When to stop advertising??

[CleanCutMowers]

When do you all usually stop running your ad in the newspaper or whatever. My contract ended today. So should i extend it or not?

[bullethead]

Do you want/need more work or not? If yes, keep plugging your company. we advertise almost all year

[Grits]

I never really stop advertising. I may slack off a little bit and then it againg hard. Take for instance; Before the season started I advertised heavily for a while, then slacked off until it starting getting fairly hot (now) and I am starting to heavily advertise again.

[topsites]

I do run heavier and lighter as far as the budget goes, but stop no, never, I've always got my name out some kind of way. I think of it as a billboard, you probably need 100,000 views before the name catches on, not quite, but sort of.

[GreenS14]

Do you just wake up and feel like advertising? or do you guys have a calender? When is the best if you were only going to do 2-3 runs of advertising a year?

[grassmanak]

if your going to do 2-3 runs, i drop 30,000 mailers 3 times a year.

[Mow Right]

if your going to do 2-3 runs, i drop 30,000 mailers 3 times a year.

You keep up with the work from 30,000 mailers 3x per year using a 48" and 36"? Even at only a .3333 percent close rate that is still 300 accounts per year.

How much money does it average out to cost per postcard?

[causalitist]

ive been just advertising heavily in the spring(april/may), and then just the phone books for the remainder of summer.

im curious about this as well, especially experiences from people who are in areas that have a winter , and what the response rate is like comparing hot dry july to the spring.

[bohiaa]

All year............

It's a writeoff.

[americanlawn]

Hi CleanCut ....my Dex Web yellow page lady is from your home town. So is my most respected American Patriot (R.L.) We run the largest yelow page ad here, plus we run ads on four local TV stations for about 8 weeks (mid March thru early May). Nothing else.

[fiveoboy01]

You keep up with the work from 30,000 mailers 3x per year using a 48" and 36"? Even at only a .3333 percent close rate that is still 300 accounts per year.

How much money does it average out to cost per postcard?

no, .3333 percent of 30000 is 100 accounts.

However if you figure a 1% response rate, and close half of that 1%, he'd be looking at 150 accounts which would be an attainable number with that many flyers I'd think.

[TJLANDS]

if your going to do 2-3 runs, i drop 30,000 mailers 3 times a year.

3 times a year? Seriously?

I do one 10k in the spring and things get crazy with the calls. Cant imagine
90K.

As far as "Its a write off" That is not the reason to advertise.

For a new company it is important for people to get used to your business
name. The more they see it the better. In the beginning I would advertise as much as possible, now I do it for specific reasons. Extra work, Slow periods
etc.

[CleanCutMowers]

Hi CleanCut ....my Dex Web yellow page lady is from your home town. So is my most respected American Patriot (R.L.) We run the largest yelow page ad here, plus we run ads on four local TV stations for about 8 weeks (mid March thru early May). Nothing else.

That's cool, and i am new to most of this advertising and thanks for the help so far guys. How do I get into the phonebooks and how much does that ad run you? I have the most attractive in the part of teh newspaper for mowing and have landed over 25 accounts this year, but phonebooks were already out. Plus we have like 4 phonebooks around here. Which ones do you do? Thanks

[causalitist]

no one has anything to say regarding the effectiveness of advertising in mid season compared to in the spring?

im trying to decide if i should do another run of 10000 flyers

phone is off the hook in the spring, but i get like 2 calls a week now that we are mid season.

i realize alot of you do it all season, but what have you noticed as for response rates?

[CleanCutMowers]

Can we get some more help here. Thanks!

[ALarsh]

I do a ton of advertising in the spring but hardly do any in the hot, dry summer months when the grass is not growing. I would think it would be a waste of money??? I have another 3k fliers that need to go out either later this summer or wait till spring?

[causalitist]

ya man, im betting its a waste in the middle of july(hot/dry) .. but sure would like one of the 100 people here who have tried it to tell me their experiences.

