[richy27]

i have just started and have decided to hedge my bets with the advertising my plan of action is
yell.com  listing not the free one
local free news paper that is distributed to half of the county
then two trader admart style free books that are distributed in 2 different areas in the county
then 5000 flyers that i am putting out myself.
 then the obvious direct postal mailing aimed towards the commercial side

not under any illusion not expecting the phone to be ringing off the hook

but was wondering do you think i have the right approach

Regards

Rich

[russell james]

im on yell and iv had one call in 6 months, wouldnt do it again, or yellow pages for that matter, papers, classified directories are ok but iv got two towns where i have the back page and only get a few calls per week, less than one a month from yp, most work will come from flyers.
next year im not going to advertise anywhere apart from flyers and direct mail, just too expensive for the returns you get

[Barry Livingstone]

Any written press advert should really be on page 3 or 5 of the publication due to the fact that most peop;e dont get past there i think ....but then some of the marketing kings on here might say otherwise.

But id say you are bin the right direction.

[richy27]

yeah good points i just felt like trying few angles of approach see what works if any then bin what doesnt

[russell james]

why not spend a day walking around your area and knock on doors doing market research, ask people if they know any carpet cleaners in the area, if they do how do they know them, what ads drew them in etc etc
this is really the only way to find out what ads will work, its boring work and most people will tell you to go away, but it will give you an idea, also you could offer them a free quote while your there or give them a business card etc

[spencer davies]

Get a proper website produced, we don't waste money with Yell or YP, dropped almost every
other advertising now our sites are strong.   



S

[sherco]

Who would you recommend to design a web site Spencer? I would like one for my Tile and Stone floor cleaning. Andrew

[richy27]

i appreciate what your saying powerfull web presence is the way forward but it takes time to get traffic through your website to get it listed naturally just does not happen overnight. doesnt matter how good a website looks its if it gets seen. every advert i am making has my website add on it so hopefully will build up traffic that way

[richy27]

sherco  have a look at freebird design founf them really usefull

[russell james]

who are you aiming to target?

[derek west]

my advice would be don't listen to whats good or bad advertising for people on here, whats good for one might not be good for you and visa versa. for instance russel says don't waste your time on yell.com but for me its great, i get a call a week minimum. but just because i say its good and russel says its crap doesn't mean one of us is right, best thing is try everything in your budget over a period of time and monitor your calls, lets say theres 20 different ways to advertise your busines, pick 10 in your budget, go with them and when one doesn't seem to be working, ditch it and add another youve not tried.
hope this helps
good luck
derek

[russell james]

its ok to try everything, but it all costs money, my mistake when starting up was exactly that, i tried everything, papers, radio, directories etc etc, they all generated some form of work, but not a patch on the work that flyers bring in, i wasted an awful lot of money trying it all!

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

New starters are lucky , they can get the benefit of others experience, we had to learn the hard way.

Things which work are internet but takes time, leaflets , fairly instant, YP getting less effective all the time.

If you are really confident face to face selling is cheap effective and instant.
Cheers

doug

[pete sween]

Richy

Derek's point is spot on about different things working for different people. It's all about where you are pitching yourself (top, middle or low end) and then cosidering the demographics of the place in the mkt and what mediums they prefer to use. It is a bit easier getting the advice but as already said you can be lead the wrong way by advice. Even Yellow Pages is still working very well in some areas so don't listen to anyone in particular as they are only advising based on their own experiences and not on a general knowledge in this field.

Worked for over 10 in advertising (yellow pages and the like).

There is a simple research method that you can use yourself and does'nt take too long and this will help you loads. Give me a bell or email me. pete@oakleafcc.co.uk

[Mike Halliday]

Richie, devon covers 365 square miles are you planning on covering all of it? concidering you are going to advertise in......

a local free news paper that is distributed to half of the county
&
free books that are distributed in 2 different areas in the county


what town do you live in?

[richy27]

sorry probably worded it wrong the paper i am goin to advertise in covers the whole of north devon then the two trader mags cover two differant areas within north devon.

[Mike Halliday]

so where do you live? it would be helpful before giving advice if I knew what area ( town or countryside ) you lived in

[richy27]

sorry i live in barnstaple

[Mike Halliday]

according to yell there are 3 carpet cleaners based in barnstable

barnstable by its self has a population of 40,000 20% of these are retired so I would have part of my marketing aimed at OAPS

before you start looking at north devon I would try and design a marketing stratagy aimed closer to home.

I'll give you some advice but you will ignore it all the business you will ever need is closer than you think, look at ways to get in touch with the people of barnstable and all the villages within a 5mile radious.

I've cut & pasted this of WIKI'

The largest employer in the region by far is local and central Government. The two main central government-owned employers in the area are the Royal Marines Base Chivenor, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the town, and North Devon District Hospital, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north.

perhaps these places have internal advertisng (the hospital will have a central intranet)

look local,  it makes sense

[richy27]

thanks thats good advice