Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mike Halliday on September 23, 2015, 07:03:57 pm
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Not had a good marketing topic for a while ( which is the life blood of our companies) so I thought I would post a couple of picks of one of my 'strategies'
Not really a proactive marketing idea more about dominating an area with name recognition ;) which I really try and do (I want everyone in my town to know the name Henry Halliday)
These mags go into all the doctors, dentist, hairdresser, .... Anywhere people sit and wait In My town .
I buy 200 for £120 they are new magazines that have been returned unsold
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1443031340_image.jpg)
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1443031356_image.jpg)
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So what are you doing Mike? Are you buying a load of recent mags, stamping your details in them and then putting them in to surgeries etc?
It seems like a good idea but would they not even notice the stamp?
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So what are you doing Mike? Are you buying a load of recent mags, stamping your details in them and then putting them in to surgeries etc?
Yep that's what I do
It seems like a good idea but would they not even notice the stamp?
If they read the mag they will notice the stamp, it's in a few prominent positions through the magazine
But the last time I did it I booked in 2 jobs from the people who I asked if I could leave them (a hairdresser and a chiropodist)
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LOL like smack bang over somebody's face! Let us know how it goes as it's certainly one of those more unusual marketing methods.
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Surely the best form of marketing is generating high volumes of repeats and recommendations through providing first class service and fantastic carpet cleaning and so have your customers do the marketing work for you - for free!
Simon
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You're right Simon that's the best marketing but it's not the only marketing,
to be honest I don't need to do this idea with magazines. I already have all the work I need brought in by my existing marketing.. what is the great thing is my other successful marketing gives me the opportunity to experiment with ( as Kev puts it) 'unusually marketing methods '
Just like building my own machines, I don't do it because I have to, I do it because I want to. I enjoy trying different ideas.
I've done these magazines before and it works on a few different levels
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It forms the majority of our marketing so that we only have to spend tiny amounts for websites etc to keep us at capacity, year round.
Fair dinkum if you're like experimenting😃
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Marketing is really a Job in its own right , that is why so many cc fail as they can clean carpets, but struggle with marketing .
while i was living in cornwall I ran a marketing campaign for a friend who had just started cc , and as i had time on my hands ,I ran it for him from cornwall and booked them in then passed them on to him , he lived in yorkshire and for the 5 or 6 months that I ran it he was full every week .
since i stopped he has very little work . as he is rubbish at marketing .
so if you're rubbish at marketing find someone who's good at it and pay them .
Mike wasn't there a j polish idea to sponsor the covers that went over clothes that people collected from the dry cleaners .
the idea being that they cared about appearance and had disposable income.
A friend used to pay kleeneze reps to put his leaflets in the kleeneze mags in the carpet cleaning section he said he had a good return on them higher than just leafleting.
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Marketing a carpet cleaning business is not rocket science, as long as you take an organised approach to it.
If you think of a bicycle wheel which has lost of spokes in it, all feeding into the central hub. In marketing terms, each of the spokes are a form of marketing, leafleting, yellow pages, Thomson local, website, Adwords, door knocking, repeats, recommendations, local paper, local magazine, etc etc and the central hub equals sales.
The more spokes you have in your wheel the more sales you should generate. All you need to do then is keep a close eye on which of your spokes are actually generating sales, especially in relationship to their cost. You should keep an even closer eye on repeats and recommendations, if they are low then you could have a quality issue. If they are high, which they should be over a period of time, then you could think of reducing some of your paid advertising and thereby increase your profits and still have a full diary.
Marketing is the ability to project the image of your business into the minds of the buyer by appealing to their needs and concerns in a positive way. Simples.
Simon
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quick question do you use a company to do online marketing or pretty clued up with it all as I always cock it up when I try do any online
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Were you asking me?
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(Some random thoughts on marketing)
Marketing put simply is what makes the phone ring, 'effective ' marketing is what makes the phone ring with people you want to do business with.
Groupon Could be classed as marketing but it will bring you lots of price shopper who are not your target customer.... So it's marketing but not effective marketing.
