Getting the word out

[TAMI WILSON]

Up till now I have not made an effort to get the word out about the capabilities I now have with the laser. Have been doing onesie twosies up till now just getting used to operating it. I would like to get some commercial customers where I am no longer doing the onesie twosies and can start making this baby pay for itself.
Now I know most people have a market before they invest in a machine but I tend to do things differently. ;-) I never intended to start a business!! It just sort of happened

Approximately 15 years ago I bought a button maker...........just because I thought it would be fun to make buttons. After purchasing it I decided to sell some buttons just to pay for the "toy" machine. Well they took off and I not only paid for the button maker but I had money left over. With that money I bought a sublimation printer and a mug press and started making mugs.....for fun.....that took off and I had a little extra money left over and thought hey I have the printer I might as well buy a flat press then I can make t-shirts mouse pads tiles and all he flat stuff............ Well as you can imagine my little 3 bedroom ranch home is starting to get a bit crowded and it is a little awkward having customers in your home all the time so we had a little extra $$ in the account and we built a shop on the back of our house. Fast forward..........It is tax time and I am getting my taxes done and my accountant says to me "You make coffee mugs, Do you engrave tem?" My response was "NO, but wouldn't that be fun!" So I came home and got on the internet and learned how to engrave glass and stone. Had a little extra $$ in the account so we enclosed the carport bought some blast cabinets and turned it into a blasting studio. The glass and stones took off and we had a little extra $$ in the account and then I saw a LASER ENGRAVER............ Well that is where we are now. I still work full time and will be retiring in 6 years .... June 1, 2020.....but who is counting? Hoping to have business built up for that transition.
All this without even trying. I do not advertise, all word of mouth.

So I now would like to approach some commercial customers with samples etc. but I do not now where to start. Any suggestions?

PS. I have run out of room and hubby says "No more toys!" Yeah right!

[Scott Shepherd]

Tami, what part of the country are you in? What's the population in your area? Knowing that can be helpful. It's no point in telling you to seek out certain markets if those markets don't exist in your area.

[TAMI WILSON]

Steve "Scott" we are in Harrisburg, PA

[Rodne Gold]

You have successfully built up various other processes into profit making enterprises , try by apply the same principles to your lasering.
Industrial laser engraving and marking/cutting is a field in which you would have to be competitive , to do so you have to provide a service that it better in some way than others in the field.
The question you have to ask first is "why would XYZ co use ME?"
Are you cheaper? Better delivery? Better results and quality? Know more about various industrial materials and lasering them? The only person in town? Better reputation?

[TAMI WILSON]

Rodne

I guess I am stumped with the types of business' that would use our service. I know sign shops but most sign shops have the needed equipment.
Was thinking about the electrical supply store or Electricians. They might be looking for someone to make switch plate tags. Drawing blank after that.

Ideas???

[Tim Bateson]

Web Site is my #1 tool... Just recently passing word of mouth. Unless you accidentally stumble onto a large commercial account, there are no short cuts. Just time.

[Tim Bateson]

Rodne

I guess I am stumped with the types of business' that would use our service. I know sign shops but most sign shops have the needed equipment.
Was thinking about the electrical supply store or Electricians. They might be looking for someone to make switch plate tags. Drawing blank after that.
Ideas???

Actually most of my new skills and products have been driven by customer requests. It's all about finding a niche. Sometimes you can create a niche and do well, other times the niche finds you.

Sounds like you may have a good customer base from your other en-devours. Work those accounts. BTW: Seldom - if ever, does adverting or mailers provide any real income.

[Tony Lenkic]

Tami,

Here is the list of some potential customer base:

1 - Electrical and HVAC contractors.
2 - Electrical distributors (make a sample board that they can display in their warehouse).
3 - Automation system builders /panel shops.
4 - Sign shops (often need engraved signage and future contacts for braille signs if you get into that).

Hope this helps.

[Mark Sipes]

To add to Tony's list:

Assisted living homes... nametags and door plates
Schools, civic orgs (Elks, Rotary, etc) Boy scouts
Yacht/Sportsman clubs


Adding Plaques and Acrylic Awards opens you up to the world.... I am the sub for 2 award houses that don't have/want a laser

Develop your web site.........update your signature block and tell us what equipment you have every time you post.... print you business cards aimed to the commercial side if that is where you want to go and spread them everywhere. Lumber stores, restaurants, craft stores, pin up boards....... will you get much work directly?.., probably not , but I had a friend in the insurance business and every HS football game he went to he also took boxes of business card and threw them in the air at every touch down (his team of course).... He said within a week of the game he would get at least one new policy from the game.....

