What's the Best Way to Advertise?

[WillClimb]

For those of you who own your own tree service, what advertising option has brought forth the most business for you?
Feel free to include comments on how certain types of media may have brought higher paying jobs as well.

Thanks -
Will Allen

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Client refferal is the best, because the only investment is the sweat equity you've already put in. Also the closing rate on this kind of lead is usualy very high.

The next is direct mailing, which you did not include. All of your other choices are shotgun approches. With mailing you can choose the comunites and addresses you want to mail to, You tell the company that you want all the single family residances in Poshtown, Swankville and Snooty Corners to get your well thought out trifold mailer, with a perferated return surveay card.

 

[Acer]

I'd agree with John here. Your best advert is your previous work - and you can charge a more realistic price with client referrals.

I've tried :-

flyers: after days and days of posting them through doors, I received one tiny job, which just about covered the cost of the flyers. Loads of people try this, and they all descend on the poshest areas of town. These households are then swamped with flyers from every tradesman just starting out, so most go straight in the bin.

local paper: absolutely no response

yellow pages/talking pages: this surprised me.. I shelled out £1000 for 1 years adverts and got £700 worth of work..so I lost £300 and did half dozen jobs for free!! Most run of the mill companies round here advertise in Yellow Pages, but everyone's competing on price. . Also, the Yellow Pages user typically phones several companies to compare prices, so straight away you are into a reverse auction situation. I was putting in some suicidally low prices and still not getting the work. The lowest quoter gets the job, or course, then has to cut every corner to make any money, and many of these companies are not carrying the overheads associated with complying with safety legistation &c. If your business plan is to process a huge volume of work at lowest prices (and margins), then Yellow Pages would work well.

I've yet to try junk emails, unsubstantiated rumours and blackmail, but I'll let you know in due course.

ps. Get your tree work from Acer Tree Care!! 10 % of all lopping & topping!! Call within 24 hours and 1 cubic yard of woodchips can be yours, absolutely free!!

 

[ArborView]

Word of mouth is the best. If you do professional work, return calls, show up on time, act courteous, etc., your name gets around fast.
I will run a small ad in our local newspaper once in a while just for kicks. I think sometimes it gives people a reminder that they wanted to get something done to their trees. People will cut out the ad and save it and then call at a later date. I can usually count on at least of couple of calls when I run an ad, but not always.
Almost everything comes from referalls though. Couple of weeks ago I did a 2 day job for a customer. The first day a neighbor came out and wanted a big maple pruned up. The next day another neighbor came out and wanted a big birch removed. The birch was leaning way over her house. She was so happy with the job, she asked me to do some more work in the backyard. The second day on this job, she gave me her daughters name and number for some work at her house. There is another potential job across the street too.
Keep 'em coming.

 

[jsirbasku]

Aside from client referals and word of mouth, I have two primary forms of advertisement. Yellow pages and my website.
Yellow page shoppers are exacttly that, shoppers, but thats ok because i am very good with people and when i meet with them i point out what to look for when shopping for a professional arborist. i will advise them to be cautious when shopping because they WILL get what they pay for. Most people who care about there trees take this advise wisely and sometimes i get the job and sometimes not. If the job goes to a reputable company, I have no problem. I like competing with arborists of the same level it is good for the industry in whole. For those shopping only for low price I do not care because Im not out to get their work anyway, im after higher end clientele who care about there trees. But i do get good clients from my YP ad, it is very crisp and clean and makes the other ads look like s**t.
My website on the other hand is great, I get only high end clientele from this, mainly busy professionals who are to busy to open the yello pages. They are at work in the office, they remember they need tree work done, they make a few clicks on their computer and, viola, my phone is ringing. The website is great because it is an endless ad, I must have near 30 pages on my site and it is full of information, people like this because it shows tehm what we do and how. Compared to a 1/4 page ad that says your name, phone number, and tag line(everyone has one) the website will answer many of the questions that people may have. Besides that i pay around $100.00 a year for my website, you cannot beat that for cost compared to the YP or newspaper ad. It also helps to have a strong presence with internet search engines, go to most any search engine and type in treecare and my site will usually come up in the top 12 listed sites. I find that everyday i get more and more calls because of my site and most of them are sold before I even get out of my truck. I will also direct shoppers to my site to help seperate me from joe blow in his pick up truck if be needed. This also helps.
In ten years the yellow pages may be obsolete, and if you dont have a website, then where will the calls come from?

