What advertising is everyone finding the most effective right now? I am mainly concerned with what everyone is doing for new customers in their area. Most of my customers come from referrals through the university I work for, or the local piano store, but I can remember a few years back a big chunk of my work came from the yellow pages. That however seems to be a thing of the past in my area.

Word of mouth has always been the biggest one of all. A good website works well too.

The trick is to get the word of mouth out there that you have a good website!

Tell piano owners their neighbors are starting to complain. Pets are suffering from indigestion. etc.

I also suggest listing yourself on Yelp and getting your customers to leave you feedback. It's a great (and free!) way to get some extra visibility.

I suggest a web site. Go to Vistaprint and you can have one for free or very, very cheap. Also, I have magnetic signs on my car, they generate quite a bit of business. Since I go all over town anyway it's like a moving billboard. People stop me in parking lots and even in the neighborhood where I'm tuning. They're cheap and effective. Of course be sure to have business cards to give out.

Be sure to go to Google Maps and claim your listing. It's free and if you have a website you can have a direct link to it from there.

Check out Piano Acoustics on the web and again if you have web site you can claim your listing, for $10 a year and it will link right to your website.

I think for the most part the Yellow Pages is a big waste of money.

Music stores that don't sell pianos are a good source for me. Introduce yourself, leave some business cards and try to refer customers to them. I get a LOT of business from a local music store that only sells digital pianos.

The internet has replaced the phone book in most homes. As others have already pointed out, a good website is important. If you can't get your website found in search results then its worth it to spend a little on Google ads.

I find that reminder cards are still a worthwhile investment. They don't just increase calls from repeat customers. I find that they increase referrals. The worst thing that can happen to anyone in this business is to have a satisfied customer forget who it was that did such a good job last time.

Great point Thomson. Make sure the customer knows your name and doesn't forget it!

I used Google AdWords and Bing, the two highest searched engines. I do maintain a Yellow Pages ad, because from a perception point of view from the customer, being in the yellow pages, though obsolete, lends legitimacy to your business. Set up a pay-per-click ad campaign with Google and Bing that draw customers to your site, where they can easily contact/book you.

I also maintain a toll-free 800 number for my out of town clients as a courtesy. Again, toll-free's are dinosaurs in today's world because most people use cell phones and minutes are minutes, but customers do use them and they again add credibility.

Well I tried something new last night, on facebook(at least in this area)there is something called FOR SALE CLAY COUNTY or whatever county you live. Its a group you join on facebook and its just individuals from different counties selling items. I posted my services on there last night and had 4 tunings to line up from it this morning. You might check and see if there are ones for your counties in your states if not you could start a new group. Just FYI, thought it might work for some others.

Advertise on PianoWorld, right here, right now. There is a link to click (upper right on my screen), and you're on your way.This is a highly visible site and bumps you way up on Google searches. It's easy to use, good value for money -- and you're here now, go ahead, use the site to help you! It certainly helped my business when I was searching for new customers -- thanks, Frank (Frank is the site owner and a very good guy).

I recently launched a Directory Website dedicated to piano services. I am a technician here in AZ.

It is free to list your business in your home city and listings are added on a first come, first served basis.

Anyway, it's free exposure if you are looking to get your name out on the web and try and bring in new clients in your area.

Here is the link: www.PianoTunersByState.com

Geotargeting is critical, though. Doesn't make sense to pay to advertise to someone who might live thousands of miles away from me.

Loren D - You are right. Geography targeting is critical. I have set it up so you can list specifically to the category (Piano Tuners) and geography (Your City) you service in PA. I offer free listings as well, not just paid.

I also optimize the landing page for each listing so that it has the opportunity to show and start ranking for online users in your specific area making it laser geo-targeted.

I hope that helps.

I can tell you what doesn't work....putting a sticker with your name on it inside every piano you tune. There are a couple local tuners who do this. Half the pianos I tune seem to have a certain tech's sticker inside. But since I just did the last tuning, apparently it didn't work. The only people who see those stickers, and signatures, are other techs.

I always thought that's what they were for, us..... Otherwise, we'd stick them on the lid. On the outside...

What really gets me is when I go to tune a beautiful concert piano and I look down at the plate and there are ink stamps on it with their name and date of previous techs. Thats vandalism if you ask me.

I agree. I've never been one to sign pianos. Although I kind of enjoy the running service record on some of the old school pianos. I do a good bit of work in Cincinnati Public Schools. There was a guy, Fred Grau, who must have had the CPS contract. He wrote down everything he did, with a date. CPS must have bought a couple truckloads of these blond Wurlitzer studio pianos. They are in every school I've been in.

I agree with pianotune2 too. I hate for any signature to be visible. I do sign pianos, my whole family does, most tuners around here do but, anyone with any valor, signs it some place where only the next tuner sees it. That way, I can see, oh, so, I filed hammers and regulated the piano on this date. I'd forgotten about that or something else...

I LOVE seeing the service records of my grandfather John Groot whom I never met dating back from the 1920's! And my dad, who is no longer living... Sometimes he would write, "HI JER!" In them, that brings back memories.

I don't ever recall putting a signature on any grand piano, and hardly ever run across one with a signature. I will sign most uprights on the keys (behind the fall board, of course)...starting with key #1. I can usually fit 3 signatures on one key. I have signed a couple of old upright plates, but only because the owners saw the 20 other signatures from over the past century, and wanted me to continue the tradition.

I went ahead and signed up for Google Maps. There is a postcard verification thing to wait on. Now I'm having second thoughts. Has anybody signed up for Google Maps and then got deluged with phone and mail solicitations?

I've been on Google Maps for a long time and can say it works great. I did have a problem with having 2 websites one time. One was for the band and both sites were signed up with the same mailing address. Google didn't like this and both sites were not showing up. Google thinks this is spam.

So I changed the band site mailing address to one of the band members. I guess you can't have more than one business with the same address. Anyways everything works fine now.

Does anyone use car door magnets for advertising, if you do how well do they work? Also if you do where did you get it made?

That Guy replied to your post :

They work great! There are times when I'm filling my tank at the gas station when someone will come up and either get my card or schedule an appointment right there.

edit: I get mine through Vistaprint. Good prices, good service, they'll match them to your cards, etc.

I got a set from Vistaprint.One fell off the car the second day which they replaced. within a year the image was coming off and I never had anyone take notice. Last year I had vinyl lettering done to the back hatch and keyboards the the rear side windows of my car.This has generated business and it cost about $150

I'm conflicted ... do I tell my competitors how to get more market share, and thereby sabotage my own success?

I'll tell you what doesn't work:

1 - Yellow Pages.
2 - Welcome Wagons.
3 - Newspaper advertising.

What does work:

1 - Reminder cards in the mail
2 - Followup phone calls
3 - Teacher referrals
4 - Dealer work in exchange for a pittance, and new customers.
5 - Website with google adwords.

I have other secrets that will remain secret for now. But, I will reveal that I'm going to look into social network marketing next.

Does anyone here have experience with Angie's List?