Tossing Out Some Advertising Ideas, Feedback Welcomed

Bertram

I am in the starting steps of getting my business plan down on paper. I have really learned a lot reading on this forum, thanks

I am targeting the small repair & Handyman service industry as my business objective, and part of that has to be marketing & advertising.
My geo-graphical local consists of numerous 55+ age restricted developments, large commuter population, active real-estate market and a lot of new families in the area.
Some target advertising ideas
Train stations & Bus stops. These are major areas of concentrated consumers off to work every morning. Either a small sign near the seating area, and or placing fliers/business card on cars. (If they don't see the adv. in the morning, they will see it when they get into their car. This might piss people off, leaving something on their windshield, but it may work, it's been done before.
55+ communities. They are easy to drive into, as long as you know someone who lives there. (my old man ) These are the consumers who are either retired, or near it. They sold the big house and now have a nice new home, ready for the decorations, paint, flower planting & light landscaping, closet setups, etc)
REAL ESTATE, which kind of go hand in hand with the 55+ communities. More often than not, most people in my area selling their homes of 20-40 years and moving not to far away into the age rest. comm. It's easy when you have access to Realtors(my mom ) to target their needs to ensure an older home can sell, doing the repairs needed just to get the C.O.(Certificate of Occupancy) This can and does hold up the ability so sell.
New Families-moving in daily. Young couples, having children, need to baby proof that house. Perhaps speak with the store manager of retail stores that target these customers. Babys'R'us, etc. Just another service they can provide their customer. Or perhaps (this is a little whacky) offer gift cards for handyman services. Most mother-in-laws know if their son-in-law knows how to use a hammer or screwdriver.

That's it for now. I am trying to think of targeting the least amount of areas for the largest potential. If you know where your customer will be 5 days a week in the morning and at night, put an ad there. Realtors want to get the sale done and commission paid. Help them, give them a "tool" to help ensure the sale will not be held up due to a whole in the sheetrock or door lock not working.
If you wanna target knew families in baby proofing a home, go were they go, go to the retail stores they shop at.

55+ age rest. comm. There is a new one every-other month breaking ground, and people will camp out overnight, in order to make sure they get a deposit in.

Any other ideas welcomed, and advice on the ones mentioned above.

Thanks,

Brett

Mike Finley

If you are going to do handy man work get an ad in the yellow pages. I ran one last year and got tons of calls. I did it as an expirement because I was getting 3 ads for the price of one so I ran a handyman ad for the hell of it. Any type of service or repair work benefits from yellow page advertising, its the exception to the fact that the yellow pages are dying, but not for service work, that's where people still go when they have a problem. Out of the 3 ads I ran the handyman one got calls at least 20 to one over the others.

Here is what the ad looked like that I created specifically for the yellow pages, notice how the company name is barely noticible - that's the secret of yellow page advertising - solve a problem and people will be all over your ad.

If you are looking for cheap stuff to get you started, flyers like you are talking about are going to get some calls. Becareful in a lot of place it is illegal to do what you want to do, mainly because of all the liter it creates with people tossing them on the ground.

If you want to keep busy get in contact with real estate investors they will keep you busy with all kinds of projects they are rehabing.

Bertram

I understand what you are saying about liter, and no, that is not a good thing. Having one ad centrally located, a better alternative.

Real Estate agents will know real estate investors...

One big yellow page ad....I like it. I would have to call and get a pricing for my area. Do you mind me asking what was the average cost for that ad and how long does it run for...I guess it will always run as long as the customer still owns that phone book.

Thanks,

Brett

VTNorm

I'm in a similar business, although not quite the population center - no train stations or bus stops.

I did a direct mail piece to every agent in every realtors office in a 20 mile radius. Got a dozen calls, 5-6 face-to-face meetings and now serve all the needs for 1 office that does all high-end listings. A nice gig. The punch list stuff before/after the sale is nice 1-2 day jobs (that you have to make time for - even on a weekend if you want that brokers business again) but getting an intro to the new home owner is key; they want to add a deck, renovate a bath, remodel the basement - lots of lucrative jobs a solo guy like myself can handle.

I also joined the local chamber of commerce and actually attended the monthly mixers (2 hrs, 1 night a month, free drinks and apps). Lots of contractors, etc, belong to the chamber for the health insurance discount but are not active in the chamber at all. I was the ONLY tradesperson to attend these mixers month after month. Since I wasn't the usual banker, realtor or insurance agent I got alot of attention. Ended up doing work for the exec director of the chamber, president of the local bank and few other business 'leaders' in town...and these folks send me a ton of referrals. Something to think about.

18 months into it and I don't have a yellow pages ad and haven't had to do any advertising in over a year.

Good luck on your end.

-Norm