[edward coller]

So what is your tried and tested marketing tool that consistently gets results, both for repeat customers and to get new customers, I need some inspiration please, Thanks Simon perhaps if its a combo of things you feel you could pass on..

[Steven Fletcher]

So what is your tried and tested marketing tool that consistently gets results, both for repeat customers and to get new customers, I need some inspiration please, Thanks Simon perhaps if its a combo of things you feel you could pass on..

Are you talking about domestic or commercial clients?   Any marketing tool is only as good as the marketing content.  Some more context to how you have been approaching marketing would be helpful.

[neil 47]

Best lead generating

Here’s a list of ways I have used

recommendations
Leaflets 1000s with a system of delivery by
neighbour
Internet , adwords , facbookads , commercial listings youtube , instagram
Newspaper ads

Door knocking
Emails  targeted for commercial
Telephone local bussiness
Facebook good bussines page
Website well ranked page / adwords
Tumbler
wordpress blog
Sign written vans , cars
Letters to commercial firms,then follow up with a visit
Free listings
 
Networking  talk a lot
Posters
there  is hundreds of ways

[edward coller]

Thankyou guys I am primarily after domestic customers...any body else out there,,,....;

[edward coller]

Neil, have you recently door knocked ,and how /what was the response like..

[neil 47]

I havent knocked doors for years ,but used to take leaflets around on sundays and stop and ask if they had a leaflet and i used to mange about a job per 300 dropped this way .

The more pepole you talk to and tell them what you do the better every where i go jobs pop up because i have sign written van and logo shirts, and always leave the machine outside and the storm makes a hell of a noise ,then deliver neighbour nudger leaflets .

the main thing is action keep busy doing some form of marketing when your not cleaning .

[tim handley]

For me... carpet cleaning network!

[Steve Chapman]

Nearly all of my marketing budget goes on google adwords.......I find paying when someone is interested is a better approach than a scattergun approach like leaflets & magazine ads etc

[Hilton]

By the responses from this and previous posts on this subject
It seems to me the best mix seems to be;

Carpet Cleaners Network
A well set up Google adwords campaign
Leaflets distributions

A combination of these three should be enough to give most CC  a decent run of sales and help build a data base for repeat work.
Be good to hear from someone who does just this.

[Robin Ray]

I know this sounds almost too simple but here it is.

Imagine your ideal customer,

How old are they?
Where do they live?
What are their hobbies?
What is or what was their Job?
Where do they shop?
What do they eat?
Who are their friends?
etc.....etc....
Build the most detailed picture of your ideal customer possible.

If you were them what would persuade you to have your carpets and upholstery cleaned and why?
The answer to that is your marketing message? Or what you write in you add, the pictures you use etc.

If you were them how would you find a carpet and upholstery cleaner if you were looking?
The answer to that is your marketing media... of how you get your message across eg. leaflets, website, other customers etc.

The answers to those questions will be different for each of us. But will be the best way of getting the customers you want. Try to avoid doing what everyone else is doing just because they say it works.

[Hilton]

You'd be crazy to avoid what works, where's the logic in that ?

[Robin Ray]

You'd be crazy to avoid what works, where's the logic in that ?

I'm not trying to be controversial here. Here is an extreme example.

If your ideal customer is over 70 and female  ad words may not be the best approach. If your ideal customer is a 25 year old man an add in the local knitting magazine will not be the best approach.

What works for some may not work for others.

[Mike Halliday]

By the responses from this and previous posts on this subject
It seems to me the best mix seems to be;

Carpet Cleaners Network
A well set up Google adwords campaign
Leaflets distributions

A combination of these three should be enough to give most CC  a decent run of sales and help build a data base for repeat work.
Be good to hear from someone who does just this.

2 of them are The same, CCN is an Adwords campaign.

I agree with Robin You need to work out who you want as a customer and chose the marketing that is specifically relevant to them.  Really you want to know where are they, can they afford you & will they use you.

So I want:

Wealthy
Retired ( infirm)
'time poor'
Within 8miles

A rich OAP sound great to me until I find your he lives  60miles away, or a poor Bloke who works 7 days a week but lives  3 miles away..

A big thing for me is control, I don't want to hand over the success of my business to someone else (which most advertising does ) this is why I hate Google or adword resellers

[Hilton]

Nothing wrong with profiling the customers you wish to attract and targeting them accordingly but narrow banding is not going to work for a new business especially in this field, you are just trying to attract as much business as possible it is here where you can then filter it out looking for a one legged rich pensioner busy roaming around his area in his mobility scooter and getting home before the battery runs out, if that's the market you are after and have the luxury of being able to be so picky.

(by the way before you launch on one I know that's not what you meant)

A mix of the avenues to business as above and you can mix up and split test your Google Ad's by the way, so two are not necessarily the same, seems to be what several business's are reporting as doing  relatively cost effectively with a degree of success.So if I was starting out now or just looking to attract new business then this is the route I would take for 6-12 months and test it.

What I find surprising is the people think that avoiding what is successful is the way to go, I have never heard this before and would be interested to hear what the alternatives to what works are.... for instance doing what doesn't work, is that the road to success ? I don't know perhaps I am missing something her.

[Robin Ray]

What's better?

A Landover or a Ford Fiesta?
It depends on who you are and what you are going to use it for.

What's better?

Adwords or leaflets
It depends on who you are trying to market to.