Phone Book Ad

[JohnHenry]

I like well designed postcards. I`ve used them with good results in two previous businesses... home improvement, somewhat similar to detailing as far as the target market goes.

Several companies on the web, e.g. InfoUSA and PostcardMania that Troy mentioned, can do searches on various criteria to allow you to sharpen your focus.

For example, I have searched two affluent zip codes within ten miles of my home. As I recall the criteria were: home value >$600K, owner`s age >40, minimum of two cars registered, income >$200K. I ran a free test query and found about 1,000 addresses. I got a price for mailing labels, then decided to eliminate the income data, which reduced the cost considerably.

I ended up with ~ 1,250 addresses. And we have more bass boats than Bimmers in these here parts!

Now don`t get too excited. Even a well-targetted direct mail campaign will generate only a 2-3% return, if you`re lucky. But think about getting 25 good prospects, with two high end cars in the garage, and lots of wealthy neighbors and friends. How many could you convert to monthly regulars? Eight? Twelve? How much word-of-mouth business would they generate?

A smart direct-mail campaign might be worth the $1,000 to $1,200 investment. Couple lessons I learned... you have to stay with it. I would budget three or four repeat mailings to your very best prospects throughout the year, rather than to blow the whole wad on one mass mailing to more addresses. Oh, and start small.

Good luck!

[tmacsad]

I like well designed postcards. I`ve used them with good results in two previous businesses... home improvement, somewhat similar to detailing as far as the target market goes.

Several companies on the web, e.g. InfoUSA and PostcardMania that Troy mentioned, can do searches on various criteria to allow you to sharpen your focus.

For example, I have searched two affluent zip codes within ten miles of my home. As I recall the criteria were: home value >$600K, owner`s age >40, minimum of two cars registered, income >$200K. I ran a free test query and found about 1,000 addresses. I got a price for mailing labels, then decided to eliminate the income data, which reduced the cost considerably.

I ended up with ~ 1,250 addresses. And we have more bass boats than Bimmers in these here parts!

Now don`t get too excited. Even a well-targetted direct mail campaign will generate only a 2-3% return, if you`re lucky. But think about getting 25 good prospects, with two high end cars in the garage, and lots of wealthy neighbors and friends. How many could you convert to monthly regulars? Eight? Twelve? How much word-of-mouth business would they generate?

A smart direct-mail campaign might be worth the $1,000 to $1,200 investment. Couple lessons I learned... you have to stay with it. I would budget three or four repeat mailings to your very best prospects throughout the year, rather than to blow the whole wad on one mass mailing to more addresses. Oh, and start small.

Good luck!

Good info J.H.

[Old Pirate]

I posted my business cards at the local car washes...........

[YNOT]

I thought I`d chime in here. Even though my side biz is a bit different than detailing, I think post cards work well. For me, I order around 1000-1500 post cards and I have a mailing list already created that I continually add to. Now being a graphic designer, I design the cards myself, so that saves me money so all I spend is a couple hundred bucks or so for the post cards and another few hundred on stamps...once a year...sometimes twice. I only need to land 2 or 3 jobs to hopefully break even and the bigger thing for me is name recognition. If I keep drilling my logo and cards into their brains, someday, they will hopefully think of me when they need my services.

As for a `detailing` biz...you most likely would not `mail` out to random people. You`d most likely hand them out or stick them under the wipers on various cars, so no expense on stamps. All you pay for is the post card design and the printing. Then anytime you`re out shopping or anything, take them with you and stick them on some cars/trucks. Even better, hook up with some car clubs and ask them if you can put your cards in their goody bags. Car clubs always like to `give-away` stuff in the goody bags.

Then as you build up more clients, be sure to get their addresses and you can mail out a post card to them once in a while and offer them a discount to come back to you for a fresh detailing.

Unfortunately, the way this economy is, many people are spending less on their cars it seems...detailing and otherwise. A friend of mine works for a body shop and he said they are so slow because most people are so hard up for money nowadays that they won`t even fix their cars if they`re still drivable...they`re cashing the insurance check and using it to pay bills and driving a wrecked car.

Anyway...good luck to you Tony! However you decide to market yourself.

[tmacsad]

I posted my business cards at the local car washes...........

Great idea zoomzoom....

