Started my first Ads

[generalj]

Well, I started my first ads. I posted in the local weekly newspaper here. $40.00 for 6 weeks. Just in the classified section.

I also put a classified in the bigger paper here that is daily. It cost $171.00 for 28 days. It first posted Sunday.

I also have a nice ad on craigslist.

So far no calls though.

One job call from the local weekly paper will pay for itself easily.
And the bigger paper I figure about 4 or 5 jobs to pay for it. So hopefully I can at least recoup the money.

 

[Bryce W]

Does the newspaper have a "Trades and Services" section? It generally costs more but you will probably get a better response.

 

[SDPCM]

My experience with Craiglist has not been great...other computer operators spam the heck out of it, often posting upwards of five-six times a day. I know it's against their policy but it seems to go on regardless. My ad promptly gets buried underneath it, but I suppose if you are in a less busy area it might work for you. At least it's free.

 

[MHCG]

It seems that everybody in Craigslist is willing to work for next to nothing. I'm not even going to bother competing with that.

 

[TheUrge]

I've posted on craigslist and have got a few responses. MHCG, is right though it's hard to compete with some of the jokers on there especially when they are willing to fix anything for $20.00 a visit.

 

[gadz00ks1]

My first ad runs this week in one of the smaller local newspapers. The ads are expensive @ $30.00 for one week. I've been passing out flyers as well and there is no way Im doing anywork for $20.00. Thats just unprofessional and costly to me. What's the point of being in business if you cannot make any money performing these services?

 

[MrMille]

I wouldn't hire anybody charging $20 USD an hour, just wouldn't feel right.

In Ireland plumbers charge about 60 or 70 an hour,
if a plumber turns up and charges a third of that I would assume
he's a pretend plumber

or some poor plumber who has hit his head on a pipe
who shouldn't be taken advantage of.

 

[seedubya]

I have found that the best ad is one in the local paper, in the classifeds, running the same ad week in, week out until the calls stop coming. Then change the layout and the content and it starts working again. It costs €30/week but I get up to 10 calls a week off it.

 

[MHCG]

I wouldn't hire anybody charging $20 USD an hour, just wouldn't feel right.

In Ireland plumbers charge about 60 or 70 an hour,
if a plumber turns up and charges a third of that I would assume
he's a pretend plumber

or some poor plumber who has hit his head on a pipe
who shouldn't be taken advantage of.

I'm sure most of them are just kids that think they know a thing or two about computers, hoping to make a couple extra bucks. It undercuts the market, but people shopping on craigslist aren't my customers.

 

[MrMille]

I have found that the best ad is one in the local paper, in the classifeds, running the same ad week in, week out until the calls stop coming. Then change the layout and the content and it starts working again. It costs €30/week but I get up to 10 calls a week off it.

I tried the Buy'n'Sell, it was pricey and barely paid for itself, so the work I was doing was almost for free.

Perhaps the Herald or the Irish Times would be a better bet?

 

[14049752]

Regarding Craigslist: I live in an area where other people spam the heck out of the site, work for super cheap, and everything everyone mentioned above.....
BUT! I get a TON of my business from that site! (and none of them have been the type of person that I'd want to say I don't want them as a customer)

I took the time to write a REALLY good ad (in my opinion)...to the point, laid out in a quick html table for easy reading, and gives a link to my website, my e-mail, our phone number, mentions that I'm a REAL registered business with insurance and legal software, etc. I've actually had several customer comment on my ad, telling me that it was "the only ad on the site that showed any professionalism" and various other compliments.
I usually make two posts per week, and leave it at that...and never resort to gimmicks just to catch someone's eye..like using stupid random characters and all that in your heading. I figure, it's free advertising, even if it stops working as well for me, it's worth my two minutes to post an ad every few days.

 

[Dr Edison]

What Does your Ad Say?

What did you put in your successful Craigslist ad?

 

[14049752]

My layout is like this:

Company Logo
Address
Phone Number
E-mail and IM Contacts

A small, two table column; In column 1, services my company offers. In column 2, "Why choose us?" and a list of what I feel are my company's strengths.
I keep this section short and to the point; IE "quick turn around", "laptops are not sent to a third party", "competitive pricing"...that sort of thing.

Below that, I have a quick little paragraph that's essentially explaining that we're industry certified, insured and sell legal software. I mention a few problems that we can fix, and then say that we're a service oriented company and that we won't try to sell junk that the customer doesn't need. Finally, I listed my phone number, e-mail and website again.



I usually post this, but I've been experimenting with posting a sort of open letter to potential customers. For that, I basically just write a few paragraphs promoting my company, a quick background on how we got started, and why a customer would want to choose us over my competition. I don't know how well this is working, only one person commented on that, saying they appreciated the honesty in the post.

 

[generalj]

Well, I got my first job from my ads today.

This one was a call from a home user. See had seen my ad on Craigslist.

