Question on contractortalk.com:
What is the best advertising that gets the best results. I know word of mouth i have been running my business on word of mouth but i want to exspand my business.thanks
No editing for grammar and spelling here . . . I want you to see the question as it is.
Here, in my opinion, is the best answer so far, from the owner of Flash Heating and Home Repair llc. in Boisie, ID.
Ask customers to write reviews about your business on line. That helped me out a lot. There are several things. It’s hard because it’s easy to get no roi and the money is hard to come by.I also have had some success with getting a rubber stamp customized, sized to fit on a post it note and disprersed them on doors during the slow time. First thing though is to make an offer, and focus on a point.The seo thing should help, but, I think everybody is beating each other up to be on top of the seo, and that cost a lot of money unless you have the knowledge to diy.
This stuff isn’t rocket science, but the suggestions are simple, relatively easy to implement and are certainly frugal.
Could the person who answered this question do more, without spending much more money? Certainly. A modest investment in his website to enhance its effectiveness, especially with testimonials (video and print) may work wonders for SEO, without spending excessive sums on third-party services. (He should also fix the referral link from his contractortalk.com signature line.)
However, we have to put ambitions and values in context. If your aspiration is to operate a modest business with one or two people you really don’t need to, nor should, spend a lot of money on marketing. If you are successful (and you will be if you do it right) all you will do is create “too much work” for yourself and then you have to think of how to hire/manage employees, create business systems and management processes, delegate effectively and deal with all sorts of additional complexity.
If all you want is a simple and very small business, your goal with marketing is to allow yourself some ability to select your clients — the ones who will pay your price and not waste your time and money. Here, simple (and virtually free) stuff works best, virtually all the time.
