Hello, Stick Boy
Just thought I would reply because I know what you are up against, I wish I knew how to place my advertising dollars also.
I think that I would say that in your business it would be referrals, People just don’t want just some bozo working on there home, they are a huge investment and they just do not want someone messing things up.
So with that said I would give past customers some sort of bonus for a referral and use the rest for the yellow book and IDO
Some people who sell cars and/or houses will give a 25.00 gift certificate to a restaurant for referrals that end up with a sale. 
Thanks, Bill
Some people give Gift Cert to Everts resort for St Croix Rods for referrals. 
For your business I would print flyers and hit the housing developments. Seems those folks would be looking for people to do decks, basements, garages ect. I know it sounds dumb but I believe as the owner if you took a few Saturdays and went door to door you will do well. As an incentive to the homeowners tell them if you can post a sign in their front yard for 60 days you will discount the job x dollars. Also your trailer should have all your company information on it and should be parked in the street in front of the job where all the neighbors can see it.
Then of course the yellow pages. Though expensive they still get used.
There is a guy in town who stenciled his own yard signs. Says “affordable concrete” with his cell number. He stayed busy in a 3 block radius all last summer.
Stickboy, I have had my own construction business in northeast Iowa for 12 years and have never spent a penny on advertising. Word of mouth is worth millions in advertising. My business usually generates up to 500,000 a year in just labor with just 5 full timers. Do an A plus job and treat you customers with respect, and the work will come. 
I have no lettering on my trucks or trailers, can’t handle anymore and still maintian quality. But if you are just starting out spending $500 to letter your stuff is probably a good idea, along with the yard signs
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There is a guy in town who stenciled his own yard signs. Says “affordable concrete” with his cell number. He stayed busy in a 3 block radius all last summer.
Good Ideas!
I have seen this done before, done with this job, on to the nabors 
Phone books suck, I know my brother spent a big chunk of change on a phone book add, and lost money. I really wonder how many people use really use a phone book, I toss everyone I get in the recycle bin, I use the internet for finding numbers, mainly qwest dex or whatever it’s called this week. Personally I think it’s a big waste of money.
Both Google and Yahoo, seem to turn some business, for my brother if I were spending money on advertising, that’s probably where I’d go. Heck I think you can get free advertising word of mouth off yahoo, where people can rate your business.
Or I’d find a site that sends people to you, get some references. I know my brother does some of that He’s got a few sites out there for water damage and carpet cleaning, and if he get people inquiring out of state, he’s got people that he calls in certain areas to do the jobs.
Lastly those local little flyers may work, the ones that come in the local papers, again I think most people toss them, but I do read those. Not sure it the cost/reward is there though.
I don’t run a business these are just some observations.
Just to clarify- I am not new to the business I have been self employed for several years. Other than word of mouth I havent had any good advertising (except here 
). My trailer is lettered and I do use signs.
The door to door with flyers some one mentioned. Good concept but I cant bring myself to do it. I feel horable knocking on peoples doors and bugging them on there time off. Storm damage as well, I love to do it but refuse to be the guy who chases storms, its just not me. if they call me Great.
Keep them comming it interests me to see how many people actually use what systom, i.e. book/web ect.
The door to door thing, your right to pass on it. Someone knocks on my door to solicit business I tell them to [censored] off. We had wind damage in the area a couple years ago…the neighborhood was CRAWLING with solicitors! There was a meeting at the hall a few days later, the majority of the town was there. The solicitors came up in discussion…NO ONE WAS HAPPY!! 
Same thing up on mille when the wind storm hit a few years back.
The ONLY time I’ve “hired” a solicitor…young kid looking to do some yard work.
Door to door is cheap, hard up and unprofessional.
Can you tell I hate solicitors??
I’ve been lucky the last couple years, word of mouth has kept me working, also self employed. I won’t go door to door either. Follow ups a couple months later have brought in quite a few jobs for me. Either the original customer wanted some other stuff done or family, friends needed work done. Good luck, lots of folks looking for more work right now.
BIRDDOG
Our main focus is customer retention and referrals. Making sure the work is done right and the customer is treated better than what they expect is only part of it. This type of advertising is the cheapest out there so it is a win for both us and the customer also. Other than this most other options seem to be a lot of money for the return you get on them right now.
I think phone books are a waste of paper.I cant believe how many I get and havnt used one in years.I look everything up on the net.Doing quality work and getting referals is still one of the best deals around.
