Marketing Advice

[headstart]

Hello

I wonder if anyone here can offer some advice/help for my business.

I operate a commercial Vehicle workshop offering service/repair for bus, coach and hauliers, i started 6 years ago with business increasing every year for the 1st 3 years, the last 3 years have all been very similar t/o and profit.

The advice i am after is regarding marketing, advertising etc. This is not my strongest area of business and i dont mind outsourcing this part.

My concern is where do i start. I started my business by mailing a letter to 200 bus, coach and hauliers in the area and gained 2 customers from that which i still do work for. Since then i have never marketed or advertised for work. All of my custom so far has come from word of mouth or passing trade.

Now that i have moved to bigger premises and i want to start to expand the business and feel the first thing i need to do is come up with a marketing plan. As with all businesses i get bombarded with calls trying to get me to advertise but feel these are not relevant to my industry.

I would be very grateful if anyone can offer any help or advice on how i could market my business

thank you

alasdair

 

[maxine]

Hi Alasdair

I think you are just down the road from me (I'm in Huntingdon)

From what you have said I think you have hit the nail on the head when you are put off with calls because they are not relevant to you. So don't make that mistake yourself

My advice is not to assume that all calls are received that negatively as if they are highly relevant the responses can be very encouraging.

Even if calls are made purely to ask what their current arrangements are and who the right person is to send some information through to followed up with a well thought out and personalised email maybe with a special offer of some kind might work for you. I say this because you had some success previously and those customers stayed with you.

Good luck

 

[GeorgeM]

You started your business by using direct mail - and got some customers. Why not restart that and keep doing it regularly, even when you are busy. That way you will gradually grow your customer base.

 

[BusyVids]

If you are not promoting your local business with a website, then this should be a serious consideration. An intorductory letter targeted at your prospective business clients is next on the list, then follow this up with a phone call 2 days later, or get someone else to do this. Then you might want to consider placing an ad in a publication you know your prospects read.

 

[B&H Digital]

I think you are just down the road from me (I'm in Huntingdon)

Me too! In fact, I used to live in Sandy a few years back!

Perhaps offer old customers a % off when they recommend someone to you who actually pays for your services. You could also always knock a % off all customers pricing for X amount of months and then print off a few leaflets from home (or however professional you want to go) and then pass them round.

If you are not promoting your local business with a website, then this should be a serious consideration.

I also agree with getting a website if you have't already!

Good luck

 

[CraigHolmes]

You've hit the nail on the head in your post - you need a marketing plan (and I don't mean a 5 page glossy brochure!) with specific actions and result measurement. The website on it's own will not give you growth, you will need to promote it as part of the plan but I agree you should get one, they are not expensive (I've just done one myself). General advertising for your business is unlikely to reap great rewards, you will need to be more specific in who you approach. Also, once you've got new enquiries ensure you make the most of them!

 

[Ankanjube]

I would like to say you you have started your businesses through a emailing processes:
In think,It’s a fact that: Email marketing is extremely cost effective and one of the most powerful marketing tool available to small businesses. This is because it provides predictable results and costs little or nothing to use.

 

[Loppy42]

I think your best bet would be to take a step back and create a marketing plan and this will give you a broad overview of how different ways to market your business effectively.

Direct mail may work as will website, but one off activities will not generate a long term regular stream of business. You need to create a marketing plan that will give you a steady stream of enquiries from different sources.

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[headstart]

Evening

Thanks for your help, I think the best step forward is to put together a marketing plan for the future. The problem i have is currently i am the sole owner/operator/everything else with my business and sometimes things get missed out.

I have learned after a few years now that trying to do everything yourself doesnt build a business, I think i need to take a step back and work on my business.

If there are any offers to assist in the marketing of my business i would be interested in having a chat

thank you
alasdair

 

[Websitehandyman]

I think you could try to look at where your customers are found. Perhaps local service areas, cafes etc, on the back of local buses ?

 

[London Bookkeepers]

You could try the direct marketing again or email marketing if you have an email client base. Otherwise how about a Google Adwords campaign? You can start off with minimal outlay and measure things well. You'd need to research it a little bit first to make sure you target things properly but it's not that difficult - we do it and get pretty good results and response from it.

 

[Ashtechsmith]

The news is all around us, we are headed for an economic downturn. Companies all over are tightening their budgets and their first inclination is to cut their marketing budget. Stop! Let me explain to you why more than ever you should consider your marketing spend as an investment and not an expense.

 

[Elliottc26]

One way to do some marketing is to interview your existing customers. Send them an email and ask them questions like what they think of your service, prices, work, staff, time taken, etc.,. Think of ten or twelve then ask via email.

When you have some good responses, you can adjust your practices with the negatives to minimise this reoccuring and use the positives to create some marketing materials.

For instance, if a customer says that your staff were friendly and professional; but, it took too long to do the job, you can create a marketing poster that says, for example, "Our friendly and professional staff ensure the job is done right the first time." Have some printed and place them at your location and wherever else you think your potential customers will see them.

 

[Matt121]

You've already started with direct mail and it would seem to have proven useful for you. You can stick with it but you might eventually run out of addresses to send to. For that, might I suggest to purchase a business mailing list to a targeted market for you to "resupply" the number of addresses to send advertising mail to. I can recommend you one if you'd like.

 

[CoretiumMedia]

Hello,

I agree to the most of the answers to your question and think that search engine marketing would be particularly good for your business.

To add something - maybe try social media. It's not as hard to manage as it seems. Just think about your customers and post something they would be interested in, but don't use hard sell - most of the people will ignore it and others will be annoyed. So just be natural and create your brand personality online.

This would be a great addition to the website, as social media sites might help to increase traffic to your page. Don't forget to carefully choose copy for your website, so you don't miss a chance to get a higher Page Rank.

Good luck!

 

[SamWiseUKB]

Make sure you use facebook/twitter/blogs etc and try network as much as possible. Guest blogging works!