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Thread: Effective Marketing

  1. #1
    Member biztransact PR's Avatar
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    Default Effective Marketing

    I received my ILMCOA membership pack in the mail this week – thanks Dean it’s terrific… the book is setup in an easy to read and very structured way, covering all the right aspects to help you succeed. Note to any guest reading through the forum and who have been meaning to become a member – do it now! …click on the link and join, it’s great value for money with ongoing support.

    Reading through the book it got me thinking about effective marketing – advertising, branding, promotions, referrals, etc… As the book details - keep it simple, within budget and stand out from the others. I’d be interested to hear what everyone is currently doing, or have considered doing to market their business. e.g. proven methods like flyers and local papers, or perhaps expanding into social media. We develop Biz.Transact with branding in mind and as we go through cycles of software development hearing about marketing methods helps us improve Biz.Transact for everyone.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Marketing isn't a "HOT" topic on this site...

    "the banned marketing guru"

    Simmo.


  3. #3
    Member brodie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    It's a real shame that this is the views that are being held by members on the site. We seem to focus on less important aspects of our business like what mower to buy or telling everyone how we don't like a customer.

    We should be talking marketing and using this resource as a combined community to see what is working and what is not. In the past 5 years the way we market has changed so dramatically form how we used to do it.
    I believe we should be discussing this. The members forum would be a better place for this though.

    As for the original question well it's a mix of things that work for us and it's ever changing depending on the area and demographic that we are targeting.

    Younger family's are embracing technology where as older or retired persons are sticking to paperbased marketing as its what's know to them and works.

    We can track what areas are adopting different types of marketing and any offers we have in that marketing and also how long it takes for the marketing to go from dispersal to uptake of service.

    Tim I've been meaning to update the CRM thread as we have been testing out different systems, and a big thanks to yourself for pointing me in the right direction with that

    Brodie
    Advanced Grounds Management

  4. #4
    Member of forum Stump's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by biztransact PR View Post
    I received my ILMCOA membership pack in the mail this week – thanks Dean it’s terrific… the book is setup in an easy to read and very structured way, covering all the right aspects to help you succeed. Note to any guest reading through the forum and who have been meaning to become a member – do it now! …click on the link and join, it’s great value for money with ongoing support.

    Reading through the book it got me thinking about effective marketing – advertising, branding, promotions, referrals, etc… As the book details - keep it simple, within budget and stand out from the others. I’d be interested to hear what everyone is currently doing, or have considered doing to market their business. e.g. proven methods like flyers and local papers, or perhaps expanding into social media. We develop Biz.Transact with branding in mind and as we go through cycles of software development hearing about marketing methods helps us improve Biz.Transact for everyone.
    Marketing my favourite subject too. Branding is a waste of time to most in this game. Its not a game where you are competing against corporate identities on a large scale. A combo of Direct Response marketing style flyers and a good local net presence is all that is needed for residential work
    I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather.....not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car!!!

  5. #5
    Member brodie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by Stump View Post
    Marketing my favourite subject too. Branding is a waste of time to most in this game. Its not a game where you are competing against corporate identities on a large scale. A combo of Direct Response marketing style flyers and a good local net presence is all that is needed for residential work
    There is no reason you can't compete with bigger companies in this industry that's how they got big themselves they competeted against someone bigger than themselves at the time.

    Branding and marketing are integral to business, business development and success in the industry. I see it all the time where people sledge the Jims brand. But if you look at the business it really is no different to a solo operation in the way it's run, of courses they have different systems in place because they are a large business but at the end of the day the model is the same. What is different is that they are great at marketing and great with promoting brand awareness.

    I give you this example; I was traveling on a busy street in Western Sydney the other week bothe directions were moving at a medium pace but as I was looking around the traffic what stood out Jims trailers. Now I never saw the sign writing until the very last minute but from a couple of hundred meters away I could identify a Jims trailers from its colour.
    That is a well branded product or business and that is why the franchise is so successful because when people think mowing they think Jims becasues there is a brand awareness.

    At the end of the day it doesnt matter how many hours you worked this week or what equipment you have, if you don't have a marketing plan backing you then it's all pointless.

  6. #6
    Senior Member djkgrounds's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by brodie View Post

    At the end of the day it doesnt matter how many hours you worked this week or what equipment you have, if you don't have a marketing plan backing you then it's all pointless.
    Exactly, I have been slowly changing the way I market my business as I only work it a couple of days a week at the moment due to family commitments. But hoping in the next couple of months I will be going full time 5-6 days a week.

    When starting out it was more word of mouth and friends yards, then I moved on to advertising through gumtree and getting the young families that want everything for free (phasing this out very fast). I am now advertising in the yellowpages online and getting many calls a day from people that actually want the work.
    DJK Grounds & Gardens
    0416 931 867
    http://www.facebook.com/DJKGrounds?ref=hl

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    Member mowbro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    I really enjoy the discussion that comes from talking about marketing, advertising and branding; I've got a degree in it afterall. However, you can understand why it's not a 'hot' topic on a forum like this given that there are many of us on here who are directcompetitors. Now I'm very friendly with some of my direct competitors, and there is plenty of work out there for all of us.

    I agree there is a spot for some of this though. Perhaps we can be helping each other to develop marketing plans etc and encourage people to realise that forming a strategy and making decisions based on what works for you in your particular situation. Now in saying that, I know there are people who are not my direct competitors, so I'm more than happy to share some of the strategy that I've put in place and what has / hasnt worked for me. But you'd have to be in a different state, and I probably wouldn't share it on the open forum

  8. #8
    Member of forum Stump's Avatar
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    No way Budd Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by brodie View Post
    There is no reason you can't compete with bigger companies in this industry that's how they got big themselves they competeted against someone bigger than themselves at the time.

