Marketing ideas

You might try incentivising your existing clients to recommend their friends etc., with a money off their next service offer. Word of mouth is very powerful and under used. The other way might be to approach your local paper about providing a regular car clinic column or help them write a feature on preparing your car for winter motoring. These are all things I did successfuly while providing a PR servie for two major vehicle manufacturer dealerships networks nationwide. Hope this helps.

Thanks, They Sound Very Good Ideas Peter

hi Peter, Why not speak to local companies or shops ( whatever) who deal with other aspects of the car industry. Say to them that you provide a repair service etc, and that if they can recomend there customers to you, in turn, you may be able to give them a percentage of the profits. Good luck

Hi Peter Any mail drop will usually only incur a max response of about 2% - and that's good. That's why big companies will drop HUGE numbers of initial mailers, to get the response level they want, in anticipation of that 2%. The key to good marketing for small businesses, is to keep it personal and intimate. The first thing you need to do is put together a marketing plan. I remember seeing an infomercial recently where the presenter said that in building a house, we would never just hammer in nails haphazardly and expect to achieve a specific outcome - we would always have a plan. The second most important thing is for you to develop a clear profile, or profiles, of all your target customer groups. You have to be very clear about who you are communicating too. Good marketing comes down to working out the most effective forms of promotion that will work specifically with these people. To get you started, I think you should begin with 'dinner-time cold calling.' If your target is going to be demographic to your area - then hit the pavement and go on a campaign trail. Politicians do it, so can you. Knock on doors, on week night evenings, when people are most likely to be home. Go armed with a cheap flier - doesn't need to be fancy. You're not trying to sell them anything, you're creating awareness. When they open the door, just say "Hi, I'm Peter from (shop name)..I'm really sorry for disturbing your night, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to personally leave you a flier - I don't like putting things in letter boxes." Then give them a flier, plus extras for possible referrals, thank them again and just leave. And trust me, they'll remember you, because things in letterboxes they expect (so ignore) - but not junk mail delivered to the door. When the car needs work, they'll think "oh yeah, the mechanic who knocked on the door that night." You never know, you might even encounter people who need a machanic on the night you knock on their door - right place, right time huh? Don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like any more ideas. Regards Tamara tamaralyster@emailaccount.com Assess the current state of your marketing. FREE Marketing Scorecard online at www.tamaralyster.com
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Peter, I must admit that at times marketing your product or service is extremely difficult, you know you have a good product/service to offer but how do you convey your business worth to the masses ? I'm afraid leaflet dropping is becoming so common place now that when people are offering leaflets to me in the street, I refuse (a little insensitive maybe, as we are all trying to establish a ground steady ground for our business) The 'knocking on the door' in the evening, as suggested, is a good idea in theory but if we all did this people wouldn't dare open their doors after 6pm! Have you tried advertising on-line ? For example many local towns have very concise and well put together 'Business Directories' a bit like an online Yellow Pages. I, myself, have recently used one to arrange a quote from an Electrician, so all sorts of servcies advertise on these directories - and as they are online generally the costs are low. You could try http://www.localbusinessdirectory.co.uk Also have you tried marketing with a free gift, something very small and cost effective, but enough for people to remember you. How about leaflet dropping with a free key ring. The key ring can be customised with your own logo, and it's something that people can use to keep their car keys on. This could also generate good word of mouth, which does attract over 70% of customers. You generally can buy customised key fobs very cheaply. Hope this helps, Dean C2 Web Design http://www.c2webdesign.co.uk mailto:contact@c2webdesign.co.uk