Best way to advertise

Bitsie

Basically I am starting my own business and have printed flyers and business cards and i am in the process of setting up a website..............so......reakky what i want to know is what is the best way to advertise your business and get some response from?!

Culchie

Bitsie wrote: »

Basically I am starting my own business and have printed flyers and business cards and i am in the process of setting up a website..............so......reakky what i want to know is what is the best way to advertise your business and get some response from?!

Good Vehicle Graphics .... absolutely 100% correct answer.

Bitsie

that must be pricey though i dont have that much money to spend on it.

Axwell

Culchie wrote: »

Good Vehicle Graphics .... absolutely 100% correct answer.

Out of curiousity why is this the best method of advertising your business and the 100% correct answer, surely it depends on the nature of her business.

Bitsie what kind of business is it, some more info would help to give you an answer depending on the type of business.

Culchie

Axwell wrote: »

Out of curiousity why is this the best method of advertising your business and the 100% correct answer, surely it depends on the nature of her business.

Bitsie what kind of business is it, some more info would help to give you an answer depending on the type of business.

Agreed....but OP has already stated it's an new business, and the posters and flyers have been done.

If OP requires awareness, then there is no other more cost effective method than vehicle graphics.

For (average) €500 your ad will be seen 24/7 .... 365/365 for 3-5 years. Presumably vehicle will be driven in locations around business base as well.

€500..... would it get a credit card sized ad in the nationals?

DubCul

Your target market is the first thing to determine.

Your advertising is then aimed at that market.

Golden Pages is essential in the longer term.

Difficult to advise without knowing whether your business is National or local.

cormie

Vehicle graphics are good alright, I have my van branded like this on both sides and the front and back (less on the front and back of course):


(Aligning and resizing text and images actually took about 20 hours in photoshop until I was happy with the way I had it, I was trying all different angles and everything so don't just slap it on any oul way. The above is actually a photoshop image, it's not a photo of my van but by doing this first, I was able to tell the sign writers how exactly I wanted it and it looks identical:))

So it stands out pretty well I reckon and is very distinguishable. Business wise, hmmm, I'm not sure how many jobs I've had from it, I've had 2 local enquiries, I'm on a busy enough road so I'm not sure how good a return that is, I've had a guy call me while I was driving after seeing it, then I've had people come up to me when I'm parking and ask do I do this and that. So far, I've had NO jobs from it, as far as I know.

It's definitely worth it for me though as it's very good branding. One of the callers said "I saw one of your vans on the N11", when I only have one van I think it also gives my customers peace of mind that I'm not just a white van man who tend to have a bad reputation. Customers can see me coming and know who to keep an eye out for and it just looks far more presentable and professional. Oh, I was also in a line of cars getting breathalysed, each driver ahead of me tested, I was waved through, the guy behind and probably each one after tested too. When I had my old banger of a van, I was singled out in the opposite way, me pulled over and others waved on. Coming through customs from the Ferry, again, appearing professional customs officers are far less likely to think you're up to anything dodgy. Where I live it gets really busy on Sunday, no parking at all, and there is few parking spaces for an office with "Strictly no parking" beside them, I parked there because I knew they didn't work Sundays but I forgot to move it at night and I got a call in the morning again saying "one of your vans" and I was able to hop over and move it in 2 minutes.

Oh and if you're putting your name/number on the front, don't think you should do it "ambulance style" and reverse it to be legible in rear view mirrors. You'll get far more noticing it driving the opposite way in a traffic jam if it's easy to read, the other way you'll only get the guy ahead of you maybe seeing it in his rear view mirror.

As well as print media, Google is great. Once you have your website up, you should get an adwords account set up immediately. So flexible and just brilliant. You only advertise to people who are looking for you, no wasted money, the conversion rate I have is excellent with search to click and I get a lot of work from it too. It can work out quite expensive but you can be assured that your money is returning a profit. I haven't done a leaflet campaign yet, but my friend who runs finesttimber.com and also uses Google says leaflets are the best for him.

