By Nigel Bullers and Joanne Kuipers

Want to get more business? Better qualified customers?

Not sure how to promote yourself or your business?

As a home renovation contractor you know there’s a lot of competition out there. And you know it’s hard to find the time to even think about how you are going to promote your business.

Plan Out Your Advertising Campaign

Advertising is only expensive if it doesn’t work. You have to look at it as an investment. You must also use different mediums in order to reach a more diverse group of clients and that will ultimately deliver a greater ROI (return on investment).

It is very important to set a budget for the whole year and stick to it. Take time during the slower months to figure out how much more business you want, how you want to advertise, and how much you are committed to spending. If you take the time to do this you will create a better more effective plan and you will save money by not doing a little here and a little there. During the year when you get approached by advertising salespeople trying to sell you something you don’t have to give it another thought because you have already decided what you are doing. You can always consider what they are offering when you are planning next year’s advertising.

Planning your advertising a year in advance also removes a lot of stress and pressure from these salespeople. Simply tell them that they can call on you at that time of the year if you want to even think about doing business with them.

Market Your Business With Yellow Pages

Media Mix The first place to start would be the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages is sometimes overlooked in today’s market but it is still the most used directory. It has the most complete listings of all businesses and that is why in Canada, for example, it is used eight times more than any competitor.

When people are ready to buy they will look for you in the Yellow Pages. The average ROI is $26 to every $1 you invest. Your Yellow Pages advertising will also go onto yellowpages.ca and canada411.ca. You can ask your Yellow Pages rep to do some research for you; they have access to specific information:

• Demographics of each area or market.
• On-line traffic reports for your type of business in each market
• Results for print ads.
• Call measurement studies, where they give the advertiser a specific phone number that is only published in that ad.
• Track the amount of calls they get and give them a report.
• You can also ask to see the ones they have done with other businesses.

Designing a Display Ad

When designing a display ad it’s important to quickly create interest.  People have only seconds to glance at your specific ad which seems like a challenge, but the good news is that they only need a brief moment to decide.  You do need to think about why someone would be motivated to use your service?  Do you offer the best service, best quality? Once you determine what that reason is then placing a short value statement, or pitch at the top of the ad will generate interest, that’s your “Brand Difference”.    If you are not sure simply look in the Yellow Pages and see what your competition is doing. If you want to attract higher end clients you can design your ad to reflect this by making it look expensive through colour and graphics. If you don’t have a logo contact a company that can create one for you like  Advantage Solutions  or you can contact a college to see if they have students that can do this for you.

Signage

Another way to get your name out there is with signage. When working on a project put up signs with your name, number, and website on it. Keep it simple. Have signage on your vehicle as well. But it is important to remember that people will now make assumptions about you business based on the look and quality of that signage.  It will be important to keep the signs clean, and the area where signs are displayed such as on the side of a truck.  Whether its fair or not people will make assumptions about you quality of work based on how clean your truck is, that may also apply to the driving habits of your personnel.

Direct Mail-Direct Response

Using Direct Mail is also very effective. It works really well if you have the right offer. If you have Val Pak available in your area I would suggest that. And mail the same area over and over again. People have to see you more that once before they necessarily do business with you.

Display advertising in the newspaper is hit and miss. Instead I would suggest just doing a weekly classified ad.

Craig’s List has become one of the number one ways that people find service providers in their market.

Internet On Line Exposure

If you do not already have a website, it may be important to get one. Start by accumulating pictures of your work, before and after stories and shots are a great way of highlighting your work. With digital cameras it’s not hard to do. If you are a tech savvy and have time, you could do it yourself.

There are a lot of free resources on the internet. Or contact a company that can create the site for you: Advantage Solutions Call around for rates. Since your business is aesthetic people need to see your work. Get testimonials from past customers as well.

By using these different media mixes you will be able to set up a successful and cost effective advertising plan. As a matter of fact, when you combine Yellow Pages advertising with your direct mail campaign, you increase your ROI on the direct mail by 15%.