Biggest Marketing Fail

Marketing
1

I’m curious what everyone’s biggest marketing “Fail” has been? What have you tried, dumped some money into only to have it fail miserably?

2

Chris, the biggest marketing fail the last couple years in my area anyway
has been anything to do with yellow page marketing. Totally dropping the
yellow pages next year.The yellow page rep was actually quite angry with
me. I track every call last couple of years and the response has all been:
I googled it. The it they are referring to either being “window cleaning” or
“pressure washing”. Yellow pages get FAIL grade for me anyway. LOL.

3 Likes
3

Lucky I learn from mistakes, and great forums like this. BUt wrong time of year marketing mainly post cards, it simply does not work around here at certain times of year, I have my history to back it up, but when your first starting out you may not have history and you have to track that stuff make sure your maximizing your dollars spent. After you get a few years under your belt it is really exciting to see the trends and allows you to plan so much better to take advantage of things

2 Likes
4

I got zero return from buying advertising with a company that does the university football team print schedules and radio ads. It was probably a scam all along. Stay away from golf course ad books, too.

3 Likes
5

I got suckered into both of those. Sports schedule that was supposed to be posted everywhere and I really never saw it. And the golf book ads. Both an absolute waste for me.

6

The biggest flop we had is Home Advisor. I guess they could work out in other markets well, but Raleigh is SO saturated! We would legitimately be calling leads back within a minute and the customer had already talked to another contractor. The leads were costing $18 a pop. Angie’s List has become the newest failure…

Sad thing is - both of those avenues USED to work well.

3 Likes
7

Service Magic, Home Advisor, whatever they’re called now- no bueno.

I just got called by ABC Marketing to do a golf directory. It’s amazing how fast the price drops when you feign interest but don’t commit. That’s a sure sign of a worthless product.

2 Likes
8

Yellow Pages BY FAR the biggest waste for me, I lost $ and when I relayed that to the sales rep, they still couldn’t figure out why I didn’t want to continue with them.

1 Like
9

For those with continued interest in this topic we have a similar thread going on here - > http://windowcleaningresource.com/vBulletin/marketing-advertising-sales/49216-biggest-marketing-fail.html

1 Like
10

That link only works if you are a WCRA member.

11

Glad you mention Home Advisor. They just contacted me yesterday but I did not commit.

2 Likes
12

I advertise with YP mainly for web presence. I stay torwards top of first page.
Any one that calls you asking you to be on any sports schedule or golf course will tell you, Your business will be the only one offering your services that will be listed. It will be a waste of money. Home Advisor is Junk run by liars feeding on the ignorant, desparate soul. I have learned not to advertise with anyone calling to sell me their services.

13

Home Advisor has sunk to a new low this year. They are now posing as property managers with potential work for both commercial and residential. I received 5 calls this past season and another yesterday. They will not associate Home Advisor with their name until about 5 min into the call. They must be desperate for business. Unreal…

1 Like
14

Thumbtack was also a waste. I accepted & paid for some leads 2yrs ago & not one panned out because the people on there want something for nothing. Same goes with Angie’s list.

15

I hope Home Dvisor is on the ropes and they go under. Sooner rather than later.

1 Like
16

I have 31 5 star ratings with HA. They were great when the bubble burst was healing but lately customers have been looooow budget.

17

I am hoping Yelp ads works but so far not so good… $125 with a pay per click budget of $275… and 1 call. My question is how can I tell who’s clicking. …

18

I think I’m in the fail zone at the moment. I’m trying Google adwords Express. Tons of views, about 100 clicks and 0 (yes 0, not a typo) converstions (I’m calling a convertion someone calling or emailing an inquiry about service). I guess stay tuned,?
A runner up (maybe it should be leader) is moving my web site to be hosted by Hatch or Hatchspot.com. Big flat nothing going on with organic leads. In fact, not even getting withing first 5 pages of google search for “power wash, window cleaning, roof wash” in my market. very disapointing.

I gotta go, it is the first day of a new year and I want to be full of hope. Not bogged down in my fails.

19

I have to disagree with you about Hatch. I can’t say enough good about them. Have you talked to them about your search rankings? I’m on first or second page and I stay there…maybe there is something that needs to be adjusted?

I guess it could also have to do with the size of the city you’re in. Where are you located?

Not trying to criticize your post by any means…it’s just very surprising to me to hear of someone unhappy with Hatch.

1 Like
20

I have been doing Home Advisor for going on a year. Although It’s disappointing when I get charged for a lead and can never get in touch with them, I am still well above money spent even if I only close 20% of my leads. If I get 10 leads (15each) and only close on one, and it’s an 800 job, I am still up. I also get that job, and many times neighbors jobs.
I am using Brand Rep as my SEO. They said they would put me on the 1st page of google in 3 months, and they did.

1 Like