Advertising

[White Haven]

So my shop's been struggling of late, and my boss has dropped the 'give me ideas' bomb in my lap. And so I turn to you lot. We are very much a local-area computer repair and sales shop, and I'm pondering making the case for some limited local advertisement, but this is so very much not my field that I'm floundering a bit. Whatever happens, there won't be a whole lot of money to play with, so I don't want to end up scattering what few ad dollars we have halfway across the eastern seaboard. Any advice from those with more experience in the field?

[Zaune]

Given that most of your repair trade likely comes from people too tech-illiterate to just Google a solution to whatever they've fucked up, you might want to stick to old-school methods. Take out an ad in the paper, pay a couple of kids to shove a few hundred leaflets into people's mailboxes, maybe see if there's a local college radio station that offers cheap ad rates.

[White Haven]

In fairness to some of my customers, a lot of the nastier viral infestation issues go way beyond anything that the average user can fix by consulting Google, especially as a number of modern and not-so-modern viruses hijack Google search results to begin with. In many cases, though, you are correct.

[Malagar]

The first thing you should do is figure out who your target audience is, mostly tech illiterate people are best reached in different ways than more tech literate people.

[Thanas]

Put ads in local shopping trolleys at local supermarkets - if it is not too pricey. I don't know anything about prices in britain.

[Enigma]

Put ads in local shopping trolleys at local supermarkets - if it is not too pricey. I don't know anything about prices in britain.

I doubt he wants to take out ads in Britain seeing that WH is in Richmond, Virginia.

[White Haven]

Somehow I think that travel expenses to bring me computers to fix might dwarf any possible payoff.

[Zaune]

That said though, see if any local supermarkets have one of those "Community Noticeboard" arrangements where you can post small ads for a nominal fee.

[Thanas]

Put ads in local shopping trolleys at local supermarkets - if it is not too pricey. I don't know anything about prices in britain.

I doubt he wants to take out ads in Britain seeing that WH is in Richmond, Virginia.

Well, he knows what I mean.

[madd0ct0r]

can you give us a photo of the outside of your shop?

where is it? what's the footfall? where's the nearest parking?

Do you make more money selling hardware, software or services? When people bring stuff in, is it mac things, pc or laptops?

Do you offer gaming on the side?

[Simon_Jester]

Seconding the "know your audience" thing. Maybe you could have a survey of your incoming customers, although designing good surveys is challenging.

[Thunderfire]

We need to know your budget first. e.g. put an advertisement on your companies/employees cars. Costs several hundred dollar/car - less if you do it yourself. It is also possible to put the same advertisement on a city bus/train/taxi but this will be even more expensive.