There is of course no better way than word of mouth so make sure you're set up right and make a good impression on your first customers and hopefully you'll see the business roll in. Good luck

sdm

it would help a little bittsie if we knew what type of biz you are in. I am involved in graphic design so post up some pix of your stuff + we can all see and advise. ciao.

Bitsie

well my business is providing an architectural and interior design service around Dublin.

cormie

Hmm, that's a different ball game really. More something you get business through contacts with and where word of mouth is DEFINITELY the most important thing. You'd want the right vehicle to get vehicle graphics to work and door to door leaflets would not be such a good idea. A nice crisp elegant business card will be good and the same with the website. You should approach furniture/curtain/carpet/floor shops and the likes and ask can you leave your business cards in. Still use Google and the likes. If you have any painter, carpenter or other tradesmen/women friends, give them a few business cards and recommend them as they would recommend you.

Axwell

Well now we no more I think a van graphic is of little or no use to you, its suits you Cormie but then again your business revolves around your van. Definitely get a decent business card done and a website where people can go to find out more.As Cormie said drop your business card around to those kind of home decor shops and word of mouth is very important for that kind of business so make sure any clients get a copy of your business card in case their friends want someone to do the same kind of work.
Best of luck with it!

Culchie

Axwell wrote: »

Well now we no more I think a van graphic is of little or no use to you, its suits you Cormie but then again your business revolves around your van. Definitely get a decent business card done and a website where people can go to find out more.As Cormie said drop your business card around to those kind of home decor shops and word of mouth is very important for that kind of business so make sure any clients get a copy of your business card in case their friends want someone to do the same kind of work.
Best of luck with it!

I'm not meaning to disagree with you for the sake of it .... but 'word of mouth' can only occur once you have customers. You have to think outside the box. Just because his business has nothing to do with a van, doesn't mean to say he can't use a van to advertise his business. It's a new business, he doesn't have any customers yet.

'Getting a website done' means absolutely nothing, you may have to spend thousands to advertise the fact that your website exists.

If it's an interior design/architecture ....then what better way to display the OP's product/service than to drive it around Dublin for less than €1 a day over 3 years?

If his van is parked outside a office A ... it will be spotted by office B. Office B will take a look at the work done at office A ... if it's good, and office A tells office B how good OP's company is.... office B will call.

http://www.signsexpress.ie/branchPics/branch95/galleryPic6562.jpg
http://www.signsexpress.ie/branchPics/branch95/galleryPic4589.jpg
http://www.signsexpress.ie/branchPics/branch95/galleryPic5545.jpg
http://www.signsexpress.ie/branchPics/branch95/galleryPic4970.jpg
http://www.signsexpress.ie/branchPics/branch95/galleryPic6287.jpg

Axwell

Well first off 'he' is a she

I personally just think by having a website and an ad in the golden pages along with word of mouth you would get more business in that particular line of work. For example someone wants some drawings done up they go to google or the golden pages and look for an architect or interior designed or when they see someones building or office or whatever they ask who did the design. This type of business isnt suited to a van graphic in my opinion because its not the kind of service the majority of people will want or remember, take cormie's on the other hand a lot of people regularly move house or apartment and offices need to move to new lcoations so its more suited. Again this is just my opinion im not looking to disgree with you for the sake of it either i just think different methods suit different businesses.

DubCul

In the line of business that you're talking about it is advisable to advertise in*Trade Magazines*

Builders and associated professions as a matter of form subscribe to these.

Golden Pages is essential and value for money.

Bitsie

yeah i have put ads in papers. i definitely will look into the Golden Pages thing, providing how much it costs!! Thanks everybody

heggie

wow. I've never heard 'golden pages' and 'value for money' in the same sentance before. A pure rip off, there are much better ways to spend 5000 then a tiny advert in the golden pages which is crammed with competitors imo.

Culchie

heggie wrote: »

wow. I've never heard 'golden pages' and 'value for money' in the same sentance before. A pure rip off, there are much better ways to spend 5000 then a tiny advert in the golden pages which is crammed with competitors imo.

^^^^ What he said.

*Derek*

What is people's opinion to independent directory? Blue book?

Bitsie

well i have put an ad in the Free Trader magazine.......its' free....clue is in the name!!

