7 Simple Marketing Tips for Your Computer Business

Here are 7 easy and practical marketing tips that don’t take much time or money that you may be overlooking in your business.

Offer Free Pickup and Delivery
This is another way you can make yourself stand out from other businesses in your advertising. I have found that people are either too scared to unplug their computers or simply can’t find the time to get the computer to you. This is better used for new businesses since the more busy ones may not be able to find the time to drive around or leave their storefronts. As for making up the time and money of travelling to and from your clients, just include it in your prices.

Offer a Free Second Opinion
This form of marketing is very easy and effective. You can mention in your advertising that you will provide a free second opinion. When a client comes in for that second opinion such as “whether the computer they are looking at is a good deal or not”, you have two chances to generate business. The first one is that the computer they are looking at IS a good deal and you probably won’t be able to beat that price. However, you can offer to set it up for them any install the appropriate security patches, antivirus programs etc..
The other option is that the computer isn’t a good deal and you can do better for cheaper and possibly get a new computer sale out of it.

Vehicle Advertising
If you do any onsite computer repair work, advertising on your vehicle is an amazing opportunity to have your name seen by many people all over town. Even if you don’t get any direct calls from the advertisement it will help build up your brand. For example, when a potential client looks in the local paper and is presented with a huge list of computer businesses that service your area; yours will stand out because they have seen your brand before.
There are 3 main ways to advertise on your car. One of the most popular are rear window vinyl that completely covers the car’s rear view window, but allows you to see out from the inside.
Another option is if you have a car that has a spare tire on the back (like a SUV), you can get custom made tire covers for around $100-200.
If you have the marketing budget, you can go all out and cover the entire car with your advertisement. I have seen a handful of computer businesses do this to their cars and it looks great. Do a search on Google for businesses that can do “car wraps” in your area.

Uniform
I have mentioned uniforms on Technibble many times before because they are just so important. A uniform can help build up credibility and shows your clients that you take your job seriously.
I personally wear a nice collared business shirt, dress pants and formal shoes. When I arrive at a clients house, I have my repair bag slung over one arm and my EeePC laptop in the other hand which makes me look the part of a computer technician. Some computer technicians who do consulting work for large companies will also work in a full-blown suit. This makes you look great for the larger companies but might scare off some of the smaller businesses and home users. Choose the appropriate uniform for the type of work you are doing.

People Do Business with People They Like
This seems pretty obvious. However, I have to mention this in the computer industry because many people turn to computers because they often lack good social skills. Being friendly with good communication, the ability to talk in layman’s terms without being condescending will help your business immensely.
You can take this one step further and become your client’s friend which has massive benefits of its own.

Newsletters
Many computer technicians are making use of postal and email newsletters as way to stay in the front of their clients minds. The client can sign up to their newsletter from the computer technician’s site or in person and they will be mailed computer tips on an ongoing basis.
The trick to having an effective newsletter is to make them either more interested in computers or tell them about certain dangers – rather than telling them how to fix their own computers.
For example, you might want to tell them about the benefits of having a wireless network such as the ability to use the laptop in any room, but then the dangers of it not being setup properly such as leaving their wireless network open to intruders. Once you have pre-sold them on getting a wireless network you can casually tell them that your business can provide the parts and set it up properly and securely.

Specialize
A lot of technicians try to get more customers by providing more and more services being everything to everyone. As the old saying goes “A jack of all trades is a master of none”. It is often a good idea to specialize your skills such as being the becoming a malware or data recovery expert. If a potential client with a virus is looking in the newspaper for a computer technician and are presented with 10 different ads; will they choose you as the “Virus Removal Specialists”? Or the 10 other businesses who do networking, hardware upgrades, new computers and virus removal? They will probably call the virus removal specialists.