News Paper Ads

[MOWANDGO]

Hey,
What type of advertising do you guys do in the Newspaper. I have had one of those 8 line ads in the service directory portion of the classifieds. Is it worth the extra money to upgrade to a 2x2 ad? Is there another place to advertise in the newspaper?

What other forms of advertising are good?? I do a lot of fliers and door to door advertising.
Thanks again,
Jeff

[Phil Nilsson]

Direct mail works ... use it sparingly to a highly targeted audience of only best prospects.

Spread and allocate your ad budget around and "hit" every method there is within reason.

P.S. Spend at least 60% of your marketing money, shoe leather, effort, time spent, etc on existing customers ... that's right ... customers you already have because 80% of new business usually stems from the ones you already have ... dream up ways to reward your customers and this will bring in more sales ... spend 60% on them ... 40% on everybody else.

[alpine692003]

I've been using a 1" display ad in my local newspapers..

It's been bringing in all the jobs for me..

[MEvans857]

[QUOTE=Phil Nilsson]Direct mail works ... use it sparingly to a highly targeted audience of only best prospects.[QUOTE]

True, the $$$ and time it takes to do direct mail REALLY adds up. Trust me been there done that many hours of collecting addresses, entering them, printing, sticking, hundreds of dollars worth of stamps, sticking them, etc. Lots of work, and after all that I wasn't very happy with the results. I found you could stick about half the money and 1% of the time and do an add or fluted signs or something. Just my 2 cents

[Elwood]

While not disputing the fact that direct mail is expensive, repetition is the key for it to work. You need to be fresh in thier minds about 10-12 times per year.

Back on topic.

Newspaper adds are fine, but you need to change what you say often. Keep your logo the same, but change what you are offering. If people glance and see "the same thing", they won't read it. If you change from time to time, they will re-read.

Some newspapers have a "service directory" where they take a page or so and offer business size cards for many local service companies. Contractors, electricians, lawn care & landscape comapanies, etc. I have seen this cut out of the paper and hung on a couple refrigerators of people I know. Usually, they only want one "type" of contractor for this, or in other words, they don't want 3 lawn care providers, etc.

If they offer this, try to get in, if they don't, suggest it to them.

[Seascape]

I run a 5" and a 1". 1" runs year round the 5" 8 months per year usually. I change the 1" frequently. Right now its running general maintenance items. Mulch,pruning,ect,, everything except mowing for the most part. Heres what im tinkering w/ now. I may make this change after this week.

Landscape Rehabilitation
Property Restoration
Mulch installation

Its just a start,, its all ive come up w/ just driving around thinking about it. Targeting 2 and 3 day jobs w/ billable aftercare. Any thoughts?

[Phil Nilsson]

Its just a start,, its all ive come up w/ just driving around thinking about it. Targeting 2 and 3 day jobs w/ billable aftercare. Any thoughts?

I'm always thinking and here's a $1,000,000 idea for you ...


Call it ...

Landscape Makeovers starting at (choose a number) $499 $699 $995
$1,999 or whatever ... make the starting number low enough to make your phone ring ... and book the appointment ... that's all you're looking to do. Some people just want a little landscape "accent spot", walkway flowered area ... while others want renos ... who knows what they want ... just book the appointment ... this will also lead to new regular grounds maintenance customers as well.

[indmowing]

Elwood Wrote: repetition is the key for it to work

That is SOOO True. Repetition is the key. Many do their mail outs then move on, perhaps thinking it didn't work. A customer can see your add 8 times before they actually ring. I know I receive things in different form of advertising all the time, how often do you see an advert and just go out an buy, not to often, but the first advert might get you thinking, then you see it again and so on

I almost disagreed with you there Elwood regarding changing the advert, didn't make sense that you would change something that needed to be repeated, but then read it again re: leaving your logo the same all the time. There is a mower shop that advertises on the front page of our paper, they do exactly as you have said, always got their logo there, but they have different Specials if you will each week. Just a small add but effective IMO. Well, I read it!

I have also heard of people cutting the trades section out of the paper and sticking it up on the fridge. At times we will stop advertising in certain areas and we still get calls from those papers we were advertising in months later.

Good advice Elwood, I enjoyed reading your post.

Take care all

Ebony

[MAD MOWERS]

Good one Phil!

[Phil Nilsson]

Another strategy that seemed to work was this ... after meeting with the customer and taking notes on what they wanted ... I'd write up the job ... but then also offer another alternative (a cheaper solution) that would introduce a variable ... achieve same design "end" but at lower cost ... while the competition are all pretty much bidding and pricing a higher priced gig ...

"Lady, why spend the extra money if you don't have to?" ... you're still going to get a knockout look at much less cost." "Nevertheless if you insist on spending the extra money no problem, we'll do it for 5% less than any other "responsible" bid you get." "Lots of homeowners are at a loss when they get landscape prices because of inexperience but we'll make sure you get your money's worth and not have a bad experience."

P.S. There are always ways to "reduce the job" ... cut it down to a lower number (not lose money that's not what I mean) just end up doing a smaller gig ... so your number is under the competition ... example ... you're asked to bid on a 5 foot high retaining wall so do it ... then offer a price on a 4 or 41/2 foot high wall if that will do the trick.

[Elwood]

It all goes back to working with the client to get what they want AND getting the job done at or under budget. It is your job to answer their questions and give them these opportunities to save money. Who knows, if you save them a few bucks, they may want to spend it with you on another project or in a different area of the same project. By trimming down the wall size, they may want to add a few plants or get larger ones of what they are already planning.


Offering to beat anyone by 5% can open a can of worms. One hell of a salesman from a crappy company could put YOU in a bind with the client. To "make it happen", if you cut down the size to get the job, they paid less AND got less. In the end, they may have wished they got more and blame it on you.

Work with the client, educate them and DO remind them that when comparing landscape prices, they are typically NOT comparing apples to apples. It is your job to instill the VALUE of what you are doing for them.

[Phil Nilsson]

If a responsible bid is $20,000 for a gig ... I can live with $19,000 and grease the skids to the sale ... hell you just blew a pile of dough on advertising, the appointment, contract writeup, researching the costs, proposal prep, followups, wasted time if you don't "book the gig" ... I'm not going to be undersold for a crummy 5% ... and I won't cry all the way to the bank with my 19 grand

P.S. Heck I use to do some of our jobs without ever having lifted an ink pen to paper ... sometimes I'd tell the customer go get your prices, if they are "responsible prices" from people I know ... I'll come in under by 5% and let them do all the spade work. Again we're talking bids from reputable "in the know price and cost wise" ... not some bunch of lowballers.

[lawnrangeralaska]

get a 1inch box under service directory and make sure you have a little logo picture it helps grab people. I have spent 125 bucks for one month an a weeks worth of ads in the paper. comes out 4 times a week and its tripled my business. 15 new lawns, over 20 calls for estimates and a one acre seeding job that the guy wants me to do it all for him water mow seed fert and he never wants to touch his lawn again. so do it newspapers are they way to go. or tv commercial

[Georgia Fan]

Phil,

What is your take on Yellow Page ads? I am about to spend a grand to get in the yellow pages what do you think??

Consider It Done

[Elwood]

I will take that $19k myself, BUT what I was saying is that if one hell of a salesman from a crappy company who impressed the socks off that client was in the mix, it could cause a bit of a problem with you, the client and the numbers. Don't offer up the 5%, but use it as a tool when needed. If you don't have an 5% baked in, you are doing something wrong.


In short, sell your work at your price. If a reputable company is within a few bucks, flex to get the job if you want it. Don't throw away the deal over peanuts.