I think to understand marketing (and how you will use it )you need to look at the very final result you want to achieve..... then work backwards. Our final aim is to make the maximum amount money we can within a normal working week (I add the final bit because it's not good earning a 10k a week if you are working 23 and a half hours a day)
A carpet cleaner on her used to brag how he spent nothing on marketing but he let slip making over a £800 was a good week for him and this is actually an ethos that is very popular....... people saying how little they spend on marketing as though it's a testament to how good a business they have.
But we are in the business of making money. Who's the better businessman the man who spend £200 a week on marketing. And earns £2000 or the man who spends nothing and earns £1000?
And here is the most important aspect...... what if the man earning £2000 is doing the exact amount of work the £1000 is (because he charges more,) does it matter that a lot of the quotes he gives are rejected because his price is too high? he might only get 1 out of 4 quotes he does but the bottom line is still earns more. Carpet cleaners have a fear of rejection they think if they did'nt get a job because there price was too high then they must reduce their prices
but I say unless you are getting regular rejection you are too cheap. This is why you need effective marketing, so you can Have rejection but still have so many calls coming in that you are booked up all week.
Remember : SHOW ME THE MONEY,!! SHOW ME THE MONEEEEEEEY !!
It's all about the money,
what you spend is irrelevant it's the profit you make...... I'd happily spend a grand getting one customer if they spent 10grand for a day's work
Oops it's 7:45......Off to work.....
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What a lot of people don't realise when approaching the subject of marketing their business is there is no point in building a website, or any other piece of advertising material that looks and says exactly the same as everyone else's. Marketing is about projecting your companies image and it is the way you project that image that compels people to call you rather than a competitor.
So if it is about how you project your image, you've got to decide what that image is because the first rule of marketing is, ‘be different!’ that begs the question, ‘how do I look different?’ Well first of all you've got to decide which part of the market you are aiming for, or put another way, which type of customers you want to do business with. Customers at the bottom end of the market will only do business with the cheapest, so your USP (unique selling proposition) would have to be all about price. The quality end of the market is populated by people looking for a quality job and are willing to pay more to ensure they get it. So your USP then becomes about quality and therefore price should never be mentioned in your marketing material. So with your target customer defined, you then shape your marketing material at that market. To do that effectively you need to understand what your target customer is looking for, what their fears and concerns are and then use what space you have to address those issues. When people start looking for a carpet cleaner, they will keep searching until they find a company that fits their idea of what it is they are looking for in a carpet cleaner. The cheap people will look for the cheapest, the quality people will look for a cleaner that is professional looking , either way, you want your marketing material to move them into their ‘comfort zone,’ whether that comfort zone is defined by price, or the suggestion of quality. Suggestion comes about by using certain keywords that fits your chosen market, a £ sign with a nice low figure will get the phone ringing at the cheap end. The people looking for quality over price will scoff at a low price and not even contemplate using such companies, but will respond favourably to the suggestion of quality, service integrity and value for money.
Websites are by far the best form of marketing and can reach across towns and cities in your area very cost effectively. But it is what your website says that will decide whether you get a phone call from a target customer or not.
Getting a web designer who has done carpet cleaning websites before isn't in my view a good idea, as they all tend to look and say the same and are filled with stock pictures of a baby sitting on a carpet or a settee sitting in a nice front room, or other images that do not speak to the customer about what you do and are therefore a waste of space. You could use your own photos, videos and testimonials. If you're in the price game then you can list out your prices and maybe the tag line, ‘The Cheapest in Town.’
If into the middle of the market you could introduce yourself, ‘My name is xxxx and I am your local professional carpet cleaner,’ and go on to use other lines and phrases suggestive of superior quality, even going as far as saying, ‘ I'm not the cheapest carpet cleaner in town! Why? Because to be so would mean missing out vital elements of what it takes to get your carpet, not just nearly clean – but REALLY clean and I am not prepared to do that simply to win your business, only to leave you disappointed. Everything I do, from first contact is focused on providing you with a first class experience at a value for money price.’
(This automatically excludes the price shoppers who won't ring you because you've already told they you are the cheapest, but at the same time spikes the interest in those looking for something better.
If you've got this bit right, you should start getting calls from the right people, from there on its all about you.
Everything you do, from answering the phone, to saying good bye – is marketing. In fact it is the most powerful and effective form of marketing that you can do, so powerful in fact that it can either make, or break your business.
