Advertising

ROOFWORKSLTD

Gentlemen, I'm debating placing an add in the local phone directory.
The add is a good size and worth over $12,000.00 cdn. I've met with the salseman several times, he seems like a nice enough guy and pretty much had me sold until...He invited me to a local pub for a few drinks, I know people have loose tounges and make bad desicsions when drinking so I only drank two beers. He informs me that he forgot his paperwork and when the meeting was over didn't pick up the tab. I didn't expect him to but I know if I take a potential customer out, I always pay. He said he would have payed but couldn't afford it. Something rubbed me the wrong way at that point.

Looking passed that, the facts and figures he provided me showed that even if I landed only 10% of the work from the estimated calls, I would proffit over $300,000 from the ad.

Do any of you have ads in your local directories and have they worked for you?

4 seasons

Well there is no possible way for him to possibly know the volume of business your ad could make. From what I have heard it is hit or miss. I have thought about it myself, but was never promised anything like that from the SALESMAN.

__________________
A to Z Roofing
Wareham, Mass 02571
1-800-781-1816
zach@azroofers.com
Roof Cleaning

English Roofer

I would have to agree with 4 seasons, but if you know another contractor that your friendly with who does advertise with them why not ask them if its as good as the sales guy makes out? they might lie to you, most people are honest though, but you should be able to work it out.
Cheers
Dave

__________________
'I can resist anything but temptation'- Oscar Wilde
www.drroofing.co.uk

Grumpy

My advice about the phone book: Don't do it.

But that advice is based on my experiences and your experience will vary based on many factors. Specifically how many competitors in your area, how large an are does your phoen book cover, and how expensive. My 2nd year in bus the phone books almost put me out of bus. I was paying something like 8-900 a month for 12 months and got I think 3 calls and all were for repairs and I didn't sell a single one. Let me rephrase that, I paid about $10,000 for NOTHING!

In my area there are over 40 pages of roofing in any book you choose. Fug that!


Get any promises in writing. When I called to complain the people on the other end of the phone said it wasn't part of the contract. further more when I called the sales rep he denied saying I'd get no less than 5 calls per week per add and no less than one sale per add per week. Get a guarantee in writing or don't believe it. It's all hype. I promise you!

__________________
-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

tomdaleh

I'm near the St. Louis area and I advertise almost exclusively on Craigslist; it's free and the results are worth the efforts in posting. It is the third most visited website on the internet and I've pick up both good commercial and residential accounts with it. The biggest drawback with Craigslist are the flagging procedures are too lenient; one flag and the ad is removed (could be a competitor, etc, nothing legitimately wrong with the ad posted). So I would suggest saving part of the phone book advertising money and trying Craigslist if you are not already doing so.

Sheppy

The best way to advertise on the internet bar none funny as it may seem is through a process called geo-target marketing. It is a method to which the content of the search itself is matched with a local company or service that provides a need specific to that search. Ex. In roofing someone in chicago might type in cook county roofing or chicago roofers where someone in NY might just type in roofers or roofer ny etc... There is a company out there now that is qualified as an adwords company directly through google themselves to handle this type of need to small to med size business all over america in every trade. Def something worth looking into. Contact me with any questions.

newmercy

sorry brother but I haven't looked in a phone book in 10 years. Have you? 12,000 could drive you so much more business in other area's.

As for sheppy, being a google qualified adwords company doesn't mean nearly as much as it used to. All that means is...you maintain a certain amount of money every month and you took a test.

Google adwords is a great way to market your company but keep in mind you need to be VERY careful who you use. Couple things you need to hold your adwords company to is click through rates, cost per click, conversion, and placement. Don't get stuck with someone willing to take a flat rate for first page placement for x amount of dollars.

I have been doing adword campaigns for many years and I wouldn't mind answering any questions.

I am part owner of a roofing company, not someone looking to drum up business.

I joined because I wanted to find some help from others on if the penny ads work. Any suggestions you guys may have for print ads would be great. I am also looking at neighborhood directories etc...

Grumpy

You mind posting a link to one of your adds? This is mine... http://chicago.craigslist.org/nch/sks/1573708568.html

LOL I posted this one today about 4 pm and there are already 10 posts following mine at 9 pm.

I mostly get junk from craigs list, but a simple question gets past that. "When would you like to meet?" LOL after those plentiful hang up on me, what's left are pretty good.

__________________
-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

cavesrus

i have never placed ad in our big book or metro book i get a # of guys saying oh yea you can make 300k to 500k more a year. First it is always Gross #'s. 2nd i had a sales rep give me a tracked call list from a company in my area and he was getting less calls a day than i was alreayd getting and he was spending close to 20k a year for ad.

We have always had ads in smaller phone books few are doing well in our key market area. how ever this last year i place in most of the area books smaller add but not the smallest and return sucks but it is our busy season yet so im crossing my fingers.

tomdaleh

Grumpy here's the link to one of my Craigslist ads:

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bfs/1572642461.html

I rotate between about a half dozen different ones in the St Louis Craigslist and Southeast Missouri Craigslist. I usually spend about 15-20 minutes a day reposting, etc. I have a file in Microsoft word with my different ads already laid out and it's just a matter of copying and pasting from that file to the Craigslist ad. I feel it's time well spent as we are staying up on roofs working this winter. I use some other websites such as Backpage.com and Kiiji.com, but they don't have the traffic that Craigslist does.