 

[WillClimb]

Thanks for the great replies everyone...

- JPS, you're right! direct mail is an important one that I've considered. I tried to edit the poll and add it (as well as flyers) but for some reason I don't have the proper permissions. I e-mailed Darin and I'm sure he can help with this.
I tried flyers once and handed out about a hundred of them. I got two jobs; one of which was a wax myrtle and the other was a roof-clearance job that brought me a whopping $250 . I'd have to agree with Acer's reply on that one.
Referrals, and just being visible to neighbors - when doing a job - have been my greatest sellers, but I wanted to get a consensus.

- jsirbasku - the website sounds like it's brought you more than I would've expected. that's a good point about the busy pro's. the web will definitely be a consideration for me now. thanks!

What about holding a local tree care seminar? Any of you thought about, or tried this?

So, are there actually any of you out there with booming tree companies that do not have an ad in the Yellow Pages?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I know of at least 3 companies that do zero advertising.

What is your market like? I feel that John's twin city market has a large high-end section to it.

the nice thing about fliers is the return on the dollar. You dont get many hits, but when you are starting out it does help. They just have to look good, If they look Zeroxed....

 

[WillClimb]

Business Card Advertising

Here's a little idea of mine that's worked for me a few times.
When riding by a home in an upscale neighborhood (with lots of trees) I look for tree problems...you know, things like dead branches, loads of grapevine or wisteria in a tree, buried root flares, etc.
Then, I hand-write a little tip on the back of my business card and leave it at their front door. Here are some examples:

"TIP - Make sure that the root flares on your trees are visible. If they are buried, the tree is basically choking. It can take 3-4 years for the damage to show from this. - Your friend, Will Allen"

OR

"TIP - Vines can eventually lead to a tree's decline. They hold down the new, succulent growth, causing excessive crossing of branches, and ultimately halting the growth of new foliage. - Your friend, Will Allen"

I always make sure to write "your friend" at the end so as not to sound too arrogant or rude.

Take it for what it's worth but it earned me a few jobs when there seemed to be none around.

- Will

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

A buddy of mine this year sprung for a big yellow page add; i could never make cents of it.

He is 1 of 2 full page adds here at the front of the tree section, the other guy is first and has color. He is very confident that he is getting a lot of calls of buisier clintiele, and those spending others money (like employees and insurance claims). His strategy is that they will call 3 of the easiest to recognize, obvious names if asked to get quotes etc..

i never considered an angle like that ; and he seems to feel it is working.

 

[Treeman14]

Big Yellow Page AD

KC,
I have to agree with your friend. I think a big Yellow Page ad is the way to go. I've got a half-page with color. There is one full page, one three-quarter page, and another half-page in front of us, but we're the only one with color. It took me a long time to realize this, but the small and medium size ads are lost in the crowd. Those ads are for the "shoppers" who will get ten estimates and still try to talk down the lowest one. With a larger ad, you weed out the shoppers and only get serious buyers who are willing to pay extra for the best. The logic is that only the biggest and best companies can afford the big ads. (This is not entirely sound logic since the company with the full page ad lists "TOPPING" and "ROOT FEEDING" among its featured services). I think its well worth the HUGE monthly expense. You have to do something to stand out. There are over forty display ads smaller than a half-page, and over one hundred tree services listed in our book.
If you're not willing to shell out big bucks for a big ad, then don't advertise in the Yellow Pages at all. Your wasting your money with a small ad.
So, KC, how much is a full-page with color?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

On that other board a guy posted an idea that he sais has returned 40 fold.

Every weekend he goes through the listings of upscale homes sold. then he plugs tha address' into a form letter offering a free survay of the property and estimate on addressing any concerns with the trees and shrubs.

