Hi Guys
I know this question has been asked number of times Just want peoples thoughts and ways they look to advertise and improve there client base
After having a fairly quiet last year and really in much need on improving our client base dramatically this year in order to be brut honest for us to survive next winter really
Over Past month been doing A lot of work on building my website and adding more services to what we can offer and re banding and refreshing our leaflets
i have added post s on free listing sites gonna be putting adverts in local shops etc in the area!
i have been advertising in local facebook groups ...Not keen on twitter as never had any work enquiries from it compared to fb
Looking into local parish magazine but unsure where to start on that front
Have debated local paper but seems expensive for just one advert!
Any other thoughts where to look into for little expense please!
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I tend to do a flyer blitz in the spring, last year I did 8000 flyers (for lawn care) via a distribution company & a couple of ads in a local magazine. I dropped just shy of 2000 into a lot of local shops, hairdressers ect in a 5-10mile radius from my base. This work keeps me busy until Christmas!
This year I plan on doubling the flyers & dropping the ads altogether.
However what works from me, doesn't mean will work for you. I think you need to try different (paid) avenues and benchmark the results. If something hasn't worked for you, bin it and move on.
There have been some very interesting threads in the members section on advertising and the cost of gaining clients. If you haven't already - spend a bit of time reading past posts...
Facebook has never been great for me, although this year I plan on testing something... I recently spent a day with a video-photographer doing some promo work and will be looking at dipping my toe into Facebook advertising.
I have been toying with the idea of google ad words too.
To get ahead from your local competition & give the business a chance to grow I feel you need to pay for some of your advertising and secondly benchmark it to see how well it has preformed.
I would imagine if you were to advertise weekly in your local paper it would generate a fair amount of work if you were to do it on a weekly basis all year round. It's the type of thing where repetition would pay off. I know of a local tree guy to me that swears by it - he is always flat out... You will become "that guy that always advertises in the paper" when older folk are looking general maintenance stuff done
Going forward - If you want to survive I think you need to sit down and have a think about paid advertising.
Do you have a budget for your marketing activities, if so how much is it, what type of services do you want to offer?
thanks for your robbie
OK - step back a moment and think about:
1. How much extra revenue do you want next year.
2. Break that down into how many extra customers that means for you - take an average revenue per customer.
3. How much is it worth you spending to gain a customer and still be profitable with them in the first year.
4. That sets an overall budget. Then the fun starts on how to spend it.
Remember, you won't need all the budget potentially at the beginning, you can use some revenue from new customers to fund the next set etc.
A very simple and effective starting point is to knock on doors around your existing customers saying you look after one of their neighbours and you were wondering if they need any services. Be friendly, not pushy and leave leaflets.
The holy grail is to find customers for little expense, but, that's just it, it's a dream. You'll likely to need to spend if you need to grow quickly.
What are your thoughts on the numbers above. Move to BOG if getting too sensitive.
hi andrew thanks for your comment please could you email me your thoughts then i can give you the responses and idea on numbers too
phil@shawgardens.co.uk
Did the proper Adwords and spent £10 for around 10k in work from one client. They bought into me as person
Had a few other leads through this but I wasn't interested in them
We track our customer source and from "the web" to include website, google search, google adwords, Yell online we get a 10-1 return on revenue vs expense. We don't split the source finer, as people don't really remember if they clicked on an advert or just a organic search entry.