Your thought and ideas are welcome!

[Slinwagh]

I work for myself as an IT bod. The work I do is split 70/30 home and business users.

I am planning on putting some adverts out as my main local competitors so to speak have stopped advertising so It seems to make sense to fill the gap.

Now with regards to the adverts, what do you look for in a add other than contact details of course?

Also I don't trade under any name so to speak, people just phone or I am recommended, would now be a good a time as any to invent a business name for the purposes of the advert etc?

Get your thinking caps on please!

[Briggykins]

Well personally I like to go to the smaller one-man outfits for any jobs I need doing, so I'd be turned off by a business name (but that's just me - probably some people would rather go with a professional outfit). I'd also put something in about your services, but add a couple of extra things most others might not think of, but that are easy to do (like simple data recovery, say, or case cleaning). Just adds a bit of value.

/My £0.02

[Jonny69]

When I was doing this home users really preferred the personal touch of a one-man outfit. Smaller local businesses seemed to be the same but you had to be careful not to let them down, especially the bigger ones who relied on their IT.

The estate agents I worked for eventually moved their IT away from me and over to a company that specialised with estate agency systems. Although I could maintain and manage their software they preferred to pay a company who could offer remote maintenance, backup etc. At a guess I'd say that company was only 2-3 people max but they had the important looking business name and portfolio that I didn't have, so it's all in the marketing.

[AboveTheSalt]

I gave up providing support for home and small users some time ago for two reasons. I often found that I was :

• removing viruses (repeatedly) from home PCs where the children had been attempting to download porn
• sorting out problems for OAPs

In the former case, I couldn't bring myself to point out the cause of the problem to irate parents and in the latter case, I felt guilty about charging a realistic cost to OAPs.

As to small businesses, whilst they almost always 'phoned up in desperation when their email didn't work or they couldn't print and they knew the charges before I started fixing their problem(s), they would almost invariably bitch about the charges, try to get a discount and say that they would have to put the invoice through the books which would take ages and involved reminder 'phone calls - Estate Agents were the worst, Newsagents were the least trouble.

[Desmo]

Originally Posted by Slinwagh

I am planning on putting some adverts out as my main local competitors so to speak have stopped advertising so It seems to make sense to fill the gap.

When times are tough...DON'T STOP ADVERTISING. It's one of the mistakes a lot of people make when the going gets tough.

If you want printed media, give me a shout. If you only want an advert artwork to pop in a printed publication, again, give me a shout

[LeperousDust]

Originally Posted by Desmo

When times are tough...DON'T STOP ADVERTISING. It's one of the mistakes a lot of people make when the going gets tough.

If you want printed media, give me a shout. If you only want an advert artwork to pop in a printed publication, again, give me a shout

Haha you would say that

[Slinwagh]

Originally Posted by Desmo

When times are tough...DON'T STOP ADVERTISING. It's one of the mistakes a lot of people make when the going gets tough.

If you want printed media, give me a shout. If you only want an advert artwork to pop in a printed publication, again, give me a shout

I have never advertised to be honest, all my work has come via word of mouth.

I was actually looking at getting some A5 flyers.

[Desmo]

Originally Posted by Slinwagh

I have never advertised to be honest, all my work has come via word of mouth.

That's fine if that's what you've never done. But plenty of companys stop advertising when they need to tighten their purse strings. It's not the best way forward and it's pretty much marketing fact...ALEX!!!!

Originally Posted by Slinwagh

I was actually looking at getting some A5 flyers.

Give me a shout and I'll give you a price. If you like it, great. If you don't, you can piss off elsewhere

[Fayshun]

Originally Posted by Desmo

Give me a shout and I'll give you a price. If you like it, great. If you don't, you can piss off elsewhere

You should get a job in Marketing Desmo.

[Slinwagh]

Originally Posted by Desmo

Give me a shout and I'll give you a price. If you like it, great. If you don't, you can piss off elsewhere

So what services can you offer Desmo?

I am ready to go now with some adverts, BT have finally installed my new phone line.

For me the most important information is my contact details but from a client poit of view what would you look for in an advert?