Finding new clients

My marketing efforts are no cost or low cost. What I mention here includes what I've done over the last 2 years.

To start with, I posted craigslist ads (free), printed flyers (paper and ink costs something but I already owned both so I considered it free), designed, printed and distributed business cards to pet supply stores, vet offices, and dog owners on the streets and in dog runs (graphics design - free from a friend, Avery business card stock - $20 for 250 cards, printed at home). Subsequently I have bought business cards using Vistaprint. I had to redesign them to include website URL and new email addresss and I thought it would be easier to order them than print them at home all the time. Vistaprint also offers lots of things for free. I recommend it.

Mostly I get new clients in response to my craigslist ads which also refer to my home dog grooming website. I have posted ads on other websites that offer free or low cost ads (under $10) but none of them have resulted in any clients, as far as I know. But it's good to post ads anywhere you can and have a link to your website so that your website ranks higher in the search engine indexes.

In addition I get new clients from referrals by my existing clients - the old "word of mouth". People seem very willing to help grow my business by telling others about my services whenever prompted by another dog owner. "Word of Mouth" is great but doesn't grow my business as fast as is needed.

With the search engine optimization (SEO) I have done for my website, people find me using Google and most other search engines easily. I am still trying to figure out how to come up in the search results of Bing. For some reason the Bing search engine eludes me.

Most recently one of my clients posted a note about me on "Building Link" - a website for her condo building and this resulted in 2 new clients within a month's time. I am now asking other clients if their residences have similar websites and if they would post a recommendation of my services.

One client mentioned a newsletter for her building and said she will put a recommendation of my services in the newsletter.

Getting new clients in buildings that I already work in is something I've been thinking about for months. I was looking into bulk mailings but everything to do with mailings always end up being expensive. I was also thinking of just standing in front of the building at key walking times and talking to the dog owners about my services. The down side of this is that some dogs don't go outside and others are walked by dog-walkers. Also, standing in front of buildings in time consuming. (I have put up flyers on bulletin boards in the past and have gotten no clients in response to that effort.)

I have put many business cards in vet offices and pet supply stores and from all that effort I've gotten 2 clients. If I owned a dog I'm sure I could have a better relationship with a vet and a pet supply store. I think I need to borrow a dog for the pet supply store at least.

And of course, I have spoken to many, many people on the streets and at dog runs. This has resulted in clients but I can't say how many people I spoke to and I can only recall 2 clients that resulted from this effort. The nerve it takes for me to bother people on the street is more than I'd like but I will talk to people on the street again when the weather is nice because it gives me the best odds of finding clients in my neighborhood.

Merchant Circle is a website that a client told me about. She has her own hair extensions business called VIP Lifestyle Hair. I created a page on Merchant Circle for free and am now creating a network of neighboring businesses. I don't know how much this website is used by New Yorkers to find services in Manhattan but it can only help to have more presence on the internet. I will try to take more advantage of Merchant Circle in the near future.