Funny thing is I took the advice on the how to layout the add that 14049752 posted earlier. 2 colums, customer service, etc. etc. I posted that ad today and got the call at 4pm today.

Funny thing is this is not only my first job but probably the best job I could have got. I know the first job is always good but et me tell you about it.

The lady called me and said she had a virus and computer was slow and doing funny things. She then said she had called a real store front biz in the area (who I find out later is one of the main ones here) and they "no showed" on her 2 times without even a call.

Wait it gets better. She was recommended this company because her best friend is an accountant locally and uses them for their company pc's. LOL. Well her friend just happened to show up while I was there and the customer let her know about it. Well her friend "the accountant" handed me her card and said give me a call sometime when you have time to talk.

Lol, so not only do I get a customer from one of the big repair shops here I also have potential for my first company contract and accounting help.

Man someone must really be helping me and by someone I mean the one above.

Anyways. Thanks for the tip 14049752 it really seemed to pay off for me today.

Oh yeah, I did spend 4 hours there, I ended up reinstalling her XP, backing up files etc. etc. SP2 updates, antivirus, some drivers etc.

Had her pay me $250.00 for it although I could of got more, but I was happy and I think she was very happy too.

So I get home and I have an email from my website form from a client here in town wanting an Apache server setup and wanted a quote. "SCORE" I have just setup an Apache server, postfix, bind etc. etc. that is actually sitting next to me and hosts my web server and email for my company. So I figure I can get a good amount of money out of this job and help kick start my biz. I just hope he chooses me as a job like this he is probably fishing other potential ppl as it is kind of an above level type job.

Anyways thanks everyone.

 

[14049752]

Glad to hear you got such a nice job, Generalj.

I doubt my layout helped, so much as just generally taking time to write a good ad. Remember to post another in a few days, so it remains fresh...

 

[ootuoyetahi]

i just wanted to follow up and see if the advertising investment had paid off? If so which proved to be the best form?

 

[generalj]

Well to update:

The two newspaper classifieds were money down the drain. I had one call from them and no job.

so about $260 gone, but pays to know that it is not a way to advertise here. I could of paid a lot more for a marketing analysis to tell me that so I am not upset at all.

The craisglist add has been doing well for the week it has been posted with the new layout. 3 calls so far and one job. Potentially got a job pending.

The direct mail still has not arrived to customer homes so I am waiting on that.

So all in all good lessons learned and good progress I think. I really need to get advertising more to get the clients.

I am thinking about paying some kids locally to go drop off some brochures and cards to some areas and see if that helps.

 

[TheUrge]

I also have to say my Craigslist posting has been working well for me too. I got a job on Tuesday from my ad.

The customer as it turns out lives it a very big house in a upper class part of the city. I didn't get a chance to ask what he did, but he seemed to be pretty well off. He wanted me to install a new router for him and get his three pc's online, and install a new cable modem and printer.

I got everything going after a little bit of fiddling around (he ended up buying a Netgear N router - it took me a few minutes to figure out how to get around all the ez setup annoyances). 2 1/2 hours later it was all good to go, and the customer seemed pretty satisfied. It's a good feeling to get quality customers like this guy was.

 

[bagellad]

So which advertising ended up paying off for your business? Sounds like craigs list was really hitting the sweet spot i am surprised it would work so well.

 

[Wheelie]

I've used Craigs List and it works.

By and large the best method of advertising is to make darn sure you take care of all your customer's needs at a fair price. Or I should say: at a price THEY think is fair. If you can do that successfully your customers will advertise your business for you. Trust me this works. I am 4 years out after starting my business and advertising is less than 1% of my gross revenues. Word of mouth is the least expensive way to gain new customers. Think about it. If I have to advertise I have to pass that cost on to my customers. Since I don't have to advertise I give my good customers discounts. I use discounts to throttle my business and my customers love it and appreciate it. So much so they tell all their friends about me.

As you are learning it is very expensive to gain new customers through advertising. Unfortunately you have to do this in years one and two of a new business - there's no way around it. After you've built an established strong and loyal customer base it seems to take a life of its own. My phone rings all the time and I love it. People I don't know account for about 1/3 of all rings. That's a sign you are doing things right. The other 2/3 of the rings are people that I know. When they call me they talk to me like a friend. We have niceties up front and talk about our families or hobbies and then we turn the conversation to business. That's a sign of trust. Work on building relationships with your customers and they'll be there for you.

My first year advertising budget was pretty hefty. Around $10k. Year two I spent around half that. Now, in year four I spend less than $1000 per year and I am constantly busy. My fortune is that I am in a very densely populated area of wealthy single family homes.

If you look at this as a job where you're going into homes and businesses to collect checks you will be grouped together with all the other average (or even bad) service companies. However, if you go into homes and businesses seeking to find and relieve their pains and doing so with good interpersonal skills you will succeed beyond your expectations.