[GraZZmaZter]

It depends what type of work your doing as to the type and location of your advertising.

Alot of you are saying "waste of time to market in summer". However if your doing landscape work ... this is an oppertune time to invest in marketing. Also, you can pick up a lawn here and there while advertising for landscaping. I only advertise for landscapes anymore ... and still picked up two lawns this last week...

It all depends what direction you want you business to take..

[TJLANDS]

ya man, im betting its a waste in the middle of july(hot/dry) .. but sure would like one of the 100 people here who have tried it to tell me their experiences.

I advertise from July 15-Sept 15 for lawn Work such as aerating and seeding, or complete renovation.
This is a very good time for this since if a lawn is weak this time of the year it will thin out and have grassy weed problems. It becomes quite obvious to a homeowner that their lawn needs help. Also the people that do it every year are reminded that it is time already to think about fall.

[CleanCutMowers]

Thanks for the replies. I decided to continue to run my ad and it has paid off big time. I have landed 5 new clients in just the last three days. The people were just tired of mowing and looking to get the work done.

[causalitist]

hmmm .. ya, i was talking about mowing. well, if its working for you maybe i'll get some guys out there doing flyers.

[Lawnworks]

Thanks for the replies. I decided to continue to run my ad and it has paid off big time. I have landed 5 new clients in just the last three days. The people were just tired of mowing and looking to get the work done.

How much does the newspaper ad cost?

[topsites]

no one has anything to say regarding the effectiveness of advertising in mid season compared to in the spring?

im trying to decide if i should do another run of 10000 flyers

phone is off the hook in the spring, but i get like 2 calls a week now that we are mid season.

i realize alot of you do it all season, but what have you noticed as for response rates?

Well yeah, that's the reason I run my heaviest ads in spring, really the only thing I run for the rest of the year is my web site (which has a tiny paid listing on Yahoo) and business cards... But much like yourself, after the initial burst it goes downhill and fast, then it stays that way.

Most of what I get later is other Lco's drop offs or just weird stuff... Seems to me most to all of may and june it's all the customers whose lots hardly ever need cutting, and the ones that should've been cut 3-4 times but haven't got cut at all, stuff like that...
And I could get paid doing it, but half the time they give me enough clues over the phone alone that they're not willing to spend it :hammerhead:
Sometimes thou I still do pick one up mid season, it just depends.

My philosophy is there is no such thing as too much advertising, so unless you're to the point where about 10% of all work you signed up is literally not getting done, I would keep on advertising, that's how I think of it, you need a little more work than you can handle (but not too much).

[amtrucker22]

We get fair responses during the heat of the summer. A lot of startups tend to drop out at this time of year not that it is getting hot. Also a lot of home owners decide that they can not mow their grass in the heat of the summer.

We advertise year around in one form or another.

Paul

[CleanCutMowers]

How much does the newspaper ad cost?

$185.00 a month

It is in the Service directory part of the Classifieds. It is small but I put mine in bright yellow and it must help a lot. It is the only advertising I did this year and it worked great.

[Lawnworks]

I would keep doing it... probably even year round if that is your only advertising. $185 a month is not really alot of money. People need to be able to know where to find you... they may not need you this month... but when their company slacks off they will remember where they saw you.

[Harshman]

I put out flyers almost every day. If I am not servicing a client, I'm marketing the business. It only takes about 2 hours to put out 300+ flyers (These are clone-a-homes, usually 1/8 to 1/4 acre lots) and sofar I have been averaging 1 call a day for new business. Granted, they are not all weekly jobs, but business is business.

[lawnman_scott]

if your going to do 2-3 runs, i drop 30,000 mailers 3 times a year.Wouldnt that be about $30,000 a year just for postage?

[Harshman]

Wouldnt that be about $30,000 a year just for postage?

If you use Money Mailer, Dollar Saver or something like that, the distribution is usually around 10,000 for around $300.00.