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Sorry, this doesn't really answer your question, and I'm lucky I've never really had to advertise, but I've always liked the idea of sandwich boards and / or magnetic van signs. Then you can be quite selective about where and when to advertise.
You are lucky glen, how long have you been going??
My van is sign written but im trying to target these new areas, would like to get a few on same site if possible.
It was my wife's (then girlfriend) business really, she started 20 years ago straight out of uni, I joined her 15 years ago. None of it was really planned, it just kinda happened. It helped we were quite young at the time so no real financial commitments. Her degree was in horticulture, mine rural land management and conservation so we rubbed along quite well.
Nice!! My large outgoings dont help me but I do work for royal mail 3 days a week which is a massive help in winter where I quieten down, for the past two years I've been building my buisness and always been very nervous about going solo, eventually though I'd love to be my own boss full time!!
My advertising goes through the letterbox all year round , delivered by royal mail .
Its always a familiar pattern from November to February , I get very few enquiries even though it costs me £400 but pipeline work booked in for Winter earlier in the year keeps the wolf from the door .
I persist to keep a presence hoping my name jogs their memory at some stage
I am of a mind that people dont really start looking while their gardens are dormant unless they understand gardening themselves or are organised and want to book a gardener in for spring .
People who have recently moved in to a new house winter time may have plans for the garden in spring no harm in approaching those .
If people have plans they will keep a flyer but they may also get several flyers from different gardeners , I have had gardeners put flyers through customers letterboxes when i have being working in their garden lol .
To be honest i dont think 200 flyers sounds enough my distribution is 30,000 monthly to the same properties and i get a response rate of around six per week but i dont need large numbers i am looking for selective clients who fit in although i will take the time to visit every person who took the time to respond to my advertisement .
A guy who cleans ovens once told me he gets lots of work by simply parking his sign written van in supermarket car parks , he has a box of leaflets secured to his parked van with magnets .
Also i find advertising in garden centres if they have a notice board brings in some interesting enquiries planting etc , often you find people take the card away .
Cheers for that John, I also advertise in a magazine that goes out to all the houses in my area but I feel a buisness card is far more effective, I also work for royal mail and the amount of people who I see come straight out and bin that book says a lot.
At least with the buisness card they have to read it before they bin it 😂 and there's only you on it...
Haha cheek of the competition delivering whilst your there, I hope your clients are as loyal as mine.
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There are some Tree Arborists near me The Tree Menders who display a sandwich board where they are working to advertise their work and the fact they may be there working, it makes me smile everytime I see them. Along the lines of.... Have A Tree Menders Day :-)
Haha I like that , my van has huge advertising capabilities though so I don't think a sandwich board would do much more, thinking a few strategically placed banners but not sure on the rules, will have to ask the residents...
Years ago, I used to help my teenage daughter delivering a free Sunday newspaper to a load of local roads (I didn't even get half the money!)............. I hit upon the idea of posting a note through the letterbox of anyone who's garden looked like it needed some loving care. Wasn't really a "flyer" as I made a note of things that could be done at the front so gave it a more personal touch..... ended up with quite a few regular jobs for nice people. Perhaps you could do something similar with your royal mail job? Not sure about banners and where you could place them..... I'm sure the council would soon remove them if it's on their land/roads etc.
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