outdoor showarea

jamesy08

Hi All,maybe somebody might have an idea,I have a large warehouse,where I design,manufacture Play equipment,garden sheds,Playhouses etc,my problem is that im situated about 8 miles from the city,I have a very large outdoor showarea,where I have at the moment 10 Swingsets,playhouses,sheds,etc,all built and ready for sale,but,i dont get any passing traffic,so very few people call in to me during the day,ive put signs on the side of the road,pointing to the area,but,its really only the local people who see this,ive advertised on the local papers,but,this very very expensive,ive put flyers all over the place,even drive to nearest countes,i design some very good material,and when customers do come and have a look,it sells itself,there and then,and most of them say,wow,never knew you were here,now,if i moved to the city,it would cost a fortune,with rent,huge rates,i feel im missing a link somewhere,also have the website,with location map,this does help a little.would appreciate any ideas

BarryM3

Did you try a Google ad words campaign?

jamesy08

Hi barry,thanks for the reply,I actually tried it once,but didnt get too many hits,prob my fault,as not expert on the computer

BarryM3

Might be worth getting a webdesign company to set it up for you.

niceirishfella

I don't think James is going to drive footfall to his premises by the net alone.

You need to look closely at your local marketing strategy in press,radio as well as the net.

elgransenor

jamesy08 wrote: »

Hi All,maybe somebody might have an idea,I have a large warehouse,where I design,manufacture Play equipment,garden sheds,Playhouses etc,my problem is that im situated about 8 miles from the city,I have a very large outdoor showarea,where I have at the moment 10 Swingsets,playhouses,sheds,etc,all built and ready for sale,but,i dont get any passing traffic,so very few people call in to me during the day,ive put signs on the side of the road,pointing to the area,but,its really only the local people who see this,ive advertised on the local papers,but,this very very expensive,ive put flyers all over the place,even drive to nearest countes,i design some very good material,and when customers do come and have a look,it sells itself,there and then,and most of them say,wow,never knew you were here,now,if i moved to the city,it would cost a fortune,with rent,huge rates,i feel im missing a link somewhere,also have the website,with location map,this does help a little.would appreciate any ideas

I think the answer to your problem is in your question-'but I dont get any passing traffic'.
I think you need to relocate in order to sell.....where you are may be fine for manufacturing but that is a different activity to selling.
You might build a better mousetrap but if nobody knows....
Why not look at renting a piece of ground in a garden centre which has decent passing traffic/footfall?
Garden centre near me with good passing traffic and he has half of it let to a guy who does paving etc.Its a win/win for both of them.

jamesy08

Hi,ive actually contacted garden centres,and had one of my units in a garden centre,but had to remove it,cause they got scared in case someone fell,insurance,is what a lot of the garden centres say,ive seen good locations at petrol stations etc,only problem,is that they wont be fenced in,and in the morning they would be damaged,agree with you 100% that the premises is perfect for manufacturing,but not good for selling,the only way i get people to come up is to put expensive ads in the paper,i have a second van,maybe in the spring,put new signs,location map,and park it around different locations

niceirishfella

Vans are movin billboards all right. Till not enough.
James, whats next years marketing budget you got to spend and lets try and gauge how to use it better for you!

jamesy08

Thanks for the reply,I spent 10-12k last year on newspaper adverts,from feb -sept,the warehouse is 2,000 Sq Ft,so maybe have to find another product that can sell fairly fast,to supplement the play equipment,i was thinking of outdoor fitness equipment,dont know how it will work,but we can do all the installations,idealy,ive installed a lot of swingsets in the dublin area,and the customers said they couldnt get anyone to install them in dublin,but how do i get in to the good areas,blackrock,foxrock,etc,cause the swingsets would need a nice size garden

niceirishfella

ok, but what is the total amount you are going to spend in 2009 on marketing?

jamesy08

Yes,ill probaly end up spending the same amount again

niceirishfella

ok, but for that 12k, you'll get more bang for your buck by clever and hard haggling. Advertising will be cheaper next year.
Now, lets say you sepnd just 3 k really cleverly on marketing next year.......the other 9k, would that enable you to move into an area where you could commercially operate better in the Dublin area?
Rents are dropping, deals on premises are to be done and rent free first few months are be be had in deals.
Have you considered this?

Bandara

Hi James

It mightn't be a runner for you but there are new units that have been empty for quite a while in the mini business park beside the EuroSpar in Ballymun.

I'd imagine they are available at 'reasonable' money.

The big reason I'd be looking at them now is because that new IKEA store is opening across from this estate in about 4 months. The traffic and flood of people to the area is going to be incredible and the way the IKEA is situated means that every single person coming to it from the M50 will have to drive directly past the Business Park to loop back to IKEA. Even a simple billboard beside the road here is going to be seen by thousands each day

might be worth looking into ?

niceirishfella

Hammertime wrote: »

Hi James

It mightn't be a runner for you but there are new units that have been empty for quite a while in the mini business park beside the EuroSpar in Ballymun.

I'd imagine they are available at 'reasonable' money.

The big reason I'd be looking at them now is because that new IKEA store is opening across from this estate in about 4 months. The traffic and flood of people to the area is going to be incredible and the way the IKEA is situated means that every single person coming to it from the M50 will have to drive directly past the Business Park to loop back to IKEA. Even a simple billboard beside the road here is going to be seen by thousands each day

might be worth looking into ?

+1 - brill idea this.

Mickk

Hammertime wrote: »

Hi James

It mightn't be a runner for you but there are new units that have been empty for quite a while in the mini business park beside the EuroSpar in Ballymun.

I'd imagine they are available at 'reasonable' money.

The big reason I'd be looking at them now is because that new IKEA store is opening across from this estate in about 4 months. The traffic and flood of people to the area is going to be incredible and the way the IKEA is situated means that every single person coming to it from the M50 will have to drive directly past the Business Park to loop back to IKEA. Even a simple billboard beside the road here is going to be seen by thousands each day

might be worth looking into ?

Ikea have built their own entrance so people going there dont have to go as far as that business park to loop back, also I would say them units are going for 5k+ a month, don't think the op could take on something like that at the moment.

OP have you ever tried the buy and sell? Between that and a good adwords campaign it should boost your sales, I don't think you need a high profile location either. Your business is a seek out business, people don't generally impulse buy your products and they should travel to find what they are looking for.