And so to orphans. Orphans are people who have had their carpet cleaned before but rather than ring the last guy, ring someone else. The last guy should, but clearly didn't impress the customer sufficiently for them to come to seeing him as, ‘their carpet cleaner,’ so here is your chance, not just to gain a customer, but to have them come back to you without even thinking of ringing anyone else and, just as importantly have them recommend you to other people.
That's marketing – at least from perspective.
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Simon are the first two sentence correct? Is it want you meant to say? It doesn't make sense.
But I agree with everything else you say, marketing is about projecting your image so people chose you over your competitors.... so once they have chosen you based on your marketing what do they do? contact you telepathically?
They pick up thier phone which makes your phone ring .... Hense my simplification 'marketing is what makes the phone ring' ( although I'm speaking metaphorically they could also email you, text you or send carrier pigeon )
Making the phone ring is a well known tag line in marketing. try googling ...........'marketing , making the phone ring'
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Mike,
Aplogies, you're right, it was a little out of context, so I've altered it.
Simon
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An excellent discussion from Mike and Simon...one for the newbies and not so newbies to get their teeth into
Well put fellas
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An excellent discussion from Mike and Simon...one for the newbies and not so newbies to get their teeth into
Well put fellas
Thanks, it's an important issue and one everyone should pay an awful lot of attention to.
Simon
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A quick point that I thought a lot about when I got the stamp made to do these magazines......
Rather than put my phone number on the stamp I thought it would be better to say........Google 'Henry carpet cleaning' as I did'nt think anyone would tear out the page or take out a pen to write my number so it would be better to tell them how to find me & my number rather than them trying to remember it.
Do you think it is a gamble to assume everyone is capable of 'googling' or even know what it means?
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In theory it's a good trick but assuming there's still a lot elderly people who literally do not use pc/Web at all. They might not get the point.
In my opinion it would limit your idea only to those who use Internet although you should give it a try! Hope it makes a sense :d
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very usefull and informed posts fellas, thank you........................
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Do you think it is a gamble to assume everyone is capable of 'googling' or even know what it means?
If you're referring to the older generations, I think the majority of them are very computer / Google savvy.
We get lots of older people calling us and they always seem very well informed, after all, they have a lot more time on the their hands to research things. They also know what they want.
Simon
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I think now we live in a global community the older person needs to use a Computor more, look how many people move out of their home town for work, the grandparents need to use Skype and email to keep in touch with their grandchildren.
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Iam just having mixed feelings but fair point Mike as my wifes grandmother 72yrs calls us on Skype every weekend!
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Mike
One question why do you buy the magazines ?
When you could just go in and stamp the ones there .
And offer a free area clean for allowing it then your in both ways .
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where do you get the mags from Mike? any links?
cheers
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Neil have you seen the grotty mags in doctors surgeries, they reason they allow me to put these new ones in is they need the old ones replacing.
Dawg, I wish I knew where to buy this magazines wholesale, I buy them from a local market, the guy has a Stall selling New (but not this months) magazine he gives me a really good price on them because I buy so many but he still must be making a profit.
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People in their 70's are not regarded as elderly any more and will be in the most part completely comfortable with social media etc,
Those in their mid 80's now and it is a huge number maybe not so savvy but as time marches on and the explosion of older people in our communities starts to match those of our younger they will all be compute literate.
Those that ignore this segment in their market targeting are making a huge blunder.
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Marketing = selling to people that are looking for your service or product
Sales = selling is using a time dated offer for prospects that might have carpet cleaning on their list but its not at the top,
The internet is a great example of marketing these people are actively looking for carpet cleaners. Pink flyer is a great example of sales in action.
with people that are looking most will be price sensitive and you need to sell yourself more. with sales prospects your mostly the only person and price will not be such an issue.
Two approaches, two different groups which need different messages.
Respects
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My mother is 84 and she's on facebook every day though it's just to keep track of the family. My sister keeps her up to date on how to use it.
Last year I went to do a quote for a lady 82 and I asked her where she got my number from.......on my ipad she said which was bought as a present from her daughter.
She said she wouldn't be with out it......keeps up with the horse racing and all sorts of other stuff.
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Great book I can recommend for selling to seniors, great insight to the richest group of people at the moment.
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Marketing-Leading-Boomers-Seniors/dp/1599184508