Advice?

[Shadowriser]

Hey I started a business finally after years of thinking about doing it. My business is in computer repair and setup. My question is what are good ways to market without costing an arm and a leg? I am currently working on a web page with a RL friend who does it for a living. I have posted on Craigs list but need some ideas.

So far my company will be willing to repair, make new computers. In home network setup and new computer setup. Also want to start in data backup. After seeing how much Bestbuy's Geek squad rips people off I was shocked.

Also any services I should think about adding? Thanks in advance for any ideas you guys have

[Meemers]

Advertise with google?

[Naedion]

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Weed

[Kikthin]

Tell everyone in the local pub about your new business
Grocery store board
College papers/local papers
Make sure your answering machine(s) mention your business
Business cards
Car sign
Banner against home + at familiy/friends if they dont mind
Sponsor a local event

The bottom 4 aren't free but should be cheap.

And of course make sure every customer is 200% happy so they tell it to their friends, familiy, etc.

[Dalrek]

I guess it kinda depends on the analysis you made before takign the decision to start

What is your main target group? Private individuals or companies? Whats the competition like in the area and what options are there to reach these segments in your area?

If its repair and new offers for individuals, then I agree with Kikthin that the local college / highschool could potentially bring customers. Put up a post on their board or leave some home-made but professional looking flyers/pamplets there

Seasonally marketing like aiming for schoolstart where kids need a new pc for school to do homework might be worth thinking about

Basically theres a lot of general things that you can do, but alot also depends on your specific market and target groups

[Sharringan]

well there is a lot of marketing techniques that could be used in that situation - Bro-in if you got money to spend, or just the usual advertising type one would work fine, you should preferably look into the data about the market / area you are aiming at first, to see what people are more likely to use the most, then from up there you can go with a small advertising campaign ( nothing too flashy for a start though ) , anyway talk to you on skype tonight about this )

[Abadonn]

Originally Posted by Shadowriser

Hey I started a business finally after years of thinking about doing it. My business is in computer repair and setup. My question is what are good ways to market without costing an arm and a leg? I am currently working on a web page with a RL friend who does it for a living. I have posted on Craigs list but need some ideas.

So far my company will be willing to repair, make new computers. In home network setup and new computer setup. Also want to start in data backup. After seeing how much Bestbuy's Geek squad rips people off I was shocked.

Also any services I should think about adding? Thanks in advance for any ideas you guys have

Web page is nice, but people only find that when looking for the service you are offering.

If you want to push it, perhaps the following is a start;

- come up with a consistent company image & flyer to support it; you need an USP also, what you are offering which competitors lack (price / quality / response time / ..)
- decide on your target group; considering the service you are offering I am guessing this might be small-medium size companies, with little inhouse knowledge of IT infrastructure yet required to have it (Architectural office / construction companies / ..) Can also check what clients your competitors have for more ideas.
- make a list of companies that fit this description, and start calling & mailing them; keep track of their feedback & follow it up nicely (a CRM system is crucial here, for small business I like Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager, cheap to);

If you are willing to discuss this ingame that would be fun surely. Kind of hard to describe a full launch here

ps. College kids usually ain't that rich, and usually know some geekish person that is more then willing to fix their stuff (I do !), so I would reconsider that group perhaps

[Sharringan]

totally agree with abadonn but you need to study the market first, as of mailing lists that isn't something too hard to come by tbh and especially in the us and the region you are in.

the computer repair / fix part i would totally get rid of tbh, most the customers you will be getting are new users / old people that usually have no clue about how a computer works and will more likely feel secure giving it to a specialized branch of a "well known" computer seller or the after sale service, also just make sure you propose an online store or more prospect flyers, don't do the whole thing too hastily, launching a new business requires some intensive market studying even on a tiny scale.

ps : most the studies and such should be available from other business owners on the area anyway, if they ever took interest in doing it of course.

[Quorthon]

From my own experience setting up a similar small business a few years ago.

This was me and a good friend setting up a small IT company.

We initially thought we wanted to focus on commercial clients, but very quickly realised it would be a tough nut to crack.

The majority of larger companies usually do it "in-house" and smaller companies can't afford the costs of contracted IT.

This does however leave the "mid tier" business's that are often open to either

(a) fixed price IT support.
or
(b) response time based IT support.

We had about 10 clients with a mix of the two, combined with home customer call-outs this was more than sufficient to make a living from.

A niche that worked well for us was offering these business *office* support not just PC's and Networking.

If you know enough, offer them MS Office advice and training if required (really not as difficult as it sounds)

Support for printers, photocopies phones and faxes (again, not as hard as it sounds due to the nature of these items being effectively "bin it and buy a new one" anyway)

If you can also design even a basic webpage, setup internet access (and accompanied security etc)

Then you have the basis of a great "product" that will appeal to small to medium size companies.

Couple this with “flyers” and any cheap local newspaper adverts etc.

The town I live in is about 10k population, we hand delivered an a4 “flyer” and a business card to all these businesses

Summarize what you can offer, and mention “keep this card near your PC, and call when you need us”

We focused on fast call-out , reasonable call-out charges and no-fix no-fee as our USP.

For info we charged £25 a call-out (1st hour labour included) and guaranteed “same-day” response

We also have a large university in our town, I posted flyers in the Foyers there, offering a reduced (£20) call out for students, this got us LOTS of work in the halls of residence etc.

To close…

Your first and most important objective is to form a solid business-plan (no bank etc will even speak to you without one)

Focus on realistic and achievable objectives in the first 3 years and work hard, driving 10 miles to solve a 20 second problem and earning barely enough money to cover your costs might seem wasteful,. From every seed……..

Best of luck, and enjoy

[Shadowriser]

But if you dont want coding try to specialize in so-called open-source software as alternative to commercial software. Especially young and small companies go for those alternatives as they are for free.

I have been learning Linux for this very reason.

Support for printers, photocopies phones and faxes (again, not as hard as it sounds due to the nature of these items being effectively "bin it and buy a new one" anyway)

Thanks forgot printer support!

What is your main target group? Private individuals or companies? Whats the competition like in the area and what options are there to reach these segments in your area?

Well there is Best Buy's Geek Squad in the area but they charge almost as much as a new computer cost just to look at a PC My main target atm would be personal computers but would rather deal with services for small to medium sized companies because from the research I have been doing that is where all the real money is.

I made my parents a Ginny pig for testing Linux in a home with 5 kids that go on spyware heaven websites to test how long it takes them to break it

I am currently learning a Quicken like program so I can offer free software to companies if they go with my company for the accounting needs.

Grocery store board
College papers/local papers
Make sure your answering machine(s) mention your business
Business cards
Car sign
Banner against home + at familiy/friends if they dont mind
Sponsor a local event

Cannot afford to Sponsor an event yet but maybe someday. Car sign sounds like a good idea. My answer is set to my business already and made Cmax and Airmedic test it.

p.s. thanks for all the input really helping this grumpy Sk work!