Advertising a new business....?

I am starting a new business nothing particularly novel just through my own enthusiasm.. Building PC's and PC/Laptop/LCD repair I will also looking toward the business to business end in the near future. Providing Networks and servers and possibly Web Design.

I have run a similar business before and have tried using the Conventional advertising channels.. Local Press, Leaflets, Radio.

I am confident with forming adverts and the content.. I am more intrested in more original ideas on methods of avertising.

It will start fairly small scale as a business but I am planning to move into a shop/office next year around march/april.

The business you are going into is largely a word of mouth business. I would consider a program in which you reward current customers for referrals that result in business. There are many ways to do this, including a small percentage of the first job you do with the referral goes to the referring customer, a donation is made in their name to a designated charity, they get a credit for future work, or their name goes into a monthly drawing for a new/rebuilt/refurbished laptop computer. The beauty of this type of promotion is it also helps to keep your current customers happy and engaged in your success. Good luck!

if you will also have your own website these tips may help

10 low cost ways to promote your website

1) add your site to as many search engine listings as you can find, ie http://uk.search.yahoo.com/freesubmit/su...

2) make sure you add meta tags to your website (key words which you list then when people search for those keywords your site will come up in the results) - all part of SEO - search engine optimisation

3) put your website address on all your business stationary - letterheads, invoices, compliments slips, delivery slips, envelopes, parcel packaging, business cards etc etc

4) promote your website by adding it to your email signature on both business and personal emails

5) join as many social networking sites as you can ie hi5, bebo, tagged, facebook, myspace, yahoo 360 etc and add your web address in your profile or notice boards etc

6) add yourself to online directories who give free listings ie http://www.yelldirect.com/freelisting/ho...

7) get some stickers made for your car, and window stickers made for car windows of friends, family, customers etc

8) PR is always a good move, ask your local paper(s) to run a feature, get your business start-up story on business sites like http://newbiztips.net/startupstories.asp...

9) use http://www.vistaprint.co.uk to get some free/low cost marketing materials and leave them everywhere you go - cafes, train stations, libraries, school, community centres, college

10) word of mouth is a great way to promote something - and it's free! tell everyone you know and get them to tell people they know

good luck with your business! x

First, get yourself good business cards, they are a great mini-billboard to hand out at any time. Our business offers a unique business card that might interest you (I have other computer service companies that use them for scheduled maintenance, appointments, etc...) they are business cards with removable labels on back - View them here:
http://www.imagemakergraphics.com/pages/...

Another popular promotional item that our customers use is custom post-it note pads. These work great for advertisment because they don't get tossed away like pens and they tend to stay on top of the customers desk gaining you constant exposure to your clients. Heres a link:
http://www.imagemakergraphics.com/pages/...

Third, an inexpensive, but effective marketing tool is promotional post cards - When the mail shows up at your prospective clients office or home your bright, full color, glossy post card of your product or service with a short "to-the-point" message on the back will jump out from the rest of the plain envelopes. Response rates always rank high on promotional post cards. Here is a link for postcards:
http://www.imagemakergraphics.com/pages/...

Best of Luck With Your Business Promotion

Well, I'd take a little from each of these answers. Actual Advertising, (print, radio, even door-to-door) gets awfuly expensive and is difficult to track results unless you have a specific offer that is different for each one, or a seperate tracking phone number.

It is important to get your name and number (or web site) in the hands of as many people as possible, at teh time those same folks are looking to decide who they are going to buy from, and why.

I'm a professional consultant in these fields and am brand new to this site. I will tell you that the hottest "item" to use right NOW, is calendars with your information on them. All calendars are good because they get looked at 2.7 times per day BY JUST THE PERSON THAT OWNS IT ALONE!

I would love to give you more information, FREE, if you want to chat or e mail me, Ntl_Promo_Guy@yahoo.com I work well into the evening