*Derek*

Bitsie wrote: »

well i have put an ad in the Free Trader magazine.......its' free....clue is in the name!!

Where is that based? I've never heard of it.

Bitsie

It's a supplement in the Herald that they have every Wednesday .

zzzzzzzz

Bitsie wrote: »

It's a supplement in the Herald that they have every Wednesday .

So you're saying advertising in this is free? Can you post some more details?

Bitsie

yeah its free but i think the ad is only in the paper supplement for one day as its only printed one day a week. It is part of The Herald newspaper so if you go to www.herald.ie and go to the place an ad page, there will be a logo on the page for The Free Ad Trader ( i think its in red), click just click on that and follow the instructions.

GetResults

Bitsie wrote: »

well my business is providing an architectural and interior design service around Dublin.

Hi Bitsie,
Who is your target market? What type of Clients do you want to have? What type of jobs do you want to take on? Putting together advertising, whatever the medium, that lists all the things that you can do very seldom works. Your advertising needs to be much more targetted.
If you are targetting home owners in a particular area then dropping flyers into their homes can be more effective then advertising in papers. However the flyer needs to be very specific and have a unique offer.

For example: Are you looking for a home makeover before Christmas? How much time would you save if you had one person co-ordinate putting the design together and sourcing all the materials for you to review in your own home? .....

I strongly advise buying some books on marketing and advertising and learning some of the tips and techniques.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

The obvious answer to this, which noone has mentioned, is to pay only for results. But pay really high rates when this converts. Learn about the term affiliate marketing and then try to find offline applications for the principle.

If a sales person, a golden pages person for example, is stating you will recieve 10,000 euros worth of business for an 1,000 Euro ad. Offer him 3,000 Euro for 10,000 euro worth of business, but you will pay after the business comes in. Prove to him that you can measure the traffic, offer a discount code you can track etc. If this "sales" person does jump at the deal you know what their selling is full of.....

Make sure you measure everything!

Axwell

Sorry to go off topic but Fancy Dresser your signature isnt working right, you have extra stuff before the www part of the site. Just giving you a heads up

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Appreciate that Axwell, thanks. Fixed now.

Axwell

Fancy Dresser wrote: »

Appreciate that Axwell, thanks. Fixed now.

No bother

blue4ever

Fancy Dresser wrote: »

The obvious answer to this, which noone has mentioned, is to pay only for results. But pay really high rates when this converts. Learn about the term affiliate marketing and then try to find offline applications for the principle.

If a sales person, a golden pages person for example, is stating you will recieve 10,000 euros worth of business for an 1,000 Euro ad. Offer him 3,000 Euro for 10,000 euro worth of business, but you will pay after the business comes in. Prove to him that you can measure the traffic, offer a discount code you can track etc. If this "sales" person does jump at the deal you know what their selling is full of.....

Make sure you measure everything!

Word to the wise:

If a rep says that you will get €x in advertising from an ad, regardless of how he/she says they have come up with that figure (evaluating competitors, Traffic etc) do the following:

Ask them, their manager or MD to put that in writing – if they are prepared to utter this verbally as part of the sales process then they should be able to commit that to paper. If they don’t – walk away – you are being (as they say) ‘over sold’

Jesus Christ couldn’t predict to the last € in sales what your ad is going to bring in – anywhere. I appreciate that a lot of Ad reps think they are the former character mentioned but they are far from it, far, far from it.

Spend your budget (wisely) not what other people want you to spend

DubCul

50% of all advertising is effective, problem is they don't know which 50%:rolleyes:

blue4ever

“I went to the doctor’s yesterday. I said ‘it hurts when I do this’. The doctor said, ‘Well don’t do it then’
- Tommy Cooper!

Your quip was said in the early 19th Cent - when it was a bit 'wing-and-a-prayer' stuff in terms of advertising response tracking.

I think if you are advertising and you don't know which bits work - "don't do it - it hurts" and get someone in to find out where is working where is not. And even that's not an exact science.

On the bit about van signage - i spoke to a painter once - didn't 'do' Monday mornings - drove around Dublin in a well presented vehicle - never got a job directly from it - but was of the opinion that it did work for him in the long run.

