Advertising

[Jon Page]

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When I first looked into YP ads I encountered this:

First you need a business phone account with the Phone Co, generally more
$ than residential service.  A $200.00 deposit  was required. You are then
charged
commercial rates for phone usage. The calling packages were not as attractive
as
residential ones.

The IRS would not allow it to be deductible if it is the only line in the
home.
So a
second line would have had to be installed.

Just starting out, I did not have the capital to fund this project so I
contacted dealers
for their floor and home tuning. I made contacts with other tuners who sent me
work
they could not get to or didn't want to get to.

It was slow at first but at least I was not working to maintain YP
exposure, it
was
hard enough keeping up the rent and car expenses.

A few years ago I tried a radio spot for fun, That's all it was, fun to
hear my
name on the radio. I did get a few jobs out of it but the ad-to-cash ratio was
17%.
I wanted a bigger draw and mostly I got comments, "I heard your ad", from
people
I met on the street. I gave free tuning to the local non-profit cable access
station
for an acknowledgement at the end of the program when they used the piano.
Again only comments from customers as I was tuning their piano, nothing new.
I even let them use various grands (which I needed to store :-) for the same
promo.
I told them I would tune it free when and if they had certain pianists taping;
anything
else, the producers of the spot would have to pay.  I saw the pianos being
used
all the time but never tuned, after a while I took the piano out because I did
not
want the exposure of an out of tune piano with my promo at the end. You cannot
rely on producers to tend to this detail, not even all pianists realize that a
recording
magically exposes tuning deficiencies. I was not of the ambition to tune it
every
month for gratis since there was absolutely no business being derived from it.

They went back to the comically decrepit spinet. I referred them to a 'new'
guy
in town :-)  and see his name in promo now.

The best, fastest business building tool is word of mouth.
Do your job, do it well, the money will follow.

Jon Page

At 12:53 AM 01/22/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>Martin,
>
>Whether or not a Yellow Pages ad will work or not may have to do with
>the quality of the particular ad. Mine has an engraved picture of a
>Victorian-era woman playing on a grand piano. People respond with, e.g.,
>"I like your ad, it's real classy." There's a line that says I've been
>tuning in the area since 1974. Another part lists the institutions that
>I work for (which draws frequent comment). There is the PTG logo and in
>recent years, I added VISA/MC logos. Another important aspect is that it
>was designed by a graphic artist. It costs less than 2 tunings a month,
>for a 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" display ad, and I easily pick up more than enough
>to cover the cost. (Some of the above, though it might not work for you
>at the moment, could be of interest for the future.)
>
>I don't do any other advertising. Yellow Pages is the most important one
>because, for one thing, I don't have a store front so the ad is my
>"place of business". It's where people can "drive by" to get an
>impression of who I am. Hearing about me from a friend, music store,
>etc., is frequently how I get new customers but I'm sure that some of
>them look me up in the book first before they make the call.
>
>So I would consider the Yellow Pages ad, of whatever size, as an
>integral part of the cost of doing business, not only to help keep it
>thriving but to lend legitimacy, too.
>
>If you're considering other forms of advertising, I would go about it in
>a full way; a half-hearted ad or one that runs just a short time "to
>test the waters" is a waste of money. 
>
>Some miscellaneous ideas that occur: print up a nice-looking flier to
>post on a lot of bulletin boards around town, especially colleges,
>universities and music stores. Go to parties and don't be shy about what
>you do for a living. If selling at a flea market is your cup of tea, be
>sure to put up a sign advertising your services (this used to work for
>me every time). Go into restaurants and bars where there are pianos and
>offer the manager/owner a free inspection and quote them an attractive
>price.
>
>You'll come up with your own ideas to suit your personality, I'm sure.
>Put some thought into what qualities you want to project and get help in
>designing business cards, fliers, display ads and the like. I used to do
>my own graphic design but when I hired a professional, I noticed a big
>difference in the response that I got. It was money well worth spending.
>(Come to think of it, no money changed hands. I tuned and regulated her
>piano!)
>
>
>Martin Dubow wrote:
>
>> I'm pretty much just getting started. What are your opinions about the
>> best way of advertising for work?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Martin Dubow
>
>-- 
>Thomas A. Cole, RPT
>Santa Cruz, CA
>mailto:tcole@cruzio.com
>  
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