[tmacsad]

I thought I`d chime in here. Even though my side biz is a bit different than detailing, I think post cards work well. For me, I order around 1000-1500 post cards and I have a mailing list already created that I continually add to. Now being a graphic designer, I design the cards myself, so that saves me money so all I spend is a couple hundred bucks or so for the post cards and another few hundred on stamps...once a year...sometimes twice. I only need to land 2 or 3 jobs to hopefully break even and the bigger thing for me is name recognition. If I keep drilling my logo and cards into their brains, someday, they will hopefully think of me when they need my services.

As for a `detailing` biz...you most likely would not `mail` out to random people. You`d most likely hand them out or stick them under the wipers on various cars, so no expense on stamps. All you pay for is the post card design and the printing. Then anytime you`re out shopping or anything, take them with you and stick them on some cars/trucks. Even better, hook up with some car clubs and ask them if you can put your cards in their goody bags. Car clubs always like to `give-away` stuff in the goody bags.

Thanks for the info T.M.! One thing I will not do.... is stick something with my company name on someones ride. It really gets under my skin when its done to me at wally world.

I try to be as professional as I can when it comes to marketing the biz. I`d rather pin a flyer up on the store bulletin board than stick a card/flyer under the wipers or any other part of the vehicle.

I look at it this way... when I get a flyer on my vehicle for someones services, I think to myself is that the best they can do

[tmacsad]

Alright guy`s, here is the latest on the phone book ad drama. The vehicle below belongs to the rep at yellow book. I detailed it this past weekend (very nice ride! ). This rep is trying very hard to get me to sign on the dotted line . The new offer is two business card size ads in the book, a slot on the yellow book website, and one month free yep just one month. All for $150. The rep also said that if I`m not getting any business from the website I could drop the ad off of there and my grand total would be $100 a month. I`m saving big money now boy`s

The rep also told me that "I will send you enough referrals to take care of your ad" I had to check and make sure that I wasn`t wearing a sign that said "I`M STUPID" on that one.

[clone]

i would suggest you tell the rep to kick tha bricks,don`t let the door hit you where the good lord split you...some people will tell you any thing to get to your wallet. when i first started i would go around to independent repair shops tell them what i was trying to accomplish. and if i felt a good rapportt with them, i would clean the owner`s/manager`s car for free to show them my abillitys(i did alot of free work. i looked at it as i was honing my skill. " i am a glass 1/2 full kinda guy") it took a little while but lo-n-behold the phone started 2 ring. then this person would tell that person & that person would tell someone else. the shop`s would also able 2 mark price up and also offer a service they had not offered before.it is a win/win situation. i will warn you to get ready to see some horrific auto`s but as i said before "i am just honing my skills" oh yea the little c-class looks terrific -keep up tha good work-

[tmacsad]

i would suggest you tell the rep to kick tha bricks,don`t let the door hit you where the good lord split you...some people will tell you any thing to get to your wallet. when i first started i would go around to independent repair shops tell them what i was trying to accomplish. and if i felt a good rapportt with them, i would clean the owner`s/manager`s car for free to show them my abillitys(i did alot of free work. i looked at it as i was honing my skill. " i am a glass 1/2 full kinda guy") it took a little while but lo-n-behold the phone started 2 ring. then this person would tell that person & that person would tell someone else. the shop`s would also able 2 mark price up and also offer a service they had not offered before.it is a win/win situation. i will warn you to get ready to see some horrific auto`s but as i said before "i am just honing my skills" oh yea the little c-class looks terrific -keep up tha good work-

Thanks Clone! So these free stuff does pay off

[Tex Star Detail]

Yahoo local, Google Local, etc is where I get most of my internet business.
Folks like to use the internet these days. They type in "Detailing in Tulsa Oklahoma" and there you have it... your listing gets pulled up. (along with others). And it is all free.

[tmacsad]

Yahoo local, Google Local, etc is where I get most of my internet business.
Folks like to use the internet these days. They type in "Detailing in Tulsa Oklahoma" and there you have it... your listing gets pulled up. (along with others). And it is all free.

Tex, I have listing on google, yahoo, and craigslist. I do as much market as I can on the free venues

I just wanted to find out if putting some money into a phone book ad would be beneficial and not a hassle