How do you avertise

[lockmonkey]

Hi my company has been running for nearly a year and we were doing well with various council sub contracts and a bit of google adwords .
However the multi trade staff have all but nicked our bread and butter lock changes etc and now we just get the rubbish.
Needless to say our work has dropped badly .
Google is costing a lot for not very much as im fighting national companys who im sure just pay some one to click on the ads costing us soletraders a fortune for nothing .
So my question is this how is everybody else advertising and what has worked best
Any help or ideas would b great
Thanks

[alockguru]

I do very well with word of mouth. Hand a card to everyone you help and make sure to visit all the local businesses in your area and speak with the managers or customer service people. Never fails.

[lockmonkey]

Thanks I do give out cards etc to all just wondered if I was missing any good ideas as trying to keep up is a nightmare lol

[Warbs87]

Yeah, business cards are the best for me. I have them on every bulletin board in town. I have also stopped at every business to tell them how I can help them and leave a card. It has worked great so far. Our community has a local facebook group to promote businesses. It has been a good source of business too.

Google Business adds are good as well. Its free and a decent listing to have, I have had a few people mention they found me on google. Can't beat free advertising. https://www.google.ca/business/placesforbusiness/

I also run a sign shop on the side so I have my vehicle decaled up with my business name it helps and is pretty cheap to get put on. $100 and stays on for years.

[billdeserthills]

I like to place a "bulletin board" type ad in a local newspaper in the area(s) I like to service. Many folks have told me that they saw my ad in the local paper. I also hand out a couple of business cards anytime I do work. Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get, but it is hard to count on it to work. Lately I have been getting so desperate for work that I have allowed a couple of online-based companies to begin some advertising for me. Hopefully that brings in more than just bills

[globallockytoo]

do yourself a favor and build a blog to write articles related to the trade, your business and your jobs in your area. Write about 8 articles a month and write with correct spelling and grammar. Include pictures, video and new original content and you will naturally increase your page rank in your ip location (and neighboring locations). Do great quality work and DO NOT be cheaper than your competition. Charge fair value pricing.

I give all customers a free flashlight keyring (with "locksmith", my website and my phone number) instead of a business card, because most people will chuck a business card or stick it in their pocket, forget about it and it goes through the wash, ruining their laundry.

A useful item like a flashlight, they will put on their keyring or in their drawer and see it/use it regularly.

They cost me about 85 cents each and I give 1 or 2 to every customer. They have been the single greatest marketing/advertising for my business.

Start offering products that no one else offers. Always offer 90 days warranty on your labor. Be very friendly and very patient with everyone and the business will come. It is not rocket science, but it doesnt happen overnite.

Forget about Adwords. It is not the product it once was. yes it will keep you at the top of the page, but it will cost you a fortune to be there. And with Google constantly changing their search algorithms, to favor their paid advertisers, you will need to either step up your website content and seo or pay handsomely for virtually no ROI.

Link to websites of colleagues in related trades and not just any link anywhere.

Join up to Home Advisor or Angies List and let them pay for Adwords. Ask every customer to review you online and include those reviews on your website. Include the customers first name and last initial in the review and highlight their location. the search engines will naturally pick up highlighted words and customers in those areas will see your pages raked higher in search.

Go out and kiss babies (expression), shake hands and hand out your keyring everywhere to everyone. The business will flow. Join the BBB and get listed there. Many, many people will look for BBB accreditation, even though it is not necessarily a reflection of your quality, it is a reflection of your honesty.

[billdeserthills]

The BBB was a joke, if someone complains that I did a poor job all I have to do to regain standing is write back and insist the client is mistaken. I had to pay for the "BBB" sign, I think it cost about $60, but when I told them I wasn't paying them anymore as they did not refer even one job inside of a year, they told me they wanted their sign back. I told the guy for $60 he could take it home with him and he threatened me that I was not to display the sign any longer.
I'll tell ya, for years I have been getting phone calls from companies promising to get me more business online. I live in a small town and the phone books are about all gone now. I finally took a couple of those web advertising companies up on their offer & work has been pouring in! it has been like turning on a faucet. I have never spent more money on advertising than I do right now, but all the losing money will, in the future be re-channelled as the phone books have been doing nothing for my business recently.
There are so many locksmith scammers online, I can't even believe the amount of liars willing to claim that they are in My town & available to work, when I am The Only locksmith in these parts. I get calls from folks who try to blame me for shoddy or expensive work that I never did! I saw a $1,300.00 home depot deadbolt installation last year and was actually told that I charged this client for it! I was just dumbfounded as if it were me I would simply refuse to pay & close my door. That is the question I seem to always be asking these idiot clients, oh excuse me, ignorant clients is what I meant. I met a guy, he was charged $100 for a so-called "locksmith" to drive out to his house & drill his deadbolt off He was then offered a new deadbolt in the wrong color installed (but not keyed to the rest of the house) for $50. I asked him, "why did you pay when this guy said it was $40 on the phone?" Oh well, he doesn't know why...

[jedilocksmith08]

There are so many things the average locksmith can do in their down time to build their business. We all know the complex workings of lock, but we can't figure out seo? I'm so tired of hearing about the scammers. We can all do the same things they do but better. The way they market themselves is like having a full page ad in print, they maximize exposure. Ive been thinking of putting an eBook or something together just to show other locksmiths what is possible, and how this can change their business.

We have been forced to adapt. The scammers have set the trend. Unless you are going to overcharge for lockouts, then AdWords is not for you. According to the ledger the average price for a lockout is $65. In most cities to be on top your looking at $30+ a click. If one out of every 2 customers that clicked on your ad actually orders service, you will make about $5 bucks.

Set yourself apart from everyone else in the business. I personally put all of my efforts into the internet. There are so many things that you can do, just stick to it, keep pushing.

[is0]

As previously mentioned: SEO, business cards, flyers and networking. Network network network. One of the best and *cheapest* ways to get your company's name out there is by making your face known to your community. Passing out cards at local events and being "that super nice locksmith guy" go a long long way.

[billdeserthills]

I recently hooked up with "Local Splash", an internet company that advertises for me online. It was like turning on a faucet, I started having extra work to do immediately! You can see them online, they charged me $200 the first month & $100 every month after that. I figured even doing one extra job a month will pay that bill & they have been great. I also paid Link Now Media to put together a web-site for my business. The whole locksmith story they had constructed for my site was too dumb for my liking, so I changed it around as I wished, but it has definately paid for itself. In fact I did a job today for a guy who had taken a picture and sent it to my website and just the one job paid $291
so I can't complain about paying $150 for the website.