[Forum Admin]

So with a £1k marketing budget, what would you spend it on and why?

It will be interesting to get people's thoughts here and hopefully help all with marketing decisions.

[Mike Halliday]

To be honest £1k is Not that much,  really £1k a month is a better amount for a sustained marketing campaign.


 But I could buy something like this for  £987,  then get my son to man it a local independent garden centre.



Or this for £400

[Paul-Turner]

For me it would be van signage 

[Mike Halliday]

I spent I think about £1200 on my van wrap 9yrs ago.  I bet  I have had that money back with just the walk ups in supermarket carparks.  I also get about 1 a month at my local Costa coffee shop where I get my coffee every morning.

The thing about a memorable van is how it builds awareness of your company in your local area. In my town everybody knows my van and people often tell me they see my vans everywhere, but they are just seeing the one van many times.

[*Hector*]

In my town everybody knows my van and people often tell me they see my vans everywhere, but they are just seeing the one van many times.

that's because all day long you drive from the gym to lots of different cafe's for various "snacks" 

[Elfyn]

The effectiveness of advertising varies from area to area and business to business. It's important to ask every custome where they saw your advert to know what works for you. A lot of money is wasted on ads that don't work.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

I spent I think about £1200 on my van wrap 9yrs ago.  I bet  I have had that money back with just the walk ups in supermarket carparks.  I also get about 1 a month at my local Costa coffee shop where I get my coffee every morning.

The thing about a memorable van is how it builds awareness of your company in your local area. In my town everybody knows my van and people often tell me they see my vans everywhere, but they are just seeing the one van many times.

I used to get that answer as well!

I did consider painting a number 5 on one door and a 7 on the other and then asking people who made that comment “which numbered van”?

I’m sure I could have had a lot of fun with answers I got.

[Jonathan Evans]

You could join a networking group. I think BNI works out about £1k for the year.
Mind you I have tried it twice not for me but I do see the value in it.

[Cleanevangelist]

building a list

[Peter Hobbs]

Definitely not Adwords. Overpriced, poor conversions and generally not worth the money once you look at how much profit you're taking after completing a job. Some will say ahh your quality score was low, your ads aren't setup properly. But I can assure you thats not the case - when you're competing up to £3  or £4 per click - Adwords is not the way to go.

Personally, I'd spend £1k on van signage too. Good van signage with a serious graphic designer.  I haven't had tons of work from sign written vans, however, it seriously helps with brand identity. People notice and remember the logo and  name, then when they do go to search for carpet cleaners they subconsciously recognise your brand  and you're more likely to get that click or website visit in the process....

There's my 2 pence...

[Mike Halliday]

Really you need to ask “what can I spend a grand on and have that grand back in my pocket in the quickest time”. I don’t want to spend it and go broke before I have reached the full return of my investment

I want to spend a grand on marketing and it make 5 grand in a month, then spend 2  grand of that to make 10 grand the following month, I want it to create money not  build  awareness so the other money I spent becomes more effective.