Advertising? What do you do?

[Ryan Willock]

What works for you? What doesn't? What is the most bang for your buck? In the past most of my work has come from referals but since I left the area and have now moved back after four years its almost like starting over. A lot of my old clients have moved out of town so I am having to build a new client base so I am now faced with having to do some form of advertising. So far I have ordered magnets for the side of my truck the phone book doesn't come out till august so I am SOL on that one.

 

[Adkpk]

Word of mouth.

 

[Manco]

I've been pondering the idea of mail-in estimate requests. For obvious things like "dead pine in front yard" "broken limb hanging over driveway" or "stump by birdbath".

 

[younggun]

Word of mouth.

same here

 

[Ryan Willock]

Word of mouth is what I have always relied on but now that I am for all intents and purposes starting over in this area..... I'd like to step the work flow up a little bit.:greenchainsaw:

 

[Menchhofer]

Unfortunately yellow pages works for us even though it is a bit expensive. Referrals are also a good source but they are not constant. Yes, we get the shoppers, but in the end it usually works. Our current advertsing costs run about $15,000 per year.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

If you're slow, take a day or two off during the week, and then go out and do some tree work on a Sat. or Sun.
There's something about the sound of a chipper and/or chainsaws that attracts neighbors and passer bys.

 

[treeseer]

Ryan, in Chapel Hill most of the tree owners are online. A good website costs few bucks but gives big bangs. YOur url should be on your signs.

Also check into local schools and do a little volunteer work for them. Then write up a ditty for the pta newsletter about how the good trees on campus have been made better by a little care. That's free advertising for you.

The durham-chapel hill book now has an Arborist listing. If you want to do more than urban logging, that is a great source of quality, non-shopper calls. I get maybe 5 calls a week from that ad, but 80% will be automatic goaheads for mtc work once I get there.

O and hook up with a local consultant.

Mike, good idea about working weekends for better exposure.

 

[Dadatwins]

Hand out flyers in an area works, pick an area close to home or dumpsite if possible and put out a few hundred flyers at a time. You will get some estimate shoppers but at least they will all be in the same area as the work, to cut down the driving time. This will get your name out, folks see the name on the truck and so on. Of course biggest thing is do quality work and be fair on price. Yellow pages nice but so many folks shopping prices you have to really screen the callers to weed out the 'free estimate shoppers'. good luck.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Quality of work has never been an issue for me as I have a sever distast for hack work. I did two take downs this week and five prune jobs and have a couple of others lined up for next week. I prefer pruning to TD's but I'm not picky Guy, you wouldn't happen to know a good CA would you???LOL

I've missed the phone book for this year.....soooo I guess that leaves the other routs. Guy did you get my voice mail?

Thanks for the replys. I hadn't thought about weekends but you are right about that attracting more people. I'll move my schedual around and do one or two of my prune jobs this saturday. Its for a doctors office right across from a shopping mall near down town chapel hill, so that ought to be good for visablity!

Oh, Guy on the subject of liabilty ins. that you and I were talking about the other week I found a $1 million gen liabilaty policy for $980. I was expecting my insurance to be more than that down here. In va for logging and residential it cost me $1,100 per year if memory serves me correct. Oh, and thats with NO claims ever!

 

[treeseer]

Glad to hear the ins. is set in place, now you can roll. yes I got the msg and that client has called yet again but I've been slammed busy with consulting and campaigning. I'll be working in durham sunday morning, and have a stop in carrboro too-maybe later that day?

I agree flyers are good to pepper your neighborhood with. I also like the isa's Why Hire an Arborist and other brochures too.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

If you rely on word of mouth you will starve period!!

 

[jazak]

word of mouth, business cards, ad in yellow pages, fliers, signs, lettered up trucks, ext.

Oh door hangers- not illegal and works just as good if not better then fliers in the mailbox.

 

[maxburton]

What didn't work at all:
Mailers. Sent 1,000, spent $1,400. Calls: 0.

What worked:
Servicemagic.com. Spent $300 so far, sold over $2500.
Fliers in mailboxes. Worked great, illegal.

I reccomend using servicemagic. You pay for leads, and you get 'em.

 

[DFD34]

Advertising

We are in several different phone books for each area that we do business in. In some areas we are in 3 diffrent books. It is expensive but it pays off with the amount that your phone will ring. We also just got a couple of business signs made up. They look just like those metal real estate signs that you see in peoples front yards. Mine were $140.00 each to have made up but the return has more than paid the cost of the 4 signs that we have. They especially work great in high profile area that are on busy streets. Word of mouth is great but you must advertise in the phone book as well. This is just my opinion. Thanks DFD34:greenchainsaw:

 

[John464]

In order of biggest success

1 word of mouth/referals

2. yard signs left at every job customers has to leave it there atleast a week. some leave it there for months. I order 250(ct) every 6-8 months

3. big yellow page ad

4. seeing our bright red trucks with huge signs (mobile billboard)

5. direct mailers

I have been meaning to get a website done

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Very good stuff for any small business:


http://www.gmarketing.com/


Some of it is even free!

 

[John464]

They look just like those metal real estate signs that you see in peoples front yards. Mine were $140.00 each to have made up but the return has more than paid the cost of the 4 signs that we have.

you should look into corrugated plastic signs with step stakes. I pay $4 per sign and that way I dont have to go pick it up. I just tell the customer to leave it there a week or more and they can dispose of it. If i paid $140 per sign Id have to take a full day to gather signs we leave each week. less the headaches of keeping track where they are all at!

 

[xander9727]

For me I get the most calls from the yellow pages. I also have about a 25%-30% close ratio with the yellow pages. Internet gives me the second most calls. I close 55%-60% of my internet leads. Referrals and BNI (www.bni.com) are my third source. I close 95% of these leads. I have also benifitted from having clean trucks with well designed and laid out avertising on them. This has increased my "down the street" estimates while on the job by a factor of 5. I also have printed material for the tree health care products we offer and to leave with every estimate. I also have estimate sheets that are specific to my company not generic office max, staples,etc forms.

I don't knock on doors, cold call or bulk mail. Most of the clients that respond to these are price minded. I want service/quality minded clients. You need to define your target clientele and then figure out how to appeal to them.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

One thing that always works well for me, is black and whiter flyers. I've done color sheets, but the black and white have brought better results. I don't put a hoard of information, just the basics, a nice clip-art and border. If you have a good black and whiter image of yourself, that can be a good addition if it's a bit bigger than a thumbnail image - small, anyhow.

When I work, I'll have any help, or myself, go 6 houses one way, and six more walking back. That's a quick 10 minutes to get out about 25 at a time.

I'd prefer a small local paper over a large paper. Some small papers will insert flyers. And I prefer flyer inserts - full 8 1/2 x 11 - over a display ad. Because they can easily slip the sheet out.