ideas

Hey FP, what industry are you in? 

If you could provide a bit more context that would be helpful!

FP  - network with other local contractors in your area who do the work you want to do! Somebody will likely be willing to help you out. 

If you are commercial, literally call every property manager on google and offer a discount or services and after many calls you should get something. At least its free (minus your time but none of us get paid our time lol)

You didn't like Strictly Plumbers? I've seen them advertised since I started my company. I had no interest in their services other than their PlumbLine phone answering service, but I was curious what all they offer and their rates.

As for your question, the first and most obvious step is to work on your Google My Business profile, website, and social media profiles. 90% of our customers find us online. 

I've joined BNI groups with moderate success but they're so needy it's not worth it.

I've done the email campaigns. Out of hundreds I got two property management companies. But they were big clients! Accounted for over $300k in revenue last year. So it can pay off but it's all about the right time. Will your email land in front of them just as they need it or will they move it to spam?

PPC Ads are hit or miss. You need to do your research on PPC marketing if you're doing it yourself. If you're paying someone, you could hit gold or waste your money. It's expensive and marketing companies can drain your budget quickly.

Radio/TV/OTT ads are only good for brand recognition in my opinion. I spent $2,750 a month for a year with Cumulus and I couldn't tell you if we got even one customer from it. Being a new company, It did help to lend some credibility to our brand. We were able to use our OTT commercials on our Google, youtube, and website. I never received any kind of KPI reports to justify the cost.

I'm still learning myself and will follow this discussion.