If you're running a bricks and mortar setup without a website I would suggest that you're missing out on a huge amount of revenue. Get yourself a cheap e-commerce website (there are plenty of online shops you can customise for little cost). You can then include your online shop details on your literature.

Also how about providing services over and above that of just shipping A/V boxes. You could hold cinema nights in your shop to show the quality of the goods you sell. Provide custom installations or consultancy on your equipment. Position yourself as a centre of both knowledge and equipment.

Finally, why not partner with local builders and architects to provide A/V equipment, knowledge and servicing to their existing customer base?

Hopefully one or more of the above ideas will see you through this quiet period. Good luck!

This question is a little difficult without knowing the extent of the current of the services you provide. I'll assume you provide, home and business Audio Visual installations, repair, and perhaps, components for sale for your small business, and if i am wrong, please correct me and I'll modify my answer for your exact scenario.

Since what probably appears that most of your business is offsite, either at a residential or business locations, is your store front that important to you? You could consider working from a warehouse or back-lot type location, which is considerably less expensive than a formidable store front. If you are a sole proprietorship, you should consider even working out of your home.

This savings will help you leverage money to help invest in a few business saving techniques.

Again, not knowing your situation and your advertising market strategies. I'll just answer how to cost effectively get local advertising and repeat business while getting word of mouth references from your existing clients.

Follow these steps, before the job, go over what you're going to do for the customer, clearly, and in detail. Then say something along these lines, "Before I get started on this, if I do a great job, would it be alright if I left you a business card?" Your typical response is of course, yes. This is important, do a good job, take measures to be extremely clean and organized. Have yourself or your employees wear booties to not dirty the carpets/floors going in and out of the business/residence. Try to be quiet and invisible when you can, so that the homeowner or business owner can continue to do their work without having to worry about excess noise or running around that is unnecessary. A homeowner will have no problem referring someone who is good, fast, neat and quiet, even if you are more expensive than your competition. After a job, make sure you ask something along these lines. "Are you happy/pleased with the work that if done for you? " It is important that they answer in a positive affirmation, but try to get a "Yes" out of them. Once they do, say "Great, here's a few of business card's in case you happen to have anyone ask about A/V work. See, on the back you can write your name and your friends will get a 10% discount on top of any other discounts they might have. Also, when I see your name on the back, if you ever need any more work, you will save 30% off the next visit."

Word of mouth referrals are the best way to grow a business, because a referral carries much more weight in our brains relative to standard advertising, or worse a random pick out of the yellow pages.

Traditional advertising is also useful, but expensive, and more difficult for such a targeted service such as yourself. Find complimentary business to yours (electronics, parts, and televisions) and persue a partnership with them, where you become a preferred vendor, and work out something where you can advertise in those businesses.

Direct mail marketing is useful when working with your immediate neighborhoods, as people tend to favor vendors close by, where there is accessibility and consequence if they need you for something. You can use melissadata.com for data about your neighborhood which you can buy to send out a direct mailer.

Hope this answer is helpful!