What are good advertising options for skilled trade businesses?
I work for a asphalt company and am looking for advertising help. One thing I will not do is print advertising because it has not worked at all for last two years.
I have had a lot of experience marketing for construction businesses. It is no surprise you have had poor response from your previous direct mail campaigns. I have had the best results from newspaper inserts. There is a specific formula you need to follow. Here are a few tips
#1 Make sure you have an OFFER. - % discount, $ off, "extra" for free, "upgrade to" for free.
#2 Your logo and company name should NOT be the first thing you see. - at first glance you should see an interesting image or LARGE PRINT headline.
#3 You need to provide as many ways to respond as possible. Phone number even multiple, cell, office, toll free, Email, website, Fax. make it EASY for your customers to reach you.
#4 I have the best results by running the same insert 3 times. I usually get a very good return off all of them. I like to space them out about a week apart.
#5 I would suggest to AVOID saturday and sunday inserts. they are more expensive and the response is much lower.
#6 BE READY FOR CALLS - know when your fliers will hit and be prepared to answer the phone.
#7 In most publications you can select the zip codes you want to target. Choose zips you KNOW will have your best prospective customers.
#8 If you are not a copywriter, hire someone to create a selling flier, NOT a "fancy" one. Hiring a copywriter is not very expensive compared to wasted $ on printing and insertion.
I do REALLY like direct mail though. If you want to get the best ROI I would suggest using direct mail too. I have used this wallet mailer before and had really good results. The company will do all the work for you even getting the lists and doing the copy writing. Give them a look, I know the owner personally and know you will get good results.
I have had a lot of experience marketing for construction businesses. It is no surprise you have had poor response from your previous direct mail campaigns. I have had the best results from newspaper inserts. There is a specific formula you need to follow. Here are a few tips
#1 Make sure you have an OFFER. - % discount, $ off, "extra" for free, "upgrade to" for free.
#2 Your logo and company name should NOT be the first thing you see. - at first glance you should see an interesting image or LARGE PRINT headline.
#3 You need to provide as many ways to respond as possible. Phone number even multiple, cell, office, toll free, Email, website, Fax. make it EASY for your customers to reach you.
#4 I have the best results by running the same insert 3 times. I usually get a very good return off all of them. I like to space them out about a week apart.
#5 I would suggest to AVOID saturday and sunday inserts. they are more expensive and the response is much lower.
#6 BE READY FOR CALLS - know when your fliers will hit and be prepared to answer the phone.
#7 In most publications you can select the zip codes you want to target. Choose zips you KNOW will have your best prospective customers.
#8 If you are not a copywriter, hire someone to create a selling flier, NOT a "fancy" one. Hiring a copywriter is not very expensive compared to wasted $ on printing and insertion.
I do REALLY like direct mail though. If you want to get the best ROI I would suggest using direct mail too. I have used this wallet mailer before and had really good results. The company will do all the work for you even getting the lists and doing the copy writing. Give them a look, I know the owner personally and know you will get good results.
References :
you can reach the wallet mailer at http://wallet-mailer.com