Postcard marketing advice?

[jklawncare]

I have had some postcards designed for me..decided..ill have someone else do the work for me..get myself out of my niche.. heres what he came up with do you like them? if you saw it stuck to your door..would you want to read it.. what dont you like, what would you change what would a reader want to see..

__________________
Just Kut Lawn and Landscape
"Where Service is Always in Season"
Reach for the stars so if you fall you land on a cloud.

[jklawncare]

Lawn care business tips

forgot the postcard..here you go..

Attached Images

just_kutpostcard.jpg (538.6 KB, 532 views)

__________________
Just Kut Lawn and Landscape
"Where Service is Always in Season"
Reach for the stars so if you fall you land on a cloud.

[Growing Green]

WOW! Those are nice! Do you mind if I ask you who are making those for you?

Matt

[jklawncare]

Originally Posted by Growing Green

WOW! Those are nice! Do you mind if I ask you who are making those for you?

Matt

Thanks is there anything you dislike? or would change?
typically i do my own designs but i have a design hump to get over..anything i come up with lately is bland and boring.

Im haveing plan it Graphics do it for me

i saw him on one of the posts on the forum so went over to his site.. i like one of his examples so much i asked him to almost mimmick it for me..he does amazing work..you can see it on his site..good prices too

hes specially for lawn care
he does have a seperate site for other printing though

[wellbiz]

Originally Posted by jklawncare

Thanks is there anything you dislike? or would change?

I want to start by saying they are very nice looking and very well designed. I do however have a few thoughts for you.

1, What is your goal for this postcard? By the look of the discount you want more lawn clients. If this is the case I would taylor the advertisement to that specific service and not have a complete listing of your services. You can mention a few, but I would not have a complete list. Send them to your website or have them call if they want to know your other services.

2, You list all your services but where are the benefits for the homeowner to choose you to take care of their yard. Think like a home owner and not a business owner. To be blunt I have never had a homeowner choose my company because my advertisement was nice looking. There has to be more! People buy on benefits.

3, A discount can work, but you dont want to compete on price if you dont have to. There will always be some lowballer who will do it for less. A discount can make your phone ring, but why should they choose you, what are you going to do for them that the lowballer down the street wont??

Some things you could maybe add (not all are benefits): Are you licensed and insured, do you offer a satisfaction guarantee, maybe mention you are a local family owned business if you are, are you going to save them time, will you provide them with a lawn the neighbors will envy, etc.

This really depends on who your market is. Are your clients primary rich homeowners who dont want to cut thier lawn, or are they busy professionals or the elderly who dont have the time or cant cut their lawns. You can then focus your message to the specific demographic.


Jay

[jklawncare]

Originally Posted by wellbiz

I want to start by saying they are very nice looking and very well designed. I do however have a few thoughts for you.

1, What is your goal for this postcard? By the look of the discount you want more lawn clients. If this is the case I would taylor the advertisement to that specific service and not have a complete listing of your services. You can mention a few, but I would not have a complete list. Send them to your website or have them call if they want to know your other services.

2, You list all your services but where are the benefits for the homeowner to choose you to take care of their yard. Think like a home owner and not a business owner. To be blunt I have never had a homeowner choose my company because my advertisement was nice looking. There has to be more! People buy on benefits.

3, A discount can work, but you dont want to compete on price if you dont have to. There will always be some lowballer who will do it for less. A discount can make your phone ring, but why should they choose you, what are you going to do for them that the lowballer down the street wont??

Some things you could maybe add (not all are benefits): Are you licensed and insured, do you offer a satisfaction guarantee, maybe mention you are a local family owned business if you are, are you going to save them time, will you provide them with a lawn the neighbors will envy, etc.

This really depends on who your market is. Are your clients primary rich homeowners who dont want to cut thier lawn, or are they busy professionals or the elderly who dont have the time or cant cut their lawns. You can then focus your message to the specific demographic.


Jay

thanks for the tough criticism i appreciate it ill put all those thoughts into modifying the design

im trying to pickup as many customers as possible while keeping my prices
i can let 10% go cause i have no virtual overhead
i could even raise my bid if i wanted

[Steve]

Your postcard looks great!

2, You list all your services but where are the benefits for the homeowner to choose you to take care of their yard. Think like a home owner and not a business owner. To be blunt I have never had a homeowner choose my company because my advertisement was nice looking. There has to be more! People buy on benefits.

In the past, have you found the marketing of certain benefits worked better over others?