DubCul

It wasn't 19th century when I worked in an ad. agency and that saying still held good.

Aiming at your target market is very obvious and should not be forgotten.

Till Rolls

Something like this will cost several 1000s

Culchie

No, something like that shouldn't cost you several thousands at all.

A few (and I mean a few) hundred at the most.

Looks like you've been taken for a wee trip on a rollercoaster.

Oh, and by the way, how can you expect people to read your tiny contact details on a moving vehicle?

cormie

A few hundred Culchie for a full wrap? I paid 1K for mine, which isn't a wrap, it's just stickers, a full wrap would have cost a lot more. Do you do wraps and what price would something like mine/Till rolls cost?

Till Rolls

No he has no idea at all, he has obliviously got a bee in his bonnet with me for some reason , only he knows. But if you don't have something constructive to say why say anything at all.

But maybe he does wraps and i have another one i need doing , was going to go with same firm as done last one but now i know so much from cluchie i might ask him to do it for me

Culchie

Till Rolls has edited his post, and i'm beginning to think he's a right messer.

But to answer question.

His first van is not a full wrap, simple vinyl job on a flat panel van....guesstimate €600-€700

Van 2 & 3 are full wraps (contact details not very apparent) would be in the €2200-€2800 region (depends on how much design time required to know where about on this scale the price would fall)

Culchie

Till Rolls wrote: »

No he has no idea at all, he has obliviously got a bee in his bonnet with me for some reason , only he knows. But if you don't have something constructive to say why say anything

erm....no.

I've been on boards approx 4 years, and you have been on boards approx 24 hours (if that).

I also own a vehicle graphic/wrap business, so I know the price of fish in this instance.

Till Rolls

Considering my van was silver originally, you really show you know what ur talking about

Till Rolls

Culchie wrote: »

erm....no.

I've been on boards approx 4 years, and you have been on boards approx 24 hours (if that).

I also own a vehicle graphic/wrap business, so I know the price of fish in this instance.

Well maybe you can quote me for my new van ?

Culchie

Till Rolls wrote: »

Considering my van was silver originally, you really show you know what ur talking about

Which van?

There's 3 vans, 3 different businesses, with photos take outside same premises......erm dinga linga ling....bells are going off.

oh and by the way, Van 1 is not a photo, it's a draft photo/visual.

Spamometer is overheating.

Culchie

Till Rolls wrote: »

Well maybe you can quote me for my new van ?

No problem, PM me with your details.

Till Rolls

www.adventuresigns.ie

Thats the company i used and they are their pics and their premises.

But you think what ever you want to . Im finished talking to you.

Have a good day

Culchie

Till Rolls wrote: »

www.adventuresigns.ie

Thats the company i used and they are their pics.

But you think what ever you want to . Im finished talking to you.

Have a good day

so you have 3 businesses fair play to you.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

check mate methinks.



btw Adventure signs = very good wrap company.

Mr Clonfadda

if everyone has finished taking about the size of their vans etc.
I would suggest that, that if your were interior design you should try and get on to the program on telly where the two designers do up two new houses and members of public vote on them.
Starting off when cost is an issue but you should have time to try and get to talk to builders and architects. you need to ask yourself is where you potential customers will find you.

The printed Golden pages in Dublin has got too large in my opinion. however golden pages online gets me results for a far cheaper cost than printed edition.

When you have done a few jobs try and get an article written for various interior magazines. Get testimonials from your customers to use.

Son

How much would a half wrap cost? same van as the first picture.
Would some vinyl graphics or a half wrap be more effective?

Would it be ridiculous to wrap a GTI for advertising purposes?

blue4ever

if ye had a GTI!
(old one I hope)

Huh ? I have one, I just mean is it ridiculous to wrap standard passenger cars or are Jeeps/Vans better?

cormie

Doesn't look so bad.. Jeep/Van is more the norm but who cares

cormie

cormie wrote: »

Doesn't look so bad.. Jeep/Van is more the norm but who cares

I can picture my business ideas advertised across my car now! lol thanks for that. I think it looks quite unique!