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ianharper

Marketing Plan
« on: June 25, 2010, 09:06:08 am »
Guys

How do you predict the financing of your marketing plan?

Do you just rely on blind faith or do you have a more scientific way of financing your marketing?

For example, if you spend £12k a year where is that money coming from? most carpet cleaners work about two weeks ahead of themselves so how can you be sure that you will be able to finance your marketing, if the work drys up then your in the chicken and egg situation.


Respect

Ian Harper

jasonl

  • Posts: 3183
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2010, 02:22:29 pm »
A working capital fund of 3-4k does me fine .
I clean carpets
I dry Buildings

Mike Halliday

  • Posts: 11578
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2010, 03:54:06 pm »
you have to go on past experiance..... if it worked last year it will work this year.....  maybe there will be a slight variant but not much if everythings the same.

I like to spend my money on what i know works (but will always keep a little back to spend on an unproven idea) my monthly marketing bubject is the first thing that gets paid so i'm always in front.
Mike Halliday.  www.henryhalliday.co.uk

elliott cleaning

  • Posts: 778
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2010, 09:05:53 pm »
As Mike says - you have to go by past experience

However, as you mention, Ian - if business starts to wane - you have to draw on reserves.   Where alot go wrong, is when income runs short - they reduce marketing.

Nothing more fatal!!!     Bear in mind that effective marketing doesn't have to cost a bomb - but it does mean you have to get your rear end into motion

ianharper

Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2010, 09:10:00 am »
Guys

what also is interesting is the profile of carpet cleaning in our town. I have lived in two houses in the past two years and not one leaflet. I wonder if I lived in the USA if it would be different?

Yet if i look at google maps and i find that I have many carpet cleaners in a small area. how are these guys getting work? Plus i don't see many of these guys on the web. (apart from google maps)

What about the franchises in my area?

its very interesting that you can a market place that appears to be invisible.

Respect

Ian Harper


Ian Gourlay

  • Posts: 5746
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2010, 12:03:27 pm »
maybee they know where you live.

Problem I have is sometimes it works somtimes it does not.

I run a small advrt for window blinds in a local paper three times a week.

Worked well last year Last two months just minimal calls was about to pull plug ad Yesterday low and behold I picked up three jobs from calls in same village all from this small advert.

You cannot explain it. Its just keeping the faith

ianharper

Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2010, 06:12:09 pm »
Jason

when does your nerve start to go with the nest egg? money has a habit of slipping though fingers. i had 3 bad months one winter and had to use some savings to pay rent.

I like the idea that i have some work coming in every week that will pay any marketing cost come good or bad times.

Plus you cant control blind faith that many depend on. sitting and waiting for the phone to ring is not my idea of fun. I know you don't do this but what do you think?

Respect

Ian Harper

jasonl

  • Posts: 3183
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2010, 07:58:11 pm »
I find it is about discipline , I have a strict third third third rule ,

 A third of turnover is running costs,eg diesel, van fund, chemicals , equipment.

  A third of turnover is  wages  for me .

A third is marketing and reinvesting in buildng a business.

It is very cheap and easy to start out with under £200 for marketing , with a laser printer, paper , stamps and envelopes , send letters out to a specific group of clients , focus it . EG nuseries,nursing homes, lettings agents etc.  This uses time , which someone with no work or cash will have plenty of.

It makes me smile every time someone on here asks which is the best machine to use for Carpet Cleaning, I recommend, A Marketing Machine!
I clean carpets
I dry Buildings

elliott cleaning

  • Posts: 778
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2010, 09:20:32 pm »


.........It makes me smile every time smeone on here asks which is the best machine to use for Carpet Cleaning, I recommend, A Marketing Machine!

Best quote I've seen on this board in a long while 8)

M.Acorn

  • Posts: 7223
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2010, 10:56:24 pm »
I would go with that,i have worked with a buggered machine,and still collected the money,the machine part of things ,is all about believing the hype,buying into the next best thing
What goes around comes around

ianharper

Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2010, 10:03:18 am »
Guys

well said.

