Could anyone share successful methods of advertising to the local market? Only thing I could think of is the newspaper, radio, and cold-calling companies.

Attend local Chamber of Commerce meetings, there I am sure you will find people who need web hosting.

Mail businesses a postcard with a special and follow up with a call.

Actually we work mainly on word of mouth, instead of investing in the advertisements, we try to improve our services and provide promotions to our clients. It works pretty fine at the moment, but the market itself is not very big.

Originally posted by maxo
Actually we work mainly on word of mouth, instead of investing in the advertisements, we try to improve our services and provide promotions to our clients. It works pretty fine at the moment, but the market itself is not very big.

how you get word of mouth if you don't market to get the first customer?

heh.

Start with people you know. Friends, or family. Let them start the cycle :D

Get some business cards, and drop them wherever you can. I am sure there is SOMEONE you know that you can help out.

I would say "Neighbourhood Marketing".

Get an office at a business centralized location and start with the shop most nearby to you. One by one and words spread around. Soon, you going to be in a very good business!

For those of you giving advice... what qualifies you to give such advice? Have you personally done this? Or are you just repeating what you have "heard someone else say works"?

Look into your local BNI chapter for referrals.

http://www.bni.com/

Alright here is what you need to do.

Going into a random business and asking them if they would like webhosting will equate to: No have a nice day.

You need to do your homework. Take a weekend and start crusing all over your local area, take a tape recorder or a friend to record every single business name you can.

Go home that night and crack open a cold one (if you're of age) and grab your list. Start by scratching off every "Big Name" place on that list. By big name I don't mean a million dollar a year business, that's great, but if it is starbucks, McDonald's, etc.. just go ahead and get rid of it.

Now take what you have left, along with another cold one and get on google.com Start seacrhing for each and every company to find out if they have a website. If they have one take some time to look into it. Look up who they are hosting with, guestimate at what they are paying, etc...

Now is when you should have teamed up with a webdesigner. Make sure you have some photos's of example sites he or she has done before. Take each business that doesn't have a website, is paying way too much for their website, or has a horrible website and wrtie them down on a new list.

Now comes the hard part, but the ROI should really be great. You need to create a small presentation for each and every company. Yes this is a lot more of a pain in the rear than getting a simple flyer copied at kinkos, but put yourself in the business man's shoes.

Big yellow piece of paper saying buy my hosting.

4 Page document with a nice cover sheet saying "Hey, we've looked into your company and this is what we can do for you"

Take one page and create a nice cover, include thier business name, your business name, and keep it looking pro. Make one of these for each and evrey business you plan to hit.

Page two should start off by letting them know you have looked at what they already have. If their site is horrible do not say it like that, keep the negativity out of everything. Don't tell them anything is wrong with what they are doing, only that they could be doing sooooo much better.

Page three should be the one where you have a few small thumbnail pictures of different sites the designer has made before (if they don't already have a beautiful site). Make sure they fit with the type of business this place has. If they have a great site already skip page three.

Page four should talk about your services, tell them what youc an offer them, why it is better, and what it will do for their business. Don't just list a bunch of plans and their prices. Take the time to write out a nice personalized article and let them know what each and every one of the features can do for them. MySQL most likely means nothing to them, the ability to database all of your online information in system that can be connected to many different types of software thorughout the world sounds a lot better.

Page 5 should be a thank you for your time, here is some extra information aobut our company, etc... with your logo and address/email/phone/website/etc... on it

Take this and either staple it (cheap) or if you have it a binding machine works beautiful for this.

Now go into those businesses one by one and ask if you can speak with a manager. When they come to talk to you introduce yourself, ask if they would be interested in discussing webhosting. Odds are that they won't be, and if you handed them a flyer it would be the time that they throw it away. If you called they would hang up. But if you take and hand htem that nice pretty bound document with at least the pages I put in (feel free to think up your own nice filler pages that can be used for all) and let them know _you took the time to check out their business_ they most likely will not throw it away.

Would you throw it away?

as other said, friends, family, both new accounts or moved from other hosting providers for better offer or even free few months.

sponsor local community maybe charities, schools etc.. that has traffic and get a banner in return after that maybe start using local newspaper, magazines for small ads and so on till you reach a level where you can do raido Ads and maybe TV ads.

thats what i did back in 90s and i'm now my country #1 hosting company ;)

my country == local for you since we're small :P

Getting a shop? There is no need for that expense when you can have a 1-800 number privately go to your cell phone. Most people can't get an office, employees or anything. I suggest you use Word-Of-Mouth and forums like these to advertise, and eventually your advertisees will advertise for you. If all goes well, you should have friends of friends of friends ordering soon! :)

justadollarhostin, thanks for the information! That sounds like a good idea.

Hie Hst,

another market would be school. Try to have a web design competition in your previous school etc. Even though you might loss by giving hosting as prizes. But it pays. Students did pay small web hosting package. But please ensure to check it with your ministry of education incase if you're violating any rules.

Always like to lend a helping hand when I can.

Originally posted by gghosting
justadollarhostin, thanks for the information! That sounds like a good idea. Might try a business card cd *a mini cd with the sides cut off which make it the same size as a business card* with a flash, pdf, and/or powerpoint presentation

Wow, completely lost track of this thread. Thanks for all the input you guys. We do sponsoring online but never thought of it for local hosting. I'll look into all the suggestions people listed, thanks again.

Get magnetic signs for your car to advertise your business wherever you drive. Ask friends and family if they would be willing to have a good looking bumper sticker on their cars. Order bumpersticker accordingly. Get a few Polo Shirts, a baseball cap and maybe a sweater or so with your logo in the front and a highly visible message on the back. Wear it whenever you leave the house. People will ask you about it. Get listed in local online directories (or make your own).

Good Luck.

Well you can prepare handouts as well as mouse pads, coffe mugs, pens, notepads etc. with your company name, address, email, tel etc. and deliver them to all tech related businesses around your area. (Other kinds of business which may also have web sites as well)

While delivering these free goodies, if they have time, put a few words in about your service in a suitable manner. Once you get a few clients, word of mouth will get you further and further...

Good Luck !

Originally posted by Haddy
Might try a business card cd *a mini cd with the sides cut off which make it the same size as a business card* with a flash, pdf, and/or powerpoint presentation

Where can I get those business CD cards?

Originally posted by gghosting
Where can I get those business CD cards? http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-41,GGLD:en&q=mini+cd+business+cards

They only hold 55MB but that should be more than enough in most instances..Id be curious too see if lightbright works on these too...so no more lable printing..

check this out as well:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41791&item=5170128287&rd=1