We are looking to grow our business this year and are looking into a local radio spot, and then some adds or flyers to be mailed out. Do any of you guys do this for a living or can you point me in the right direction. thanks
A friend of mine used fliers to help promote his hot rod repair shop,,,and ambushed his targeted customers at cruise-ins,,,, in and around his area,,, Musta worked good,,,,,he hasn't had to advertised in a couple of years and has more work than he can get done! HRP
Car shows are a great idea. You might also want to advertise on community bulletin boards. You should go to parts stores and see if you can put an ad in their window. I would also try to get a BIG catchy ad in the Yellow Pages. People see that stuff. Not sure if you are just doing hot rods or all types of repair but you might want to put ads up at a local college campus and maybe offer a discount of sorts with a college ID.
I'd stay away from radio. The only way it works is to bombard the listener, and only the big guns can afford that many spots. It's just waves and once they're gone... they're gone. Newspapers and flyers float around and can be saved. Hell... 10 different guys might read the same ad in the same paper in the same shitter on 10 different days. That's coverage, man. Business cards... use 'em. Leave a stack at every gas station and biker bar. I just bought a $25 print shop program, paper and a couple new ink cartridges for what you'd end up paying for one 30-second fart. Flyers with tear-off strips with the business NAME and NUMBER on 'em are cool, too. It's one big ad with all the bullets and then something they can grab, that will remind them of you, later. Advertise where your clients are. Car shows, parts stores, bars, drive-ins, whore houses... etc. I've advertised on the radio, and got nothing out of it. Only ever heard my ad once, too. That made me wonder.... My .02 but I call it a waste of money. JOE
Not to mention that most radio ads are so annoying that I think a good percentage of people just tune them out anyway. I thought of another one. JYD's shitter comment reminded me that alot of bathrooms have ads near the urinals now. I guess that if the place didn't have any ad space by their urinal you could do a little graffiti of your own- you could blame it on a happy customer if they ever bitched about it. I can see it right now... "Mickey's Automotive says, 'The joke is in your hand!'"
I agree Radio blows ass......too much money for little return......... Flyers are still tops pass em out everywhere that remotly makes sense or where people will be Ads in your local weekly paper (LA Weekly type thing) will ussually be cheap and the most good cause thier smaller and people actually look through them the newspaper doesn't cut it unless your doing a quarter to full page add bukko bucks....... Another good place is your local high schools sport programs...... I do graphic art and advertising for a living my best suggestion would be to read a book called guerrilla marketing its really good........
Before my current gig, I worked in ad agencies for 8 years. My suggestion would be post cards. They can be mailed out or handed out at events. You can't beat the look of a full color post card over a B&W photocopy. Make sure if you have someone do them that they follow all the postal regulations, it's very important and will save you time and money in the end. I will be designing some post cards for my cousin's salon soon. I have been pricing post cards for this job. An example from my local printer is 5,000 post cards for $299.00 this will give you an idea on prices. Radio spots take time and money to produce, voice talent is not cheap. Brochures and direct mailers are very good also. Magazine ads can get really pricey. Your local newspaper is also a good place to advertise. Even the yellow pages gets results. I hoped I helped, if you have any questions just hit me up. Sean
Print up some larger size ads playbill size and get yourself a roller and some wheat paste. Sneak it into the stores and restaraunts of your choice and post them up. OR actually get permission and post them on the inside of the stall doors. You will have a captive audience for a couple of minutes at least! Radio ond TV requires a good 4 to 6 months for you to start getting people to call or come in. Then once you stop the ads the phone stops ringing. 1. yellowpages 2. chamber of commerce 3. Word of mouth 4. Bulk mailing or newspaper inserts 5. Flyers in parkinglots and at popular events 6. Sponser a local event. Don't be the DJ or MC just take a passerger role so you don't look like a "name dropper." The MC can be the name dropper so its less of an ego move in the spectators eyes Remeber with any advertising its the frequency of your name that will get the results not a one time BANG.
flyers & handouts from hot chicks & post card always work!!!!!! HOLD AN OPEN HOUSE/BBQ/RUN at YOUR SHOP! Make it an event..People are more likely to give you there biz if they have met you or have seen what kinda work your shop puts out first hand..