Its that control that I am after being able to turn it on and off. My problem has been not ideas but the discipline to manage the cash flow. Be able to put those letters out or leaflets when they should go and not when money says is the key.

we all have to live and sometime its hard to spend that £150 on stamps when you have had a bad week.

As I have said before we need to talk about the cost of business more on here as all new start up see is how much money some make. this give a distorted view of the business. people then start up thinking its going to be so easy and end up having to charge peanuts to make ends meet.

I going to totally open here and say that last year i was earning about £1k a week now i lucky to get £500 still good but how many on here would admit to money going down?

next time someone quotes a good ticket price on here just think that there might be a lurker reading this thats just about to setup in your town. I don't have a problem with people starting up its just when they are part time or already have full time job. they play by different rules.

we have to balance the view and tell people about running costs. I have a marketing plan that i am working on that will cost me £12k a year. that's why I look at ways to get income to pay for it that's guaranteed each month.

I don't want to sound like i am preaching just trying to be realistic and hopefully those lurkers will take quoted numbers with a view of "but how much did that job cost them"

Sorry in advance, maybe i just unlucky but i just cant get the type of money that some quote on here. I know that if i quoted face to face that i can get more and am trying be be more local that i am at the moment. But time is money.

Like Jason and the other guys said its about marketing. I want that marketing machine. had it once with my maid service just cant get it with carpet cleaning. as i said i think its money management that the issue with me.

Respect

Ian Harper

Simon Gerrard

  • Posts: 4405
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2010, 12:33:36 pm »
There are lots of marketing things that you should be doing every day that cost nothing.
The first of course is to make sure that you produce fantastic carpet cleaning so that you clients will 1) use you again 2) tell there friends and family about you.
This might seem obvious but there are so many CC's that don't see the link between quality and success and just make a mad dash for the money. I often say, 'We're in the putting smiles on people's faces business.' and that is a marketing strategy in its own right.
The second is reputation building.
As you go from job to-job, year-to-year, you leave behind you an ever increasing list of happy customers and because of that more and more people will come to you as referrals because your reputation for top quality cleaning has lead them to you.
All of this costs nothing. You just have to realise that everything you do as a carpet cleaner is marketing -everything from how you look, how you answer the phone, how professional you are, how your van and equipment looks etc, all these things feed into what a customer and prospective customers think of you as a professional carpet cleaning company.
I think the question had more to do with advertising and that does cost money.

Simon

Doug Holloway

  • Posts: 3917
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2010, 12:53:31 pm »
Hi Guys

I copied the following from a marketing website

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

As small businessmen we quite often over look the more subtle aspects of marketing and public relations in particular.

I suppose it comes from the too busy to market or too desperate to market situations which many of us find ourselves in. However can you afford not to look at the bigger picture , which in these tough times can make the difference between success and failure.

Cheers

Doug

Shaun_Ashmore

  • Posts: 11382
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #13 on: June 27, 2010, 08:29:24 pm »
We are in the service industry and our costs are

1. Money
2. Time

If something is free to do then it most likely will take up more time, if you pay for adverts in a paper then once designed and printed then that's it, the opposite is that if you call into your local carpets to introduce yourself then that takes up time.

You just have to decide which one is the better value for money.


murky

  • Posts: 627
Re: Marketing Plan
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2010, 03:27:59 pm »
When I was with SM they used to say to us, 'no your not a carpet cleaner, you are in marketing but you earn the money from a cleaning business'. All right that may be a load of US hooey but they are right to certain extent

If you just do cleaning thats all you will be, but as Jason said you have to do the marketing to get the phone to ring. Its the clean van, 20 around leaflets, getting on well with the customer etc. That is all 'marketing' .

As I have said before, Heinz and Guinness still advertise, they are market leaders in there field, there are other beans around Cross and Blackwell etc, other stouts etc but Guinness still advertise.

Heinz actually really cut back on their advertising budget years ago, but their sales went down so they had to start really advertising again.

I Remember the story years ago of the granny that bought kitekat cat food. Nothing wrong with that.

BUT she hadnt got a cat, she bought the food because she liked the ad so much!

Go figure that one.

Murky