More ways to promote your business

[Lynne Baker]

OK chaps, my latest wizard wheeze is this:
We have a local independent coffee shop in our little village called Emma's. I get on really well with Emma; she works SO hard and provides a fab service to the village community. She sells LOTS of coffees to go and uses the standard takeaway coffee cups with the attendant sleeves. Soooo, I've found a company which custom prints said sleeves and Emma and I are sharing the costs 50/50. She gets her sleeves a bit cheaper and I get lots of advertising a bit cheaper too.
Caterprint Branded Products Printing Hotel Catering Promotions Advertising

Enjoy!

Perhaps you might be kind enough to like her Facebook page too? Cheeky of me I know!

Welcome to Facebook

 

[EMMA AT ELITE]

Wow! That is a fantastic idea Lynne!

Do you just have your details on the sleeves or one side for you & one side for the coffee shop.

How many did you order & how much did it cost? I have had a look on the website, but no prices.

Many thanks x:hug:x

 

[Sarah22]

This thread is fab, your ideas are amazing!! xx

 

[beautygek]

A couple of things to watch out for when promoting your business.
If you get called by a company called Local Events Calendar, just put the phone down. Don't worry about being rude, just put the phone down. They will try to scam you out of many hundreds of pounds.
If you get called by companies wanting you to advertise on a wall planner to help sick kittens, firemen or somesuch boll*cks, just put the phone down.
If you get called by companies telling you that they can get you on the first page of Google, the chances are they're using Google Adwords to do it, and you can do that yourself, so guess what, just put the phone down.
If you get called by companies telling you that your website needs looking at, they're probably right, but just put the phone down and get word of mouth recommendation, either from here or from someone you know and trust.

I had someone call me a couple of weeks ago from a company saying they can put me on the top list of Google (thought strange as MILLIONS of businesses out there), I told them I would think about it, spoke to the other half who stated it was a scam so I didnt do it ALTHOUGH I was very tempted as he quoted me a min of £29.99. Started my business at the start of March this year and was getting a little desperate but I listened to him. Came onto Salongeek, started reading this thread AND I love you and ALL the people who have contributed to this thread. THANK YOU
So bump, kick up the ladder, give this an A*****, sticky, whatever it needs to be highlighted to be known as FANTASTIC

 

[beautygek]

Hear hear!!!!

Well said Lynne, this post of yours is totally worthy of a gazillion rep points, except that I can't rep you again (yet)...

Rep points? Whats that? I have to give Lynne, Kim Lawless and you... yep you Ruth some acknowledgements for all the help you give on Salongeek.

 

[beautygek]

A little nervous about adding to this fantastic thread but here goes...

What I found useful was getting some leaflets and price lists and other marketing material printed from my old college, they were VERY cheap and the quality of paper was great (they give you a choice). So for example I got 2 thousand leaflets, 300 price lists, 100 record cards (personally created) 4 A4 larger price list, 3 A3 Price list and other bits and pieces for £15.00.

I leafleted supermarket car parks, gym car parks and peoples homes in areas where I knew my service would probably be wanted.

AND..this is where I was a little proud of myself..(although it was probably obvious!!)
When I was looking for a nursery for my daughter, I asked my local council to post me a list of ALL the nurseries, child minders in my borough. All have email addresses, so a standard email was sent out. This was only done yesterday and I have had a few phone calls and a couple of bookings. You could probably do this for schools.

I am only working part time and dont want to turn anyone away so I am limiting myself for the time being.

Also..I put one of the A3 posters inside my car, you cant see it clearly when you are driving but being parked in shopping malls, supermarkets etc its an eye catcher.

Need some advice.. may not be the best thread to ask...but here goes...
I am nervous about talking to people re my business, when I worked for other people and freelanced, you couldn't get me to shut up but now its mine, when I should speak...I dont. Anyone else have this block or can suggest what I can do.

Good luck everyone with your businesses and Lynne keep up the great work x

 

[Lynne Baker]

Rep points? Whats that? I have to give Lynne, Kim Lawless and you... yep you Ruth some acknowledgements for all the help you give on Salongeek.

See the little green box in the top right hand corner of a post; if you click on it you will be presented with a box where you can type a thank you note. The red box next to the green one is where you can report a post if you're not happy with someone's post.
Glad you're enjoying the ideas!

 

[Sarah22]

A little nervous about adding to this fantastic thread but here goes...

What I found useful was getting some leaflets and price lists and other marketing material printed from my old college, they were VERY cheap and the quality of paper was great (they give you a choice). So for example I got 2 thousand leaflets, 300 price lists, 100 record cards (personally created) 4 A4 larger price list, 3 A3 Price list and other bits and pieces for £15.00.

