Spring is upon us- any marketing ideas

[Ironxylem]

First I would like to say this site is a God send and Iam Glad to be apart of it.
I am wondering if anyone has any ideas to gain some positive attention that your competion is not using. I just ran an eight page color ad in mountly paper and it has not generated one call. The ad offered "Free stump removal and tree disposal with every tree removal". I thought that would stir things up abit, mind you we still have snow on the ground and the temp is -12 celcius.

 

[yooper]

Like you we still have quite a bit of snow on the ground and only being in the beginning of march I'm sure theres more to come..
I to have been working on spring advertising.but have made flyer's to post at all the stores, gas stations, etc. but i don't normally do any newspaper ads until most the snow is gone and people start doing there yard work. It seems like then notice there trees more than any other times. at least around here.
I have done best with local flyer's than any other advertising. Being the only climber in the area i do bush that in my spring flyer's as in...unwanted tire ruts and not having to wait till ground is solid to do tree work.
My wife makes all my flyer's since she has been in the newspaper business for many years and comes up with many ideas.
I also keep a few of these flyer's in the truck at all times since the other local tree service likes to take them down, i know this because i have a friend who works at the local gas station and told me so,but its all right papers cheep and i took away a good part of his work last year.
my favorite spring flyer heading; WINTER TAKES IT'S TOLL ON TREE LIMBS,SNAP ON THEM BEFORE THEY SNAP ON YOU!!
Good luck on the ads and hope the snow melts soon.

 

[Ironxylem]

That a good point about people getting outside, noticing their tree's. It's also true about posting flyers at grocery stores,gas stations,etc., thats generated a fair amount of work and referrals. I might of jumped the gun with my newspaper ad, but I think I will run it through a few months. By the way, It was a eighth page not eight pages...How much would that cost. LoL
Has anyone ever tried approaching businesses for tree maintenance? What was your approach and how successful were you?

 

[maxburton]

I do a couple unusual marketing things. I use ServiceMagic, which I highly recommend. They have a web site and a support and advertising network they use to generate leads for different types of contracting work. They charge you for each lead. I've had good luck with it so far. I also recently started using Google Adwords and Microsoft AdCenter to get people to look at my web site. In the few days since I've started I've only directed about 20 people to my site, and no calls from that yet.

But there is snow on the ground.

 

[lawson's tree s]

im in our local newspaper business card size ad get alot of calls from it i have at the bottom of the ad pick us to do your tree & ill stump grind it for free, i get alot of calls enough to pay for the ad and put a little money in my pocket. you could try 10 or 15 percent off to all new customers at the top of the newspaper heading in bold letters.

 

[Timberhauler]

I've been putting out alot of 12x24 stick in the ground type signs lately whereever I have done jobs with alot of traffic...I have gotten an unusual amount of bid requests,but that seems to be just it..I've bid on tons of jobs,but not much sales yet.

 

[Ironxylem]

I've often thought of putting up a lawn sign after a job. Ithink I'll take a "poke" at it. I just worked out a deal with a local newspaper that I advertise in to take some photos from the top. The deal is I give them the photos and a discription and they give my company the credit. Its a win win.
But this bussiness never siezes to amaze me, when I posted this thread the rigor mortis was setting in. A few days later I can't keep up. If it's slow keep your chin up and your saws sharp. The work will come.