Marketing in a phone book

Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude

Keeper of the beautiful
Have any of you mobile detailers marketed in a phone book? If so, what kind of results did you get?



Where I live, there are no legal mobile detailers. There are mobile guys washing cars w/o license/insurance and not recollecting their waste water. But nothing legitimate in my area other than me.



All of my current work is about a hour from my house. I want to expand into a ritzy area in the other direction of my current work. I wonder if a phone book is the easiest way to get started in a new area without having to dedicate a few days of cold calling and maybe not getting results.



I've heard mixed reviews of advertising in the phone book. Everything from, my phone gets constant calls from it. To "it's a waste of money, only tire kickers call".



What say you, mobile guys?
 
Personally, I'd never do it. It's usually expensive and a lot of people don't even keep a phone book anymore. I, for one, don't have one in the house. I just use google.



BUT, some people have had good luck with phone book advertising.
 
Check out the cost of different adds. Presently i have a 2 line add in the white and yellow pages, that just says my business name and number and a web address. The cost is $7 a month.



In the past i have run a small description add and did get some business from it, but did also get tire kickers. It did cost more.



Exposure is always good.
 
Jean-Claude,



I have used yellow pages for my other business. I think it's a crap shoot. I have always aggressively tracked my marking efforts/expenses and by far, I had received more calls through yellow pages than any other medium. But, the conversion rate - caller to paying customer - was low. Low enough in fact that the ads rarely paid for themselves in what I considered a worthwhile venture. I normally expect to see ROI of about 300% from marketing ventures and, yellow pages never did that for me!



Drew
 
The prices are dictated by your location. My AT&T ad cost me a little over $300/mth were as my basic yellow pages was only $45/mth. And I wont be using any of them again. While they did make the phone ring from time to time it didn't bring in enough business to justify the cost. I think Bob nailed it on the head. in today's society most information is looked up online. Find a way to make you page be up front and center when you type in "your city, Detailing" The more your site pop's up in even the most vauge of searches the better off you are. Also instead of cold calling do some gureilla marketing. Show up at car shows or other events that cater to the clientel of your choosing. At first just mingle with the people. Get your name out there. Hand out a card or two. Once you get the feel of how things work set up a booth or co-sponsor an event. And always have a way to showcase your work. Maybe a flip book in the car at all times that shows what you can do. Sometimes you only get one shot at a sale and being prepared for that is the only way to make sure you put your best foot forward.
 
I have had ads in the SMALLER local books since I started full time. The ads have more than paid for themselves each year.
 
The guerilla markting technique does get your name out for sure! We silk screen t-shirts and place them in cars we've serviced, inside of a branded tote bag, branded travel mug, magic business card, and syeglas cleaning kit - about $28.00 worth of swag. Last year, we gave away just short of 600 kits. I also have the guys give away many shirts as they are working around town. Our shirt campaign uses four different slogan quips - kinda like the Got Milk ads. I see our shirts pretty regularly!!



Just a quick two cents.



Drew
 
I have had a fairly large color advertisement in the yellow pages for 3 years now, and this is the last year. As soon as my contract is up, I'll never do it again. I will keep a single line in the detailing section, and paintless dent repair, but nothing else.







John
 
toyotaguy said:
complete waste of money...I did it last year and not one phone call from it, and it was a 1/4 page ad!
Click to expand...



That is too bad. Probably tons of competition where you are at. Was it one of the larger books or the smaller community based books. I have found the smaller books work much better.
 
I will say to take out a decent ad, you will spend lots of money and if you are only a one man biz you should reconsider. To increase your productivity in your area look into local networking groups, chamber of commerce, etc. You return on investment will be far greater than a phone book ad. Addionally, paper media outlets are in my opinion a form of advertising that I am very careful with. Consider your taget market and the methods that they take to find out about you. Start with existing clients and see how it was that they found you. Best of luck,

Jason
 
I would guess ads in the phone book brings out the price shoppers looking for 89.99 full details. If you are a high volume/quick turn around detailer, that type of customer base may be up your ally. If you are more of a high end type detailer, calls from the phone book may be more of a pain in the rear than any real benefit.
 
Some customers look in the phone book for a resource on your business. It is kind of like having a web site. IF anything, the customers will see it as a way to find out if you are legit even though anyone can have a yellow page ad.



I agree, I think a large add is a waste of money. If anything, put a two line add in there incase a customer looks you up just to see if you are serious.



I don't have one in my yellow pages. When I am out selling, I give out my web address. It is posted very large on the back of my card so the prospective customer can gain trust by seeing me on the internet. I have recently just started to build a customer base again. After dedicating two years to one car collection it is like starting all over again.
 
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