Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Steven Butler on February 27, 2016, 08:08:46 am
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What marketing methods are working for you and how do they compare.
I imagine most of everyones work comes from google/online/adwords but does anyone still leaflet, use local mags etc..
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I think you need to slightly alter your question, either......
What marketing works for getting new customers? & What marketing works to get your existing customers to use you again ? Both are marketing but each has its own methods and without differentiating you will get skewed results of what works
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New customers Mike.
Ive been relying on adwords but want to try something different to compare results.
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I use adword before Xmas for 3 months as my only active marketing( apart frommy organic listing & Google pages) I had sacked my leafleting guy and thought I would give Adwords a go.
It was costing me around £12 a customer (that is the amount it cost per month divide by how many customers it brought in) but if I'm honest it was not bring in the quality of customers I like and the work was very spread out over a bigger area than I like to travel........even with putting the demographics as close as possible.
I' m now back to leafleting which is much more controllable
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Facebook leafleting is the new craze, its like leafleting only you only pay for the ones people look at. and no trees get killed in the process. ;D
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I dont do facebook.
How many leaflets do you put out Mike and whats your results.
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Facebook and facebook advertising are two very different things.....
Everyone should be doing facebook advertising at the moment as it can be very targeted and cost pence compared to adwords.....
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I dont do facebook.
How many leaflets do you put out Mike and whats your results.
Only getting about 1200 a week out at the moment , give it another couple of weeks (so the weather improves and the winter lull is over) and I will look for another leafleter.
Getting about 3-4 jobs a week from leaflets at the moment but this will improve from Easter time when the pressure washing takes off
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HI peeps
I tried facebook advertising and it cost me twice as much as ad words with poor results.....won't be using facebook again
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HI peeps
I tried facebook advertising and it cost me twice as much as ad words with poor results.....won't be using facebook again
When I learnt to drive, I had to have quite a few lessons before I was proficient & able to pass my test......probably took a good 6 months but once I had it cracked has stood me in good stead for many years............
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I have only done 2 FB paid for targeted campaigns and both were very fruitful in getting jobs from all sorts of clients.
I have just set up another one today so fingers crossed it will generate business.
I have been using free local magazines but have knocked one on the head as they don't all generate leads.
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Steven Butler
You need to think of this subject as sales and marketing. marketing is selling to people that have a need for your service and are looking, sales is selling to people that are not looking but can become customers with some kind of offer.
marketing will always be price sensitive as you will be competing with other quotes, but sale is not price sensitive as you are normally the only quote.
So your message has to be different to both groups. The first marketing has to prove why your service is better and has more value as you are competing. Sales messages are more about offers and value and the importance that the offer will run out soon so they best act fast or miss out.
When people talk about marketing they normally are talking about media, internet, leaflets, mail shot, etc. its the media that carries the message. so as an example internet you could market on adwords for people that are looking for your services or use facebook with a sales message. mail shots you can mail to your database or prospect businesses for new customers, and one that I have just realised that you can message both groups is leaflets, I have use leaflets for new customers and I farm one big area but only had offers on for new customers and not for people that had used me before. now I am have two types of offer on my leaflets.
Now to you question all media works but is all down to cost of a customer. This is why you must track your costs for each media and group that way its a simple task of adding up the cost of getting that customer, with your overheads then your profit. this is then you price. so because some cost of getting a customer will be far more expensive you can sell different offers, plans, and deals to each group at different price points just like super markets do with any range of product basic, middle, and high end.
So all marketing works but you have to test and then track costs. this way you get the information you need to make your decisions and more importantly invest your money.
One last point is that marketing should be an investment and not a cost. and you should always ring fence this investment (take this money out of any jobs and put into its own account before paying anything) and build it up as you go forwards. this way you war chest gets bigger. and with it the reach of your marketing.
Hope this helps
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marketing will always be price sensitive as you will be competing with other quotes, but sale is not price sensitive as you are normally the only quote.
Not necessarily some people are looking for the best rather than the cheapest or even the best value. That's why some people buy BMWs and others buy Skodas.
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just had a delevery quote for a reliable service at £25 per 1000.... is that about right? for a good service, not just dumping em?
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just had a delevery quote for a reliable service at £25 per 1000.... is that about right? for a good service, not just dumping em?
Delivered as 1 of 2 or 3 that's good but as 1 of 5-6 it's crap. Inside a booklet or magazine us also a bad idea
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thanks mike.. ive never dipped my toe into mass leafleting, now im about to......
jut got to come up with the right leaflet now!
any samples anywhere?
any pointers?
does?
donts?
many thanks........
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Mike,
Do you just deliver the leaflets yourself now and find this is the most effective way rather than employing someone ?
