Marketing Ideas

Savvy_Sue

Mr_futuristic wrote: »

I was thinking, to get into the papers, (Call this crazy) but getting a male french maid costume and distributing flyers in town :P lol

Bear in mind that that WILL put some potential clients right off ...

Mr_futuristic

One thing which is evident from the responses is referrals is the way forward in terms of expanding the business/ client base. But to get the referrals, I need to get the first office client for whom I can provide an outstanding service to so they can recommend me to their friends etc.

I've been thinking a lot about what office owners need right now, and one thing which springs to mind is saving costs wherever possible, yet receiving a quality service, so I came up with the idea of giving the 1st month at half price, without any contracts. This allows them to test our services and if they are satisfied, we commence the contract etc in month 2 which starts at full price?

I suppose this would mean getting a portfolio pack which includes a business card, flyer, sales/ service introductory letter. I was thinking about price list, but I think I should leave this; firstly to arouse their interest, and secondly, as it allows me to visit them in person and provide a tailored quote?

The second thing would be to follow this up with a call to "make you sure they received the pack"?

If it's not a lot to ask for, does anyone know where I can get an already used/ successful sales letter from? I probably would be better writing one myself, but it'd also be good to get some idea of what others included/ the layout and design as well.

thanks guys

Mr_futuristic

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Bear in mind that that WILL put some potential clients right off ...

Maybe get a female french maid outfit as well :P duo flyer distributors :P

You're right, it may put off some potential clients, but it might attract more people than it might put off as its new and unexpected of a cleaning company.

Just trying to think of ways Richard Branson would adopt to get into the front page of a paper without paying for advertising :P Just thinking of the time where he dressed as a bride to get some PR for Virgin Brides

inspirespirit

you need to have an angle Be different. In these ecological times, could you perhaps do eco cleaning and source your materials so they aren't harmful to the environment? This would make you 'different' from you average office cleaning companies.

You could also offer a 'free trial'. Everybody likes something free and is worth it if you get a contract.

You could also maybe offer 10 per cent of your profit from your first 10 office cleaning contracts to go to Cancer Research (or similar) for 10 months. that might get a newspaper interested in doing an article on you. ring them up. Tell them you are a new business and tell them your offer. Wear pink and donate to Breast Cancer Research. If I owned an office I would definitely take on a contractor doing something like that.

Mr_futuristic

inspirespirit wrote: »

you need to have an angle Be different. In these ecological times, could you perhaps do eco cleaning and source your materials so they aren't harmful to the environment? This would make you 'different' from you average office cleaning companies.

You could also offer a 'free trial'. Everybody likes something free and is worth it if you get a contract.

You could also maybe offer 10 per cent of your profit from your first 10 office cleaning contracts to go to Cancer Research (or similar) for 10 months. that might get a newspaper interested in doing an article on you. ring them up. Tell them you are a new business and tell them your offer. Wear pink and donate to Breast Cancer Research. If I owned an office I would definitely take on a contractor doing something like that.

Fantastic idea about eco friendly cleaning. Although slightly late as I've already received my next batch of flyers, I will be including that on my sales/ introductory letters to office clients.

I was thinking about offering a free clean, but I didn't want it to be completly free as firstly, I would be losing revenue due to the cost incurred, and secondly, it might reflect negatively if I gave away free cleaning 100%?

I love the "You could also maybe offer 10 per cent of your profit from your first 10 office cleaning contracts to go to Cancer Research (or similar) for 10 months." idea.

I am currently supporting cancer research with 10% of the total monthly revenues I receive from domestic cleaning, but haven't promoted this via newspapers as such. Good point though, will contact the local paper tomorrow to see if I can get an article.

It's more harder to get an article in the local paper than I thought. Been pestering them for some time now and they keep saying they will try and never got around to getting me in That's one of the main reasons I was thinking of just dressing up as a french maid and handing out flyers, because not only will it grab the attention of the public, but it may also get the attention of the local paper - hopefully

cavework

Quote...
I was thinking of just dressing up as a french maid and handing out flyers, because not only will it grab the attention of the public, but it may also get the attention of the local paper - hopefully.. end quote

It may also get you arrested or in the Daily Mail ..:A
Nice one!

Mr_futuristic

cavework wrote: »

Quote...
I was thinking of just dressing up as a french maid and handing out flyers, because not only will it grab the attention of the public, but it may also get the attention of the local paper - hopefully.. end quote

It may also get you arrested or in the Daily Mail ..:A
Nice one!

wooooooooooah sorry, did I just read Daily Mail? Did I just read i would get into a tabloid newspaper :P Dressing as a bride for Virgin Brides worked for Richard Branson :P Dressing as a french maid may hopefuly work for me :P (although i'd need a wax :O noooooooooo) heh

Been emailing my local news paper (bucksfreepress) CONSTANTLY lately and I still haven't managed to get an article into the paper even though a few other ventures have made it into the paper

Asked one of the journalists why their stories got published so quick and the response was because "one of the start ups had been heavily involved with a local event/ community fayre?"
So I now need to organise some sort of event to get a publication? Is it really that hard to get a simple article in the paper these days? I've been reading journalists are desperate for stories to cover

Horace

You don't need to organise the event yourself to get yourself into the paper, offer to support a local charity/community event instead. I remember when I started out I sponsored a local charity and had my logo splattered all over their car - I had paid for the car insurance. It might be worth finding out if theire is a FastAid group in your area - these are volunteers who work with the ambulance service and get to the patient a bit quicker and can administer first aid and use Defibs to get someone going again (the ambulance follows later) . I know that they are always in need of kit (it costs £3K for the complete kit) and they need people to sponsor their vehicles by paying for insurance. I remember being at a car handover and there was my logo all over the vehicle and I got ample press coverage.

Just bunging out email after email is not going to get you noticed by your local press office. You need some human interest hence becoming involved in a charity. Rather than supporting a major charity that gets loads of money and loads of publicity (e.g. Cancer Research) why not sponsor a local charity that needs the cash and the publicity? Supporting something local may well help your business...be prepared to muck in too by washing cars or whatever they do to raise money.

A few business networking events will put you in front of potential business clients.