Advertising, Radio Station!!!

[CHEESE2009]

So I've decided to try something, if it doesn't work I can still say WOW, BREEZE was on the air baby! Haha. I emailed an advertising consultant & she phoned me back giving me all the details I needed. The Price 30 seconds x 1 = $220 You can choose how long your advertisement is, but that's the most common (30 seconds) This is just to notify people of the price range of air time on most radio stations, it might be lower or higher for you. She recommended airing my ad sometime around Easter & also to have my number said at least 2x in the ad I suppose you send them the script, and they have people read & record it, then air it. Now I know it's a ton of money for people like us, especially for 1 time! So ... how do you make it work for you? If I choose Virgin Radio 96 I will get young people, maybe young home owners. If I choose CHOM or CJAD, I will cater to the older range group. The time is the only problem really, so let's think for a second. 6am: business owners going to prep their stores 7am: stores open 8am: kids are on the way to school 9am: people are heading out, for work 12pm: a common time for lunch, for everyone (would never choose) 4pm: kids are finishing school 5pm: people are leaving work, stuck in traffic 6pm: people are arriving home, or having dinner Any suggestions?

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

My suggestion is to do some research, having run a few major corporations with large marketing departments in various industries, in my experients the results from Radio were poor at best. However do some research on the best type of advertising in your area as you may fine it's money better spent elsewhere.

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

I concur with PicFramer.

My company ran radio advertising in medium sized markets for several seasons. I kept detailed (cost/customer dollar) acquisition analyses. The results I have received are less than the same avertising budget spent on other media. You're results may vary.

Luckily, the majority of my radio advertising has been in exchange for lawn care services. So, my main actual expense has been labor only.

Contact the radio station managment (not the sales agents.) They will likely barter with you.

[Steve]

So I've decided to try something, if it doesn't work I can still say WOW, BREEZE was on the air baby! Haha.

I am telling you this as a friend. Don't waste your money. Radio sucks.

It's all about vanity. Just the way you said it is exactly why people advertise on the radio. To be on the air. It's all vanity.

When you are getting started you need to focus your marketing message and hit the specific customer base you need to hit.

Work your local area. Flyers, business cards, craigslist, and meet as many people as you can.

Let me know what you decide to do. Great question.

[CHEESE2009]

Originally Posted by Steve

I am telling you this as a friend. Don't waste your money. Radio sucks.

It's all about vanity. Just the way you said it is exactly why people advertise on the radio. To be on the air. It's all vanity.

When you are getting started you need to focus your marketing message and hit the specific customer base you need to hit.

Work your local area. Flyers, business cards, craigslist, and meet as many people as you can.

Let me know what you decide to do. Great question.

Chances are I wont go through with it. It's been hard trying to figure out which paper to advertise in though. A lot of people are recommending different ones, & saying it's a good idea... personally I'd rather spam my customers with my beautiful mustard color flier... It's so beautiful & almost irritating enough that they have no choice but to look at it!!! LOL

I'll keep doing fliers, I have exactly 40 more streets to pass fliers to.
I get my printing done free, I have a folding machine (extreme bad@ss), all I do is supply the paper.
-

My friends mom used to own a paper route business, so I use her industrial copier... And my step father owns a Pharmacy & I use his store copier.

My girlfriends mom is a real estate agent & requires the same tools as I do, but she provides the folding machine, I seriously want to buy one for myself because they save me tons of time!

[Steve]

You have a bunch of great contacts! What kinds of co-marketing ideas could you come up with to work with them? Can you put flyers in your step-dad's store? Can you distribute flyers with your marketing material on one side and your gf's mom's real estate info on the other side? Can you give her business cards to hand out?

Originally Posted by Steve

You have a bunch of great contacts! What kinds of co-marketing ideas could you come up with to work with them? Can you put flyers in your step-dad's store? Can you distribute flyers with your marketing material on one side and your gf's mom's real estate info on the other side? Can you give her business cards to hand out?

Steve is right, it looks like you have yourself the making for some inexpensive marketing material. You know when this is the case you can create a lot more material for the same $$$.

I also like his idea of distributing fliers with your info on one side and your GF's mom's info on the other. Have you talked to her about maintaining properties that have been foreclosed on?

And on the radio advertising thing, I have done that a few times and really received no results. I personally think of radio and tv advertising as something that "goes away" as quick as you are done speaking. Sure radio is the media that reaches the customer closest to the point of retail but if they don't have something in hand to refer to they can easily forget it...

Good luck,
Eli