Steve
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i just use my charm...works a treat
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Mike,
Do you just deliver the leaflets yourself now and find this is the most effective way rather than employing someone ?
Steve
Sorry for the delayed answer, missed your question.
Since the beginning of this year I have been doing 90 mins leafleting each day myself. This is how I'm getting the 1200 out.
I decided I would not get anyone else until this month as Jan & Feb are not great for leafleting, the cold weather is hard on leafleters ( I've been leafleting in -5 and darkness at 6 in the morning)
People comment about how unproductive doing leaflets yourself is and there's other marketing thats more effective but I find it easy to do in addition to my other marketing
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Doing your own leaflet delivery is easy & you'd be surprised at how many you can deliver in just an hour
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Facebook and facebook advertising are two very different things.....
Everyone should be doing facebook advertising at the moment as it can be very targeted and cost pence compared to adwords.....
Steve,
Any chance of an idiots guide to Facebook advertising?
It seems to be like Adwords, if you know how to do it is a piece of p, but if you don't it's a minefield.
Simon
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Its all about fine tuning your demographic you are targeting, with facebook you can target types of people more specifically than adwords.
The trick is to start really niche and gradually expand, many people do it the other way round and target thousands of people witha broad spectrum of interests and then it cost them a fortune.
Mark Attwood did a webinar not long ago on facebook advertising, its well worth the £29.00 price tag.
https://attwooddigital.com/
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You can also market your database on facebook.
We've got a new guy doing the Facebook seminar at the TACCA day, Really looking forward to that if i can get an hour off.
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thats damn good news Derek................
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Yes you can upload your contacts, emails, tel numbers etc and set a campaign to just advertise to them.......
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Yes you can upload your contacts, emails, tel numbers etc and set a campaign to just advertise to them.......
Why do that when you can market to them directly and more effective if you go direct rather than fb, with all the distractions etc and cheaper!
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Yes you can upload your contacts, emails, tel numbers etc and set a campaign to just advertise to them.......
Why do that when you can market to them directly and more effective if you go direct rather than fb, with all the distractions etc and cheaper!
You do both ;)
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Yes you can upload your contacts, emails, tel numbers etc and set a campaign to just advertise to them.......
Why do that when you can market to them directly and more effective if you go direct rather than fb, with all the distractions etc and cheaper!
You do both ;)
are you a facebook sales division salesmen? ? ha ha
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How often do you leaflet the houses in your area Mike?
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Yes you can upload your contacts, emails, tel numbers etc and set a campaign to just advertise to them.......
Why do that when you can market to them directly and more effective if you go direct rather than fb, with all the distractions etc and cheaper!
You do both ;)
are you a facebook sales division salesmen? ? ha ha
No but i should be ;D
Also if you upload your contacts facebook can find a whole new audience for you that fit the same critieria as your existing customers, making it much more likely they will become new customers.......
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How often do you leaflet the houses in your area Mike?
When I was in full swing it was monthly.
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We hear much about what I call primary marketing, websites, Adwords, leaflets, yellow pages etc etc, but in reality all that does is get you through the door to that first time customer, but they are only ‘a’ customer and not necessarily ‘your’ customer, that only happens through secondary marketing.
Put simply, secondary marketing is everything you do when in contact with a client and when working in their property. For a first time customer you could say you were on ‘trial,’ and if you want to see that customer again a lot of things have to come together.
1. They have to both like and trust you and feel safe with you in their property.
2. You have to look the part.
3. You must keep your promises
4. The quality of your work has got to add up to value for money, irrespective of much or little you charge.
To encapsulate all of that into one sentence, then look at every aspect of your service and focus you entire secondary marketing effort into, ‘putting your customer in a position where they can't get what you do anywhere else.’ If you can achieve that, and it isn't that difficult, then not only will you keep your customers, they will become a third force in your marketing, telling all and sundry about you – for free!!!. Achieve that and your primary marketing costs should gradually shrink down to almost nothing and that is where the profit is in carpet cleaning.
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We hear much about what I call primary marketing, websites, Adwords, leaflets, yellow pages etc etc, but in reality all that does is get you through the door to that first time customer, but they are only ‘a’ customer and not necessarily ‘your’ customer, that only happens through secondary marketing.
Put simply, secondary marketing is everything you do when in contact with a client and when working in their property. For a first time customer you could say you were on ‘trial,’ and if you want to see that customer again a lot of things have to come together.
