Anyone?

Playground_Hero

Playground_Hero

Location
British Columbia, Canada
Hello All,
It has been a while since I last posted on these forms.. The new company we started has been taking all my time and the berth of my first little girl has occupied the rest. My question is this. I have looked into placing an ad with the Yellow Pages here in Victoria BC Canada the only thing is its $560.00 per month and they require a three month deposit that’s $6720.00 a year would it be better to take that money and diversify it into different forms of advertisement? The only thing I like about the Yellow Pages is that when someone needs a tree service around here that’s generally the first place they look to find someone. Has anyone here “bucked” the big guy and been successful in other advertisement medias? Also what marketing plan has worked for you all in the past? What are you doing to increase business in the future? I know this topic has probably been beaten to death but I am willing to try anything for now maybe a little brain storm here can give me some fresh ideas or insight into things that I haven’t thought about. Thank You in advance
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First, decide what percentage of your gross revenues you are willing to spend on advertising. Then you will know how much money you will have to utilize.

Depending on where you look and who you talk to there are many opinions on advertising. Some say WOM is more than enough while others say you can't advertise enough. I am in the latter category. I agree with many market-research people that at least 10% of gross and even 15% of gross should be invested in advertising.

Sales follow advertising by a time delay. I refer to this as the contact to contract cycle. This too will vary on season and attitude of the market.

So, once you know what you are willing to spend for the year you need to find the methods that pre-qualify and reach those customers who are willing, able and likely to hire you.

YP will certainly do that. Community newspapers (weeklies) can work very well too as do door hangers, targeted mailing sent to those property owners where you have seen work that needs doing and mailings/flyers to neighbors of the customers you are serving next week.

Truck signs and lawn signs also can work.

Where are your target customers going to find out about you? That is where you need to advertise.

The key to community News is consistency. I seldom get calls from prospects who happened to see my ad "this week." Rather, they almost always say they saw my ad "a month ago", "last spring", "all summer long." The point being a continuous presence makes them "think of Me(s) when they think of Trees!" And that is the point of advertising.

Anyhoo. $560 for YP is steep, but compared to what? How big an ad are you looking at? is it a display ad or just a listing? 1/8 page or full page?
 
1/4 of a page for that price… seems a bit costly but my hands are somewhat tied in this situation I will be thinking up other ways to reach potential customers but for now the most cost effective strategies are what I will try. I seem to have a lot of luck just approaching people and handing them my card followed by a brief conversation a few weeks later they will give me a call and I seem to land like 90% of my jobs this way but I am starting to not have the time to keep it up…
 
1/4 page is a good size depending upon how many ads are already there and how many are larger than yours.

I was paying $250 usd for less than a 1/8 page display ad. Unfortunately YP has you over the barrel. What they do not tell you is that they often have discounts available.

Do you have more than one YP provider in your area? If so tell them each you can only do one of them and whoever gives you the rock bottom price gets your ad.

More advertising means more sales calls for sure. You need to adjust your schedule and methods to handle the calls. May mean more hours for you, may mean fewer days in the trees, may mean having a crew work alone for a while.

All part of the game that you have to adjust to.

Nothing will kill your business quicker than not getting back to callers, not making it out to do the bids and not showing up to do the work all in a timely fashion.
 
yeah thanks for the tips, it all seems like simple stuff but allot more to think about when you work for yourself and not just a pay check. I don’t expect to find the holy grail or some revolutionary idea that will sky rocket my business over night I agree that consistency is key and we devote 20% of our gross to advertisement. I am wondering if a sales rep would be the way to go as well… I don’t mind paying someone but I would like someone that knows the industry I don’t want to have to train someone. I guess it will all come in time perseverance is the trick to anything I think.
 
We are trying something different this year. We went with a smaller ad with a link to a website. Haven't got all the bugs out yet, but it's an idea.
 
yellow pages are tough to spend money on, especially when there are 3 of them in town, all saying they are the #1 source. I chose the 2 best ones in town, and spent 15K plus, (per year) and that only gets me dollar bill sized ads. I guess the bigger the distribution, the more they can stick you. Anyway, if you are going to do YP's, make sure your ad has something to set you apart. My ads brag about tree climbing championships, and people really remember that, when I show up to give the estimate. Make sure you get your credentials on there, whatever they are.

Also, last winter when things were slowing down, I did a few radio spots on the local conservative talk radio station, which is a really good demographic for us. just quick blurbs on how to choose a quality arborist, and pushing my company name. We had really good success for no more money than I spent on the ads.

that's all I got-- good luck with it, and as always, I know that what works for me will not necessarily work for anyone else.
 
Gonna have to try radio again, been a long time since we did it.

One thing is for sure though, once we started pushing our certification credentials at least one other company had stared doing "one better" by claiming BCMA and Consulting Arbo credentials....only problem is no cert numbers and no other evidence that they are in fact certified.

I hope they are legit but fear they are not.
 
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