Advertising and time of year.

3712 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Bill, Jun 26, 2007

BenPaintinTooLong

Discussion Starter · Apr 19, 2007

I went to Austin Texas for the Winter from NY. I thought because of the mild Winters they have there I could probably paint all Winter and get plenty of calls for repaints mostly.

I get there put an add in the local Green sheet ,"like a penny saver", hardly any calls just a few and no jobs from it for 6 weeks, I gave up and ran a add in the local news paper still no calls, By now it is the first of March, I ran the news paper add one more time, only $90.00 per month, super cheap.
Finaly calls came in only two or three a week but I got one job every week from that little paper add, Averageing $2,500 per job for the month of March.
So the moral to all this is, It doesn't matter what the weather is it is Winter and jobs slow down during that time no matter where you are and advertising ya just never know what leads you might get.

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

Brushslingers

· #2 · Apr 19, 2007

True, its a fact that Tday is your deadline, people want the place to look good for family, then you have a slight window before xmas... no matter the weather if you don't have things lined up through the holidays you won't pick back up until late Feb or March. Everyone taps out thier credit for Xmas, then gets taxes to start up again.

MAK-Deco

· #3 · Apr 22, 2007

Brushslingers said:
True, its a fact that Tday is your deadline, people want the place to look good for family, then you have a slight window before xmas... no matter the weather if you don't have things lined up through the holidays you won't pick back up until late Feb or March. Everyone taps out thier credit for Xmas, then gets taxes to start up again.

This seems to be true here in the Chicago area as well. I always try and line up some offices, like drs, dentists and the like. I try and hit those areas with advertising in the late fall. A lot of them slow down or take time off during the holiday so its a perfect time to come in a freshen them up with a coat of paint. This winter I didn't get one but the the last two winters I had some that kept me busy for 3-5 weeks each.

4ThGeneration

· #4 · Apr 24, 2007

BenPaintinTooLong said:
I ran the news paper add one more time, only $90.00 per month, super cheap.

That is cheap. Here in Jacksonville what is "considered" a cow town and low level NFL town with the Jags you could not get a rate that cheap. A one liner in our newspaper on Sunday runs $23. For the month an ad would cost a pretty penny here. I thought Austin was big? We do have over one million people, but not as noticible as Austin I would think.

If they charge those prices here we should at least be above 3rd world countries. Oh I fogot ::Slapping head:: We are almost one now

MAK-Deco

· #5 · Apr 28, 2007

interesting on the rates, you mentioned city size -

Austin TX - metro 1.5 mil
Jacksonville, FL Metro 1.2 mil

Humble Abode

· #6 · Apr 28, 2007

Maybe he advertised in the local free paper. I'm sure there is more than one newspaper in Austin.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel costs $26 a line.

Dave Mac

· #7 · May 5, 2007

it seems to me that it take a little time to establish a company, a new company, may ge t very little calls no matter whear or when they are located, i envy the guys that have been in the same town for twenty years, now thats going to lead to a bunch of repeat and referall buisness

welovepainting

· #8 · May 26, 2007

I think the best way to generate leads fast are in order from top priority, Referals, internet marketing, direct mail, cold calling previous clients, giving out flyers and brochures everywhere, canvassing places, protocol employess to generate leads and give them bonuses for each lead generated, vehicle lettering and yard signs, small telephone book ads (not big ones), giving your local paint stores business cards, brochures, and building realationships with multiple sales reps througout your service area, handing out doorhangers, asking previous customes from each city to allow you to put a yard sign in for two weeks and youll enter them into a drawing for a chance to win 4-8 hrs of labor or $100 - $250 Cash.

I would have to say newspaer ads and inserts dont work well for us. Neither does JB Dollar or any other of that hype advertisment.

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Bushdude

· #9 · May 26, 2007

Dave Mac said:
it seems to me that it take a little time to establish a company, a new company, may ge t very little calls no matter whear or when they are located, i envy the guys that have been in the same town for twenty years, now thats going to lead to a bunch of repeat and referall buisness

I know of contractors in businees since 1886 in a metro area of 8 million plus, who are DEAD for three months in the winter...

welovepainting

· #10 · May 27, 2007 (Edited)

Bushdude said:
I know of contractors in businees since 1886 in a metro area of 8 million plus, who are DEAD for three months in the winter...

