Important Marketing Issue

DannyBZR

Hello all,

I am in need of some information. I am looking to find out some information on different ways in which to market a tiling business. I would love some suggestions on different ways to market the company and also different ways to look for work.. Any suggestion are welcome

I'm in the situation where work comes along a lot at a time then it could be quiet again for another while. This is creating a lot of pressure on the business because there is always wonder where the next job is coming from. If it was possible to market the business in a way that would be able to provide work more constantly, thats what I would be looking for.

Again any suggestions, ideas thoughts are all welcome. It would all be of great help to me

Regards

Daniel

DannyBZR

Anybody got any suggestions for me?

Anything is a help..

Dundalk Daily

I would suggest doing some door drops of good quality leaflets with a business card attached. Only target new developments, houses getting extensions, businesses were you see work going on. This way you should avoid wasting time and money. Regarding work coming in at certain times i dont think you can control this.

swissalarm

Danny,

have you considered getting some graphics on your van? this is one of the cheapest methods of branding and it can really increase your visibility. you should be able to get your name and contact details on a vehicle for about €200 and in my opinion its the best value advertising if you are watching the budget.

You could also get a portable sign/A-board/pavement sign done up and you could place it outside the houses you are working on. I know of a garden landscaper who does this.

You were saying you wanted to have work lined up in advance and to fill up quieter periods - if you advertise or drop leaflets you could offer a discount for jobs booked in advance, or during your quieter times. I think people would be flexible enough if they were saving some cash.

On a personal level, I often check the local free papers when I want to get something done in the house... Word of mouth is also invaluable.

DannyBZR

swissalarm wrote:

Danny,

have you considered getting some graphics on your van? this is one of the cheapest methods of branding and it can really increase your visibility. you should be able to get your name and contact details on a vehicle for about €200 and in my opinion its the best value advertising if you are watching the budget.

You could also get a portable sign/A-board/pavement sign done up and you could place it outside the houses you are working on. I know of a garden landscaper who does this.

You were saying you wanted to have work lined up in advance and to fill up quieter periods - if you advertise or drop leaflets you could offer a discount for jobs booked in advance, or during your quieter times. I think people would be flexible enough if they were saving some cash.

On a personal level, I often check the local free papers when I want to get something done in the house... Word of mouth is also invaluable.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have already gotten graphics on the van. I agree with you that it is good advertising space. I hadn't thought of getting a sign for outside, thanks for that suggestion, I will give that some thought.

I am not sure about leaflet drops as I'm not sure if this gives off the wrong impression about the company.

Again thanks for the suggestions, ideas like this is what I have been looking for.

Regards

Danny.

tak

1. Have you a website done up yet at all ?

The images of past jobs would be impressive for people browsing.
Especially if they were very good examples of the sort of work involved, e.g. restaurant kitchen walls, domestic bathrooms, pub restrooms, patios, etc.

2. Do you do floor tiling too ?
A lot of this goes on in Europe where the floors of say a B & B room would be covered in big 14" x 14" tiles.
As yet it's not so common in Ireland but with people copping on to the damage that carpets do to their health by trapping dust/dust mites it should increase.

3. The van imaging is a must.
I saw this photo in a travel guide book for Provence in France where a tiler had his whole jeep body tiled. (It was a fairly square model of jeep.) You'll find that book in Limerick city library !

4. The muslims of North Africa have a lot of beautiful tilework. I don't know what style they favour in Limerick but you know where the mosque is in Dooradoyle . . . a few ads in the local PO noticeboard, library, shopping centre, etc might turn a trick or two as a share of them live around there.

5. Look into the cost of a few ads on Limerick local radio. Maybe give a special offer to people wanting work done while they are away on holidays.
Get the woman doing the voiceover use words like "beautiful" and "quality" a lot.

REDZ

word of mouth is your only man for this.
Give 10% discounts to customers who refer you business.

Trojan

Networking: get to know people. Help others, and receive it in return. Networking is the number 1 way to get more business. Consider joining BNI and other networks (your local enterprise board or SFA etc).

If you need any print design (logo etc) check out our portfolio

antoinolachtnai

Tile shops. Is there any way to connect in with one?

Also, building the network, sending christmas cards etc. is really important.

Another way to fill your order book is by dealing with a builder who has a lot of tiling to do. You won't get paid all that well for this, but it keeps the book full.

The big issue with something like tiling is that you tend not to be out doing quotes while you are working. Then when you finish the job, there's nothing to do. It's feast or famine.

The other thing is travel. It's critical to concentrate as much work as possible in one or two postcodes.

Here's one crazy idea. Have a website aimed at an area where there's a lot of refurbing going on. Call it 'ballyfermot tilers'. Have people who want to get work done email you a photograph of the area they want tiled, together with measurements, and use that to give them quotes. You can do this much quicker than making site visits. It's nice to make site visits to figure out what's what, but it's very expensive. You should still phone the punter and try to make a personal connection.

Also, you could have a fancy formula for the cost - say x euros per square foot and y euro extra per corner.

It's just an idea.

Best,

Antoin.

tak

The best place to spread the word is often the local bars, those where the older set tend to go. Even the well-off can be found going to some workman's pub looking for a fella on a weekend.

For the younger couples (maybe who moved into a half finished house) the best place to spread stories of deals and discounts is the the bigger factories.
The fellas there are always talking about good value deals they got on everything.

Your work quality has to back up the talk though for this to work.
A fella I know recruited a guy in his local to floortile his new take-away. Although willing to work weekends, your man started from the wrong end, got his angles wrong and left my mate with a big offset just inside the shop door. . .