Spring Advertising/Marketing

R

ragtopgolfer

New member
Finally as these flakes fall, I begin to realize its nearly mid February. With that in mind the spring is around the corner with one of the largest snow storms ever coming (Friday) for the east coast!



Regardless, I have allocated $300 on a budget to bring in new customers and was wondering if anyone had any ideas. Remember $300.00 is the budget, so I could do fliers, newspapers, detail shops, etc...



Please give me the ideas... (I'm a full time college student looking to do part time work- 1-2 cars/night).



Best Regards
 
You should check out some of NY detailers past posts on the subject. He has many great business promotion ideas and most are really inexpensive.
 
The first thing I have to do this year is get some new business cards made. My number has changed since last year so I'm going to have to start over again. www.vistaprint.com is a great way of getting good cards for not a lot of $$. If you go for the free route (which I do) then its even cheaper. I've never had anyone turn me down because there was a vistaprint address on the back of the card. Its the info on the front of the card that they are interested in. :xyxthumbs
 
I just had 1000 tri-fold brochures printed and folded for $135.00 that's black and white on white linen. I've found that these to be very effective and professional.
 
Detailbarn:



The 1000 brochures @ $135 sounds like a great deal! Now, what's your strategy for distribution?



I'm very interested, and looking forward to your response!



Thanks

Jim
 
jimamary , I put alot of them out on vehicles when I'm out. I also have some doctors that let me put them in the waiting area. I also have alot of larger housing developments in my area. Quite a few of them the cheapest house is in the low $500,000 so the cars that are parked in those garages tend to be of the upper crust. I have had much better succes with my tri-folds than I ever did with simple flyers , I'm assuming becuase people are finding them more professional.
 
I'm currently using fliers but don't get a good return on them. Color or Black and White. I'm getting between a .5% and a 1% return on the latest ones I've handed out. Not too good... I don't know if it is because it is after Christmas or the neighbhorhood I handed them out in isn't that good. They are houses around $150,000 all the way up to the $500,000 ones.
 
Intel486 I found that my flyers were not getting that good of a return also, I am now getting between 2% - 5% return on my tri-folds. I think people like them because I have included most of the answers to there typical questions so all they have to do is call and make an appointment.
 
detailbarn said:
Intel486 I found that my flyers were not getting that good of a return also, I am now getting between 2% - 5% return on my tri-folds. I think people like them because I have included most of the answers to there typical questions so all they have to do is call and make an appointment.
Click to expand...



Sent you a PM.
 
I use flyers and have about a 2% return. I am thinking about having some business cards made, and maybe even advertising in the local area newspaper. (Not the Houston Chronicle)
 
For winter, I made up some "Winter Detailing Special" flyers. Printed 20 and left them at one of my customers stores. I just included Wash, Wax, Class Cleaned, Tires Dressed, and Caprets Cleaned. 50 bucks ballpark. Just listed what gets trashed in the winter. I've had 4 calls on those 20 fliers. Pretty good.



There's a local ice cream shop that has car shows every other saturday from may to november, and a whole shoping center is overflowing usualy. I am thinking of asking a few of my customers with high end cars if they would let me enter their car in the show one night with a sign infront of it. They'll get to see the reaction of their car, and I'll be able to hopefully to get a couple of details..



other than that i'll jus be doing my normal thing...
 
Flyers are the cheapest way to advertise, once you get someone from the flyer do a great job (as i know you will) then that person will start a word of mouth chain.



Advertise in local stores.



go to a local pizza shop and offer a free large pie with every detail. you will still make money on it, and the pizza owner gets free ad's as well.



business cards need to stand out as well.



I have so much stuff i could tell you, i would be typing all day.

send me your email address i will email you my flyers and stuff.

NYD
 
NY detailer said:
go to a local pizza shop and offer a free large pie with every detail. you will still make money on it, and the pizza owner gets free ad's as well.
Click to expand...



just make sure to put in fine print "pizza offer not valid if intent is to eat in freshly detailed vehicle." :D :p
 
The ideas provided thus far are outstanding! As far as brochures are concerned they seem like a great idea.