My advice: it's definitly worth the effort to get the flyer/postcard/business card looking good first of all. That will put you ahead of 90% of business's in that respect. If you're going to be wanting alot of them over time, get lots printed at once from a real printer on a press. You'll save big time by not doing more than one press run. Going to Kinkos or printing them yourself will get expensive fast and the quality won't be there. Unless you're just wanting b&w copies, then it might make sense to use a copier. Shop around...I just did some flyers for a friend. I get full color copies on nice thick coated paper for about 30 cents a sheet from a copy shop I know. The guy he had running them at kinkos was charging him 90 cents each. Postcards are cool, but if you plan on mailing them, consider the cost of postage too. Check out www.copycraft.com if you want some quality printing on a press. There are all types of services they offer and there are templates you can use when setting up files. Hope some of this helps. I think stickers are a cool idea, if they look cool depending on the type of business it is.
Also with every thing you do send out a press release.....open house bbq is a great idea advertise get a couple of bands and then send out a press release if they do an article you get free press if they don't your only out the time to write it and print it
Mike...give me a call...I may not be able to hook a 12 volt electric fuel pump up to a 6 volt car on the side of the freeway but I can do this for you! If I remember correctly, I owe you one! Call me!
I lived in central Fl from 90-02 and worked for S.Shops and 4wheel Parts where the advertising budget on a store level was very small. I agree local print and "comando" style advertising is your best bet. If you are wanting to focus on the hotrod crowd I would suggest The Cruise News and flyers at every weekly cruise you can find. You could try sponsoring a cruise night or door prizes/trophys at a show. If you are looking for general repair buisness I would suggest "pennysaver" type publications with a "coupon" so you can track the effectiveness. Also Trader publications has some good deals in their service directory section of the auto/truck/suv/classic car traders. If you want to try radio there are some talk radio/auto help shows you may be able to get on. I know The Magic Mechanic in Winter Park owner did a weekly call in show and a shop on E. Colonial at 436 did a call in show on the Christian radio station on the weekends. Also dont forget the local highschool boosters,football teams etc. The dealership I work at here has a HUGE comunity presence, little league, craft shows,rodeos,carshows, etc. etc. The basic name of the game is keeping your name out there in the comunity constantly. GMB
Don't rule out having a cruise at the shop if you have the parking lot for it. Get's a bunch cars and car guys there, and go to all the cruises with your truck. Flyers rock, radio sucks....
I agree with Doctor Shock, Gorrilla Marketing Read it, Learn it, Live it. The best advertising is Word of Mouth. The price is right, just Do good work and treat people right. Good WOM is priceless, Bad WOM, Devastating. Its worked for me, No ads and too many jobs. Now back to work!
OK, I guess thois COULD be tech? This is actually what I went to school for. Lots of good ideas so far but you also need a brand/shop identity combined with a clear long term marketing plan. Whats this mean? Several facets of media, the ones that fit your budget and demographic. Some guerrilla marketing, and a PR program that might include sponsorships/cruise-ins etc. Also your database of existing customers! That is an important aspect of people that hopefully have a good impression of you. Feel free to contact me if you want to get into details.
you could also do an ad at the local movie theater.. How it during the preview.. pick a movie that would have the target audience..