1. They have to both like and trust you and feel safe with you in their property.
2. You have to look the part.
3. You must keep your promises
4. The quality of your work has got to add up to value for money, irrespective of much or little you charge.
To encapsulate all of that into one sentence, then look at every aspect of your service and focus you entire secondary marketing effort into, ‘putting your customer in a position where they can't get what you do anywhere else.’ If you can achieve that, and it isn't that difficult, then not only will you keep your customers, they will become a third force in your marketing, telling all and sundry about you – for free!!!. Achieve that and your primary marketing costs should gradually shrink down to almost nothing and that is where the profit is in carpet cleaning.
That is very good advice Simon.... :o
I trust that in your book, it goes into depth how all that is achieved the correct way..
I used to get Mrs H chatting to the custard whilst I cleaned the carpets..... We were always recommended as being good, friendly and good value for money.. Most of this I put down to Mrs H's chatting (but never told her that of course).
And like you say, eventually primary marketing was a minimum....
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We hear much about what I call primary marketing, websites, Adwords, leaflets, yellow pages etc etc, but in reality all that does is get you through the door to that first time customer, but they are only ‘a’ customer and not necessarily ‘your’ customer, that only happens through secondary marketing.
Put simply, secondary marketing is everything you do when in contact with a client and when working in their property. For a first time customer you could say you were on ‘trial,’ and if you want to see that customer again a lot of things have to come together.
1. They have to both like and trust you and feel safe with you in their property.
2. You have to look the part.
3. You must keep your promises
4. The quality of your work has got to add up to value for money, irrespective of much or little you charge.
To encapsulate all of that into one sentence, then look at every aspect of your service and focus you entire secondary marketing effort into, ‘putting your customer in a position where they can't get what you do anywhere else.’ If you can achieve that, and it isn't that difficult, then not only will you keep your customers, they will become a third force in your marketing, telling all and sundry about you – for free!!!. Achieve that and your primary marketing costs should gradually shrink down to almost nothing and that is where the profit is in carpet cleaning.
That is very good advice Simon.... :o
I trust that in your book, it goes into depth how all that is achieved the correct way..
I used to get Mrs H chatting to the custard whilst I cleaned the carpets..... We were always recommended as being good, friendly and good value for money.. Most of this I put down to Mrs H's chatting (but never told her that of course).
And like you say, eventually primary marketing was a minimum....
I've got to be fair, old wiggy does go more into depth about it than I thought it would,
out of all the books I've read (and I've read a few) about this type of business, old wiggy covers and explains stuff that all the others completely miss.
I was hoping when I bought it I was going to be able to rip the pi$$ out of him, but I can't, well, I can, but not about the book :D
well done UBFEC :D
I'm not on commission by the way, the old barstewerd made me pay full price!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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To anyone in the know.
When doing a FB campaign can you set the time at which your advert reaches a persons newsfeed.
Cant see a point in an advert reaching a newsfeed at 9 in the morning when people are at work and their newsfeed will be full of other stuff by the time they look at FB again.
There must be ideal times to target people,is this possible.
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your campaign will display quite high up as soon as they log on.
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Right thanks Derek.Never understood how these things work
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You can also set what times of the day u want ur advert active
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Hector,
Yes, it is covered extensively as high levels of service and quality should be within the DNA of any successful business and yet is often overlooked, which is why much of the focus in the manual is about us and how we go about doing what we do as professional carpet cleaners.
Billy,
Thanks, I think there is a thinly veiled compliment hidden in your comments, but yes, this is a comprehensive look at how a professional carpet cleaning business is started with all of the parts of a successful business in place from day one. And the cost, well if you apply the contents to your business then it becomes an investment and one that rapidly shrinks to small change.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STARTING-A-PROFESSIONAL-CARPET-CLEANING-BUSINESS-Training-Manual-/222044089152?hash=item33b2dbeb40:g:N34AAOSwhwdVUga5
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Like Mike I built my business on leaflets. I also got a lot of tips from Mr Halliday on marketing, if you can get him to send you a few of his old ones.
One thing though Mike has left out and this is the most important part about leafleting I have found out. You don't have to have the best leaflet in the world but it has to be decent. I found more before and after pictures worked better than loads of words ( dribble about how good you are or what kit you have).
BUT ..... the main thing is volume of leaflets....consistency of leaflets...... and hitting the right areas for your type of business.
You need to put 10,000 leaflets out a month......... every month.
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BUT ..... the main thing is volume of leaflets....consistency of leaflets...... and hitting the right areas for your type of business.
You need to put 10,000 leaflets out a month......... every month.
Volume is the key......lots of leaflets to the same area.
