signature line. If you’re sending from mobile, it’s defaulting to something promoting the brand of the phone company like Samsung or Apple. If you’re sending it from a desktop, it might have your business or your phone number. That’s boring and typical. It doesn’t have to be.

Services like WiseStamp let you customize your signature using Rich HTML. Like your voicemail, you can use your signature to create a brand, a suggestion, and a call to action.  It shows the people you email another level of professionalism.

Most of these signature services are freemium, giving you basic changes for free and paying for more advanced features. They also integrate with PSAs, CRMS, and other help desk software. If you’re more than a one-person shop, signature lines create character and identity for each person. People, after all, like to do business with people, not nameless companies. They’re also more likely to be understanding when problems occur if they work with an individual. When comparing review funnel services, multiple brands indicated a higher level of customer satisfaction when they included a picture of the person doing the service.

3 Business Cards: Don’t Have Just One

When you look at the overall costs of marketing, business cards have one of the highest returns on investment. They’re cheap to order, and people expect them when doing business. It’s literally a calling card. However, most business owners have just one card. Sure it might be fun, but it might be too generic. You don’t do only one thing and have just one type of customer, why have only one kind of business card?

My business works on Macs and PCs, but unless someone mentions they have both PCs and Macs, they’re going to get a specific card based on their interest. It’s even a conversation starter.  When someone asks for my card, I ask them what type of system they have. Sometimes the potential client will push back wondering why I want to know this just for a business card. Then I tell them why: you’ll get a different business card based on your needs. Most of the time they’re impressed by the level of customization of their needs, and now I have a much more qualified lead.

The same specialization could work for break-fix versus MSP leads or residential versus business. If you work with specific verticals like law or health care, your card could reflect each of those specializations.

You don’t need to keep a dozen types of business cards with you. Even just creating one specialized card moves the ball forward in your marketing game.

Business Cards:  Don’t Forget the Back

When someone hands me a business card with only one side printed, I cringe — what a waste of space. You’ve gone through the hassle of getting cards printed, but your missing 50 percent of your opportunity there.

Some business owners I’ve seen use the front of the card for the general info and change the back depending on specialization. You could put your MSP pitch on the back or your vertical market info. Just be sure to look at the back of the card before you hand it out.

Many printers won’t charge extra for the back of the card, or just charge a minimal amount, so take advantage of it.

Invoices and Receipts:  Extra Profit Marketing

Whether your sending invoices through email, fax, or old-fashioned snail mail, they can say more than just the amount due and the due date.  Since you already know about the client based on what services you’ve rendered, what other opportunities could you offer in closing?

If you’ve bought anything online, you’ve already seen this in emails. Amazon is well-known for suggesting other products or services based on different customer interests. Many brick-and-mortar places print something at the bottom of the receipt to encourage you to come back.

Even if someone has opted out of most of your marketing efforts, they understand the need to get an invoice from you, even if you collect payment at the time of service. Take advantage of that and tell them how you can help them in the future.  What you put at the bottom depends on the size, scope, and client base of your business. You might specialize the message depending on what products or services they got from you, or keep it simple and send a generic message to everyone. The more specialized the message, the more likely they are to act on it, but not all systems allow that level of customization.

Don’t Leave Money on The Table

All of these marketing ideas won’t cost you much money if at all. They’re comfortable and repeatable ways of getting your message across without spending money on ads. These ideas become part of your regular business practices and serve as periodic reminders of what you do and help you close sales with leads and existing clients.

Written by Dave Greenbaum