[Tom Molloy]

Hi All.

I am new to this group. Just from the experience of members, what marketing has paid dividends? What has been disaster? The types of advertising suggest for a carpet / upholstery cleaning business to date has been:

Google Adwords
Targeted leaflet drop
Adverts in a local free magazine
Adverts in a local newspaper
Yellow Pages
Sponsorship
Thomson Local

Any other ideas folks??

[dustee]

The first three        work for me

[Carpet Dawg]

What works for someone might not work for you.

Things like sponsorship, radio adverts etc are things to do once your already know in your local community. To keep your brand in peoples faces. I could be wrong but i don't think they'll bring in much direct work.

Some say directory advertising is dead, some say it works for them.

Safe bet is to do a bit of everything and test where the most of your work is coming from and spend more funds in that media.

[Robin Ray]

Just talking to people who you randomly meet about what you do and being really enthusiastic about it has surprising results and can open loads of doors.

Networking breakfasts is another method which many use.

Rob

[James Jacob]

I totally agree with Robin
Talk to as many people as possible... enthusiastically & strike whilst the iron is hot point out all the benefits & convince people they really really need it & your the best man for the job
I also have to take my own advice & do this myself... as this is proven to work & its Free!!!!

[Mike Halliday]

Do you wear a silver foil hat and rainbow coloured pyjamas when you do all this random talking to people about carpet cleaning?   

the idea of randomly networking or doing the american 'everyone you speak to gets a business card' idea sounds great idea until you try it...... and you find how incredibly hard it is to do ( and trust me i have tried it)

if you really want to do this wear a polo shirt with 'I'm a carpet cleaner.... ask for a card' written on the back

[Carpet Dawg]

How to be the most boring person at the party. Talk about work.

[Ian Gourlay]

I was going to say where a speak to me Badge but as usual Mr H is more creative Im just going to order one from Vista Print  to wear when I am Grocery shopping

I see nothing regarding Web Site but I take it as you use Adwords you have one

Van Sign written

Do you have a leaflet dispenser for when van is parked up 

[Tom Molloy]

Thanks for the advice folks. I really appreciate all the responses.

[Robin Ray]

No Mike not tried foil hats and Rainbow Pyjamas yet.....  have you had success with this method?

I suppose the only problem with "random networking" as the Americans call it, is you have to actually know and speak to people in the real actual offline world. I suppose another problem for some is you have to actually like what you do to be enthusiastic about it. However as a small part of a larger marketing system it can be effective.

The polo shirts a good idea, maybe a card holder mounted to the back could be effective?

[Melissa Edwards]

Adwords works well for me.
Direct response leafleting ok.
Local free magazines not much, but..it's free I suppose
Local newspapers have never worked for me
Yell.com has been quite good but I haven't used paid ad's in the paper book
Sponsorship I haven't really ventured into
Thomson Local I've had nothing from

Best results for me are from from AdWords and SEO, Email Marketing, Social, Leafleting / Letters, in that order.

[Ian Gourlay]

Looks like you are The Brand  Mellisa
 What about the best Of   I found it useless

[Melissa Edwards]

Ha ha! Yep, personalized marketing works. Will probably go more down the fun / cartoon route in the future as it seems to work well. Have done this on social and letters a bit and it lightens the mood I think.
The BestOf is OK at best. Pays its way but very much dependent on local areas and who's running the franchise I'd imagine. I initially got involved because their directory was on page 1 Google in a local area of mine at the time. Was definitely worth it in the beginning.

[Ian Gourlay]

I liked the Cartons

[DB]

The most effective method of obtaining more business no one has yet mentioned!

Do a good job, gain the confidence of your customer and you will get repeat/referral business

Just think ....your all your satisfied customers singing your praises.... a team of unpaid sales staff working  just for you... can't be bad

[Emil Dinev]

The most effective method of obtaining more business no one has yet mentioned!

Do a good job, gain the confidence of your customer and you will get repeat/referral business

Just think ....your all your satisfied customers singing your praises.... a team of unpaid sales staff working  just for you... can't be bad

I like that and is so true. I think that when we start discussing marketing we all have that thought of getting new customers instantly. But if time is invested patiently and smartly in the name of the long term benefit then good things can happen. Also, great cleaning results don't necessarily mean good service. People will not neccessarilly remember you for the great job you did but for the way you made them feel in your presence.

[tim handley]

as a new start up last year, the  thing that got my business earning was a yell.com sponsored advert linked to my website, started with one area to see how it went, now in two areas and going intp my third...........  also local parish types mags bring in a fair bit, but newspapers are a waste of time......  (for me)!!!

[psc]

as a new start up last year, the  thing that got my business earning was a yell.com sponsored advert linked to my website, started with one area to see how it went, now in two areas and going intp my third...........  also local parish types mags bring in a fair bit, but newspapers are a waste of time......  (for me)!!!

How much did that cost Tim?

[tim handley]

without looking i think my first area (grantham) is about £180 a year, second area, (lincoln which is much larger) about £280.........
friday i did one job in grantham for £280, week before my turnover just in lincoln was £580, so, for me, its a no brainer.......

[Mike Halliday]

Tim how big an area is this?