Hello, friends! It’s time for another trip down memory lane. Today, we’re talking about how we began advertising each of our businesses in their early days. If you recall, I met Luyk when he was a young, sheet-rocking entrepreneur running his company, Rock Road Drywall. (You might be noticing a trend here—Rock Road Drywall, Rock Road Coatings & Foam, RRCTools!) The building world was hot, hot, hot in the late ’90s and early 2000s! But we faced hurdles nonetheless, including misaligned working relationships that forced us to reinvent and re-advertise to attract new, hopefully more moralistic, clients. At that time, our target audience was home builders.

Reinvention during the drywall/building days was fairly straightforward because it was also the early days of the internet. Websites weren’t the main source of traffic yet—advertising relied heavily on the Yellow Pages, newspaper print ads, and television spots. Being young and fresh, we opted for more affordable, personalized methods that took some guts and grit. We made cold calls to potential clients by phone and showed up at job sites with cards and custom made brochures. We created flyer mailers, built our own mailing lists, and, yes, we managed to afford a coveted Yellow Pages listing.

Things have certainly changed since then—and so have we! Over the years, we’ve embraced and left behind countless forms of advertising. We’ve recreated our websites multiple times and are now delving deeper into the power of Google listings, which so far have been supported by kind customer reviews. But the most powerful form of advertising we know of is still good old-fashioned word of mouth.

There’s a saying that bad word of mouth travels through 100 ears, while good word of mouth only reaches 10. We’ve found this to be true. Nothing beats the power of being recommended by a trusted friend, coworker, or family member. But here’s the catch—it’s clearly not a fast process! So, how do you get that trend started quickly enough for your business to flourish?

Throughout our journey, the looming question of “How can we speed this up?” has often hung in the air. We’ve stayed determined to focus on quality—quality of service and quality of products. (Yes, even down to the tiniest details! We’ve tested countless types of caulk and can confidently say that cheap caulk is not worth it!) These qualities are what get those 10 referrals passing along the message: “Call Rock Road!” when someone asks, “Does anyone know a spray foamer?” Now, with the rise of the internet, those 10 can multiply more quickly through Google reviews. This has been amazingly helpful for our small business! When a happy customer leaves a five-star review, it reaches so many more people—people hearing, “Call Rock Road!” loud and clear. I’ve been recently encouraged by several customers and friends to begin requesting google reviews; something I have rarely brought up or asked a client for in the past.

In the next blog, I’ll dive into learned perils of the internet, including some challenges you might never have considered!

What is your self-employment or small business story? Have you faced similar challenges or considered taking the plunge? What have you found to be the most effective—and/or least costly—form of advertising? Share your thoughts in the comments below!