How does one market, promote and advertise a small light excavating and construction company?

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I am the owner of a small excavating and construction company. It is my first year and a half out of the box. Still afloat but needing to reach a broader range of customers. We run small ads in our local paper. We even hit the pavement with flyers. We have done such things as yellow pages, direct mail, bulletin boards, trade shows, local events, job site signs, trade pulications, and business cards. The problem that keeps me up all night is...either we have gotten no replies. Or we have only invited price shoppers. What works for us? Flyers on telephone poles, business cards, small news paper ads and mainly word of mouth. We are competitive in price. Offer more services than other contractors. But our advertising budget is getting smaller all the time. We have gotten excellent letters of recommendations from 98% of our customers without even asking for them. Even use them as a marketing tool. So my question again is..."How do we market, promote and advertise our business on a vast scale cheaply? How do we reduce the price shoppers and get more in the public eye? Any information will be greatly appreciated!

-- Dean Guy (CompactExcCo@aol.com), December 14, 2001

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