09 Flyer Ideas?

[N.TX]

Has anyone come up with any new ideas for their 09 flyer marketing? I am wondering what the economy is going to bring.... I haven't felt much of it around here but I was a little bit slower then normal in nov and dec. I am thinking i might want to market a little more then i usually do just in case we have people dropping us because of lost jobs ect.....what do you guys think?

[subzero]

Last year I tried something different ... I entered in the spring rodeo parade... made my business logo on two sides of the trailer.... also one on the front of the bucket of the tractor... I used the tractor with a front end loader to pull the flat deck trailer, on the trailer I had my zero turn , push mower, weed eater. etc..... I got a few calls from that... I think I'm going to try that agin...


Schmidt
Mowing & Tilling
780-826-7562 or 780-812-4514
"For all your lawn & garden needs."
"No job too big or too small."

[subzero]

Schmidt
Mowing & Tilling
780-826-7562 or 780-812-4514
"For all your lawn & garden needs."
"No job too big or too small."

[joegeistyardworks]

I am attempting to load a door hanger that I had made. As you will see, it shows a couple's feet in a nice green yard. Key word in it, RELAX. I want my customers to know that I am there to do the work they do not care to do, or do not know how to do. I just want them to relax in 09:dancing:

[johnnybravo8802]

Last year I tried something different ... I entered in the spring rodeo parade... made my business logo on two sides of the trailer.... also one on the front of the bucket of the tractor... I used the tractor with a front end loader to pull the flat deck trailer, on the trailer I had my zero turn , push mower, weed eater. etc..... I got a few calls from that... I think I'm going to try that agin...


Schmidt
Mowing & Tilling
780-826-7562 or 780-812-4514
"For all your lawn & garden needs."
"No job too big or too small."
I can't imagine riding bulls as something different for your company. I'd be afraid of getting hurt and not being able to mow.:dizzy:

[loupiscopolandscaping]

ill be honest door hangers do work,BUT do you honestly have the time/effort to put them out?? i live in nj and i have 9,000 door hangers made last year. i but out 500 in the spring and 2,500 in the summer when things slowed down. did they work?? yes...was it worth it?? no... the time money and effort put into it it was not worth it at all... i have 6,000 door hangers in the office that im sick of looking at. i usually have good success with valpak or supercoups. for 400 bucks they put out 10,000 flyers/coupons. cant beat that

[johnnybravo8802]

ill be honest door hangers do work,BUT do you honestly have the time/effort to put them out?? i live in nj and i have 9,000 door hangers made last year. i but out 500 in the spring and 2,500 in the summer when things slowed down. did they work?? yes...was it worth it?? no... the time money and effort put into it it was not worth it at all... i have 6,000 door hangers in the office that im sick of looking at. i usually have good success with valpak or supercoups. for 400 bucks they put out 10,000 flyers/coupons. cant beat that
What is valpak or supercoups?

[DLAWNS]

What is valpak or supercoups?

They are an envelope full of coupons and ads that go out in the mail. There's a ton of them..Valpak, supercoups, and money mailer are just a few of them. There's probably some in your area, just with a different name.

[greenbaylawns]

Word of mouth is probably only gunna work this season?

[shade tree landscaping]

ill be honest door hangers do work,BUT do you honestly have the time/effort to put them out?? i live in nj and i have 9,000 door hangers made last year. i but out 500 in the spring and 2,500 in the summer when things slowed down. did they work?? yes...was it worth it?? no... the time money and effort put into it it was not worth it at all... i have 6,000 door hangers in the office that im sick of looking at. i usually have good success with valpak or supercoups. for 400 bucks they put out 10,000 flyers/coupons. cant beat that

Valpak is really that cheap?

[SLLawnSvc]

If those are that cheap, count me in!!!

[johnnybravo8802]

Yea, I'm trying to come up with an effective way to advertise. I've come up empty handed so many times, I've lost faith. I think the problem is that you have to drill your name into the public's eye for a long time before you get any results. In the meantime, you feel like you're going advertising poor-I can't stand that feeling-everything going out and nothing coming in. I've done the coupons, on a smaller scale, and it was a joke. I had one guy tell me that the coupons are really intended more for retailers versus service providers-after I thought about it, I could see where he was coming from. There has to be an easier and more effective way than door to door!!!!!

[yard_smart]

this is going out the 1 week of march

[Fiano Landscapes]

We acutually have received a list of the top income households in our market. Everyone on the list income is 90k+ income households. We are in the process of making our yearly brochure for 2009. Included in the brochure is a business card size magnet to stick to the refridgerator. I have done the brochure lots of times, and it works, but never the magnet. I'm hoping it's the gift that keeps on giving.

[DLAWNS]

this is going out the 1 week of march

That postcard looks nice, man!

