Advertising Proposition

frase

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Melbourne, Australia
I had a call from a local Hotel here. They where spruiking 2,000 Drink coasters desgned, printed etc to use in their establishment over a period of six months, this will have our my business advertising on them - which are placed on patrons tables.

The cost is $AUS480.00, do you think this is a worthy advertising investment opportunity?
 
Sounds like a waste of money to me. People aren't really paying attention to where they put their drink much less what is on the coaster.

Sounds like they are simply trying to find someone to absorb the cost of new coasters for them.

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Regardless, People in Hotels are just "visiting" and would not be in the market for your services anyway.

I strongly disagree here. I get quite a few people staying in hotels that need computer services. In the last few weeks I've sold 3 chargers, fixed a broken screen, replaced a hard drive with an SSD, and did data recovery for people that were from out of town and needed their laptops working.

All that being said, the best way to reach these people is Google. One thing I've learned over the years is that advertising to random people that aren't looking for your services produces either a negative ROI or at worst, is totally ineffective.

One business that could use this type of advertising is pizza delivery or restaurants, as people staying in a hotel are VERY likely to need to use those types of businesses. Even a dry cleaning place could benefit from such advertising. It's important that if you do choose to advertise to people who aren't actively looking for your service that you target people who are likely to need your service now or in the near future.

People staying at a hotel are just as likely to need your services as people sitting in a restaurant or going to the movie theater. There's nothing special about those activities that allows you to infer that they're any more likely to use your services than the rest of the general population. In other words, you're likely to get the same results if you were to place 2,000 random fliers on different cars around the city. I've done random fliers, mailers and street signs. The amount of interest from such random advertising is extremely low (like 0.1%). Unless you can advertise for free (or nearly free), it's not likely to be worth your time.

Consider the fact that 0.1% of 2,000 is 2 people. Are you likely to make more than $450 on 2 people? It's possible, but not likely.

EDIT: I just noticed that you said that they would use them for 6 months. In that case, you need to calculate how many people go through that restaurant on a daily basis so you can calculate your potential returns. If they get 20,000 people/month through there then it might be worth it. $450 for 20 potential clients isn't a bad deal at all. If they're just disposable coasters that will be tossed when the patrons leave then forget it.
 
Would you be the only vendor on the coasters? I'll bet if they are approaching you, they are approaching others, so you can divide the potential return that @sapphirescales calculated by the number of vendors in the "pool". How many coasters will $450 pay for? I'd imagine $50 of that would go towards layout, and maybe $0.35 or $0.40 per coaster in quantity, so that gets you between 1,000 and 1,150 coasters. Multiply THAT by a .1% return and you get 1 phone call. That's a hard pass.

Edit: Oops, read the OP again - clearly stated offer is for 2K coasters. So that is $0.20 per coaster, they have to be paper at that price = use once. So .1% return is 2 calls at a cost of $450. Still in the 'pass' category for me.
 
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I had a call from a local Hotel here. They where spruiking 2,000 Drink coasters
It's a scam. I've had these calls before.

The call is actually not from the local business, but from an 'advertising' company likely in another city. They get money from businesses in a particular area, for 'advertising' on coasters. Only then do they contact the local pub or club and offer them discount coasters. I think most of the coasters end up getting thrown out or not even printed.

The scam is the 'local' bit, implying they're calling from the local business appealing to community values, 'supporting local businesses' etc.

EDIT: Here's an example reported in the media.
https://berwicknews.starcommunity.com.au/news/2013-06-27/bowls-scam-warning/
 
I got a similar email today from a grocery store.

They wanted me to sponsor their reusable shopping bags.

Read like we want you to pay for our bags so we can sell them and make 100% profit.

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I called the Hotel and is legit - Manager named the company that contacted me
I would still be wary. The hotel manager might not fully understand what's going on with the third party company, they would have got a spiel too.
 
No the Manager even stated the company name before I even said who they where. Apparently they print their products all the time.
 
I called the Hotel and is legit - Manager named the company that contacted me.


What do you mean sorry?

Made out of paper pulp. So they're disposable. Of course this depends on what their volume is but I'd doubt they'd last beyond 3 months, maybe even 2 if they're a busy establishment.

I'm sure prices for something like that can't be too different than over here.

https://www.4imprint.com/product/237-RD-35-1143
 
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