If You Had $5,000 to spend on Advertising What Would You Advertise With?

Well right now I fill a 5 galling bucket but will be going to a 30 gallon barrel.
 
Oh ok I was just curious.... Well dude I hope the Google thing works for you, I am sure it will, but it will be cool to see what happens later in the year.... You know like " Damn I don't have any time for myself because of that dang Google lmao"
 
Never paid for advertising, so I don't know what works best. But I will tell you, talk to your customers, find out their concerns and exceed their expectations and you won't need to advertise they'll do it for you. It never hurts to ask your customers if they're pleased with your work to tell their friends about your services, leave business cards and price list, their friends will look at their car and decide for themselves. If your work stands out from the norm keep that 5k and put a down payment on a boat!
 
I hope you do not take this the wrong way, just giving you my opinion:

IMO - do not spend any money on advertising and spend some $$ on your website. Your website has lots of info but it does not look proffessional it looks a step above someone doing this as a hobby on the weekends. After that, spend some money putting vinyl advertising and possible wrap your entire mobile vehicle that shows everyone your website url, your phone #, business name, and other great info.

Then if you have anything left over, offer a Yelp special coupon or what not for yelp customers, they will leave reviews and reviews = more word of mouth = more business.

Google advertising is great as well but first make your website much nicer.

Good luck! Hope that helps!
 
armanslr said:
Then if you have anything left over, offer a Yelp special coupon or what not for yelp customers, they will leave reviews and reviews = more word of mouth = more business.
Good luck! Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

On the surface Yelp seems like a great deal but honestly I would stay as far away from Yelp as possible.

The Yelp Scam - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money
Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0 | Feature | Oakland, Berkeley & Bay Area News & Arts Coverage
 
I do like the idea of a radio station trade, a triple win.

If you can arrange that deal, you get advertising, potential revenue increase and you keep more cash-flow monies.


I also have to agree with "armanslr" with website improvements. The design is indeed dated and the photo's etc need help. Ultimately, it will install confidence in potential customers that your operation is a professional outfit. Which you will need if they find you online and especially if you can pull off the radio deal :)

Heres a website I did recently for a customer in psych billing:

Psychiatric Billing Services - Mental Health Billing Specialists

So if you need help here, feel free to PM -
 
Do you have a website? Are you utilizing Facebook?

Are you already an established business and just looking to reach a broader market?

I live in a small town and have the luxury of being the only game in town. But I have people that drive almost 100 miles to have me detail their vehicle. I also worked deals with the local newspaper, I clean their car they give me ads.

Since you are in a much larger market, I think you should try to work a deal with the radio stations. Detail their mobile broadcasting vehicle (usually a cool looking vehicle with special paint job).

I am no expert in marketing but I think you might consider just using the money to give customers a better deal. Place a HUGE ad in newspaper offering a REALLY good deal. Tell them the benefits of having your car detailed and what a good investment it is. That it adds value to their vehicle. You can also offer free Scotchgarding for mentioning the ad. Scotchgarding is a great service to offer. You can get a can for around $6 at Walmart and some places charge over $100 to do it. You can be the judge of what a fair price of the treatment is. I charge anywhere from $25-$50.

You can find a local neighborhood and go door to door offering a great deal. Hopefully that will generate the 'word of mouth' advertising that will be the best business generator for you.

So yeah, I think using the money to offer discounts in order to attract customers (to start word of mouth advertising) will be a good bet. And paying for a professional website where people can check out the services you offer.
 
I did not know that about yelp, however I am not a pro detailer I work at a used car dealership, but next door to us is a smog shop that uses Yelp and google, and he is very busy and is the among the busiest smog shops in my area and he says the majority of the people come from yelp.
 
Yes my website does need some help. I just want to spread the word about the oil changes. I am busy with the detailing but I want more business. I also should invest in a nice camera too bc all my pics are from my phone.
 
