doorhangers - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

ultimatetouch · 10-02-2009, 02:58 PM

Just curious how often you all pound up the neighborhood with your doorhangers. 4 or 5 times a year? Do you guys have realease dates on when you let them out. Whens the last set of hangers go out for you in the year.

cbscreative · 10-03-2009, 02:58 PM

I never use door hangers. But then again, I'm not a remodeler either, so you need to know that when reading my post. I can address the issue from a marketing perspective, and combine that with my experience reading comments from members here. Beyond that, responses from others who use them will be useful in this thread.

My take on the subject is to point out that the door hangers vs. no door hangers is far less important than the message you use and how your local market responds to it. It's obvious that one member here will swear by them while another member will say they are useless. The difference is how you use them, what you say, and who is receiving them.

Whatever you decide to do, the most important part is not to fall victim to "Client's Disease" (a term I recently read that I think is pretty good). This condition is caused by the fact that you love your business and you expect everyone else to love it too. The telltale symtoms are advertising messages that use the "We, we, us, us" and talk about you rather than address the needs of your customer and speak to them (solve their problem).

Example of Client's Disease ad copy:

"We have been in business for over 20 years and pride ourselves on integrity and customer satisfaction...blah, blah blah."

Example of customer focused ad copy:

"You know that remodeling project you've been telling yourself you need to get done? It's the one you've been saying 'some day' for about 3 years now, right? In the last 3 years, building materials have gone up x% and that is expected to continue. Then you cringe every time you think about that construction mess. Is getting it professionally done fast starting to sound better yet? You could be enjoying the results in less time, for less cost, and with less interruption than you think. Call us to discuss how we can make that happen for you."

That's a bit crude and quickly done (I made it up as I wrote it). It's also way too much for a door hanger, but it gets the point across. It's also a reason I don't get very excited about "templates" for things like door hangers. The ones I've seen usually fall into the "ho hum" category. They sound great to the "Clients" who are using them, but get lower response than something more targeted would.

Personally, I think your advertising money could be used more creatively. For the cost of buying and distributing the door hangers, you'll probably get better response for less investment using alternative methods. For example, a coffee shop in one of your target neighborhoods might be interested in a cross promotion opportunity where you can give away gift cards for coffee and they help promote your service. The possibilities are endless if you think creatively. And no one gets upset like they might with door hangers.