[paul@scc]

How much will you spend on marketing in a year and doe,s this justify itself
Plus in the ideal situation how much would you like to spend


As i am going into a differant advertising market as i think that leaflets through doors and yp will never justify itself

[Mike Halliday]

I spend the same amount on leaflets that I earn in a mornings work, so this would work out at approx' 10% of turnover and this year I'm paying £1800 on Y/P

I'd like to spend nothing

Mike

[paul@ctcs]

Hi Paul@SCC,

Your name is very similar to mine
We spend around 2k on our carpet cleaning ad and the same again for the general/commercial ad with YP, Its too early to say how effective they will prove to be as they have only been out one month, but things are looking good as a fair amount of work has already come from our adds. I think the real question is " Can you afford NOT to be in the YP??"
In my opinion the best pound for pound advertising is direct mail to commercial premises, a well written profsesional letter on top notch paper in a  printed envelope is just the job. Targeting 250ish larger local companies will cost you in the region of 100 to 150 pounds with paper, envelopes, ink and stamps so no huge outlay. We have recieved calls from businesses over a year after we mailed them proving they dont all end up in the bin but are filed away so dont always expect an instant response

Paul

[Ken Wainwright]

2 editions of Y/P Corporate NCCA ads £121 for both.

Local football club program £30

Parish Magazine £100

School fete program £25

Total £276 for the year.

The cost of advertising is crippling me

Don't do leaflets, or anything else paid for, but I do get a little free advertising on local radio.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

PS I nearly forgot, I should cost in a few bottles at Christmas time

[Nigel_W]

£0.00

Hoping to spend less next year

Nigel

[eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock]

i put out aprox 10,000 leaflets per month, which costs me £46.00 for the printing. and i pay £18.00 per thousend for delivry, i always get around 1.5% bookings, so 150 jobs. problem is its a mystery as to what people want doing .you get one month houses to work on other times single rooms. but at the end of the day i get good continuous work ive been cleaning for 12 years and have only ever leafleted. but keep being pestered by yp to go in. maybe i should

[*paul_moss]

Sherlock were abouts are you located

Paul

[eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock]

paul im located kent sussex borders. we do a 4-6 weekly cycle on areas , with the leaflets drop. ron king sherlock

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I am doing my first leaflet drop for well at least a couple of years, my leaflet on front of A4 and the wifes dry cleaners on the back. Realistically I get enough work but I said I would pay for them to be printed and delivered as her newish business needs an added push, why is it though I have been draughed in to help in the shopwhen I have got my own work?

Shaun

Ps and told to mind my own business when I ask questions!

[ianharper]

Hi Paul

The answer to your question depend on how long you have been in business. As you can see from Kens post he has done a great job for his client base so he does not have to spend much. At this end you should be spending to replace lost clients. Ones that have move died etc.

Its my first year so I intend to spend about 10k. I was ones told by one of the top thre direct resonce marketers in the world that you should be happy with a 1 to 1 return on getting NEW clients. so for every pound I spend this year if i get it back and add a new client to my database then I should be happy.

Its on the back end that we should make our money. repeat business. upsales etc.

Thats why some many new startup go out of business I have experance with this one so I am talking from experance.

How do you fund this type of lay out? get yourself a contract that pays you cash or on time. its all tax deductable. your guide should be that if you spend money on say a leaflet drop and it does not bring in what you have paid out then your copy needs to change or your offer.

Now people are going to say that you should make more, and they are right if they have been in business for some time. and if you do then great . your offer and copy are working. when it drops off then change your offer and copy. This is what is called return on your investment,

Hope this helps.............................. Ian Harper

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Ian has a good idea but is Fast tracking and speeding up his business, anyone who is starting with very little money should perhaps take a part time job and also look at a cheap way of advertising by delivering his/hers own leaflets if you get up and get out every day when you are not cleaning you will prove to yourself that you want your business to work!

Shaun

[mark_roberts]

Mike

Could you clarify what you said above.

'''''''''I spend the same amount on leaflets that I earn in a mornings work, so this would work out at approx' 10% of turnover and this year I'm paying £1800 on Y/P'''''''''''''''

Maybe I'm being thick here but what you spend on leaflets equals a mornings work which equals 10% of turnover then where do you find 90% of your time?  Do you work 24 hours a day???

Just wondering.

Mark

[Dynafoam]

I expect to spend the same on marketing next week as my total marketing spend over the last 38+ years  (Which is exactly the same amount as Nigel spends)

If I feel extravagant I might even spend the same amount the following week 

[Don Atkinson]

Spend £1232.73 per month every month on ads the rest generated from the dreaded door knocking.

Ps.. The £1232.73 per month on ads generates on average a £1450.00 return, so only just pays for its self.

don

[garyj]

Mark, I think Mike means 1 morning per week, not every morning.

[Mike Halliday]

Mark, a morning is half a day so on a 5 day week 1 morning is 1/10 of the working week, I can easily clean a suite in a morning which makes me the same amount of money that I spend on leaflet printing & delivery per week,

until the new Y/P comes out in May I only have a line in  the current book so get little work from it, so most of my work comes from leaflets.

MIke

[Barry Pearce]

I would have liked to have spent less than Nigel W, but I think mine was £38 for 2004.
Barry

[Mike Halliday]

I could say I spent nothing on marketing, the taxman pays for all mine

Barry its Ok only spending £38, but I bet you only made £39.29p

so all you people who spend hardly anything, you don't use bussiness cards, letterheads,signwriting on your van, embroaded shirts etc..etc..

Mike

[Barry Pearce]

Hi Mike.
I thought the implication of the question was about the cost of promoting your business, and your letter heads, the PC prints them out, cards, got enough to last me a lifetime.
Barry

[Matt Read]

Maybe the guys who don't spend on advertising could tell us about the early days of their business. It doesn't just happen by magic.