Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: chris78** on June 14, 2007, 07:23:38 pm
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Hi All,
I have had some A4 115gsm full gloss brochures designed which fold into an envelope size.
They have a section on why carpets should be cleaned, special offers, our methods of cleaning etc and i personally think they look really well.
They are £751 for 20,000
So my point is do you think it's worth going for quality or quantity?
Thanks
Chris
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The answer is to see what response you get and compare the ROI to cheap ones to the same area.
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When i used to do carpet cleaning about 9 years ago i used a horrible black on yellow paper really naff looking leaflet and that did'nt get me anywhere.
This time around i wanted to go in at the quality end and do everything 100% but i'm just not sure it's worth it.
Thanks
Chris
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I imagine it is what you do with them that matters. If you have a selective target market, then why not.
Three & a half pence plus for a leaflet for general untargeted distribution, I would regard as on the expensive side.
I am a firm believer that if you send out something of quality that you are proud of, you feel far better than distributing tat with your name on it. So it might cost you a bit more, but life isn't just about money
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I do actually feel better about handing out the quality but i still need to pay the bills :)
What i'm waying up is
20,000 + distribution cost of £15 per thousand(roughly) or do it myself
or
100,000 with 5x more distribution costs
Which would be best?
Thanks
Chris
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I assume you are a carpet cleaner. Trained and capable in what you do. Surely that is what you should be spending your time doing.
Distributing leaflets door to door a ten year old can do & probably more reliably than anyone older.
If you are mailing your leaflets together with covering letter, to businesses,for example, ok you need to be involved.
All businesses have bills to pay & we all have a living to earn. Marketing/advertising is one of the most fundamental aspects of business. We have to budget for it. If a business can't afford to do it, it is technically not viable.
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If you are established and have that amount to play with then fine.
On the other hand you do get the odd person on here who is new and blows 2k on leaflets never to be heard of again, but he may still be handling all the response.
Can't see why you can't get some reasonable ones from DP Print and test test test. Over time you will move towards what works better and better until you can't get better. You need to deliver your own to KNOW they are being put through doors.
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Yes fully trained and capable, it's just that i only trust myself to hand them out without dumping them at that price.
I have the money to play with as the is basically a second business to the Kirby Service centre i run.
Thanks
Chris
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How would Rupert Murdock's publishing empire survive if he took the same approach & said I have to sit in the vans that distribute copies of the 'Sun' to newsagents because I can't trust anyone else.
What happens when your business grows and you have to employ someone else to clean the carpets at customers you can't fit in because you are rushed of your feet as a result of your slightly more expensive leaflet. Are you just going to turn the business away & not make the extra profit
Sure, Mike's post that you should experiment until you find what works best for you in terms of leaflets is absolutely correct.
The obsession alot of carpet cleaners have about whether their leaflets get binned by distributors makes me wqonder sometimes. Always remember that even if you have a 100% reliable distributor, 97% of those reliably delivered leaflets are going to be dumped by your prospective customers within 12 hours of receiving them in most cases not even having read more than the heading. Thats life.
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£750
on 20k leaflets is madness, whys no one said!
dont forget 1k takes around 5 hours or more to deliver, thats a 100 man hrs.
what kind of return do you think you'll get for 20k leaflets?
your prices better be high, lol.
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How can you generalise and say it is madness?
Chris78 says it is an A4 leaflet full of detail. Obviously he is not going to target the illiterate part of town with this. We all know you require graphics or pictures for them.
But your calculation of man hours required to distribute should be noted by Chris78
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I have to agree that to spend so much is mad, you could have a 4-6 week run in a newspaper with much better coverage, or about three weeks in newspapers with editorial, which would almost guarantee you would at least quadruple your outlay, in revenue.
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I suspect the marketing Gurus on here will say you are wrong to fall into the glossy brochure trap and it's all in the copy. However I think there is some merit in what you are trying to do.
If you aim at high end custies with prices to match it may be a goer.
For what it's worth I'd do this. Get a quality ad produced and then get DP Print to do 10k of A5 glossy and deliver yourself. That will cost you £200. If it falls flat you have saved over £400, if it works tweak and reorder.
DP work to a price, but I think their final product is fine for what you are looking at.
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Mike,
Thanks for advise, I will have a good think on which way to preceed before i commit to anything.
Cheers
Chris
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Can I ask Chrisg & Carpetguy what response rate they would expect from 20k leaflets & what the average ticket value would be on these?
