[Shaun_Ashmore]

I have noticed my advertising spend is lower this year and I intend to spend even less next but I'm doing more work, does that mean I'm on the straight and narrow and will I soon become a Millionaire?

Who advertises and what on?

Shaun

PS Database and Yell.com YP is going this year.

[francis]

Word has it, Shaun, that you already are a millionaire. So no need to spend anything on advertising.   
Now if you are aiming for billionaire status, I guess extracting some of that cash out of your pocket for PR & advertising might be required

[fenclean]

I have also reduced my advertising to a minimum this year. Most directorys don't seem to produce a lot of profit. Yellow pages was the worse, only just got my money back so worked for nothing. BT was good for a while when it came out but then the calls dried up after a few months. Thomsons was useless. Now i just deliver my own leaflets when i can get motivated, do a few local directorys and rely on repeats and referrals. Still better of than last year but not to busy.

Steven

[spindle]

dropped yellow pages too.......

7 jobs last year.........the rest price shopping........

dont advertise other than business cards that i hand out like confetti

[mark_roberts]

Shaun

Why drop the database??

Im dropping BT phone book.

Mark

[Mike Osbourne]

Shaun

The number of years you've been doing it, I can only think of a few reasons why anyone would continue to advertise and some don't apply to you anyway.

To grow the business i.e. another van.

Upgrade customers (ditch the bottom 20% and replace them)

New lucrative market ie commercial, super high end clients

Moving to a new area.

You've got a quality database, you have referral systems in place.

You are busy even with your 427 so  why advertise unless you want something different, or in a really different league (hourly rate wise) cos you are still swapping time for money, in CC at least.

I scratch my head when I read about one man bands dishing out 20k of leaflets month after month 20 years down the line. Either they have a bucket with a hole in it or they have very poor referral and repeat systems in place OR they are looking to expand beyond one van.

Mike

[Barry Livingstone]

You still using the Altec marketing Shaun

[kelly acs]

I gave yellow pages seven hundred pound this year and not had a single job out of them yet!

Had much more work from referrals than anything else.

[Ian Gourlay]

A  leaflet  costs less to distribute than a letter,

Shian Ive seen your Sheffield yellow Page Advert  does it not bring in money

Not sure what you mean about Database Marketing isntthat what you should do when you do things properly.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Perhaps I've mislead you all, I meant that I will still do database but not YP and no Ian it was crap, I just think YP has lost it and that advert cost £2400.

Shaun

[dryasabone]

I have been reading posts on this forum for 2years and it appears from the content that a large percentage of cc,s seem to be obsessed with leaflets.
The only people who earn any money out of leaflets are printers,recycling firms,people who deliver them and shoe shops if you deliver yourself.
Nobody seems to use the" neighbour nudge letter " that costs @£1 and takes roughly ten minutes to bring me above average of 2 jobs nearly every time.
It is the basic principle of "Keeping up with the Jones " and snobbery which close the deal everytime.
I would not consider anything that costs more than £10 a week all the associated costs of running a one man band are to high and prohibitive to justify spend against income.
Leaflets are for printers to make money!

[derek west]

dryasabone.
if all you use is nnudgers, how did you start up?
just a thought.
derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Leaflets work if you can

a get customers to phone
b have a decent average job ticket

One of the Mods does very well out of leafleting, infact another Mod used to but went into websites instead.

They work if you believe in them.

Shaun uses the force!

[dryasabone]

Derek,
Letting Agents,Letting Agents and then more Letting agents.
I walked into their office and asked for the work to their face.

[John Kelly]

Leaflets are the best medium of any marketing for a carpet cleaning business. There are  few provisos. The leaflet needs to be good with the right message. The campaign needs to be planned to target the areas where the customers you want live and it needs to be ongoing to the same properties either monthly or bi monthly.
If you buy 10,000 leaflets and stick them willy nilly through 10,000 letter boxes you may as well have posted a pound coin through.

[dryasabone]

John,
I am sorry but 10000 leaflets might get you 10-12 jobs,
to have these printed and delivered will cost easily £500,
of the jobs you get some might only be £50 others of course may be £180,
to me the figures do not add up.
I would rather take 5 letting agents for a £100 lunch and get work all year.
Each to their own.

[ollie]

Dryasabone. Ive found quite the opposite true about leaflets. Its the only advertising I use apart from ads that are still in the old YP. I often get upwards of £1500 from one leaflet , Im still tracking one that has got me over £3000 (refferals etc)

[John Kelly]

You've missed the point. The leaflets have to be delivered over a long period, year or years even. This way people get to know your name and are that you are a permanent fixture. Its about trust.
Carpet cleaning is not like advertising half price telly's. When a leaflet lands people don't automatically think they'll get their carpets cleaned. However a few may have been thinking about it and may give you a ring, hence the 10-12 responses you mention. Next time the leaflet goes out same thing. Over time you can build up a good database of customers, reduce the leafleting and work the database along with a good referal scheme.

[dryasabone]

Ollie,
Absolutely there is always an exception to every scenario,my observations are based on the posts from grafters who constantly ask for new marketing methods having previously bemoaned the fact that they and their wife and kids spent the entire weekend lealeting to no avail.
I was offering an easy proven low cost effective alternative strategy.
Nobody should struggle if ideas are not only pooled,but trialed.
Advertising is not marketing.
Marketing is not advertising.

[dryasabone]

John,
I understand your thought process entirely.
In response the "nudgers" are based widely around the trust concept that you mention.
If anything they actually only work on the domino effect of trust as they specifically ask the prospect to ask the clients view of the carpet cleaner involved.Also to retain the business card if the service is required at a later date.
It also has the ready built in reference.