Tv Ads

HUDSONVALLEYEXT

any one on here advertise on tv?

mdshunk

No, but I did look into it once as a thought for a "help wanted" type spot. My cable company will insert commercials in whatever programming you choose for a price that startled me. It startled me because it was much cheaper than I envisioned. I thought that it would be in the 10's of thousands, but it was nowhere near that. You can spend a few sheckels having a decent 30 second spot produced, however.

marc

We've done quite a few. I won't do it again. Not very many direct reponse leads but you get caught up in this ego trip with every one telling you they saw you on TV so you think it's working but it's not. If you have excess money that you do not know what to do with then do TV. If not try something else.

HUDSONVALLEYEXT

how much did it cost you?

marc

We were paying $6000.00 per month. We were rnning about (10) 30 second spots and (2) 2 minute spots per day. If you would like to see the 2 minute spot go to our web site
www.sylvaincontracting.com
and click see us on TV

Make sure your on high speed

HUDSONVALLEYEXT

looks like you guys got a big operation...Where do most of your leads come from?

marc

We do a mixture of everything but the the best lead source is events. We do about 45 per year. Home shows, Fairs, Craft Fairs, Sea food festivals, Flower shows, Boat shows, Etc. We will go anywhere that a crowd will be. Our second best lead source would be the internet. We are hooked up with Service Magic, Move or Improve, SunroomTree, Window Buyer, Home Improvement leads.com, Renovation Experts, And quite a few others. We also do a lot of direct mail. Solo and shared. and we canvass. We NEVER due a job without a site sign and you will not miss our trucks.

mdshunk

Got a pic or web link?

marc

www.sylvaincontracting.com

BreyerConstruct

Marc,

We tried radio this summer. The cost was close to what you were paying... and We got 2 calls. Actually, we landed one for a deck that starts tomorrow. But that 9k deck dosn't have the 5-6k profit needed to pay off the adds...
Don't believe everything a marketing rep tells ya!(I didn't say salesman- see! LOL)

It was" greatest way to reach your demographic" before no response, and "image & market branding" after the phone was quiet.

I'm sure it helped solidify our name, but it wasn't worth it. As Marc said, only if you've done everything else, bought a nice boat, and still have $$ left over to play with.

~Matt

__________________
Custom Deck Builder Deck Designer Lancaster Deck Builder Berks Deck Cleaning
Breyer Construction & Landscape, LLC Facebook Page
www.BreyerConstruction.com

Mike Finley

Some interesting comments about radio, the tv parts don't surprise me, but the radio comments kind of do. When I consider any of the biggest and seemingly successful home improvement companies operating out here in various categories, like windows, electrical, plumbing, cabinet refacing... the common denominator for all of them seems to be they are always on the radio, AM radio, not FM.

Now I know for certain that radio isn't a medium where you are going to jump on it and run 10 ads and get 3 calls. It's a branding and building medium where you have to build a mind share over time. The old it takes somebody 7 times to see your message before they recognize it kind of thing. It does sounds like you guys ran the ads for more than a few weeks though.

BreyerConstruct

Hey Mike,

We ran the ads over 2 months, with a pretty good rotation. It was on a new station that was exactly what the area needed (Classic Hits). While folks heard our name, it didn't generate many calls.


I think you're right about the branding thing. I would consider radio in the future, but it'd be the local AM station first, followed by the 3 local FM stations. Any ad run would be more of a sponsorship: the weather brought to you by..." If all I'm doing is building name recodnition, I don't need a 60 sec. ad for it.

I'd like to keep working with my asociations, and try more targeted marketing first, though.

~Matt

__________________
Custom Deck Builder Deck Designer Lancaster Deck Builder Berks Deck Cleaning
Breyer Construction & Landscape, LLC Facebook Page
www.BreyerConstruction.com

Mike Finley

Matt, have you ever heard of anything like this?

One of our AM stations has a deal where you can basically buy your own show on it. They give you a 1/2 hour spot each week, month or whatever, like on a Sunday morning and you creat the show, I think the cost is about $1800 a show. I've heard a couple of them, one was a financial planner, so he created his own financial and investment show where he gets on and talks about money and investing and takes calls, another one is being done by a garden center, they get on and talk about gardening. You're probably already figuring out that the benefit is you are the sponsor of your own show, so you can work your company into it anyway you want, it could be in the name of the show, or you could do your own commercials every 5 minutes or whatever you wanted to do. With home improvements being all the rage, it doesn't take too much of a stretch to think about doing a home improvement show and taking calls from homeowners and answering their questions about how to change a garbage disposal.

BreyerConstruct

Yea, but what if you get that call you can't answer!

Of course, you could do a "stump the expert" segment & just mail them a T-shirt! LOL

I'll have to add this to my list of possible ideas.
I think you've got more experience than I do- would this work in your market?

~Matt

__________________
Custom Deck Builder Deck Designer Lancaster Deck Builder Berks Deck Cleaning
Breyer Construction & Landscape, LLC Facebook Page
www.BreyerConstruction.com

dougchips

For radio, did your ads have an easy to remember phone number that matched your web site? For example 1-800-new-deck, newdeck.com or 877-455-4588 + www.dickshomeimprovements. I am going to test market some ads in a few weeks AFTER I get a new phone # that matches my web address.

ruskent

I think radio is proably more effective than tv. I plan on trying radio next year if i can afford it.

What seems to work best for me is direct mail. I have become friends with a guy that owns a big mailing company that mails over 50million peices a year. Hes really hellping me with my mailings and giving me the right advice to get the best results. I could see my self doing 75-100k peice of direct mail next year as i am trying to expand.

Matt