Reverse Marketing.

In my area here is a breakdown of the calls Id get for marketing. 3 phone books. resedential,resedential and business and yellow pages. There all the same prices for an ad. You want to be starting out in the resedential and business listing. Forget Yellow pages for now. You get 2 ads one by 2 1/2 and another listing of your business name. Either lawncare and gutter cleaning section or whatever you want. Snow removal etc.. Its $58 a month so $600 a year plus. But if you have a thousand different phone books in your area then make sure your getting the right one to place the ad. Most resedential look at the one with Pizza Hut or Dominoes. And i tried to fight my way to the front but its all alphebetical order so that explains why people have like AAA lawncare as a name. Triple A is towards the back. I always think that being second or third is ok as well. Home and Garden shows... Depends on how big the ad is. Mine was $480 for one week Alot of people see it because the hand them out as brochures when people walk in. People may or may not look at your ad. 50-50 chance. Chamber of Commerce. $400 a month. Alot of people to speak and talk to make sure you bring business cards or pens. Once a month in my area. Funny that nobody here does that. And theres alot of competition. I will be doing it next year for sure. Weekly newspaper ads. Always ask what the number one page is read and get your ad in there. Very cheap but effective. $150 for 3 months. Biggest Seller The daily newspaper. Heres the trick pay more to be second place with a catchy line. Plsce another ad as well further down so you have two chances. It pays off everybody reads the paper, and my ad generated alot of money for 3 months of advertising. $150 a month well worth it. Website SEO. WTF???? pitched me a $4500 a year to be placed number 1 in ALL search engines. No thanks. Id say my biggest seller was newspaper ads. Thats it. Website did generate enough leads to pretty much pay for itself and some equipment. Go daddy 15 a month. It's a must Have. This winter I did 2 blocks of roof top snow removal in a senior citizens area, made a killing just off my website. Well worth it. Equipment Troubles. Everything breaks down eventually. And it seems everybody lies about it. Warranty this Warranty that when you go to buy something. Depends on how well you can argue your point about the mechanical aspects and warranty coverage. My dad always told me you dont go to the bar to get a haircut. I think that applies to this as well. Sears in my area you have to send off to get serviced so why would you want to do that? Ive learned alot about parts and warranty and service in one year to make my head spin. New feature this spring. John Deere the real JD's dealerships have parts on hand for everything. so its never an issue. You pay for what you get always. Liquor Stores.. Work comes first LOL

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Depends on how big the ad is. Mine was $480 for one week Alot of people see it because the hand them out as brochures when people walk in. People may or may not look at your ad. 50-50 chance. How big was your ad? What did you think of the response? Also, did you have a booth at the show? What was your view on that? Chamber of Commerce. $400 a month. Alot of people to speak and talk to make sure you bring business cards or pens. Once a month in my area. Funny that nobody here does that. And theres alot of competition. I will be doing it next year for sure. It costs $400 a month to join the chamber of commerce? I thought it was that much for the year! OMG! What was your view why you hadn't done it yet? Biggest Seller The daily newspaper. Heres the trick pay more to be second place with a catchy line. Plsce another ad as well further down so you have two chances. It pays off everybody reads the paper, and my ad generated alot of money for 3 months of advertising. $150 a month well worth it. What do you suggest for a catchy line? When you place the second one down a bit, do you put another catchy line on that one or no? This winter I did 2 blocks of roof top snow removal in a senior citizens area, made a killing just off my website. Well worth it. How much snow do you need to have on roofs for this to become a potential service to offer?

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I typed 400 a month for Chamber sorry about that its 400 a year think its actually like $380.00

My ad in the paper is 5 lines long and i pay little bit more for it to be highlighted and everybody that i have talked to said that helped. I also pay more to be in second place. I have 3 ads and I change them around to try and pull in more hits. Catchy lines is just something that stands out from the rest. I always just put "One Call Does It All"....Or: "A Simple Solution For...
Thats the name of my business Simple Solutions Lawncare so i just use that and put my website underneath the ad. counts as a line but i dont care.

The chamber is to hectic for me right now...in due time. People eat that up. I'd say at least 10 new accounts from there. Id even place a bet on that. Why? People love people who contribute to the city in which they live and work in. That simple. no more and no less. The snow storm we had was 15 inches and Id say at least 6 to 7 to start. Over 18 ads in the paper right now for it.

[Steve]

Very interesting!

How big was your ad in your home and garden show book? What did you think of the response?

Also, did you have a booth at the show? What was your view on that?