[johnnybravo8802]

We acutually have received a list of the top income households in our market. Everyone on the list income is 90k+ income households. We are in the process of making our yearly brochure for 2009. Included in the brochure is a business card size magnet to stick to the refridgerator. I have done the brochure lots of times, and it works, but never the magnet. I'm hoping it's the gift that keeps on giving.
You must have spoken to Sean?-I'm doing the same thing!!!:dancing:

[Fiano Landscapes]

I don't even know who Sean even is. I seen these at my folks store. They own a store called Postnet. They do lots of different business services. I seen this in on of their sales binders.

[larryinalabama]

Im interested

[larryinalabama]

You must have spoken to Sean?-I'm doing the same thing!!!:dancing:

Where can I get a mailing list like that?

[joegeistyardworks]

Trust me, I have the time, just starting up, no clients yet. Nothing but time so I figure I could key in on a few neighborhoods that are close to me, that way it really will pay for its self if I earn the jobs and do not have much in the way or gas or tolls.

Thanks for everyone's input. keep it coming.

[capnsac]

Word of mouth is probably only gunna work this season?

No way man. Only the strong will survive this, and first you must get mentally tough. None of this negative nancy BS.

[johnnybravo8802]

Where can I get a mailing list like that?
Go under public records for your county.

[fl-landscapes]

Thats a great looking post card! I'm looking into getting an income demographics list and doing a mailing as well this year. But I have always had the biggest color ad in the yellow pages in my area. It can be expensive in some areas but this year with all the business they have lost they through in the color for free this year and gave me a smaller ad elswhere in the book as long as I spent what I did last year. Remember when it comes to advertising if you make one penny more than what an ad cost you, then it didn't cost you anything. My yellow page ad pays for itself many times over every year.

[johnnybravo8802]

Thats a great looking post card! I'm looking into getting an income demographics list and doing a mailing as well this year. But I have always had the biggest color ad in the yellow pages in my area. It can be expensive in some areas but this year with all the business they have lost they through in the color for free this year and gave me a smaller ad elswhere in the book as long as I spent what I did last year. Remember when it comes to advertising if you make one penny more than what an ad cost you, then it didn't cost you anything. My yellow page ad pays for itself many times over every year.
I didn't make squat with my yellow page add........after they got the add wrong!!!:hammerhead::hammerhead:

[larryinalabama]

Go under public records for your county.

Thanks Johnny, I found a couple of mailing list companies on line, in the town Im targeting theres 1500 homes that are valued over 150k. For the list and mailing labels they want 200$. Im not sure if it would be worth it, I figure to mail 1500 post cards would cost total over 1000$. I think I can do 100 door hangers in a day, and that way Im only targeting houses that I want to service. Also we have a weekly news paper that is mailed weekly to the entire county, I can run a ad in the classified for around 30$, and Im going to see what it would cost to leave a flyer in it.

[johnnybravo8802]

Thanks Johnny, I found a couple of mailing list companies on line, in the town Im targeting theres 1500 homes that are valued over 150k. For the list and mailing labels they want 200$. Im not sure if it would be worth it, I figure to mail 1500 post cards would cost total over 1000$. I think I can do 100 door hangers in a day, and that way Im only targeting houses that I want to service. Also we have a weekly news paper that is mailed weekly to the entire county, I can run a ad in the classified for around 30$, and Im going to see what it would cost to leave a flyer in it.
The public records deal was first introduced by Sean as a way to prevent us from wasting our time targeting the wrong potential customer. He did the door to door thing and talked about all the time and money he wasted. He suggested to me to write a personal letter to the owner with their name on it instead of the mass flyer route. He claims that people will open an envelope with their name handwritten and just toss the other junk mail-that's what I'm going for. I'm anxious to see if it works.:drinkup:

[MSS Mow]

Thats a great looking post card! I'm looking into getting an income demographics list and doing a mailing as well this year. But I have always had the biggest color ad in the yellow pages in my area. It can be expensive in some areas but this year with all the business they have lost they through in the color for free this year and gave me a smaller ad elswhere in the book as long as I spent what I did last year. Remember when it comes to advertising if you make one penny more than what an ad cost you, then it didn't cost you anything. My yellow page ad pays for itself many times over every year.

Oh so incorrect.

So, if you spend $1000 on a yellow page ad, and gross $1000.01 in sales, it didn't cost you anything?? How about all that labor to complete the $1000.01 in sales? How about the expense in equipment, supplies, fuel, etc that you spent to gross that $1000.01. Even if you grossed $2000 in sales, that $1000 expense wasn't worth it.