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http://www.printcarrier.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&root=d5037c22f4c35b90c488f9bcc3a523f7&category_id=73189b2f82ae61db0b42b88b76ef2932&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=1
same quality and quantity leaflets at less than half the price
ask the guy who has designed yours to e-mail you a copy for your aproval and then upload it on this site and get the same for less than half price ;)
ps, if you spend that kind of money you need your head testing
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Chris78
I think 'the red carpet' has shown you that you can do what you wanted at a much cheaper price. Good for him!
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Red
I know you are keen on these guys but I looked at them and thought it was a bit like vistaprint. You know, you design a business card on line and it looks the dogs, then you get them and they aren't what you expected.
Do you get a proof?
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Personally I prefer a smaller size flyer, they are quicker to get through the letter box and more likely to be kept. You still have to have the quality but just not the size.
We use an A6 300g glossy postcard and I often see them stuck on peoples noticeboards when I go to do their houses, A4 is too big, it will generally get read then binned as it takes up too much wall space.
Ask yourself how many A4 size flyers have you kept?
We use http://www.1clickprint.com/flyers/ their prices include VAT and delivery
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Personally I prefer a smaller size flyer, they are quicker to get through the letter box and more likely to be kept. You still have to have the quality but just not the size.
We use an A6 300g glossy postcard and I often see them stuck on peoples noticeboards when I go to do their houses, A4 is too big, it will generally get read then binned as it takes up too much wall space.
Ask yourself how many A4 size flyers have you kept?
We use http://www.1clickprint.com/flyers/ their prices include VAT and delivery
They are folded into 3 like a brochure so they end up smaller than A6 (they fold up like a curry menu)
They were designed by printing.com which use Mac's so i will have to get one scanned in and uploaded shortly
Thanks
Chris
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No
Have you worked out your castings
Response rate.
At £15 per thousand delivery if its distributed it will be thrown starlight in the recycle bin with all the others that are dropped with it.
You need Solus for this quality leaflet.
To do it yourself it is going to take a Month.
Lets presume you earn 50k as you sell and service Kirby equipment
So distribution would cost you £4250
Employ someone to do it who you could trust £ 800 to £1000
But you could cut costs or Cross subsidy by promoting your Kirby Sales and repairs
I have leaflets of this quality but hand them out to Customers in person, if they show interest.
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I dont want to scare you but I have just had 20k leaflets from DP which I am very pleased with, look great. I have had ONE CALL! Luckily I am busy anyway, but my point is dont just expect to be flooded with calls. This has happened to me once before, there seems to be no reason for it, just happens sometimes. I do wonder if all the bad media coverage leaflets have had lately is something to do with it.
Regards
Justin
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Why not put a nice half pager in Parish magazines in upmarket areas near you.
I found them very good for tareting people who will pay for a quality service. AND I seem to get more referrals later.
You will get a steady trickle for 12 months and beyond.
I like Ian's idea of putting the Kirby stuff on there or maybe you could do a cross promotion with a high end, respected carpet/furnishings company in your area. You split the cost and buy in to their reputation.
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Check out GP Print in Peterborough
hxxp:\\www.gpprint.co.uk
Fanatastic low prices all the time.
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I think i will have to look at something differant as i have just spoke to the supplier and the last batch i had was on a 50% offer and was 170gsm silk.
So this time they will be not as good and more expensive!
Shame i really liked them :'(
Thanks for everyones advise
Chris
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No
Have you worked out your castings
Response rate.
At £15 per thousand delivery if its distributed it will be thrown starlight in the recycle bin with all the others that are dropped with it.
You need Solus for this quality leaflet.
To do it yourself it is going to take a Month.
Lets presume you earn 50k as you sell and service Kirby equipment
So distribution would cost you £4250
Employ someone to do it who you could trust £ 800 to £1000
But you could cut costs or Cross subsidy by promoting your Kirby Sales and repairs
I have leaflets of this quality but hand them out to Customers in person, if they show interest.
Yes on one of the pages i had details on our Kirby sales and servicing prices.
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I am more than happy with the quality of the printcarrier flyers, and if you send them the artwork your other printer has designed for you they will be exactly the same.
Lionhart, i used to use 1click but printcarrier are about £60 cheaper for 10,000 and are also better quality
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Red
Thinking of using them myself as they have some good deals on at the moment.
Only problem is how to send it to them as I usually use microsoft word or publisher, but they state it needs to be sent by pdf and other wierd software.How do you send yours.
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Paul,
Have a look at http://www.cutepdf.com/ for converting to PDF.
Arthur