Do you really get a lot of people paying for oil changes?

Yes, you need to fix your website and get a nicer camera to show detailed work of how well of a job you do.

You can get an excellent camera for ~250-300$.
 
armanslr said:
Do you really get a lot of people paying for oil changes?

Yes, you need to fix your website and get a nicer camera to show detailed work of how well of a job you do.

You can get an excellent camera for ~250-300$.
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No but see oil changes are a necessity...detailing is a luxury....no one 'HAS' to have their car detailed.
 
I can tell you from my experiences that Radio is very costly for what little return it does bring, if any! I've tried Google Adwords as well and I spent hundreds on it with NO return. All I seen from it was a nice increase in traffic to my website, but not a single appointment was generated from it. Something I've done during the winter months was set up an ad with a company that prints Golf Course Score Cards. These Score Cards have multiple businesses printed in full color and depending on how popular the golf course is, tens of thousands of people with expendable money will see your ad. You can detail their vehicles while they're playing a round and when they're finished they'll be treated to a great looking and clean vehicle without having to be inconvenienced.

Like many others have said in this post, word of mouth is the absolute best advertising you could ask for! If you have money you can re-invest into your company then I'd say put it in a vehicle wrap and/or vinyl lettering on your truck/van/trailer or whatever you use. Also, I see you are looking for canopies...put your logo, ph #, web address, slogans on these canopies that way when they're set up people will take notice of it. Push your brand as much as you possible can in the least expensive ways to capitalize on revenue coming in.

Website, social media, and your mobile rig(s) should be priority #1 as far as advertising is concerned and from what I have seen of your brand thus far, you are moving in the right direction. "If you build it, they will come"
 
I would agree with some others on here. How often do you hear a radio ad about detailing or an oil change? Almost never. Radio adds are for new car dealerships.

I would upgrade your website, tie in to Facebook and Twitter, buy a good camera, and work the web and save most of your money.

If you really want to do advertising, go with print. But you must be prepared to meet the increased oil change demand.

Good luck.
 
If you do radio and they give it to you free..be sure there isnt some kind of catch! It's probably just me, but I don't trust radio sales people, they're like used cars salesmen.

Bottom line is YOU do what YOU feel is best for YOUR brand. And if doesnt work as good as you had hoped, well...then you either give it another try or you move on to something different. Regardless what you choose, I believe you will be successful.
 
It's not free but if they sell $50 coupons for $25 and keep the profit thst sounds like a deal to me to let me advertise.
 
Groupon is another good way to get your name out quickly or to advertise a new service you are rolling out. Also, I keep hearing a ton of stuff about Pinterist. My wife is on that site all day!
 
No radio station in StL do the 50% off deal bc of Groupon and Living Social.

I talked prices with one station and it is $140 for 60 sec in the morning time. This is for a prerecorded ad. For the DJ to get on and talk the company up for 60 sec it is $180.

For 30 sec its is 25% off the 60 sec run times. I like the idea of the DJ but I like $140 more than $180 HA!
 
i cant offer much advice, luckily for me(somewhat) im the first one who pops up on google for alot of key words, i need to get some SEO and addwords though. i really need to get more customers to come in, i even offer 10% off to seinors,current and retired military and dr's/nurses. and as another person posted most of the people around here(marines) just want a fast car could care less how it looks. people are thrown back by what i exactly do and they just look puzzled like "it takes you THAT long?" and i just have to break it down to them and let them know "a rolex is not build in 10 seconds like a timex is" man the watch analogy comes in very handy with some customers because its something they can relate too. wish i could offer some advice but im just here to get some better options. oh well i got a '10 murano on wend's and possibly an audi S5. had someone call about a boat but i had to turn them down sadly, i do not even know where to begin with boats. i need to go visit a good boat detailer that's a fellow 'geeker and learn about boats, basically if i cant work on it and know what NOT to do i wont detail it just to be on the safe side.
 
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