    Branding and marketing are integral to business, business development and success in the industry. I see it all the time where people sledge the Jims brand. But if you look at the business it really is no different to a solo operation in the way it's run, of courses they have different systems in place because they are a large business but at the end of the day the model is the same. What is different is that they are great at marketing and great with promoting brand awareness.

    I give you this example; I was traveling on a busy street in Western Sydney the other week bothe directions were moving at a medium pace but as I was looking around the traffic what stood out Jims trailers. Now I never saw the sign writing until the very last minute but from a couple of hundred meters away I could identify a Jims trailers from its colour.
    That is a well branded product or business and that is why the franchise is so successful because when people think mowing they think Jims becasues there is a brand awareness.

    At the end of the day it doesnt matter how many hours you worked this week or what equipment you have, if you don't have a marketing plan backing you then it's all pointless.
    If you were starting out a franchising business and had hundreds of thousands of dollars to compete with the likes of Jim then branding would be important. We are talking Indie business here, and branding is a complete waste of time and money where residential lawns are concerned. There really are no secrets where marketing is concerned, as every idea can be found somewhere on youtube. As far as being worried about the competition,..thats something to forget about too. The most succesful marketer in the world could post his secret on this forum, and 80% of guys would intend to do it, 19% would do it for a few weeks, and if you are lucky 1% would do it longer.
    Hell,...95% of guys do not even have a regular marketing budget, and the ones that do probably only use one medium.
    I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather.....not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car!!!

  9. #9
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by mowbro View Post
    I really enjoy the discussion that comes from talking about marketing, advertising and branding; I've got a degree in it afterall. However, you can understand why it's not a 'hot' topic on a forum like this given that there are many of us on here who are directcompetitors. Now I'm very friendly with some of my direct competitors, and there is plenty of work out there for all of us.

    I agree there is a spot for some of this though. Perhaps we can be helping each other to develop marketing plans etc and encourage people to realise that forming a strategy and making decisions based on what works for you in your particular situation. Now in saying that, I know there are people who are not my direct competitors, so I'm more than happy to share some of the strategy that I've put in place and what has / hasnt worked for me. But you'd have to be in a different state, and I probably wouldn't share it on the open forum
    I agree, but I still don't share even if they are in another state

  10. #10
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by brodie View Post

    At the end of the day it doesnt matter how many hours you worked this week or what equipment you have, if you don't have a marketing plan backing you then it's all pointless.


    Can you elaborate on this statement a bit mate. I think I fall in to the category of it being all pointless. It's an interesting topic and i'm interested to hear your thoughts and anyone elses for that matter.

  11. #11
    Member brodie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by steveo View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by brodie View Post

    At the end of the day it doesnt matter how many hours you worked this week or what equipment you have, if you don't have a marketing plan backing you then it's all pointless.


    Can you elaborate on this statement a bit mate. I think I fall in to the category of it being all pointless. It's an interesting topic and i'm interested to hear your thoughts and anyone elses for that matter.

    I was short on time and should have elaborated more at rehearsal time but what I meant was that you can have all the equipment in the world best of the best but if you don't have a customer base you won't be using all that equipment.

    I see a lot of business owners who focus on the customers they have right now and if another one comes along then that's just a bonus, but there doesn't seem to be thought into a continuing on their customer base.

    I take an example from an American lawn company that I know quite well;
    He had a medium sized business with a few crews, all weekly mowing and all his customers in one township. Now this sounds great short compact run down on expenses. BUT in one day he lost his entire customer base how? A cyclone went through the town and destroyed his customers house.

    The point of the story is he did no marketing to expand his customer base and rested on his word of mouth referrals. This is fine in a perfect world but in reality we all loose for some reason but having plans in place allow us to better ride out the bad times.
    If you are constantly selling yourself and bringing in referals then there is alway something to fall back on.


    In no way do I mean to offend, isolate or diminish what people are doing. I am passionate about marketing and branding and this industry and I really just want to see us all succeed. I realise that my passion can come through as obnoxious at times and I appologise for that

  12. #12
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    It's good to see there are some passionate comrades out there that understands the importance of marketing.

    Without marketing you wouldn't have a business full stop!

    Direct response is the best way to advertise.... If done right you will create a "brand" whilst doing direct response advertising.

    In saying that when I use to advertise for mowing I don't advertise a business name... No one honestly cared.

    If you want a large business with multiple crews or strata and commercial work then branding "can" play an important role.... not as much as who you know though!

    Anyway... Good luck to you all and invest time in your own personal development and business development. Put the head phones on and download YouTube clips the night before... Listen to an hour or 2 a day and you will be in the top 1% within no time

    Ps. When is my ban honestly going to be lifted? I feel like a ILMCOA ghost that can be heard but not seen



    Simmo

  13. #13
    Member Macka's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    to busy to do any marketing, thinking of taking my phone the yellow pages and gumtree.

  14. #14
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    hi brodie no offence taken, was just interested in what you had to say, like I say it's an interesting topic, even word of mouth is a form of marketing

  15. #15
    Member brodie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Effective Marketing

    Quote Originally Posted by steveo View Post
    hi brodie no offence taken, was just interested in what you had to say, like I say it's an interesting topic, even word of mouth is a form of marketing
    Agreed and still to this day one of our most powerful marketing tools. A referal from a good customer generally produces another good customer.

    I see you are from Canberra? In my starting years of business we were called in to do some tree work and word of mouth spread like wild fire. A one day job turned into 3 weeks moving from referal to referal.

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