Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hey, I have been working as a Private Investigator for two years and a 11 year former Police Officer.  This is my own business.  My business consists of Cheeting mates / drug testing / paternity tests / Criminal & Civil cases. 

Q: I need a better way to advertise during the slow times / locally ? /

James,

What advertising methods are you currently using?

What`s your budget for advertising?

R@

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Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

What kind of B2B have you done? I am sure that in your line of work you could offer discounts to attornies to help make cases and in return, they could post ads and such in their offices. I mean cheating spouces, paternity; these things put you right in line with working directly with attornies and if you give them discounts, they get the investigation done cheaper which makes more money for them.

Engraver:

Thanks for your advice, I think I`ll try that.  I have attonies that I work with now but they swing from Investigator to Investigator. I try to give them the most for their buck, but they forget what Investigator they use and just look in the phone book.  The only advertising that I use is the daily newspaper and word of mouth...

Keycon:

I have about a $500.00 budget a month for advertising. I feel its just a waist of money when i dont get any hits on mail I send out, and the Daily News. Sometimes I feel word of mouth seem best..and I could use the 500 bucks for better use.. any thoughts...

James,

In your "line" of work I would stay away from direct mail, not many people open up the mail box and go "wow, he`s right I do need a private detective", this would be a waste of money in my opinion.

Did you work in the Police force in the area you still are working or did you move?  Are you in good with the police force?  They may be able to refer people to you. 

Do you have a web site?  That is one way to increase your exposure.  Other than that, word of mouth in your line of work is the best (free) advertising.  You could also, contact insurance companies, they use investigators all the time, also, I don`t know what you know about security, but you could offer that service as well.  Not the actual security, but a "test" or "check up" of what they have now and where they need to be, this could be done for personal people as  well as business.

Also. join or start a "leads" group.  Business (and personal) people that you know that meet once a month and have coffee and just talk about what is going on in your community.

 

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Tony Sorensen Performance Detailing www.performance-detailing.com info@performance-detailing.com tojealca@gmail.com

Hi James,

You have already got some good suggestions. I would second the suggestion given by tojealca – have a website. I think those using investigation services would love to know some details of the services before discussing it with the investigator face to face or over the phone, for privacy reasons. So, it’s a good idea to have a website; may be just a few pages where you describe your services, your experience & background and fees. You can mention your website address in all your local classified ads.

Also, you can use Google AdWords to advertise your website/business online. If managed well, it is a very cost effective method of advertising. You can choose very targeted key words eg. “cheating partner investigation”. Just think what key words your local prospects may use to search online a service like yours. Also, AdWords offer regional/city-level targeting settings. You can select the geographical area where you want your ads to be displayed. You can limit your expenditure by setting a daily budget (say $5/day). Run the campaign for a month and evaluate which key words are generating results and then concentrate on them.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Nat

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