One thing that is sometimes mentioned in marketing circles is dominating your local area, be your local towns local carpet cleaner, keep all your marketing aimed at your town, if it's a big town choose a bit of it (the posh bit) if you have small kids chose the areas where they go to school and drop them off in your van. Be constantly seen in your area, having a very noticeable van helps :D
My van wrap was the best decision I ever made it looks a bit strange for a carpet cleaner but in my town everybody know who I am......mention 'Henry the carpet cleaner' or 'Henry Halliday' and everybody says .....the animal van! I think this is why my leaflets work better than average, it has a big picture of me in front of my van as soon as people see the leaflet they have instant recognition of who I am.
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Think I would die if I were to put out 10,000 leaflets :o
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Hi all, Im a newly established carpet cleaner, just preparing my brand image before running off into the big bad world! My friend is a marketing manager and has suggested a launch party to celebrate a few months after ive started cleaning. Has anyone tried anything like this before?
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Hello Fracesca and welcome,
You'll get a lot more information if you fill in your profile it's a bit of an unwritten rule.
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A launch party with plenty of Boli and a few b list celebs..... Sound a great way to waste some money :D
Work out how much it will cost then ask yourself "how else can I spend this money to bring in some customers"
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Mike is correct, if you think that you can stand in a room of friends,family and individuals and talk cleaning and get work then I think you may be disappointed as it's not a passion buy industry as such although you could collect names for quotes but imo an expensive way of doing things, selecting your guests carefully could work like interior decorators, building managers etc although if you are just starting out these are people that you may want to use later when you have honed your skills more as these can have tricky items to clean.
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I have a couple of sites fully seo'd and getting a fair bit of work from but it is all hard floor.
I have a more generic site for carpet and uph and use adwords spending between 2 to 300 per month which generates work at around 3 or 4 to 1 every pound spent to return.
The question is, would it be better to spend the £200 per month leafletting for carpet uph etc. I have leafleted but found the out lay expensive but it has returned 4 to 5 times per pound spent. But I have had some drops where I haven't had any leads at all. I like adwords because you pay retrospectively but still hanker over leaflets.
Any thoughts appreciated.
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I have a couple of sites fully seo'd and getting a fair bit of work from but it is all hard floor.
I have a more generic site for carpet and uph and use adwords spending between 2 to 300 per month which generates work at around 3 or 4 to 1 every pound spent to return.
The question is, would it be better to spend the £200 per month leafletting for carpet uph etc. I have leafleted but found the out lay expensive but it has returned 4 to 5 times per pound spent. But I have had some drops where I haven't had any leads at all. I like adwords because you pay retrospectively but still hanker over leaflets.
Any thoughts appreciated.
whats your delivery method for your adwords campaign?
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I have a couple of sites fully seo'd and getting a fair bit of work from but it is all hard floor.
I have a more generic site for carpet and uph and use adwords spending between 2 to 300 per month which generates work at around 3 or 4 to 1 every pound spent to return.
The question is, would it be better to spend the £200 per month leafletting for carpet uph etc. I have leafleted but found the out lay expensive but it has returned 4 to 5 times per pound spent. But I have had some drops where I haven't had any leads at all. I like adwords because you pay retrospectively but still hanker over leaflets.
Any thoughts appreciated.
whats your delivery method for your adwords campaign?
What does that sentence mean?? Sound like marketing speak
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Hi Derek I am not sure what you mean but I use the full adwords rather than express and have key words inc negative but it is adverts.
Sorry if that soundd thick but not sure what you mean.
I guess I am asking as I am getting work through the other sites would the £200 to £300 be better spent on leaflets as a marketing medium rather than google? Or are leaflets really a thing of the past in comparison to google? Thanks
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Depends on your budget, you absolutely need a website presence and ad words when used correctly can bring in a lot of interest.
Likewise leafleting can produce local presence which in turn converts into real customers when done in numbers, I would not distribute them yourself though, it's really bad use of your time in my opinion.
By the way if you are getting a 5 x the return on your investment then it's not expensive and a no brainier isn't it ?
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Hi Derek I am not sure what you mean but I use the full adwords rather than express and have key words inc negative but it is adverts.
Sorry if that soundd thick but not sure what you mean.
I guess I am asking as I am getting work through the other sites would the £200 to £300 be better spent on leaflets as a marketing medium rather than google? Or are leaflets really a thing of the past in comparison to google? Thanks
If you are getting a good return from adwords then increase it by upping your budget and changing the delivery method so they show more often.
I've no idea about leaflets, ive never given them a good enough go so cant comment. mikes your man for that.
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Thanks Derek and Hilton yes youre right but it isnt a guarantee and I have had 10000 delivered without 1 lead which is why I am wary.
When I had a small van it didn't matter so much but I travel a long way for the hf part of the business and wanted to cluster carpet jobs more anyway thanks for your input. Cheers :)