You will find the capabilities you current have (Sublimation/Buttons/T-shirts/Sand blasting) will be used by these elements also.......

You have more equipment/capabiity than most successful trophy/awards business. I wish you were closer to me I need a good sand blaster. Next you will be adding embroidery and pad printing

In the near future you will have to hire more workers, move to a commercial site and pay more taxes.....LOL Ah, the American Dream! Retire..Ha!.. you are just getting started!

[TAMI WILSON]

Mark

I do have a couple assisted living places near me. Will have to work on that. Unfortunately no yacht Cubs. Lol. My biggest problem is getting organized. Don't have a web site that would require time..... and figuring out what to put on it. I must get organized.

tami

[David Somers]

Tammi,

You may not have any yacht clubs but you do have the Susquihana running through town if I remember right? You must have boat dealers and marinas? Lasered labels for all kinds of things on a boat should be a winner. Electric panels, valves and engine components, directions on operation, hatch labels, you name it.

I am curious. What kinds of things have you enjoyed doing with the laser?

Dave

[TAMI WILSON]

Dave so far a lot of experimentation. Made some wooden Christmas ornaments, some plastic name tags and acrylic items, tattooed some blue jeans, engraved some fleece.

[Mark Sipes]

I would spend the time and/or find a HS student that could design a web site for you and teach you how to keep current. Not that hard. Trade School/Community College course would do it.

Scan the Chambers Web site http://www.harrisburgregionalchamber.org/membership-resources/membership/member-directory/?a=Z

I have several customers that install Verizon and T-Mobile towers comm and intra net sites ... they need tags for all the cables and equipment.....did I say lots of tags...

got a rotary for the laser ?.. get one! Wedding Toast Glassware... Get with the Wedding Coordinators and Planners .

[Rodne Gold]

Go through the Yellow pages.. look at the categories and then apply your products to things they may want
IE A - Architects (signs , building opening plaques , door numbers etc) and market to them.

[Michael Hunter]

Word-of-mouth recommendations bring in the best business, BUT - these days people like to check out your website too, so getting that up is important.

A simple website takes time to start generating enquiries (3 months or so if mine is anything to go by) so the sooner the better.
By throwing money at it (Google Adwords etc.) the process can be speeded up a lot, but this should not be necessary.

Once the website is up, get it listed on as many free web directories as you can find - and Sawmill Creek of course!
This cross-linking gets you noticed by Google WITHOUT having to part with money.
Google Places is free and helps get you up their listings too.

[Tim Bateson]

What Michael said should be emphasized. Don't fall prey to those who tell you to they can up your SEO for $$$$. It can all be done yourself for FREE. Just takes some time and attention to detail. Once you do achieve that high Google ranking, customers WILL come to you. BTW: Google & to a lesser degree Bing are the only search engines to worry about. Most of the hundreds of other search engines will use one of these 2 for their feeds.

[Scott Shepherd]

Go through the Yellow pages..

Yellow pages? You are showing your age Rodney :) LOL

[Rodne Gold]

Im old .. well I feel old :)
I have actually withdrawn all my ads from our yellow pages which has shrunk to 1/3rd of what it was 3-4 year ago.. saves me $500 a month , which I use for google adwords..

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

One other emphasis on a web site. Make sure your web site is not outdated and that all of your links and menu options work. There are a number of free web site link checkers that will search your web site for broken links and list them out for you. Just because your link works from the home page, it does not mean that link still works from other pages on your web site! Just because your web site worked 2 years ago does not mean you can ignore it. Host servers update their software without notice and can cause your outdated data to crash and hackers can get get in and have their way with it.

I see this happen all too often and it makes a big impression... why would someone want to buy something from an engraving & personalizing business that doesn't double-check their own work? It's like driving by a house where the yard is an dreadful mess yet they have signs promoting they are landscapers!

[Mike Null]

I strongly disagree with those who advise dyi or high school kid web sites.

The same rule applies as if you were to act as your own attorney. For those who might be unfamiliar with this old addage, "He who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client".