I would not like to put them on cars as some people will hate that. Do you all think I would receive a better hit rate if I did a targeted mailing to a few hundred people?





Thanks again.
 
THESANTINI said:
I would not like to put them on cars as some people will hate that.
Click to expand...



This is why the turn around rate is so low, but it will be no matter what. You cant worry about getting people mad at the fliers, so they dont give you business, you didnt loose anything that way.



One big advantage to putting fliers on cars is you get to choose your target audience that way. For example, say you want to do the "higher class" vehicles... so you stay away from the smaller toyota corrolas, honda civics, etc. and stick to the maximas, camrys, impalas, etc. of the world. Also you can skip over vehicles which are insanely/grossly dirty to save yourself the hassle. Just go with the vehicles which look like they're cared for, but could use a bit of professional help (you know the type: ones that appear to go thru an automatic wash tunnel regularly and are covered with swirls/etc.)



my $.02
 
I would do the mailing. When i have a customer come to me, i have them complete a form. On the form it has all the info about them. We then go over the car together to be sure of the damages (lots of scammers in NY).



I use the form the customer just completed as a tool for my mailing list. I mail them flyers. brochures, business cards & sympothy cards.



you may laugh, but i mail them sympothy cards. The card reads something like this.



Dear Mr. Jones,

I am so sorry to hear that your vehicle is extremly dirty again. Please give me a call so we can schedule an appointment to correct the problem. Have a clean day!

New York's Perfect Detailing.



My customers laugh when they get that card and they remember me by it.
 
This applies essentially to mobile detailers.



I'm guessing it takes 3.5-4.5 hours to play a round of golf. You thinkin what I'm thinkin'? Make friends with the local Pro(s) and his Managers. Explain your goals to him. You know he needs to make money, also.



You want a Poster put up (locker room?), and you ask him what it's worth. He says (hopefully) $3-400 for the season. Offer to do his car (to make him a believer) and two full service gift certificates as prizes (as a hole sponsor) in two seperate tournaments. That gets you even more exposure.



Hopefully you can work in a high traffic/visible area (with a canopy), and have time to chat... Are you good enough to be pleasant enough, but too busy to talk? "Hey, give me a call, I'd love to talk." Done the right way, they percieve you as someone who is in such great demand....



While this exact process might not work for you, I hope it has given some spark...



Where do you think those Doctors are at when not at the Hospital?



Of course, you will have brochures and cards available!



Jim
 
Do you ever go to a drug store and see a table set up with some stale cookies and coffee? Notice that they are always selling a service for people who frequent these places the most like Diabetics, elderly, athsmatics etc.? Why not do the same for auto detailing?



Go to a large real estate office and ask if you can "sponsor" their coffee and refreshments for a day. Buy a large box of quality donuts. Just be sure these are the best donuts available (on par with Krispy Kreme) because you want to show potential clients you will not skimp on anything. Get a large keg of quality coffee as well as some juice. Add some cookies, bagels, fresh fruit or whatever people like in your area prefer and arrange them neatly on a table with a neat classy table cloth and napkins.



Get a local print shop to print a folding card that says something like "Refreshments courtesy of Santini Automobile Detailing". I would have the table arrangement and card look like something you would expect to see at a wedding or funeral.:) If everything works out right, you will have a captive audience for as long as it takes the person in front of them to get their refreshments and return to their work area. If there are 50 well paid real estate agents, mortgage consultants, lenders etc. in the office that day, you can expect that every one of them will stop at that table at least two or more times in the day.



You should have your fliers with business cards inside arranged neatly on the table. It would also be a good idea to have some before and after pictures of high end vehicles you have done in a few small photo albums or scrapbooks. Be sure to thoroughly clean the area at the end of the day and ask if you can leave some business cards and fliers behind.



You could provide this refreshment table for less than the cost of a complete detail and at the same time reach out to potential customers, most of them owning high end vehicles that are part of their image. Even if you get one job out of it you will more than break even. If you get two or three regular customers, you will surely make your money back several times over in the short term. Just be sure to pay attention to every detail. They will notice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top