How do you market?

[DeepGreenLawn]

I have 3 community magazines that each go to 1000+ homes and businesses that I advertise in. These magazines have kept me busy all year this year with lawn care and I am hoping the same will happen with the Lights as well. I haven't had to do any other types of advertising to this point but for A&O (Aeration & Over seeding) I am putting together door hangers to advertise specific neighborhoods.

The lights... that I am relying on mostly with the mags. I don't and won't have time to do door to door type stuff right now as I am focused on the lawn care business.

SO, what have yall found to be the best sort of marketing? When do you start getting calls for estimates? Do you get flooded or does the phone just ring on and off? I talked to the guys at CLE (Christmas Lights Etc) and they said that their clients here in town usually only do about 20 customers a year. One though had about 200... I don't know if they were in GA or somewhere else... I would LOVE to get 20. I would love to get 10. Any less than that and I won't be happy.

How does this sound as a goal?

[hotrod1965]

10 is a good goal, I would shoot for the 20, but it really depends on the population and demographics of your area.

Mail or hang at the top 2-3% houses and go out and talk to business owners.

You will get slammed with phone calls around thanksgiving, but you really want to focus on going out and getting business before then.

[DeepGreenLawn]

Good... I can handle it at Thanksgiving... any time after the first week of Nov. should be good to go... I will try to get as much as I can before then... maybe offer a 10% discount for signing up early? If you get someone to sign up early... when do they pay? When they sign up or when you do the work?

[David Gretzmier]

The first year we were in this area, we did some flyers and got around 12 customers. some big, some small. since then I have done postcards, yellow pages, truck graphics, etc. In each of the past 3 years I have picked up 30-40 each year. This year is the toughest, I am shooting for 50 new customers and going to 4 crews.

[DeepGreenLawn]

The first year we were in this area, we did some flyers and got around 12 customers. some big, some small. since then I have done postcards, yellow pages, truck graphics, etc. In each of the past 3 years I have picked up 30-40 each year. This year is the toughest, I am shooting for 50 new customers and going to 4 crews.

so my goal of 20 is not too far off... did I fail to mention these are full page ads? Sometimes 2 pages?