2008 Marketing Campaign

[DiGiTLawncare]

Well well well 2008 is coming quick and I am actually gettin pretty excited about it. I have most of my marketing campaign put into place for the next two and a half months and I have to make big things happen! Here is a quick run down on what I am going to be doing to try and pick up some good work for 2008

March 17th 5000 flyers put out by newspaper insertion
March 17th my website will be fully operational
I will have 6 signs put out on corners that are being made by a sign shop promoting my website as well.
I am getting my website address put on my truck/trailer to complement my other signs already on the trailer and parking it at Lowes on a busy street here in town.
I have 2000 flyers to put out by hand by March17th
I also have an ad in the classifides right now that will be running for a month.
If the first batch of 5000 flyers turns a decent reply i will put out 5-10K more in April by newspaper also.
My company work shirts will be finished by the 17th
New business cards being made now.
Looking at buying some software also by full time cutting season.


What are some of you guys doing to advertise for the 2008 season that is coming quick?

Good Luck
Don

[Kortas]

I just ok'd an ad in yellowpages.com. They claim to have about 2000 hits between all sections and I'll be placed 3rd.

Outside of that, I do a lot of pay-per-click ads to drive business to the website.

Any thoughts on yellowpages.com? Any good/bad luck with them?

[coonman]

Well well well 2008 is coming quick and I am actually gettin pretty excited about it. I have most of my marketing campaign put into place for the next two and a half months and I have to make big things happen! Here is a quick run down on what I am going to be doing to try and pick up some good work for 2008

March 17th 5000 flyers put out by newspaper insertion
March 17th my website will be fully operational
I will have 6 signs put out on corners that are being made by a sign shop promoting my website as well.
I am getting my website address put on my truck/trailer to complement my other signs already on the trailer and parking it at Lowes on a busy street here in town.
I have 2000 flyers to put out by hand by March17th
I also have an ad in the classifides right now that will be running for a month.
If the first batch of 5000 flyers turns a decent reply i will put out 5-10K more in April by newspaper also.
My company work shirts will be finished by the 17th
New business cards being made now.
Looking at buying some software also by full time cutting season.


What are some of you guys doing to advertise for the 2008 season that is coming quick?

Good Luck
Don

I am trying some post cards this year along with door hangers and a classified ad. How much are you paying for the newspaper insertions?

[Adam3669]

News paper inserts myself man! Mind if I see your instert design?

Edit- This is what I will be sending out in a couple of weeks:
(couldn't convert the actual file to the correct format to upload..so I just took a screen shot)

its two sided, shown is the front and the back


http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p260/shoe3669/InstertDesignProof.jpg

[amtrucker22]

News paper inserts myself man! Mind if I see your instert design?

Edit- This is what I will be sending out in a couple of weeks:
(couldn't convert the actual file to the correct format to upload..so I just took a screen shot)

its two sided, shown is the front and the back


http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p260/shoe3669/InstertDesignProof.jpg

Your web address looks duplicated on the right side.

It looks great!

[DiGiTLawncare]

I actually do not have mine designed yet I just have all the information together will be sending it in for design by Friday though and will update from there! Yours looks good though mine is not going to be a picture however just a more tradition flyer design.

[Adam3669]

I actually do not have mine designed yet I just have all the information together will be sending it in for design by Friday though and will update from there! Yours looks good though mine is not going to be a picture however just a more tradition flyer design.

Thats great man, Id love to see it when you get it all designed. Yeah they caught that double website typo and called me and told me not to worry about it.

[jk landscape]

How much are u guys paying for newspaper insert ads. Nice ad lawn tek. Did u do that urself or have a designer make it?

[Adam3669]

Well I got the basic Idea from the goher website..sent that in to the Paper and they did some changes and made it look 100x better for free. I'm agreeing to have 10k sent out, and at that quantity it comes out to $62/thousand. If I do 20k it drops to $48/thousand. They let me pick zip codes and everything..it's a great service and im hoping to see great results from it!

[jk landscape]

Good luck I have used the val pak services in the past with very poor results and tehy where sent to 20k homes.

[Adam3669]

Good luck I have used the val pak services in the past with very poor results and tehy where sent to 20k homes.

val pak? what is that?

[jk landscape]

Its an envelope that comes with all different coupons from various companies. It comes once a month.

[Kortas]

I have no faith in val pak. Tried it before in a different industry, and I was absolutely horrified by the results. I'm still surprised so many companies continue to sign-up for it.

Somehow it must be working for someone, I just personally have no faith in it at all.

[jk landscape]

Look who advertises in it mcdonalds and other big companies that can afford to throw money away for a writeoff.

[Adam3669]

I would never advertise in something like that..

[DiGiTLawncare]

Yeah I want my coupons to stand out not be mixed in with 100 others!

[enviouslawns]

I went nuts on spending money for advertising this year lol. i got 10000 doorhangers being designed right now front and back with a spot for pricing. 12x12 full color add to 40,000 homes on the front page. 60,000 homes will be getting another add book. full color classifieds will be goin out for 5 weeks straight to about 100,000 homes. and a D.A.C its the size of a post card and comes on top of a newspaper will be goin out to 20,000 homes twice. And im getting 100 signs made for jobsites and im haveing a company put them out on the corner for 4 weeks straight and then they take them down and give them back to me. im hopeing to pick up about 100 accounts from this along with many landscaping and maintence jobs. i tihnk i should be able to get a minimum of 100 accounts.

[enviouslawns]

Anyone else doing a crapload of advertising this year??

