What Is The Proper Method Of Advertising?

Jmfocus

Hello everyone,

After lurking on this forum for a few months and finally joining/commenting in a thread about a marketing service that I use and have had success with I thought to broaden a discussion on a topic that I personally enjoy. Though I am a state lic landscape contractor, my greatest joy comes from working "on" my business and not "in" my business. My desire is to have a true "turn key" business that I could either sell or simply receive revenue from in my retirement years with minimal oversight. To do that I must grow with systems in place to make everything function with little effort and churning out expected and consistent results. This brings me to the question of advertising.

What is the proper method of Advertising?

Does the method change according to the goals of the business?

Please be specific and include your reason for your favorite method and how you go about implementing this method.

Eyes wide open.... hoping for an honest discussion or debate.

Carport King

JM, sounds like your on the right track. First off just working on your business moves you up to the top 3%. Next your correct to have a system type business. Think McDonalds?

Next is your vision? How large,how many,how much? You also understand your exit strategy, this make it easier to build because you already no the end result!

Your marketing is the only way to get their. I'm in old school guy that has made the newspaper work for me. I know how to make money this way. My closing rates tell the story.

Now there is a lot that goes along with it. Tracking and testing and rehashing unsold leads. Yes there is a lot of new ways to market but this has been the way that has worked for me.

I hope to continue this conversation.

BobsLandscaping

I've had great luck with postcards from Vista Print and door hangers.

fez-head

"Full page" local magazine and news paper ads have worked best for us as well. Cheap ads attract cheap clients and vice-versa

SLSTech

Consistency, whether it be billboards, job signage, door hangers, flyer's, mailers, web site, yellow pages, newspaper, vehicle lettering, BCards, shirts - should have your logo on them all @ minimum, your web site & phone number should be on everything also (small exclusion on the shirts possibly)

Which will work best for you - that is hard to say, each area & customer is different

If you are going to do TV or radio - a consistent message, maybe a novelty phone number (both should be on all your other advertising to)

The best advertising - is the work you do & the customers

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zipicus

That works for you huh? I passed out 1000 flyers and got nothing. The whole flyer was covered in pictures of all I do.

PGD

All the above, plus free directory listing for your website.

see previous post

DQSpec

JM Focus

Do you have a website? In San Diego there are roughly 10,000 searches for landscaping in your area so you might think about a website properly setup with SEO for your local keywords, I would also do a PPC campaign to help grow it organically and eventually get it on the front page. Make sure you tie in any offline advertising to your website if you can.

Jmfocus

Thanks for posting guys. Over the years I have experimented with many forms of advertising trying to find the right combination. At this time we are in the process of setting up a marketing strategy that is going to implement about a dozen different marketing tactics. My hope is to finetune a strategy that brings the consumer from point A to point E through different methods to the same conclusion..... a sale.

Anyone ever hear the term "Gorilla Marketing"?

One example:

We are combing the neighborhoods looking for yards currently being serviced by our competitors. When we find a competitor servicing a yard we write that address down and it goes into a weekly direct mail ad. We WILL get that account eventually.

The above is only one tactic among many in our strategy to gobble up market share.

J F

It's definitely service magic, definitely...