advertising....

[Heather A]

Any of you ever use welcome wagon-type services for your advertising??

[obxeyeguy]

We have a local group from the civic association that gives out gift baskets to all new homeowners. I give them a case of lens cleaner to put in them.

[Heather A]

We have a local group from the civic association that gives out gift baskets to all new homeowners. I give them a case of lens cleaner to put in them.

Do you get any response from it??

[cocoisland58]

We are near a university and for each incoming "freshman goodie bag" we give a cleaning cloth in a case and enclose our business card and a student discount card. We get three or four responses each year.

We also tried the welcome wagon route but heck, more are leaving than coming in now. We have gotten a decent response with our Chamber of Commerce discount offer.

[Jacqui]

An optician not too far from here puts coupons for a cleaning and readjustment in the Welcome Wagon baskets. Says it has raised sales about 2 - 3%, it helps in this economy.

[obxeyeguy]

Do you get any response from it??

Hard to tell. Haven't had anyone come in and tell me that's the reason they came in. It does keep my name out there so when they do need something hopefully they remember seeing it.

[kcount]

One of the guys in the area swears by it, I can't say I'm so convinced but I also haven't tried it out yet.

[Heather A]

Thanks for the help everybody...any others, I'd love to hear about your experience, too!

I'm hesitant, because it isn't cheap....however, if it works, then hooray for me! I have found that word of mouth is by far the best advertising. I've tried the local paper, and I haven't had one person come in because they saw my ad in the paper...so I'm canning that this year. I might give this welcome service a try for 6 months or so and see what happens.

[Jacqui]

Never hurts to try. Your best bet is to keep your customers happy and more will follow.

[kcount]

I've tried the local paper, and I haven't had one person come in because they saw my ad in the paper.

This just shows you how different area are. I love my newspaper ad! People walk in with it! I also do very well with direct mailing a postcard to homes. Last one simply spoke of quality, craftmanship, exclusivity, and experience. More hits on that than on a discount piece sent out earlier.

Go figure.

[Heather A]

This just shows you how different area are. I love my newspaper ad! People walk in with it! I also do very well with direct mailing a postcard to homes. Last one simply spoke of quality, craftmanship, exclusivity, and experience. More hits on that than on a discount piece sent out earlier.

Go figure.

That is funny! I guess it could be the different areas, but could be the quality of the ad, and where it is located, and how often it is run, as well. As far as direct mailings, I've heard of services where you can buy addresses, but I've heard that they are pretty extensive and may not be as local as I would like.

[kcount]

I'm not sure about quality, but here's a copy of the latest newspaper ad. In december I ran an ad every week in January I ran one ad and now for the rest of the year there will be one ad evey other week.

Mailing lists aren't cheap, but its working. You could get a couple of business's in your local area to go in on it. The Bike shop next door and I are working on one for April.

[obxeyeguy]

Mailing lists aren't cheap, but its working. You could get a couple of business's in your local area to go in on it. The Bike shop next door and I are working on one for April.

The last time I did a mailing, I went to my printer, and did a bulk mailing using their permit, every house, every P.O.box, by zip code. It really wasn't that expensive as I recall, but it's been a few years.

[kcount]

My mailing list is for every home owner with children in a 6 mile radius. cost about 4-500 if I recall. its the actual postage thats a killer.

AS a thought, my last gig used to put out a newsletter twice a year on 11x17 paper. Mailed it to everyone in the local area. it was extremely effective. They also sent an 8.5x11 sized newsletter in each recall letter. Used it to highlite products and services. Also very effective.
There's something to be said to sending your patient a letter several times a year.

[Johns]

We used/use them. Someone like you, that can follow-up on the leads (we get a mailing list) can probably really capitalize on it.

I am amazed by how many people it brings in, but you really have to work to convert them to customers.

[CNG]

Advertising is really a strange bear sometimes the most awkward type of advertisement works. Our best advertisement is the place mat of a good shrimp restaurant that is commonly frequented by the retired community in our area. It works.
CNG

[rbaker]

This is a good idea particularly if you are serving a smaller bedroom community. What is even better is a phone call from the business owner welcoming the new family to town. Hopefully you will also establish relationships through local places of worship and service clubs. We always supported and picked up picked up expenses of employees membership in Kiwanis or Lions Club.

The winners seem to be the ones who actively participate in their communities.

[Heather A]

These are great ideas....(did I ever mention that I Love Optiboard? )

I like the idea of picking up Lion's club, etc. dues for employees. I'm a member of our local club myself and I love it! I'll jot that one down and do that when I get to the point where I hire an employee!

After getting some ideas on prices for advertising, I'm really thinking that the welcome wagon-type advertising is really not as expensive as I thought, for what I get in return (funny how a good dose of reality can bring me back to earth ). Anyway, I'm going to look a bit more, but I really feel like I need to try something in addition to my phone book ad (which doesn't work for me, so this is my last year paying for that type of ad)