I leafleted supermarket car parks, gym car parks and peoples homes in areas where I knew my service would probably be wanted.

AND..this is where I was a little proud of myself..(although it was probably obvious!!)
When I was looking for a nursery for my daughter, I asked my local council to post me a list of ALL the nurseries, child minders in my borough. All have email addresses, so a standard email was sent out. This was only done yesterday and I have had a few phone calls and a couple of bookings. You could probably do this for schools.

I am only working part time and dont want to turn anyone away so I am limiting myself for the time being.

Also..I put one of the A3 posters inside my car, you cant see it clearly when you are driving but being parked in shopping malls, supermarkets etc its an eye catcher.

Need some advice.. may not be the best thread to ask...but here goes...
I am nervous about talking to people re my business, when I worked for other people and freelanced, you couldn't get me to shut up but now its mine, when I should speak...I dont. Anyone else have this block or can suggest what I can do.

Good luck everyone with your businesses and Lynne keep up the great work x

Did you really get all of that for £15?! Wow!! Xx

 

[littlebear]

Great idea with the coffee cup sleeves!


Sent from my iPod touch using SalonGeek

 

[beautygek]

Did you really get all of that for £15?! Wow!! Xx

Yes I did...I was so happy :biggrin:

I came across a freebie website to add to our growing portfolio.

Zing Beauty - UK Beauty Sites

 

[redsadie]

Hiya, just wanting to bump this great thread back up again by letting you know that I have started to collaborate with other local businesses in my area after reading through (again ).

A lady I know has a local shoe and handbag party business but a lot of her parties are in surrounding areas and not much in our town, so I contacted her and suggested we meet up to discuss a little cross promotion. She puts my flyers and/or business cards in her shoe bags (initially for 10% off a luxury pedi) in exchange for me giving out hers with my New Client Packs and to existing clients too as all of my clients are local to the area.

Also I want to increase my tanning parties, so yesterday I spray tanned a friend of mine who's partner owns a couple of pubs and a local nightclub and hopefully will be putting tan party flyers through these venues too, trying to get into the younger market who probably has a bit more disposable income to spend.

I'm going through my list of people I know who own their own local businesses to see who I think would be a good fit and benefit both parties.

Just thought I'd share

Xx

 

[redsadie]

Just to update, my client yesterday whom I mentioned above is really impressed with her tan,and her other half is gutted his legs are lily white,so he's coming for a tan tomorrow :biggrin: I'm so in there with my nightclub/pub flyers!

xx

 

[Ragdoll >^..^<]

I was driving past a local wedding dress shop today and thought "aha!" so I dropped in and had a little chat with the owner (a lovely lady called Michelle). The result? She's taken some of my flyers and I've invited her for a free treatment so she can see what I do, and we're going to work together to provide our brides/prom queens with the whole package.
Think laterally!

I'm inspired! i'm going to set a goal for myself next week to visit all the local Bridal shops in my area thanks Lynne, great idea x

 

[Nat-Nat]

Must bump this post back up its the law! Lynne is an inspiration and I have my first networking meeting in just over 2 weeks!

 

[clementine]

just found this www.qype.co.uk/
its a free business directory, you can add pics and reviews etc
worth a try
Sarah x

 

[ELJ-11]

Love this thread, I've made a list of things I could do which is over a page long!

 

[cirrusbeauty]

Really is a fab thread x

 

[K3lly]

Great tips! Thanksx

 

[MissJulesBeauty]

just found this www.qype.co.uk/
its a free business directory, you can add pics and reviews etc
worth a try
Sarah x

When I first started out in Jan 2010 I registered with this site. I also registered a discount Acrylics for just £10! (What was I thinking). It appears this offer did not have an expiry!

Anyway I actually had a customer present me with a voucher on Friday. I had no choice but to give her gorgeous tips for just a tenner! She was well chuffed! I came home and removed the daft promotion and replaced it with a 10% off one instead lol x

 

[MissJulesBeauty]

PS Forgot to say that I absolutely love this thread I have drained every part of it and loved every minute. It is so motivational....

I have a small notice board in my salon that I display other companies info on. I find hairdressers for example who don't have a nail tech and offer a like for like advertising plan. I will display their cards / leaflets of they do mine.

In addition to this I recently ran a campaign with KGB Deals. This brought in 31 new customers to my salon. I have seen 6 so far and out of the 6 I have 5 repeat bookings! not bad going so far

Also just wanna say thank you to everyone especially the creator for their input and advise!

Never stop