Tel me if I left any off.

Perhaps i'm lucky, most of my work comes from regular hotel clients.

However the other work i pick up normally starts with the client say " i got your number from such and such...." or " i saw you do such and such's party" So word of mouth is the best for me.

But the amount of enquiries i'm getting from my T'interweb site is increasing every week.


ps before Ads makes a comment...Such and Such is not the name of an agent !!

I have a Website, Yellow Pages, Business cards and much more, but 70% of my work comes from word of mouth!

Word of mouth is great advertising, but my web site is generating lots and lots of work this year, more so than last year...........

Yellow Pages pays for itself every year...plus try leaving some cards in some of the independent record/CD shops, most people when they are looking for a DJ tend to go into a record shop.

Other good ways

Stall at a wedding fair

Join your local Chamber Of Commerce


just a few ideas:)

I went for 'Word of Mouth' as well because, although I use most of those listed, when someone is recommended to me it doesn't take much talk to secure the gig and it hasn't cost me anything.

The web comes in second (compare this to 3 years ago when it only accounted for a handfull of gigs).

PaulS

Word of mouth has always, and will always be best.

Other ideas I have thought about, to make it a little different are advertising via

CD business 'cards'
Key Rings
Pens

I did wonder about cigarette lighters. They are one of those things that float around all the time and never get thrown away.

Thats only good for the smoking guests though....

I'm looking into having pens done with my details on.. this means i can leave them on tables with request slips and hopefully people will pocket them at the end of the night

So far for me most of my gigs have come through word of mouth as they've been gigs for my college and people at it. I'm not in the yellow pages but do have a website which has brought in 5 bookings since christmas.

there was an advertising trailer for sale in my local auto trader a snip at £400 + your poster costs,which was quite tempting as you can pick out the busiest sites and get your name seen in whatever area you choose to target.

The easiest leads to convert are definately word of mouth referrals. But I do find the big yellow book effective although I only convert around 30% of enquirys (mainly price issues).

Vinnie

I have never advertised anyway apart from my website which only generates a very small amount of business.

All the rest come from recommendations and word of mouth right from the start which was over five years ago.

Word of mouth works best.

We have a 50th birthday coming up in Islington. She remembered us from a birthday in Ongar, 4 years ago and tracked us down from that, not even quibbling about the price, because she knows that we are what she wants!

By far the best recommendation, any day.

So far this year I have had more work from the website than from word of mouth. We have been monitoring the web stats for 4 months now and the hits and referals keep going up.

I tend to get word of mouth bookings about a year or two later. I'm supprised sometimes that people haven't lost my business cards.

Most businesses that are looking at their marketing ask their prospective clients the question "Where did you hear about us?"

It's good that they are trying to work out which marketing is working for them, but a better question is probably "Where did you get our phone number (or website) from?"

Word of mouth is fine, but remember that virtually nobody will say "Ring XYZ Discos, their number is 555 9027". Almost nobody knows your number off by heart, so find out which critical link in the chain actually gets that word of mouth to your phone or website.

You'll thank me for this little gem of advice once you've analysed this part of your marketing strategy accurately, I'm sure!

Word of mouth currently counts for about 75% of my bookings, the other 25% of new customers all coming in via the Website.

I just wish that I had the website and internet when I started out, it would have saved a fortune in newspaper ad's and stamps.

I get a great deal of work from WEDDING FAYRES.

They require a lot of time and effort to cover, but they really score when it comes to selling our specialised services.

Other than BFs, most of our work comes from about a dozen local hotels that either book us direct or refer clients to us.

We do get a number of personal recommendations but these are often well spread out and difficult to track. We encourage our DJs to hand out our cards, and write their names in the space provided, so we can be sure to place repeat work with them.

we do advertise in YP and have a web site, but I see these more as a supporting role for our other marketing activities.

I may just add that we have recently received a great many enquiries from a dedicated Wedding Web Site.[currently about ten a week]. Whether they turn into bookings will be another matter.

I voted "word of mouth" but a close second is "request slips"

I've got all my contact details on the bottom of the request slips which I use at every function, so no longer use separate business cards. People are firmly behind the idea of request slips so its a great marketing push.

Also, as request slips go out on all the tables at the beginnng of the night, no-one has to ask for a card .

Yellow pages does generate many of the enquires such as "how much for....."
so you advise your services, to whic they reply I've been quoted half that then you can really sell yourself!

Most come from word of mouth, request slips and business cards.

I have been establishing my reputation with a number of local venues which has led to repeat business.

Cheezy
Nightsounds

took out a freebie with thomsons when they phoned and theyve drawn a nice big map circling my house and garage, with a great big arrow saying burglars come and get your disco gear here. so that source of advertising didnt last long

Its got to be word of mouth as potential clients hearing of you in person by someone and vouching your professionalism and dj capabilities will always turn concideration your way

Just remember that a POBOX number is not confidential, if anyone asks the Post office who owns that address they will give out all your details.

ssshhh, don't tell them that!


Very true, but not easy to do like reading it off a website, and you need to tell the PO who you are.

PO Boxes are £52 p.a. if you collect your mail from the nearest sorting office, if you want them to deliver it that will cost you another £52 p.a.

If I get the "how much", I normally reply £5,000, only had two hang ups in 7 years. It stops them dead and makes them think.