The phone books dropped on the door step go straight from the steps to the garbage. They never even make it in the house.
I will have some work for you this year
Actually;
the vast majority of average people still use the phone book. Proven response is that the same vast majority of people don’t search the phone book much farther than the first page of what they are looking for.
So, if you want a good bang for the buck, advertise on atleast one full page, on the first page of construction in the phone book for advertising.
Yes, lots of savvy people use the internet. How does one person find a local construction guy on the internet? They review the local “yellowpages” of the WWW world.
When you google, do you ever go past the 3rd page if you found primarily what you are looking for on the 1st page?
Same thing applies to the phone book.
Stickboy;
I have a lot of experience with this in my line of work. If you are interested, I can share more with you on this PM system they have here.
I agree with silver, word of mouth, of a job well done, will always get the nod from me. The internet and phone book, are for items and services, which can be bought from long distances. I am guessing, you do work in the Twin Cities and surrounding area. I always like the postcards, in the mail, letting me know who and what services that are local by me. I have been wanting to reseal my driveway since we moved in. Just a week ago, I got a postcard about a local guy, he had a couple addresses listed of his previous work, I could actually go drive by and se it. I saved the card and maybe if I have some cash this spring, he will get my call.
big g
I’m in the same industry, just mainly in commercial construction. The trade journals I read all say the yellow pages (yellowpages.com, qwestdex.com, etc.) have high rates of first contact, but very few turn into jobs.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t try to be everything to everyone, but everything to someone! Do the jobs you do well, follow up with a letter, keep an updated list of references and letters of reference, and do quality work! Word of mouth and references from friends are the best form of advertising.
I know there are a ton of guys out there looking for work, but there are still some contractors who are staying busy, maybe at less profits, but are maintaining their quality employees. My main concern with this slow down is having my “A” team leave if I don’t have work for them.
I do know the slow time this winter has been a great time for me to reflect on business, contact people I have not worked with in a while, work on networking oportunities, and work on my bidding skills 
We should get together and “network” sometime on P4. I am sure we could get some great ideas on how to improve business 
PM sent to you Stick boy.
Broncs
Referrals via networking. Create as many strategic partnerships as possible with other small business owners (land developers, landscapers, realtors, blind vendors, interior decorators, cleaning companies etc…) that are in your industry that compliment your business. Build a sharing forum where you meet periodically and share information (referrals). In must be a two way flow of information in order for it to be successful.
Build a “rewards program” for your referrals that you get from your customers. Don’t do it by “word of mouth”. Put some thought into it, be creative and spend a few marketing dollars. It will pay you back ten fold.
Quick question for those of you that use the internet for finding services. What do you do to find services on the internet. When I look I just use the google search and punch in what Im looking for and the zip code. Love the map feature that pops up with providers and locations closest to you.
What do you find that works for you?
Mike;
Yellowpages.com
Dex.com
Stickboy, I don’t know how much it costs there to advertise in the phonebook but heres in my trade its expensive and it goes two ways. If I need to advertise for work as a drywall finisher doing smaller jobs, they still pay the bills I use the newspaper here. Theres another newspaper here thats called the penny saver and its alot cheaper to advertise in, the person hiring gets thier moneys worth by hiring unskilled help or people needing a quick job, I don’t use thier paper so the bargin papers often aren’t what you need to make a decent living. I’ve also found out that useing the phonebook for advertiseing gets the attention of the people that have the bigger jobs, new homes that are being built and that are in need of a drywaller that can do a whole house. What Im saying is the size of the job also has to do with where people look for a contractor, here the people that have the bigger jobs use the phonebook and the smaller jobs use the newspaper.
What Ive also found out is in the drywall trade and carpentry too is that people will call quite a few contractors if thier looking for a bid in thier price range. Here word of mouth also has alot to do do with who people hire, If thier searching for a bid in thier price range and most seem to be coming in about the same price range they will use the word of mouth bid almost every time even if its higher because its in thier price range.
In the drywall trade here if I advertised in the phonebook id get bids on the higher amount jobs, most of the smaller amount jobs would come from the newspaper. Beings this is the case and I wanted to advertise and get my moneys worth and trying to keep my help busy Id run a (small) ad in the phonebook because if the customer is going to be spending a few thousand thier going to look for competetive bids and save a little money. Id also use the newspaper because of the price of advertising costs will be cheaper and Id get the smaller fillin jobs there, to keep my help busy and also make some money too. Me, Id advertise both places and get too more eyes and I know Id save some money by going this way instead of useing one huge add in the phonebook only. I hope this helps
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Do the jobs you do well, follow up with a letter, keep an updated list of references and letters of reference, and do quality work! Word of mouth and references from friends are the best form of advertising.
