Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Advertising - how do you know when it`s a scam?

Since setting up properly a constant issue has been when / how to advertise and how much to spend. Given that I am aiming at a semi-pro existence allowing time for other things and making the best of all the jobs I do for maximum customer satisfaction it`s not easy to pitch it!

I started off with the usual free Yell listing. Big mistake! Cue loads of advertisers aiming to get as much off me as they could - especially Yell who I was warned off by an unhappy Leeds based customer.  I tried a free 3 lead trial with another web based group - got my 3 leads. All highly suspicious would be brides seeking quotes with hotmail accounts and no telephone numbers for 2 and an incorrect one for the third. No replies to emails even when offering big discounts. Didn`t bother to buy any more leads.
Latest one is Facebook who until tomorrow are offering me 1000 new Facebook contacts / likes, a designed facebook webpage and social network plug built in to drive customers to me with a 6 month money back guarantee if I do not see any business. The most tempting but not convinced! What`s a man to do - anyone heard of this Facebook approach?
At a local level I have hooked up with North Leeds Life - an advertising magazine that goes to 30,000 homes in my area. They are using me for stock images / one off shoots in return for credits and web page listing - you can see my shots on page 6 and 14 of the July edition and hoping to get some of these in next months.


You might even see my old cat Joey or one of my dog portraits
in there in a pet feature if they like them.

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