I spent more than $800 last year on a yellow page ad, nice color ad too. I didn't receive one phone call from it all year, and I was one of only two businesses listed in there. The other one was over 60 miles away too. Obviously yellow pages are not that valuable for me. :cry:

[johnnybravo8802]

Oh so incorrect.

So, if you spend $1000 on a yellow page ad, and gross $1000.01 in sales, it didn't cost you anything?? How about all that labor to complete the $1000.01 in sales? How about the expense in equipment, supplies, fuel, etc that you spent to gross that $1000.01. Even if you grossed $2000 in sales, that $1000 expense wasn't worth it.

I spent more than $800 last year on a yellow page ad, nice color ad too. I didn't receive one phone call from it all year, and I was one of only two businesses listed in there. The other one was over 60 miles away too. Obviously yellow pages are not that valuable for me. :cry:
That sounds just like my story:cry::cry:They even got my add wrong:hammerhead::hammerhead:

[JDUtah]

Oh so incorrect.

So, if you spend $1000 on a yellow page ad, and gross $1000.01 in sales, it didn't cost you anything?? How about all that labor to complete the $1000.01 in sales? How about the expense in equipment, supplies, fuel, etc that you spent to gross that $1000.01. Even if you grossed $2000 in sales, that $1000 expense wasn't worth it.

I agree with you here for sure. I would suggest people that think if you break even it was free should start by reading the book "Your Marketing Sucks"

I spent more than $800 last year on a yellow page ad, nice color ad too. I didn't receive one phone call from it all year, and I was one of only two businesses listed in there. The other one was over 60 miles away too. Obviously yellow pages are not that valuable for me. :cry:

Was it the main phone book (Dex in this area) or a smaller competitor book?

[whoopassonthebluegrass]

Pound for pound, nothing beats a well made door flyer. But they ARE a huge inconvenience to distribute...

I wasted $2,700 on a big yellow pages ad last year. Whoops. Didn't occur to me that the folks who use the yellow pages call every company and go with whoever's cheapest. TOTAL waste of money...

[MSS Mow]

That sounds just like my story:cry::cry:They even got my add wrong:hammerhead::hammerhead:

I'd be demanding a refund, if the mistake was bad enough...ie wrong phone #, wrong website, etc.

I agree with you here for sure. I would suggest people that think if you break even it was free should start by reading the book "Your Marketing Sucks"



Was it the main phone book (Dex in this area) or a smaller competitor book?

No, it was the "Big Book". eztousebigbook.com It's not Verizon's regular one, but it is still local and contains the same white page listing and they sell their yellow pages just like Verizon does. The book goes to every house and business. The verizon book doesn't have any more listing for lawncare. I guess it's just not a viable method here. I live in a very rural area with very few actual lawncare companies. There are a bunch of solo part timers, most of which do do good work, however they're not into advertising. Usually in the local paper, which has done much better for me, there is only one other company advertising, and he's much bigger than me.

[Paradise Landscapes2]

this is going out the 1 week of march

How much did this cost you? Where did you get them from?

[elite lawns]

Who do you guys order from

[Paradise Landscapes2]

we do not have any one at this time

[johnnybravo8802]

I'd be demanding a refund, if the mistake was bad enough...ie wrong phone #, wrong website, etc.



No, it was the "Big Book". eztousebigbook.com It's not Verizon's regular one, but it is still local and contains the same white page listing and they sell their yellow pages just like Verizon does. The book goes to every house and business. The verizon book doesn't have any more listing for lawncare. I guess it's just not a viable method here. I live in a very rural area with very few actual lawncare companies. There are a bunch of solo part timers, most of which do do good work, however they're not into advertising. Usually in the local paper, which has done much better for me, there is only one other company advertising, and he's much bigger than me.

Actually, I refused to pay for it and they kept for months harassing me for months for the money. Finally, they threatened to turn me over to collections and I had to pay it. That was the last of my business!!! :hammerhead::hammerhead:

[yard_smart]

gotprint.com

[larryinalabama]

The public records deal was first introduced by Sean as a way to prevent us from wasting our time targeting the wrong potential customer. He did the door to door thing and talked about all the time and money he wasted. He suggested to me to write a personal letter to the owner with their name on it instead of the mass flyer route. He claims that people will open an envelope with their name handwritten and just toss the other junk mail-that's what I'm going for. I'm anxious to see if it works.:drinkup:

Thanks again Johnny. Can I bring address to the court house and get peoples names? Hom many are you going to mail?

[johnnybravo8802]

Thanks again Johnny. Can I bring address to the court house and get peoples names? Hom many are you going to mail?
I'm not sure about the court house thing-I think it costs a small fee for the info. I don't know about the number of flyers-I think I'll give it a test run before I spend a lot of money on flyers. I also don't want 1500 flyers sitting at my house that never got passed out.

[rnd]

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