Replies

1. 
   NickNukeEm | Oct 20, 2004 02:04am | #1

   1.  Word of mouth.  Members from my church provide me with about 50% of my work, most repeat or referrals to nonmembers.  Not advertising in the formal sense, but rather advertising based on past work.

   2.  I have a small ad in a small paper that services about 4-5 surrounding towns.  I get plenty of work from it, about 30-40% of gross, costs about $150 a quarter.

    

   I never met a tool I didn't like!
2. 
   blue_eyed_devil | Oct 20, 2004 02:31am | #2

   Kipherr, what type of work are you after? Are you urban or rural? What types of advertising have you done?

   blue

   If you want to read a fancy personal signature...  go read someone else's post.
3. 
   bayviewrr | Oct 20, 2004 03:02am | #3

   I live on an island where about 98 % of the homes are vacation homes.  There is a local paper that many people subscribe to at there permenant homes.  When they need something done at their vacation home, that is the first place they go.  It costs me $188.00 per month and I get more than I want from it.  But as stated above, the best jobs I get are from word of mouth.  I find that by doing things well, returning calls and keeping in constant contact with my customers I have established a good reputation in a relatively short period of time. 

4. 
   Piffin | Oct 20, 2004 04:35am | #4

   WOM is the cheapest and most effective. You need to get your customers talking ( good things) about you. That means providing excellent value and craftsmanship and amking sure they know it with a little banter on site, educating them and convincing them you know your stuff without overdoing it. Mostly just let the quality speak for itself.

   But there are other kinds of WOM advertising. I learned that way back about '76 when I hired a kid fresh out of high school. His mother happened to be one of the more active gossips in town - sweet lady but she knew everyone, everyone knew her, and she spent her days jawing.

   My call rate doubled in the next month because of referals from her. Luckily for me, the kid was about the best worker I ever had. Matter of fact, he eventually ended up as my partner for a couple years before we both left town for different reasons.

   A big principle for paid advertising is to do it when they are ready to buy. You won't see many ads for wood stoves in the paper in July, or for in-ground swimming pools in Janruary. Select the audience you want to service and find out what they pay attention to. If you are advertising on the punk rock radio station while the customers with the money you want are listening to classical, better change your dial. If you are leaving business cards in Laundrymats - think about the fact that most users of those businesses are renters who don't hire much remodeling work done. So select your target. Then saturate.

    

    

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5. 
   RW | Oct 20, 2004 04:55am | #5

   I recall Jeff Buck once saying he told a customer they had to "pimp" him off on their friends. I died laughing. Loved it. I said, man, I'm gonna use that someday. Has to be the right person though. Guy I told it to, I said I'm going to have to get you a purple fedora with feathers. He said why. I said so you can play the part when you pimp me off to all the people in your office (lawyers). He laughed so hard - it was a gem at the time.

   Hey Jeff, it works!

   Point being, word of mouth - find a way to generate it, you'll never spend a dime on advertising again.

   "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

1. 
   JeffBuck | Oct 20, 2004 08:05am | #6

   "Hey Jeff, it works!"

   Ya got that right! Like ya said ... gotta be kinda careful who you feed that line too ...

   but it's one they don't forget too soon.

   Glad to hear someone else is dumb enough to give this stuff a try ....

   Jeff

6. 
   RichBeckman | Oct 24, 2004 08:37am | #7

   I've gotten a bit of word of mouth.

   I get lots of repeat business. And I have a couple of customers who tell me that they tell all their friends...

   but I get very few word of mouth calls. It drives me nuts.

   I have an ad in the yellow pages for roofing, but it has really done poorly.

   The yellow page people also gave me, without my knowing it, a listing under Home Improvement. No ad, just an entry in the alphabetical listings. That has gotten me a couple of good jobs.

   But I get most of my business from the lumberyard. They feel confident that they can give my name out and the customer won't be disappointed.

   Rich Beckman

   Another day, another tool.