[AllHardscaping]

I'm doing a ton of advertsing too. A lot of it is through inserts in neighborhood newsletters. A few neighborhoods have a distribution of over 5000. I put a 8.5x 11 pro designed flyer in them. I also have a lot of print adds in fdifferent publications and have a great direct mail list that I will be working this year with color postcards and letters.

[DiGiTLawncare]

Spending that money! Maybe us spending so much money on advertising will boost the economy? haha

[enviouslawns]

HAHA maybe, but i rather see all of use pick up 100 new accounts lol

[DiGiTLawncare]

well I have just uped my marketing in the paper to two runs of 10,000 each. Will put the first ones out about March 5-10th then again near First of April. If all goes well I might do another run The end of april. If that does not like me up some work (30,000) flyers I donts know what will!!! That and my website, along with some street signs and newspaper ads I should be good to go. Push people to my site through craigs list and local forums. I am ready to rock and roll.

[causalitist]

Well well well 2008 is coming quick and I am actually gettin pretty excited about it. I have most of my marketing campaign put into place for the next two and a half months and I have to make big things happen! Here is a quick run down on what I am going to be doing to try and pick up some good work for 2008

March 17th 5000 flyers put out by newspaper insertion
March 17th my website will be fully operational
I will have 6 signs put out on corners that are being made by a sign shop promoting my website as well.
I am getting my website address put on my truck/trailer to complement my other signs already on the trailer and parking it at Lowes on a busy street here in town.
I have 2000 flyers to put out by hand by March17th
I also have an ad in the classifides right now that will be running for a month.
If the first batch of 5000 flyers turns a decent reply i will put out 5-10K more in April by newspaper also.
My company work shirts will be finished by the 17th
New business cards being made now.
Looking at buying some software also by full time cutting season.


What are some of you guys doing to advertise for the 2008 season that is coming quick?

Good Luck
Don


sounds like you'll get a big response, if your solo just make sure you can handle all the estimates. sounds dumb, but if you have 6-12 a day to do for a few weeks on top of mowing.. that can take some time.

and i have noticed, if i dont have an estimate for them within 24 hours, it's like 10% i'll get the job, compared to maybe 70% otherwise. not sure how full your mowing schedule is, but make sure you can do the estimates in a timely fashion. seems silly now cuz we have tons of time, but u know how it is in spring lol.

i'm planning 7500 flyers by hand(3x what i did last year), 1000 a week march 15 ~ may 7th.. the first 60 degree day i'll try and pass out double, so they prolly wont last that long.
tripled the size of my yellow pages ad, added color, and my logo.
got a nice looking truck with logo on it.

i got 30 accounts last year with a rusty truck, 2500 flyers and a 1/2" yellow pg ad.

hope this works well:)

[DiGiTLawncare]

I actually have two guys that do all of my maintence work for me and do a very good job. I am basically marketing, office manager, and sales. But yes I know I am going to be getting killed with calls and giving estimates but I hope to fill my guys schedules up this year to keep them two busy 5-6 days a week.

[Dunlaps LawnCare]

i went overboard two this year 3 adds in the phone book add in the paper and just sent out 250 flyers gonna send out more in the next week or so

[Casey21]

News paper insert's cost us around 40.00-50.00 per 1,000. One Idea for those who like to beat the streets and pass there own out. Have some refrigerator magnets made with your logo and pass those out with them.

[bigw]

Well well well 2008 is coming quick and I am actually gettin pretty excited about it. I have most of my marketing campaign put into place for the next two and a half months and I have to make big things happen! Here is a quick run down on what I am going to be doing to try and pick up some good work for 2008

March 17th 5000 flyers put out by newspaper insertion
March 17th my website will be fully operational
I will have 6 signs put out on corners that are being made by a sign shop promoting my website as well.
I am getting my website address put on my truck/trailer to complement my other signs already on the trailer and parking it at Lowes on a busy street here in town.
I have 2000 flyers to put out by hand by March17th
I also have an ad in the classifides right now that will be running for a month.
If the first batch of 5000 flyers turns a decent reply i will put out 5-10K more in April by newspaper also.
My company work shirts will be finished by the 17th
New business cards being made now.
Looking at buying some software also by full time cutting season.


What are some of you guys doing to advertise for the 2008 season that is coming quick?

Good Luck
Don

Been their done all of it :weightlifter:

[bigw]

i went overboard two this year 3 adds in the phone book add in the paper and just sent out 250 flyers gonna send out more in the next week or so

No offense but the phone book is like 8 track tapes anymore and 250 flyers and an add i would not call going over board, i would consider post cards "direct mail" or atleast a sign and a website. Then again what do i know maybe you have a 100 accounts and aint looking for many more like i am.

[DiGiTLawncare]

Yeah I have been following your stuff BigW you seem to have a good knowledge in sales/marketing. I have tried to stick up for ya in a few other posts. I am but 20 years old and have a lot to learn in the field of both lawn mainteneance as well as marketing but I am reading books like they are going out of style as well as in college for sales and marketing. I really like the field and am using the lawn industry to critic my selling style and try some new things out.

I had a late start this year on gearing up for the season I was not sure weather or not I was going to push to get this thing off the ground. Well I talked to the guys that work for me and I decided we were going to hit it 110%. I just started making plans to get this rolling about mid Feb. so I was a bit behind. I am playing catch up now though and thankful I am getting everything out this early. Its going to be a great year for me here in TN.

-Don

[Dunlaps LawnCare]

big w took ur idea and got 2 signs a website started and 200 direct mail and 500 more filers and might do post cards or door hangers the end of the mouth or early next