I agree that print flyers distrubuted at local events is the best best bet for your target audiene. Hosting events at your shop is also a good one. BUT your local chamber of commerce is a real good idea. Had a freind that worked with the chamber of commerce to get a deal for fleet repair/maintenence of a local airport shuttle company. No real fancy jobs but it paid a lot of the bills while he did other less lucrative business.
flyers are a good choice. you can pass 'em out at shows and what not and you can pay your local community paper to insert them in their paper. i work on the press at a small 4000 circulation 5 times weekly community paper and adds in these papers are effective whether inserts in said paper or an actual add in the paper. you might be suprised how cheap that could be. forget radio. to expensive for your return. the college idea is a good one. there's tons of places on college campus' to post flyers. maybe offer a discount with student id or something would be good to. most college kids don't know shit about their own car and are away from mommy and daddy and if treated right will generate you a lot of business by word of mouth. whats your slowest day days of the week? maybe offer really cheap oil changes a day or so a week. hell maybe even monday-wednesday or something. there's a guy here that does 11.99 oil change on those days and has to be making money just on volume. he ran the quick lube out of business. again flyers can be left anywhere and the more you print the cheaper they become. having a blow out shin dig thing usually just leads to alot of your friends and a few new faces but it can't hurt either. business owners can write so much off it couldn't hurt...ken....
I did advertising in the auto racing biz for about 8 years...target your audience...you'll waste TONS of money if you buy radio, TV or print ads aimed at the general public. Radio WILL work if you have a local auto repair type show or a local NASCAR affiliate that has a decent rate for the race broadcasts. Again, TV will work on local cable systems when paired with shows like Two Guys Garage, NASCAR, Trucks!, Hot Rod TV and the like. Flyers at car shows, rod runs, etc. are great. Posters at the local parts stores will get your name out. Ask the parts counter guys to refer customers to you when they have questions about old cars, rods and such. Join the local old car clubs, NSRA and affiliates. Advertise in their newsletters and at their car shows. But don't expect any "Magic Bullets"...you have to be in this thing for the long haul...and don't make the same mistake that THOUSANDS of business' do every year....they make their FIRST ad the one for the "Going Out Of Business Sale"...
Well just so you all know I was going with Talk Radio here in town thats the number 1 stations for years....But Talks not cheap right. Well Im not going with a on air add after all(thanks for the heads up) I have though hired a company here to design a post card double sided full color and so on for less the 250 for 5000 post cards. Ill post a copy when its done
If you send things out get a mail list put together and take it to a mail house. They use their postage paid number to give you a better discount. You end up paying by the zip code and not a flat fee per card. The closer they areto you the less it costs. It seems like just pennies but if you have a large number of people on your list it will add up quick.
I run a different kind of business-a veterinary hospital and boarding kennel-but the advertisng princples are the same. Lots of good suggestions here,but the key is to know who you want target your advertising to. We advertsie on radio-but we only do it for our kennel and we sponsor the Shore Report-people who are listening for beach weather hear our ads for boarding their pets. If you want hot rod business-talk to the oldies stations. I like the open house idea and you could go for multiple brief announements instead of a full 1 minute ad. Blanket the times when people are going to work in their cars-nobody listens on Saturday morning. Mailings are VERY expensive,time consuming and most get tossed-it's hard to target a specific audience. Yellow Pages suck! Those dudes are always trying to get you to do a full page three color Lawyer ad.Yellow page ads are Major dollars for minor returns-you can find lots of info on this on the net. All you need is a listing-people find out about you other ways-then look up how to contact you in the phone book.And there are so many different phone books now-it's hard to pay for them all. Flyers are expensive to do-you need good layout and printing and a shop will charge you set up fees. We print our newsletter here at work-but I'm running it off on a $1800 printer. HEY-keep records and receipts-deduct it all. Instead of flyers,how about a great business card that you could get into auto parts stores,etc. Hire some kids to hand them out OUTSIDE the gates of car shows-if you hand them out inside the show operators may get pissed off,want a fee or charge you with soliciting or some such; hand them out at the monthly drive-ins at the Burger King or where-ever. I would think Autotrader mags would be a good place-but the Shopper is for people looking for stuff cheap. Our major paper has a "Deal of the Day" coupon you cut out and take to a business for something free-ice scraper,soft drink,whatever-the key is to get them in the door. So,the trick is to be inovative with your budget and ideas.Know your target and where you might find them. Set yourself up as different and tell people not only what you can do,but why you do it that way and why it should make them want to come to you. Good luck.
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