Guaranteed Marketing

[rjm2520]

Are you talking about networking groups?f you are try this http://www.bni.com/

 

[scottjb78]

Check out my posting from the other day about marketing!

http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22815

 

[Mushin]

I was suprised to see this thread pop back up so I thought I would comment.

I have been working to get setup with groupon and we have not run a feature yet but it should happen in a about a month. After a few attempts to get a deal going with them and each time getting a canned response I about gave up but... just about a week ago they launched a new way of promoting their deals so I registered.

The pricing is as such. If you self promote the deal they take 10% comission for essentially using their site and the backend. If you have them promote the deal they take 30%.

All in all I am excited to see what the 30% ends up providing.

Groupon is not for everyone but it fits very well with what we are trying to accomplish and it is well worth giving it a shot since there is no upfront costs. Time to wait and see.

 

[flychromeboy]

Nothing is guaranteed marketing, it all depends on who your advertising to, what your location like, and thats just 2 of the factors, I would suggest looking around your current location and see what has been done and works, but also see what can make you different from the last guy.

I would see if their is any good business networking places around you and join a chapter or if possible a few, if its a good one it makes all members recommend at least 1 client to another member of the chapter to stay active.

I agree, advertising works best if you work towards a target market and not just blanket marketing. E.g flyering may work in a low income area as people living in those areas are more likely to look for discounts coming through their doors, then people living in affluent areas, who tend not to look at flyers at, regardless of what its advertising, as they are less cost centric.

In a recent meeting with my marketing mentor, he was describing how he came up with a marketing plan for an accident claims company he used to have (which he started from scratch). He mentioned he put himself in the shoes of his customer and followed them around (not literally).

• If you have a car accident whats the first thing you normally do - call the insurance company - he made little business cards specifically to be put in your car, with the catchline 'Had an accident, don't call your insurance company, call us first to see how much compensation you're entitled to.' Therefore his company was the first port of call.
  
• if you don't want to claim on your insurance, where do you go to get your car fixed - normally a car garage - so he advertised there with posters.
  
• if you're hurt, where do you go - normally to the hospital, so he advertised there.
  
• if you need a replacement car - where do you go - normally a car hire shop, so he advertised there.

So you can see this is a very clever way of seeing where the most effective places are to advertise where potential customers will see your company's name. So what you need to do is put yourself in a person whose having computer problems shoes and follow them (logically not literally) to see how they would try to get their computer fixed. If in doubt, ask friends/family/neighbours, if they had computer problems, how would they go about finding someone to solve it (of course asking them not just to say 'Oh we'll come to you').

And my mentor has studied marketing for a long time and has been to a lot of seminars by the great marketing speakers from which he informed me that on average people need to see your advert/company name nine times before they will remember it. So there isn't just one guranteed marketing ploy, it has to take many forms and locations.

Are you talking about networking groups?f you are try this http://www.bni.com/

Mike Smith from the Mike Tech Show is a big fan of BNI and he can't recommend it enough cos its all about people referring you work and you referring other people (in their respective fields) work. As there can only be only one individual per respective field, i.e computer repair, in a group (or chapter as they call it), you're definitely likely to see increased work.

 

[TheITGuy]

I agree word of mouth tops just about everything. When you have word of mouth the client already trusts you due to the good word put in by your last client that was happy with your services

Best and cheapest advertisement I just thought of would be Word of Mouth!!

 

[mhelpdesk]

Hey Phil,

If you are still looking to offer this type of deal contact me at vincent@mhelpdesk.com. I'm trying to test whether the concept will work with the computer repair business. I'm looking for a handful of service providers to offer a deal. As you already know, there are no out-of-pocket expenses. So it's worth a shot.

Vincent

I am looking for marketing options that Guarantee results.

One such compnay is Groupon where they take a pretty heft cut of the revenue and this is one option that we are working on...

But I am trying to find other options that we could use. Does anyone know of any other marketing/advertising company that operate on a revenue share type system where they generate the sales / lead in exchange for a percetage of the revenue generated.

The key with something like this would be that there would be no out of pocket expense and the results are guarateed in the sense that sale are generated in advance of paying the marketing company. Thus it is a win win for everyone involved.

 

[JustSomeWarrior]

BNI is the best

Let me tell you about BNI, as I have first hand experience. I joined recently and will be going to my fourth meeting tomorrow morning. I have only officially been a member since last week when I Was inducted.

First of all, you have to be a serious player. You must own and run your business full time. If you are an amateur or are doing it part time or out of a bedroom at your mom's house, don't waste your time. They won't view you as a serious player, even if you are making big money.

Second, it costs some money to get in. You have a $100 non refundable fee to join. Then they will have several meetings with you and you must go to at least two of their meetings as a guest. The members will really want to get to know you and check with your references before they consider allowing you to join.

Third, the annual costs to maintain your membership are more than $1000. You have to go to a breakfast meeting once per week. It starts between 7:00am to 8:00am depending on your group. Mine costs $16 a week. There is an additional annual fee of $365. You do the math. It's a lot of cash.

Fourth, you can not miss a single meeting. If you are going to be absent, you find a guest to fill in for you. They call them subs. There are some people like doctors and lawyers whose professional associations won't allow them to join the group, so they are "permenant subs" meaning that if someone can't make the meeting they ask them to cover their spot. But someone must cover for you. Too many penalties and you're out the door.

Fifth, you have to do regular trainings and success courses. These also cost some money and take some time. The new member initiation, which I can't do until next week, costs $30 and takes four hours. And it is in the middle of the day. You have to do it within 60 days of joining or they kick you out.

Sixth, one person per industry means it can be hard to get in as a tech. There are some groups that actually have two - one person just limits his business to PCs through the group, the other Mac. Sounds like a waste to me, but whatever!

So now this is all the bad stuff that you need to be ready to deal with before you can be accepted. But once you are accepted, let me tell you what it's going to do for you...

Within my first week of joining I have made over $1000 in labor costs across two projects. These are bussineses, so they pay more and they have more work.

When you join BNI you will have upwards of 30 people selling for you. Since we all know that referrals are the best type of new business, think about how powerful this can be. In my group I am #26. I have 25 other people who have vowed to refer business to me and only me when it comes to IT (we go through some vows every so often to reiterate the core values of BNI). In turn I have vowed to do the same for them. Any time one of them hears of someone who needs IT service they will refer them to me. And not only will they tell them about me, but they will do it RIGHt. They will give ME the name and number and leave it up to me to follow up and make my sale. I won't have to rely on someone calling me.

I have also made a ton of great connections with people not in the group. Many members of BNI are members of the local chamber of commerce, and so they can help you out there, too.

But I warn you - each BNI group is different. Before you join your BNI group tell them you want to find the right one for you and ask if they have any references of former members who left "when they got too busy to keep coming to the meetings." Ask them what kind of person they are looking for, etc. It can be a tough (and expensive) group to get into. But the opportunities are phenomenal for the right type of individual.

I estimate I will get an average value of $500 of business each week from my BNI membership. I'll update all of you later in the year on this!

 

[KatyComputerGuy]

A friendly face, professional and prompt service with a request to the client to spread the word works wonders. Word of mouth can be a *very* powerful thing.