Marketing and promotion discussion

The reputation and a solid plan are good

Tricks, you need the tricks for foolish someone. Also self-respect and Also, self-respect.

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I've just got a TM and been getting lots of great marketing ideas off this thread

Has anybody just turned up in a nice neighbourhood and put a card through the door saying Free demo, I'm here for 30 mins first come first served. I'm thinking if I have some downtime this has to be better than delivering 1000s of flyers.

Mike

Hello. I'm very new to this industry and It was very up lifting to read your comments.

You can expose these guys in your marketing.

I ran an ad once with "NBC Dateline and 20/20 Expose Bait and Switch Carpet Cleaning."

People knew I wasn't one of them because I was the one exposing them.  Go ahead and talk to your prospects about this problem.  You'll benefit from exposing the bad guys.

It's not about the equipment, it is about building trust and sending the right message. Just posted this elsewhere, thought I would share it here as well. You can adjust the information to suit the equipment you use, but the gist is worthwhile I think.

Direct mail does have the possibility of working. Referrals are, of course, better, but if your direct mail is well written and creates the need in the consumer's mind you will get it to work. It is going to have very poor results if you have a picture of you in your work gear pretending to use your truck mount equipment. (How come no one is sweating in those pictures? I get a little steam going in the room and suddenly I am dripping in sweat!)

A couple of tips:

Coupons are fine if you are looking to do discount work. But there will always be someone willing to undercut you eventually.

Your direct mail has to appeal to their needs! If you don't know what their needs are, you can't market to them.

Your direct mail has to be specific to the target. A direct mail piece that trys to appeal to apartment dwellers, seniors, luxury home owners, real estate agents, property management companies, pet owners, industrial complexes, your grandma, and that surfer dude down the street just are not going to work.

Freebie alert!!!

If you are going to try a direct mail piece, start small. If it will work small, it will work big. If you can't get it to work small, you won't get it to work big. (I know the temptation is to get a volume discount, but don't! Prove it first, then use it.) As an example of what you can do for a successful direct mail campaign try this:

Pick an apartment complex in your area. Get to know the complex. Talk to the onsite manager, find out how many units, how often they replace the carpet in the unit, do they allow pets, etc. Then mail out a piece to everyone in the complex that states the following (for the example I am about to present, I am using the pretend name of Silver Oaks).

Dear Silver Oaks Resident,

As I am sure you are well aware, the carpet in your unit is not replaced every time a new renter leases the apartment. That means that you are relying on the cleanliness of the previous tenant for your health!

If the cleaning of your apartment did not include a thorough carpet cleaning using a hot water extraction method, your carpet could be home to cat/dog dander, mold, bacteria, pet urine, human bodily fluids, and a host of other unpleasant and possibly allergy/sickness causing contaminants.

In addition, regular carpet cleaning helps to keep the carpet looking great and reduce the liklihood of permanent staining. This means that when you check out, you cash out. We help you get your deposit back!

At Specific Region Carpet Care, we offer top of the line cleaning with special prices to Silver Oaks residents. To schedule an appointment, please call phone number.


Give it a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the response and it does not require 4 color printing, large volumes, etc. Make sure that you track where people got your information from. The nice thing about targeting a specific apartment complex is that you will know instantly what your marketing is doing. If you suddenly are cleaning 8 apartments in that complex, you know exactly how succesful your campaign was and now you can start rolling it out to other complexes.

Email me if you would like some help with specific coaching on how to tailor your direct marketing piece or to tell me about your success.
soaklord (at) yahoo (dot) com