Marketing Opportunity - how to proceed?

My daughter`s best friend`s mom owns a decent size cleaning company here in my town. She is offering me a half page "ad" that she is going to send out along with her own information to all of her clients new and existing as well as the local businesses and chamber of commerce. Thousands of eyes will be on this ad. To say I am extremely grateful and appreciative is an understatement. Did I mention that she was doing it for free? Holy cow.

Anyways, I want to make sure I put my best foot forward on this and put out the information that will excite the most people. Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should put on there to achieve the best results? I appreciate any input you guys can provide. This is the site for reference:

www.petesprodetailing.ca

Any feedback on my site is hugely appreciated! Thanks guys...

Pete

I would contact Troy from Protekt(sp) .. he did a great job helping a member with a business card, I`m sure he could help here too :)

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Originally Posted by Poorboy

I would contact Troy from Protekt(sp) .. he did a great job helping a member with a business card, I`m sure he could help here too :)

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Thanks! I currently have a business card and the owner (Barb) asked if she could blow it up. I have recently changed my logo and am not sure if I want to use the old one on the ad... Was maybe thinking of throwing something together by scratch incorporating the logo - I will contact Troy!

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Originally Posted by Poorboy

I would contact Troy from Protekt(sp) .. he did a great job helping a member with a business card, I`m sure he could help here too :)

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yep...he sure did!

going tomorrow to try and get some printed locally


that`s awesome about the free ad space...I`m horrible at marketing so I have no comment but Good Luck and I hope it gets you lots of business

thx guys. I am going to keep it simple. Just trying to find somewhere online where I can put it all together

You could offer a "one time only" discount for new customers. Everyone loves a discount !

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Originally Posted by ca.detailchick

You could offer a "one time only" discount for new customers. Everyone loves a discount !

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I have to respectfully disagree. Then you open the door to people thinking that if they get a discount coming in the door then your services should always have less value. Discount on return visit or something like a maintenance plan.

Just like places like Groupon are getting the bottom feeders that are in it only for the discount. Structure it wrong and you could be paying for every customer.

I do my own, and a limited number of select peoples cars for $. I don`t want to ever see your Prius and if I do it`s a huge favor only because I do your Gallardo, or Hellcat or Rousch Mustang kind of thing. Those are the customers you want.

Pete-

Ccrew brings up a valid point...

Take my situation for example...

I give deep discounts to my club friends.

They do not tip, however. I literally was thinking to myself the other day..this is like a groupon deal and I`m short changing myself, but I`m saving up for more equipment and trying to build a reputation within a targeted demographic so it`s a win-win for me. I also don`t rely on this income at all short from detail related purchases.


Anyways...to your post...I`m also not sure (again) what to recomend internet wise to set something up visually. I have no creativity in that area.

I would suggest thinking about what type of customer you are trying to attract.

I simply don`t advertise, I couldn`t handle a lot of customers working 2 days a week anyways. And until SRT makes a minivan I`ll die happy if I never clean another one. :)

I do, however, frequent car shows and try to establish myself as at minimum a credible resource for others. It has yielded me some business in the past.

I like your caveat emptor approach on your website but we all know most people don`t know any better.

Heck today at work there was a newer 4door metallic black Panamera, freshly swirled some more..i could see the holograms from 30 feet away...i remember last year when it was much less swirled.

Lots to consider. As you know marketing is like detailing, not everyone gets the same results with the same approach.

Pete,

I`ve been helping my mom put together marketing materials (yard signs, t-shirts, business cards etc)for her business and I have some backgroung in this stuff from my college days. I`d love to help you design something. I`ve always enjoyed this sort of thing. By no means am I a "pro" at marketing but I can show some of the stuff I`ve done in the past if you`d like.

PM me if you are interested.
Best of luck.

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Originally Posted by Ccrew

I have to respectfully disagree. Then you open the door to people thinking that if they get a discount coming in the door then your services should always have less value. Discount on return visit or something like a maintenance plan.

Just like places like Groupon are getting the bottom feeders that are in it only for the discount. Structure it wrong and you could be paying for every customer.

I do my own, and a limited number of select peoples cars for $. I don`t want to ever see your Prius and if I do it`s a huge favor only because I do your Gallardo, or Hellcat or Rousch Mustang kind of thing. Those are the customers you want.

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Yes if you give too much of a discount I could see your point.

Ive given discounts and kept kept the majority of them as long term customers and their family and friends so it worked out very well for me. Nobody ever asked me to give another discount after the first.

I dont give discounts anymore though unless they are someone who has referred me business.

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Originally Posted by FIDOAG14

Pete,

I`ve been helping my mom put together marketing materials (yard signs, t-shirts, business cards etc)for her business and I have some backgroung in this stuff from my college days. I`d love to help you design something. I`ve always enjoyed this sort of thing. By no means am I a "pro" at marketing but I can show some of the stuff I`ve done in the past if you`d like.

PM me if you are interested.
Best of luck.

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Thanks for the offer Fido! My sister is actually going to design something for me. I definitely get NOT giving a discount for new customers as it could give off the vibe that I am cheapening my services. Definitely don`t want that. I would love to get into the higher end market but where I am (about 100,000) people there is not a huge market for the higher end. I have contacted the #1 mechanic in town and will be detailing his wife`s car next week. Going to give him a deal for referrals. Also, I have contacted the real estate agent who sells the big F off homes around here and am setting up a meeting to see if I can get a business card or flyer in his new home buying package. I am also in touch with the organizer of all of the big "meets" in town (last one had 450 cars in a snowstorm!) just to get my name out. Trying to hit all avenues.

I have gotten some amazing information on here and advice. I explained the whole automatic wash thing to a guy I was quoting the other day and he couldn`t believe the damage it was doing to his car. This was a "car guy". It is going to take some time to dial in the approach specific to my area but you guys have given me a lot to work with.

Oh oh wanted to get an opinion from you guys. My website is with Vistaprint. Do you recommend dumping them and going to Wordpress or something like that for SEO purposes?

Thanks again guys.

Pete

I think discounts are fine as long as you can manage their structures properly, but that`s just me. It could backfire horribly where all your customers just end up waiting for your seasonal discount or whatever and you can`t get your regular prices going.

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Originally Posted by Ccrew

I have to respectfully disagree. Then you open the door to people thinking that if they get a discount coming in the door then your services should always have less value. Discount on return visit or something like a maintenance plan.

Just like places like Groupon are getting the bottom feeders that are in it only for the discount. Structure it wrong and you could be paying for every customer.

I do my own, and a limited number of select peoples cars for $. I don`t want to ever see your Prius and if I do it`s a huge favor only because I do your Gallardo, or Hellcat or Rousch Mustang kind of thing. Those are the customers you want.

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I totally agree with this. If you aren`t careful with discounts, its not going to be good. Think about that, what kind of car is someone going to be driving if they`re always looking for a deal? I did one of my inlaws vehicles for a big discount and he still complained after I was done. He had an old grand caravan van and he was the only lowballer I catered to. Others with BMW and Mercedes say I`m the best they`ve been to, and I`m really proud of that because I live in Palm Springs. I can`t wait to be doing the real nice cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. I know that is in my future. Now imagine someone with a Ferrari says "Wow, you`re the best detailer I`ve brought my car to" vs someone with a beat up van saying "Wow, I wish you wouldn`t charge so much."