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I'm running a one person handyman business that would die instantly if I wasn't allowed to advertise. Nobody would even know I exist.
This is why I want to set a basic minimum to allow for the actual small businesses to have a chance. I have an idea that any ban should apply only to individuals or groups that have a gross revenue of greater than ~25x the annualized median wage. (by state if operating entirely within a US state, by national median if operating across state lines, etc.) It would let small businesses get the word out at the start but once they are making (based on 2023 data) ~$1M/yr, (enough to have multiple employees and maintain a healthy profit margin) they are doing enough business that they should be established and no longer need exemption.
Do you know if clients ever hear of your business via other clients, like word of mouth advertising? Or is it primarily through targeted marketing?
Yeah, I always ask if it's a household I haven't dropped a flyer to yet. In these cases, the answer to "where'd you hear about me?" is almost always that they saw someone else asking about it on Facebook and someone recommended me in the comments. Interestingly, it's never the original poster who ends up contacting me - it's usually some third party just scrolling through the comments.
A few have gotten direct recommendations from previous customers, but that's pretty rare overall. Most saw my flyer, and the rest mostly found me through local Facebook groups.
Edit: I don't do targeted advertising though. Just physical flyers and I occasionally post pictures of my work to Facebook and Instagram.
That's interesting to hear, I wouldn't have assumed flyers work much. Honestly I can't remember the last time I got a flyer that wasn't from some huge corporation. It'd be a nice change of pace to get some local anything in the mailbox.
Now that I've said that, watch me get bombarded like the Dursley's haha.
Yeah, I have no clue how effective it is compared to other advertising methods, but it's worked well enough to keep me steadily employed.
I don't really know what I'm doing here. I don't have any self-employed friends or anyone to copy business practices from, so I'm just winging it - trying to build the kind of service I'd personally want to hire. My flyer is designed by me and it shows. It's immediately obvious to anyone who sees it that this is just one guy working out of the back of a van, not some big corporation. Plenty of people have told me that's the main reason they reached out.