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Low Cost & Free Advertising?

Posted by Jennifer Dorn on November 25, 2009 at 4:23pm in Business Growth, Expansion, and Current Opportunit
Any suggestions for affordable advertising? We currently utilize yellow page and direct mail mostly for advertising. We are going to scale back the yellow pages next year when it is time to update ads.I started a facebook and also started posting on Craigslist. We have also put flyers on cars (only for firewood sales). Other things I was thinking of was posting flyers/cards at local grocery stores/car washes/etc. that have bulletin boards.

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  • PoolDraw April 1, 2010 at 8:32am
    "Simple, low cost, and effective.
    That is my mantra for 2010." www.poolmarketing.com - I like it !

    Reading back over the discussion there were some great ideas! As a consumer I am very motivated by incentives -
    I like when every $x spent generates an entry slip to win a monthly prize - this may encourage existing customers
    to spend a little more & you could mention the promotion on Craig's list to increase store traffic
  • POOLMARKETING.COM March 29, 2010 at 11:01am
    Just curious, what is the rate for this SEO specialists time?

    Be careful and find out what they are doing to get you there.

    If he is buying back links you may be banned from Google and others.

    Most people get to #1 by providing great content people are searching for a lot. If you get there other ways and you are paying for it be cautious.



    Cort said:
    I began to work with an SEO specialists a couple weeks back and I have high hopes to make it to page one of google and also be listed in the google maps at the top of the page. From what he tells me it take a few weeks to start to bring up your ranking. Even though I am on page 2 or 3 the website is beginning to bring in some work.

    Cort

    http://cortspools.com/
    Low Cost & Free Advertising?
    Any suggestions for affordable advertising? We currently utilize yellow page and direct mail mostly for advertising. We are going to scale back the y…
  • POOLMARKETING.COM March 29, 2010 at 10:59am
    How about Craigslist with a video link to show an actual project in action?

    That would work and create confidence in your buyer if they could actually see you doing the job properly.

    You don't need a $3000 video either.

    Create your own Channel on You Tube and start promoting your services for free.
  • Cort March 28, 2010 at 9:44pm
    I began to work with an SEO specialists a couple weeks back and I have high hopes to make it to page one of google and also be listed in the google maps at the top of the page. From what he tells me it take a few weeks to start to bring up your ranking. Even though I am on page 2 or 3 the website is beginning to bring in some work.

    Cort

    http://cortspools.com/
    Home
    Reliable, expert pool service, cleaning, and repairs at reasonable prices in Murrieta, Menifee, Lake Elsinore and Temecula. Call 951-775-2678
  • Loren Whitney March 28, 2010 at 4:18pm
    I'm really surprised that no one has talked more about basic internet marketing.

    You can invest in a basic search engine optimization (SEO) book. Starting an SEO campaign will yield measurable results. If you don't have the time to learn or the inclination, hiring a local SEO expert is never a bad idea. I do a majority of our firms SEO but outsource some to a close friend with great skills.
  • Jennifer Dorn March 22, 2010 at 1:07pm
    We have really nice Gold stickers that we put on every motor that leaves and every test kit too! We use HASA sample bottles and put our sticker on that as well. We get a lot of calls from those.

    I also bought business card magnets that we just stick our regular business cards on and customers like that. We got pens from National Pen Company that are AWESOME. They write so good and we started getting requests for more of those!
  • POOLMARKETING.COM March 22, 2010 at 11:56am
    I have magnets that are shaped like a pool. They work. Are cool looking are are low cost. Stickers are a great idea and I can do those in any shape or size also.

    Check out your garage. I bet the last guy that serviced your garage has a sticker on it. You never remember who to call when your garage breaks, but lo and behold his/her name always seems to be right on the garage. Simple , low cost, and effective.

    That is my mantra for 2010.



    Matt Collins said:
    I've had great luck having a pool school at the beginning of the season. We do about a 3 hour presentation on the benefits of the products we sell. We give out pizza and soft drinks and spend about an hour at the end going over things in a 1 on 1 setting with customers. Over the next week or so we seem to sell a lot of big ticket items.

    Another thing that seems to work great is whenever we perform service at a clients home we put a sticker on the filter or pump with our phone number. Also we leave a form explaining what we did with a personalized company magnet hanging on the door. Everybody uses magnets so our name and number is always on their refrigerator.
  • Matt Collins March 20, 2010 at 9:30pm
    I've had great luck having a pool school at the beginning of the season. We do about a 3 hour presentation on the benefits of the products we sell. We give out pizza and soft drinks and spend about an hour at the end going over things in a 1 on 1 setting with customers. Over the next week or so we seem to sell a lot of big ticket items.

    Another thing that seems to work great is whenever we perform service at a clients home we put a sticker on the filter or pump with our phone number. Also we leave a form explaining what we did with a personalized company magnet hanging on the door. Everybody uses magnets so our name and number is always on their refrigerator.
  • Jennifer Dorn March 19, 2010 at 8:30am
    I have started an email list. I have Microsoft Publisher and put together my own email about our different events coming up and sent that out a week ago. I'm going to do an actual newsletter to put on our counter & give to customers and also do an e-version of it as well.
  • Kristen (Daniels) MacDowell March 19, 2010 at 7:45am
    You should consider the audience of any advertising. ValuePak targets highly dense areas like apartments. Think about how many pool owners would actually open that envelope and find your coupon. It's called ROI or Return on Investment. What you will gain by how much you spend.

    I did ValuePak (or something like it) years ago and got nothing. BUT, since they gave us the overrun, we took those same coupons and did a home show and got 3-4 good service customers (plus repairs) and a bunch of repairs. We made direct contact with people who had pools/spas. The coupon was for a 3 mos service for the price of 2 (which had to be pre-paid).

    Jennifer - you could offer a store discount or free gift with $50 or $100 purchase.

    I really like the email blast/newsletter idea.
    Also, some other retailers offer a free "pool school" every couple of weeks at the beginning of the season.

    Luke Norris said:
    The valuepak coupon lady contacted me yesterday to advertise in their mailers. Its probably going to be $$$$$$
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