[SweetLu]

Hi Everyone, my wife and I have been painting for years together sub-ing off a company that does apartment repaints. We've worked for high end painters in the past and we loved it, so we are in the process of starting our own business and eventually leaving the apartment repaint game. We already have done all the legal work, have a website ( ltpainting.biz ) , and we've even went down to part time hours in order to have at least 3 days a week to devote to doing our own thing.

So now that we are into 2017, I was wondering when to start advertising using post cards, facebook, and maybe some adwords... Do you start asap with your business or wait til Late March/April because thats when people start thinking about getting work done?

Any advice would help, I've been using this site a lot to help us start out, and I want to thank you all for your past advice and am glad to have joined the ranks.

 

[RH]

Although maybe not much help, I've always subscribed to the adage that the time to start advertising for future work is before you need it. I know... it's a profound thought.

 

[MurphysPaint]

Ya, spring is in three weeks and it can take months of advetising to catch people's attention. People typically don't see an ad once and then call. They call when they've been seeing your ads for a prolonged period of time and you have created brand recognition. Best advertising is a personal referral, which means building relationships with people who have a similar target market. Join your local chamber, join a BNI group, your local builders association, etc... It takes time, there is no quick way to success.


Murph

 

[ElegantPainting]

I'd say you should start right now. We start booking exterior for the following summer, in August.

 

[chrisn]

If your good there should be no need to advertise, just saying.

 

[Wildbill7145]

I'm in Ontario as well. After a slow winter, I'm happy to say that the calls started ringing again about two weeks ago. In one day I got three calls with reasonably sized jobs. Painters around here say it usually takes the first stretch of two or three warm days to get things moving again. After 9 years, I'm agreeing with them.

 

[Epoxy Pro]

We only advertise on facebook. We have yard signs, lettered vehicles and company shirts and business cards. We have been at this for a few years and word of mouth is the best way. Some of our customers wives post about us all the time on a website I think it's called "mothers", we get a crapload of work from there.

 

[PNW Painter]

After being on this forum for several years it seems like many members have had good success with Facebook.

Personally, I get almost almost my work from 2 GC's. If you can establish a good relationship with a GC that treats sub well, it has the possibility of providing steady year round work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wittycow]

My neighborhood has an app called Nextdoor, I am pretty sure it's nation wide. people are always looking for referrals on there.

Adwords works great if your website is optimized and has a sales funnel so when people click, they are driven to call or click further.

Short Youtube videos about each of your services will alos help drive traffic

 

[Wildbill7145]

Some of our customers wives post about us all the time on a website I think it's called "mothers", we get a crapload of work from there.

Locally we have a FB page called the swapnsell. Kind of like an online garage sale, but people also post on there looking for services. I've got quite a bit of work from there with recommendations from past customers. The whole thing can turn into a total drama fest train wreck at times though.

You have to be careful though as you will find some of the worst "What's your absolute lowest price?" types on FB pages like that.

 

[thinkpainting/nick]

If your good there should be no need to advertise, just saying.

I don't care how good you are if you don't advertise in my area you don't work unless it's NC and that's monkey food. I've been at this since 1978 and I advertise more now than o ever did.

Customers move or die. Recessions hit and customers lose there income Commercial accounts change PM and you lose accounts etc etc
People today don't care how good you are they will get more pricing at least 75% of the time. If your staying busy and most importantly PROFITABLE without advertising than your the exception.