Jake, I wish I had a
dollar for every time I have been asked this question! There are literally tens of thousands of options that could “get your name out there,” however as a new market entrant your first priority is to develop a profile within your local Ipswich area. And focus on developing some positive local word of mouth. Join your local BNI chapter (if there is a vacancy for a furniture removalist). Look for other local groups who would benefit on your involvement (and pro-bono access to you well branded truck), look for opportunities to assist someone who needs help, could be following a fire or flood. Then make sure you get the attention of the local media and some positive PR. Become known as a reliable and compassionate supporter of locally supported issues (providing they are not divisive or politically motivated). Don’t get carried away, be selective and contribute to activities that will gain the most positive word of mouth. Once this begins to generate some income get some professional help with your website and start to support local PR with some paid advertising.

Become very aware of exactly what your competition is doing so that you have the ability to preempt any steps they take to retard your progress. Because most of your early work will be business they will have lost, established competitors will not roll over and let you win so be prepared to fight for every job.

Remember, it is always other people who will get your name out there, so make certain they have plenty of good things to say about you and your companies work.

Hey Jake,

John Eustace's answers above are perfect and I'll add my own thoughts as well.

Famous marketing guru Seth Godin said once:

"To be successful in business you only have to do two things:

1) Do great work

2) Make sure lots of people know about it"

And that's so true.

If you do great work, and you make sure you let lots of people know, you'll have people walking down your door over time, because your competition will either not do number 1 or omit to do number 2

90% of small businesses neglect one or the other of the two statements above.

so here's my tips:

1) Do really really great work... consistently, every time... the kind of work that makes people go: Holy cow, these guys were so good, clean tidy organised, professional... and they pl;ugged in my TV, made sure it was working and left a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers behind so I could enjoy my first night in the new house"... wow... I'm going to tell all my friends...

2) and you make sure they have a few of your cards (better yet, fridge magnets) that you leave behind with the bottle of wine

3) and you send them a follow up email with a request to put a simple testimonial on your facebook page and ask them to like the facebook page... and some more things like that... as John Eustace says above... there are like ten thousand things you could do... but keep coming back to those two rules above.

4) And a month later or 3 months later you send another little follow up thing... or you take a photo during the move, when it's at it's absolute messiest and then 3 months later you send them the photo with the caption: "Remember that day?" Hope you're enjoying your new home... and a reminder to share the photo on their facebook updates with your company name attached

If you do that kind of stuff... consistently, in less than two years you'll be posting questions here about how to handle all the work

I promise you

(Oh yes... and join a good local BNI chapter... a good BNI chapter is gold for removalists)

Jake,

If you send me the postcodes of your preferred operating districts, I can send you a list of properties advertised for sale, and rent.The occupants of these properties are probably preparing to move.

Really great comments by John and Roland. I'm not sure I could add anything else they haven't already covered.

1. Build your website and ensure you have the keywords you are after throughout the site.

2. Pay for Google adsense. Set a budget and the keywords.

3. Setup Google Analytics for the website so you can track views, locations and start collecting the stats.

4. Buy the domain names for the most common keywords used to find your site.

5. Add your business to Google maps

6. Do some smart research and marketing. I did a similar campaign for a company that wanted to reach out to everyone that was about to move. Called and offered utilities for their new address.

7. Know your customers. Ensure you have a good CRM to keep track of your customers. If you know your customers well enough, you will know when they are due to move next.

Those are some basic points that should help get your name out there. After all that, you still need to make sure your customer service is above and beyond. People talk, and happy customers are willing to spread the word for you also.

One quick way to get your company name out is to niche out a segment of the removalist business, this means you specialise and get really good on one (or two) things in the removalist business.  Maybe you can specialise on only moving breakable like expensive china, plate or glassware.  Maybe you can specialise in moving only big stuff that other removalist don't want to move.  Look for that one thing you want to be known for in the removalist industry and stick to it.   If you get that good on that one thing,  other removalists would even give you business because they can't do what you do.

It might be worth teaming up with real estate agencies as their preferred removalist - or get a relationship going so you're top of mind when clients inevitably ask about them.

Lots of great advice above already. But to add to that, Facebook branding and engagement ads have been successful with my clients.