hello gents…would love to solicit your feed back
over the last year i have been slowly putting my business in a position from small residential jobs to now jobs to accommodate medium to large scale work…i have and continue to advertise and market away…i have followed through with the necessary license and approvals, quality products, flyers, advertisement through various media print, sporting etc…door to door , incentives via gifts certificate. i show professionalism as something as simple as an estimate through appropriate letter heads envelope to give a memorable presentation…however at times i feel as though that the work can come a little faster…my question am I expecting to much to soon, can my strategy be improved upon, what am i doing wrong…what are the pit falls for a first timer with in the first year so i can perhaps avoid them or keep them to a minimal?
as it relates to my marketing as previous stated i have tried numerous things from strategically going into certain areas rendering a discounted job with hopes the nearby neighbours can take notice, offer cash prize for home runs at softball tournament/games, various sponsor ship very small scale, newspaper ads, magazine, gifts certificates along with xmas cards to existent customers, dooor to door flyers, mail drops, numerous forms of referrals…from cash to discount on jobs…
I am located in the caribbean island of the bahamas…I would say there is competition primarily many private individuals doing free lance work on a residential scale…i have made a concerted effort through equipment and advertisement to extend my service to a much larger scale than competition…
From my experience word of mouth is the best advertisement I’ve ever noticed. your doing by the book advertising which is good in its own way but there’s also such a thing as over advertising.
You don’t want to be the “discount” guy. Or “salesmen” that’s every where you turn. Always giving a discount. Raise your prices and sell your service. Example: instead of paying for a ad at the ball game offer the stadium to clean something for free in exchange for an ad at the ball game. Even offer to clean the neighbors during the ball game. It puts your business in action in front of people with money. Doing that makes word mouth do its magic. It’s a combination of things.
Sent from my iPhone using Pressure Washing Resource
I think some of the biggest problems with unsuccessful Advertising are the following:
People expect that if they start a business the phones will automatically start ringing.
They are concerned with short term profits more than long term profits.
They see advertising as an expense and tend to cut that first from their budget.
They focus too much on response rate vs. ROI
If they do purchase advertising, they tend to go cheap and create marketing materials that do not project a professional image.
They do not track advertising to see where their advertising $$$ are most effective.
They run an ad 1 time and give up because it did not perform to their expectations.
Find what works and keep repeating it, if something doesnt work after a reasonable amount of time drop it and spend on what does.
Don’t clutter your ad, be direct and to the point. What am I selling, how do you get a hold of me. People really do not care about glitz and glamour, the ad is for the consumer not to make you feel good.
Know your competition. What kind of ads are they running, where are they placing their ads, if you see the same ad in a newspaper for an extended period of time you can bet it is working for them.
When I was in the computer industry, one of my competitors ran an ad in the local weekly paper, every single week. It is now 5 years later and I still see the same ad. That tells you that his ad is working or he would not be doing it if it didnt.
Pick your Ad space wisely, target the consumer that you want to purchase your services.
For example, some people may have alot of success with small ads in the back of a daily paper. But my feeling is that in todays society that most people do not have the time to read a paper from cover to cover, they are more concerned with what is happening locally and how it impacts them. Save your dollars and invest them in a local weekly paper instead that is more than likely to be seen vs. the daily paper that will only be seen if someone is actually looking for it.
Be smart about what you do, advertising is a 24/7 job.
Always have marketing material on hand. There is nothing worse than not being prepared when opportunity presents itself.
Wear your uniform when you do your weekend errands.
Park your company truck in a busy parking lot on the weekend.
Advertising doesnt have to be expensive. Think outside the box, if its Free and it doesnt work then it doesnt cost you anything.
Good Point GuyB, I would think if he marketed to Resorts, Restaurants and Storefronts he could pick up some Annual contracts and fill in his empty slots with residential.
Sure, I am biased as I do SEO part time and it is obviously not the only way you should market your business, but it also seems more professional if you have a good looking website. And when I advice on doing SEO, I do so from experience as the companies I have worked for greatly benefited from it.