From our experience spring and summer are the best times to advertise and I would have to say direct mailing works the best out of them all for us. If a prospect calls us any time from May - November we tell them we will save them 20-30% to wait for late fall / winter mostly becuase we speciaalize in exterior restoration and repaints. Sure our profit margin is much less by offer such a great discount but it keeps the guys busy, and brings in more work. Year in and year out if we send out mailings anytime between September and Febuary we usually get very little calls. Most people think painting in spring or summer.

I understand winters are slow but if you think and market the correct message ahead of time you can stay pretty steady year round. We carry 6 guys through the winter then in the summer we pick up 4-6 more.

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BenPaintinTooLong

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 1, 2007

Dave Mac said:
it seems to me that it take a little time to establish a company, a new company, may get very little calls no matter where or when they are located, i envy the guys that have been in the same town for twenty years, now that's going to lead to a bunch of repeat and referral business

People who advertise in a local publication of any kind has as much chance to get a call as someone who has advertised for 15 years in the same publication , other than referrals, the consumer has no idea how long you have been in that publication. I here it a lot it ,takes time to get your name out so you will finally get calls, that makes no sense, if a home owner wants a painter do you think they are going to look a paper and wait months to call you because they have seen your add for a long time, not so ,they want a painter now and will call you as fast as anyone else.
BPTL

That's the way I see it.

welovepainting

· #12 · Jun 1, 2007

BenPaintinTooLong said:
People who advertise in a local publication of any kind has as much chance to get a call as someone who has advertised for 15 years in the same publication , other than referrals, the consumer has no idea how long you have been in that publication. I here it a lot it ,takes time to get your name out so you will finally get calls, that makes no sense, if a home owner wants a painter do you think they are going to look a paper and wait months to call you because they have seen your add for a long time, not so ,they want a painter now and will call you as fast as anyone else.
BPTL That's the way I see it.

I agree

Dave Mac

· #13 · Jun 1, 2007

BenPaintinTooLong said:
People who advertise in a local publication of any kind has as much chance to get a call as someone who has advertised for 15 years in the same publication , other than referrals, the consumer has no idea how long you have been in that publication. I here it a lot it ,takes time to get your name out so you will finally get calls, that makes no sense, if a home owner wants a painter do you think they are going to look a paper and wait months to call you because they have seen your add for a long time, not so ,they want a painter now and will call you as fast as anyone else.
BPTL That's the way I see it.

that makes me chuckle

, people want people that have been around the area, and in you advertisinment you can say ive been in buisness in this area for ten years, and you can say i ve been in buisness for six months, wich do think is going to be more effective.

I also think the consumer is a lot smarter then ever, and are going the referall way more and more.

imo

do you think a new company with less then a year under their belt is going to generate the same number of leads as a well established, mature company that has been in the community for 15 years, using the sme dollar amount for advertising???

thanks
dave mac

BenPaintinTooLong

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 1, 2007

Dave Mac said:
that makes me chuckle , people want people that have been around the area, and in you advertisement you can say ive been in buisness in this area for ten years, and you can say i ve been in buisness for six months, wich do think is going to be more effective.

I also think the consumer is a lot smarter then ever, and are going the referall way more and more.

imo

do you think a new company with less then a year under their belt is going to generate the same number of leads as a well established, mature company that has been in the community for 15 years, using the sme dollar amount for advertising???

thanks
dave mac

Yes I do , I am not talking about commercial jobs or referrals, simply joe home owner who calls a painter maybe once in 4 years he doesnt know who the well established contractors are in his area, few home owners keep up with that. I came up with my co name 18 years ago here in NY. and from week one to this day I get plenty of calls and am always busy from my adds.
BPTL

Paul_R

· #15 · Jun 2, 2007

Hey Ben, I have been running an ad in our local paper (only major one in a town of about 120k ) for $ 175 a month. I get 11 lines in the Business Services section in the classifieds. I got 4 jobs in a period of 4 months. I have used a couple different approaches to my adds. The first approach is simply telling the services, my stats., and my slogan. The second approach is to make up a clever story line to get attention, such as "Do you have a room that is suffering from malaise? Let's try a dose of vitamin paint. Immediate results guaranteed." How do your ads run? Is it better to stick with the same ad, or spice it up some way? Sometimes I think that people just close their eyes and piont. Seems like the best results I have had drumming up business were from my being proactive and hitting the streets looking for prospects.

