5 Computer Services Advertising Places to Try

Computer services advertising can create a genuine sense of foreboding for IT service providers. Advertising can be very expensive, and it’s often difficult to track how effective a specific advertising campaign has been, or indeed if it’s enjoyed any success at all.

Here, we present five different places to advertise your computer services business, with a certain emphasis on methods that won’t cost the earth. We recommend trying a few of them to see what works for you. As always, it’s very important to ask new clients how they found out about your company, so that you can work out which advertising methods are generating the most leads. 

1. Local Newspapers

Newspaper advertising isn’t particularly cheap, but local papers will certainly charge you less than national papers, and the chances are you want to target a specific area anyway.

Newspaper advertising salespeople often have quite a lot of scope to do deals with advertisers, so don’t be afraid to do some serious negotiation. Many local papers combine advertising with advertorial style content that will give you extra exposure. Walk away if the price is too high, and you may well find that the sales rep comes back to you when they’re trying to sell the last few spaces before publication. 

2. Noticeboards 

You’ll find advertising noticeboards in all kinds of places, from coffee shops to newsagents and supermarkets. This may seem like a rather “low end” form of advertising, but it’s usually inexpensive, and a good way to get your company’s name prominently displayed across a local area.

Just make sure that the advertisements you post look serious and professional. If you produce amateurish advertisements, prospective clients will expect amateurish service from you. 

3. Trade Press 

Trade press advertisements are a particularly good idea if you plan to target a specific vertical market, such as designers, accountants, or schools. The good news is that trade press advertisements are often less expensive than ads in more mainstream publications, and more likely to be paid attention to, especially if you pitch your marketing message just right. 

4. Online 

Online advertising could warrant a guide in its own right, as there are so many ways to tackle it. For the purposes of this guide, we suggest thinking about banner ads or advertorial content on relevant websites—either local websites if you’re targeting an area, or industry-specific sites if you’re targeting a vertical market.

Find out which sites are popular amongst your target demographic and contact them for advertising deals. You’ll probably find the prices quite inexpensive, and that site owners are willing to negotiate. After all, for them ad revenue is easy money for very little implementation effort. 

5. Door-to-door 

When we say “door to door,” we don’t mean knocking on doors like a double-glazing salesman, but instead putting together a flyer campaign.

As with noticeboard ads, you’ll want to make sure your flyers are of sufficient quality to reflect the quality of your IT business. Another useful point is to try to maintain consistency and post your flyers through the same mailboxes quite regularly. Businesses and individuals may not need your firm’s services immediately, but if they see your flyer appear on a regular basis, they will hopefully think of you when the time comes.

What computer services advertising methods have worked for you? Let us know in the comments box below.

And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on the “Top 10 IT Marketing Strategies For Consistently Attracting New Business Clients to Your Small IT Business.”