Would you have a top 3 or a top 5 list of benefits to point out that he could choose from?

A lot of times it can be very difficult to come up with benefits to offer.

[jklawncare]

Custom Packages is my main selling point
no one aruond here does it but me..so alot of ppl come to me for that.

also because i can offer more competetive prices however i dont low ball

i take the top 3 competitors around the area and i find out what they charge and how they do there work and i go a little cheaper than the middle one.

i dont want to lose my customer base when i grow and need more money because of the drastic increase in cost


I told him to include that on the post card so hopefully it will turn out better the second time then the fantastic job the first time ahaha..

I decided to get profesisonal printed ads because everyone around here uses a copier and runs off cheaper flyers like ive done..

im also wanting to open my services up to the richer neighborhoods so i think this will get some attraction..theyll remember my postcard over a piece of paper..thats why i was wanting it to look good


i limited my services to lawn maintenance weed removal seasonal cleanups and fertilization as these are all spring services and what most will be needing..

so to sum it up
i put the moeny out for advertising to get into the rich neighbor hoods

i slimmed my services down to the above

and i told him to include custom packages
no contracts and senior discounts as well as a satisfation guarantee

any other thoughts or ideas/

[wellbiz]

Originally Posted by Steve

Your postcard looks great!



In the past, have you found the marketing of certain benefits worked better over others?

Would you have a top 3 or a top 5 list of benefits to point out that he could choose from?

A lot of times it can be very difficult to come up with benefits to offer.

Good question Steve! I think this really depends on who his client base is. My main client base is elderly homeowners and busy younger professionals so I try to stress what benefits that I think are important to them. I have a pretty bold satisfaction guarantee, I stress value and of course a lawn they can be proud of and the neighbors will envy. Most of my clients like to have the nicest lawn on the block and I try to sell to that. Things like I am licensed and insured and that I grew up in the neighborhood and have a vested interest in doing a top quality job to keep the neighborhood looking top notch. While all of these things are not directly benefits to the customer, they are things I use in my marketing.

My message will change depending on the marketing material, the offer and of course the media. I do something completely different in my PPC or newspaper adverts compared to a flyer or postcard.

As far as what seems to work best, well the satisfaction guarantee.


Jay

[wellbiz]

Originally Posted by jklawncare

Custom Packages is my main selling point
no one aruond here does it but me..so alot of ppl come to me for that.

also because i can offer more competetive prices however i dont low ball

i take the top 3 competitors around the area and i find out what they charge and how they do there work and i go a little cheaper than the middle one.

i dont want to lose my customer base when i grow and need more money because of the drastic increase in cost


I told him to include that on the post card so hopefully it will turn out better the second time then the fantastic job the first time ahaha..

I decided to get profesisonal printed ads because everyone around here uses a copier and runs off cheaper flyers like ive done..

im also wanting to open my services up to the richer neighborhoods so i think this will get some attraction..theyll remember my postcard over a piece of paper..thats why i was wanting it to look good


i limited my services to lawn maintenance weed removal seasonal cleanups and fertilization as these are all spring services and what most will be needing..

so to sum it up
i put the moeny out for advertising to get into the rich neighbor hoods

i slimmed my services down to the above

and i told him to include custom packages
no contracts and senior discounts as well as a satisfation guarantee

any other thoughts or ideas/

I like your ideas, I think you have a pretty strong looking postcard and it is sure to stand out from the poorly designed material most companies hand out. I can wait to see the reworded one.

If your clients are rich having a cheap price may not be the way to go. I would stress value, and professionalism. Wealthy clients in my area like a professional who does a top quality job and provides an excellent value for their services. In other words you may be able to charge a little more if you can sell your professionalism and customer service. In your case it seems you have a niche selling packages or services no one else offers. Usually in a niche you can charge a little extra because you specialize. I also found that competing on price doesn't build good customer relationships. As soon as the next guy who has a cheaper price comes along you are out of a job.

To add something about pricing and I am guilty of this also. When I started I figured I could charge less, not lowball but build a nice business because I had lower overhead then the bigger guys with their multiple crews and fancy new trucks. What I soon learned reading the message boards, books and internet guru sites was that if I ever want to grow bigger then the one man operation with a used truck, I need to charge pretty much what the other guys were. Having a cheaper price allows for you to get work faster, but when you need to expand, hire employees or buy new equipment you cant afford it because your pricing is out of sync with what would be needed to support the larger business. It really depends on your goals. I personally dont intent to stay a one-man operation.

I hope this helps.
Jay