Happy Painting, Paul :wheelchair:

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BenPaintinTooLong

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jun 2, 2007

Paul_R said:
Hey Ben, I have been running an ad in our local paper (only major one in a town of about 120k ) for $ 175 a month. I get 11 lines in the Business Services section in the classifieds. I got 4 jobs in a period of 4 months. I have used a couple different approaches to my adds. The first approach is simply telling the services, my stats., and my slogan. The second approach is to make up a clever story line to get attention, such as "Do you have a room that is suffering from malaise? Let's try a dose of vitamin paint. Immediate results guaranteed." How do your ads run? Is it better to stick with the same ad, or spice it up some way? Sometimes I think that people just close their eyes and piont. Seems like the best results I have had drumming up business were from my being proactive and hitting the streets looking for prospects.

Happy Painting, Paul :wheelchair:

Pawl

I keep the same add year around, I might take out power washing out in cold months, and I do put in Winter rates to increase calls in the cold mo's. I just tell the people who I am what I do and how to reach me.
I ran an add as U.S.PAINTING , years ago,(that is who I was when I did new construction and had 8 ,made me no money "Painters" and I got no calls for weeks, I changed my add to "BEN THE PAINTER" and the phone for most of the last 15 years has rang steadily. The clients see me as a low over head down to earth kind of painter, they can relate to.
So try a catchier name, or maybe expand your advertisement, try an ad in a county wide publication.
Hope this helps Paul, Ben:thumbup:

Bill

· #17 · Jun 26, 2007

The Laws of Marketing

BenPaintinTooLong said:
I went to Austin Texas for the Winter from NY. I thought because of the mild Winters they have there I could probably paint all Winter and get plenty of calls for repaints mostly.

I get there put an add in the local Green sheet ,"like a penny saver", hardly any calls just a few and no jobs from it for 6 weeks, I gave up and ran a add in the local news paper still no calls, By now it is the first of March, I ran the news paper add one more time, only $90.00 per month, super cheap.
Finaly calls came in only two or three a week but I got one job every week from that little paper add, Averageing $2,500 per job for the month of March.
So the moral to all this is, It doesn't matter what the weather is it is Winter and jobs slow down during that time no matter where you are and advertising ya just never know what leads you might get.

Hi Ben

You are right the weather affects professional painters. The thing is there are marketing laws. When used properly they provide the savvy professional with continuous work.

One of the most innovative is podcast marketing. New to the term? it's simple. You do a series of talk shows, record and publish them.

You can put them on itunes, send them to customers websites, burn them on CDs. Everyone loves getting fresh informative and useful information.

It's an excellent way to position yourself as the expert locally and nationally.

The bottom line is work less, get paid more

Bill

Peace, Love & Prosperity

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Bill

· #18 · Jun 26, 2007

MAK-Deco said:
This seems to be true here in the Chicago area as well. I always try and line up some offices, like drs, dentists and the like. I try and hit those areas with advertising in the late fall. A lot of them slow down or take time off during the holiday so its a perfect time to come in a freshen them up with a coat of paint. This winter I didn't get one but the the last two winters I had some that kept me busy for 3-5 weeks each.

Hi Mak

Marketing is the essential talent of your organization. It's not a Fall activity.

You must conduct a year round campaign.

The good news is technology has leveled the playing field.

You can market just like the big boys. No, that's not true. You can do it better, more effectively and cheaper.

Websites, emails, podcast, my space, you tube and many more are your new tools.

Use them the right way, sales will increase automatically.

Bill

Peace, Love & Prosperity

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