Very clever and well thought targeted marketing scheme! And so simple!

 

[MSAUERS]

Advertising

Hey guys, I've found that the phone calls have increased very noticably after lettering all of our trucks, chipper, and skid steer. We also had about 6 lawn signs made with a steel frame, they seem to do the trick, put em up when you start the job, pick em up a week later and put them at another six job sites. Their very durable and weather resistant also. Both of these can be done by any local sign shop-It's worth the price for the number of jobs you'll receive. If nothing else it gets your name out and people start recognizing your trucks and logo. Overall i'd say word of mouth and flyers have gotten us far. Good Luck!

 

[Stumper]

Word of mouth is best but you can't buy it. I've used the;
Yellow pages-works but you seem to pick up a higher percentageof"time wasters":
Radio-generated enough business to pay for the ad but no net. Newspaper- generates the most business per dollar spent for me.
Phone book covers and the like-worked but not a very good return.
Signs on the trucks-generates business and promotes a professional image -a must have in my book.
Shoe leather- this one really works but man is it tough! During slack times I work the streets. I stop and knock on doors where I see a dead tree or a stump in the yard. I generate a lot of business this way but it can be discouraging -sometimes I spend hours without finding anyone at home. On other days noone is interested/has any money. Persistence prevails in the long term though.

 

[geofore]

Go around and talk to the lawn service guys in your neck of the woods that don't do trees. They are the first to get asked to cut trees and they see a lot of trees that need work when they are working lawns. Word of mouth will take you from there.
Always ask if the customer wants to plant a new tree that won't do what the old tree did. Not that one exsits but for the years it will take the new tree to grow they get a nice tree and the guy that sells trees will love you.

 

[treeremovalalbany]

I agree with @j

Thanks for the great replies everyone...

So, are there actually any of you out there with booming tree companies that do not have an ad in the Yellow Pages?

I do not have a YP ad and we're expanding in our region. I agree with the ideas everyone posted, but I chose to focus mainly on SEO for my website. The guy who did it for me got me to the top of Google in my area, which lead to crazy amounts of calls coming in. We've been at the top ever since (I pay him to keep me there) and it generates more leads than I could handle without more guys. I don't need anything else with what he's done.

 

[sir1]

Go around and talk to the lawn service guys in your neck of the woods that don't do trees. They are the first to get asked to cut trees and they see a lot of trees that need work when they are working lawns. Word of mouth will take you from there.
Always ask if the customer wants to plant a new tree that won't do what the old tree did. Not that one exsits but for the years it will take the new tree to grow they get a nice tree and the guy that sells trees will love you.

Give that ^ guy a cookie. He is spot on. I am a lawn and land guy also. We used to get lots of calls for tree work before we offered it. Get with all the REPUTABLE quality lawn guys in town and give them a flat 2-5% off. Or periodically send them $20-$50 for a bunch of referrals cash. They will start mentioning your name anytime they see broken branches or dead trees. Think about it. Those guys are in and out of every nook and cranny in peoples yards. Sometime 30 lawns per day per crew. Most of the time the trees shed branches onto the lawns dulling blades or needing pick up. Everybody wins.

 

[Groundman One]

Word of mouth and a long standing client base is what's kept us alive in an ocean of competition.

That and ass kissing.

A few years back the fire department responded to a call during a big storm; a tree fell on a woman's house and took down her power lines. The fire chief knows me and recommended us. And it was a good job. So we made a nice chunky donation to the school breakfast program in the name of the local fire department.

Shameless? Maybe. But everybody wins.

 

[treeremovalalbany]

Haha, hopefully not too much ass kissing. I'll pay to not have to do that.

 

[Ken Adams]

the company I use is TreeServiceFinder.com they are crazy cheap and it helped my company like crazy. they are only $150 for the year! i haven't found anyone close to that and didn't need to keep looking after I signed up.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I was reading the posts and seeing Yellow Pages.
I was thinking... who uses that? I haven't used a phone book in over 10 years... do they still print them even?

Realized the posts are 15 years old!

Best advertising? Google.

Type in firewood in google here and my website comes up.