DITTO to this….Allways give people more then they expect.
I am allso self employed. Any retail work I do I allways followup with a thank you note for the opurtunity to be of service, and ask if they have any questions or problems with the work completed.
I am amazed at how many replies I get back from people thanking me and how happy they are with the finished product or asking a question, and how this has never happened before ( receiving a thank you for there bussiness ).
If there happens to be a question or problem it is taken care of immediately no excuses.
FOLLOW UP FOLLOW UP
Referrals are what keeps me going. If you provide quality top notch service you can not go wrong. There is only one way to do something and that is the right way. Be proud of what you do and give out the names of previous customers.
Arnie
Another option is neighborhood/city home improvement fairs. Not the bigass home and garden shows where you get lost among thousands of booths, but small scale neighborhood and city home remodeling fairs.
I have a buddy in the granite business that does these and finds it to be worthwhile.
Ingy
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Another option is neighborhood/city home improvement fairs. Not the bigass home and garden shows where you get lost among thousands of booths, but small scale neighborhood and city home remodeling fairs.
I have a buddy in the granite business that does these and finds it to be worthwhile.Ingy
My city is having one in a few months. I was thinking of looking in to it.
Keep them coming. Thanks for all the advice
I was in the market for a new roof last fall and went to the Better Business Bureau’s website.
Picked a couple contractors with no negative reports and got estimates.
The contractor I hired asked if he could put a sign in my yard “brings lots of business” he said with a smile.
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Actually;
the vast majority of average people still use the phone book. Proven response is that the same vast majority of people don’t search the phone book much farther than the first page of what they are looking for.
Shrek hit the nail on the head!
Phone books still get used – a lot! I know a lot of guys have said they throw all their phone books away as soon as they get them here, but think about how many people still don’t own computers and aren’t able to “google” everything they want to find. (I have friends in their 20’s that don’t own or use computers!)
When someone opens up the phone book to a listing – boom there are ads and numbers to call. Think about it, – it’s still easier and faster to look in the phone book than to even type it into the computer and scroll and click to look at someones website for information on what types of work they do.
If you have a good presence on an ad in the phone book (larger ads typically get first placement on the page) you will get calls. Statistics show 83% of the people who are looking for services in the phone book look at and read the ads by a heading first. Of course by having the largest ad on the page you will get the first phone calls (first chance to make an impression to a potential customer), the best calls (the customers who are willing to spend the most and soon) and of course the most calls.
On average people look at 4 ads before making a decision, so you don’t necessarily have to be the biggest on the page if your budget doesn’t allow it.
The next question is which phone books to be in?
There are so many now that it get’s rediculous! There are of course the Yellow Book, Dex, and a pluthera of indepent phone books as well as your local hometown Telephone providor.
A guy could go broke trying to advertise in all of them. Be sure to get in your local area service providers directory as this is usually directly mailed out to the area customers of the Tel co and people really like to use their home directory over some of the other large commercial directories that cover a wider area. By that I mean Yellow book. The Yellow book is obvoiusly well known and if you want to advertise to a larger out lying area around you that may be a good investment of your advertising dollar. They are of course online for those who use yellowbook.com. Be wary of some of the other independent phone books in your area. They will tell you they print X amount of books, but the real question is how do the people get those books? Hire some guy from downtown to go deliver them door to door and instead they get thrown in a dumpster so he can collect his check and get back to the bar???
When people don’t recognize the book that shows up on their door step, they get tossed as most folks only keep one or two in the house that they know and recognize.
Hopefully this helps..
Well put Ethan! 
Keep them coming. I am headed out of town for the week end. I would love to see 300 votes by the end of the week end were at 159 now
Confession: I didn’t read all the replies, I may be repeating someone here.
I did see several people that said they don’t use the phone book, choosing rather to go online to look for what they need. I personally would still put it in the phone book because there are many people out there that are computer illiterate or don’t own a computer and do use the phone book. I do have to agree with one response I saw which was to get your advertisement at the top of the list because I like many people don’t look through the whole list, only until i find what will suit my needs whether online or on paper.
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