last year i posted about giving away cans of de-icer with a card introducing my company, i was planning of leaving them on the door steps of upmarket homes around my area.
in the end i didn't do it. but what I did was give them away to business who I have contact with, they came in packs of 12 and i bought 10 packs( i still have 5 packs in my unit ) one of the business i gave them to was the local carpet shop, so far he has passed on 4 protections jobs. although they were only single rooms I can see in the future a full house coming up.
this is an example of what I think is a interesting marketing concept 'giving away high value-low cost items' these cans didn't cost much but when I plonked a pack on the carpet shops counter it really got their interest.
people often ask.... how do you approach business? but if you walk into a business and just ask if you can leave their staff some free de-icer or a box of car dashboard wipes the ice is broken and you launch into a little speech about helping people with their cleaning problems
Alltec are using a variation of this idea with their carpet spotters but I think it can be done more effectively by being more creative with what you give away.
have you seen the new national paper called 'I' it is being heavily advertised. it cost 20p. now is the time to piggyback onto their marketing budget. this newspaper this is a perfect example of a 'high value - low cost' item,
Buy a 100 of them, print a marketing letter stick it in the middle and walk into any business, plonk it on the receptionist desk and say " this is the paper the chairman/owner ordered" or walk into a doctors surgery and say to the receptionist "here's the doctors paper" .....then just walk out.
or... just post the paper through the letterbox of upmarket homes unlike a leaflet it will not be just put in the bin, people will at least look at it most will read it. you could even be very subliminal and just put a card in it saying.... complements of superduper carpetcleaners ltd , always available to give free & helpful advice'
this might sound like a load of bolloxs but if anyone can give some more workable, original marketing ideas please post them here, and remember.....
if you always do what you've always done...... you'll always get what you've always got