New Business Exposure

[sparkydelux]

Hey Guys,

Without stepping on anyones toes, how would one go about getting the most exposure for a newly started business?

I am finding it difficult to get the maximum exposure for my new venture and would be more than grateful if anyone could point me in the direction of success.

I have tried a few things so far and have had little success. I am becoming dispondent!

Being down in Durban, I think,is about 120% more difficult to secure business.

I am not asking for your trade secrets but just a glimpse of what i'll need to do to try and move forward. PM me if you do not want to post on this site. Any guidence is appreciated.

Regards.

[AndyD]

What is your core business and target market.

[Mark Atkinson]

Hi Sparky,

What a pleasure it is to see more Durban-based members to this site. As you have pointed out, Durban may not exactly be the best place to run a business - BUT on the positive side there is generally less competition. The people here are pretty cool too.

As AndyD has already asked, what do you do and who do you do it for?

Also, do you have a website? Any sort of social media presence? What are you currently doing to market your business? Is your business location dependent?

Good luck! (And please, stick around, this forum is a fantastic community to share and gain knowledge in many different areas. Feel free to ask questions and answer anybody else's! Growing a reputation on a forum is always a great way to start! )

[sparkydelux]

Hey Guys,

Core business is Electrical Installations.

My Target Market is (currently) Domestic / small time installations and maintenance.

My ideal target would be commercial and industrial installations but that will have to come with a decent contact or good leads.

After a decade in the UK I have returned back home, a stranger, and all my leads and contacts have either moved away or overseas. I guess its one of the unfortuantes of leaving the sunny shores of SA for 'greener pastours'.

I am in the process of setting up a website. I am not entirely convinced that this has caught on in SA,unlike the rest of the world with regards to Elelctricans. i am a firm believer that if you are looking for something the internet will have it,but I have yet to see anyone I know search the net for a local electrician. i am still doing the webiste anyway.

My current source for exposure is really handing out business cards at every oppertunity and getting good feed back from my customers or being referred. So far it seems to be 'plodding along' but I was hoping for a more fast track approach.

What are your views on advertising in the news paper (local)? i've also looked at getting my vehicle labelled up either with magnets or sticker type.

Right now, I accept the fact i am starting out and have to start small, but I really want to try aim as high as I can possibly go. I am very ambitious, but not greedy!

Thanks Guys.

[ColinK]

Howzit bud and welcome to the forum

I also do electrical contracting and have been running for a year now,its kinda late so im gonna make this short but hope it helps...

1) I prosume u are not yet registered ,get that done asap
2) dont waste ur time with newspapers,i have spent a shitload on advertising in all areas aspecially newspapers and did not receive 1 call from it...NOT 1!!!!
as for signage NOT 1 either exept for this 1 guy looking for work at my company hahahahahaha
3) flyers is a slow way but u do get calls
4) everyone knows the best way is word of mouth either through friends or family and obviously through clients that is happy with ur service,so as a new business owner make sure you take pride in ur work and put in 200%...

Thats about it at this stage,hope it helps a bit...

[Mark Atkinson]

You say you are "setting up a website". May I ask how you are going about getting this done?

Once it's up, make sure you add yourself and website to Google's local business listings. This is a great source for the odd free lead. I would also advise you to make sure you have at least optimized your website for search engines. If you haven't, your website is not going to go anywhere. (By "anywhere", I mean up the rankings in search engines)

I'd also definitely suggest you take a look at Pay-Per-Click advertising (Google Adwords, Facebook ads, etc.) as this is a great way to drive traffic to your website. If your landing page is good enough, you could be looking at the best source for quality, targeted leads.

In addition, you want to add your business and website to as many relevant directory sites as you can find, just to get your name out there. It probably won't get you a huge number of leads, but it's worth doing anyway.

To be frank, I think you may be wasting your time with local newspaper ads - even more so with branding on your vehicle. I know a couple people who have tried vehicle branding and neither have been at all satisfied with the results over time.

Other than advertising online, networking/word of mouth is your best bet. Good marketing is a process - there isn't really a "quick fix" as such.

One last question I'd like you to answer: What makes you different from every other person offering electrical installations? Why should I choose you over them?

[mother]

hello sparky! I see you're from my old hometown (well, Assagay actually, close enough though). Most beautiful place in all of SA!

In my experience essential services, like plumbing and electrical, get the most out of the Yellow Pages. Average households rely heavily on the Yellow Pages as a FREE one-stop reference for household related service providers. You don't need an expensive full colour ad, you just need a medium sized ad in a block (one-up from the entry level classifieds-type ads).

Good luck!

[murdock]

firstly i wish you the best of luck...and hope things work out for you.

some things to consider,,,there were over 900 electrical contracters in durban at one stage...i am not sure of the figue at the moment.

beware of builders...2 reasons...slow and non payment and secondly work ethics ...they dont know the regulations...but expect you to do the job as if you are togg taken off the street...one bonus is they are hit and run jobs...so you do the work for the builder and move on...been down this road and lost lots of money...not saying dont do bussiness with them just be careful very careful

advertising...yellow pages...did it one year when bussiness was a litlle slow...never again...spent more time quoting....and running after money...i figued that peoples last resort was to go to the yellow pages...so you got all the customers...none of the other rcontractors want to deal with or who were in debt to the other contractors...couldnt wait for the year to be up to remove it.

durban is tight...the fastest way to expand is to socialise...join a running club...canoe club...church...fishing club...whatever...and let people know whay you do...and do a good job at a reasonable price and you wont look back.

there are a lot of electrical contractors closing down...lots of labourers calling themselves electricians who can "do the job"....just add to your challenge...but you get through these times you fly when times are good.

pm me your contact details with some information about what you are capable of doing...