door knob advertising

[huggytree]

My new electrician friend has an interesting advertising idea....when he's done w/ a project he goes to 3 houses left and 3 houses right of the finished project and puts door knob advertisments on their doors...i think he maybe goes accross the street too.

i thought it was interesting...im going to have to get ahold of what he says on them...

any thoughts?

[Business Attorney]

In theory it sounds like a good, simple and inexpensive marketing idea. Did he say if he has gotten business from the door hangers?

[eborg9]

Landscapers do that a lot. I've seen services do that for years. It couldn't hurt, they have to be cheap to print up...no reason not to have a stack of them in the truck.

[Paul Elliott]

HT, I have done this very successfully in the Dallas market with landscaping/lawn care companies. There are several considerations.

1. Be sure there are no local restrictions on such hangers.
2. Use both sides of the hanger. Consider selling the other side to another vendor, such as an electrician, painter, etc. It should more than pay for your production of the piece.
3. Another use for the back is to say that here are the streets where we have satisfied customers. Put the community names and the street names. Then add some short testimonials.
4. Make some offer of a service or inspection that homeowners usually need a plumber for that they usually will not call one. You establish a relationship and periodically send them a postcard reminding them that you still exist.
5. Put them on as many houses in each direction and across the street as you have time (or helpers) for.
6. Test not only the technique but the offer -- "Test EVERYthing!" as Elliott says.

I'm sure they are better for lawn care companies who benefit from increased density of customers and the repeated returns to the areas, but until you've tried it for your business you don't know.

Paul

[Spider]

Originally Posted by huggytree

My new electrician friend has an interesting advertising idea....when he's done w/ a project he goes to 3 houses left and 3 houses right of the finished project and puts door knob advertisments on their doors...i think he maybe goes accross the street too.
.. i thought it was interesting...im going to have to get ahold of what he says on them...
.. any thoughts?

Yes - this is what I recommended to you before on two separate occasions. I'm glad you have found someone to corroborate what I was saying. It does work. You already have material to place on the neighbor's doors - your postcards and your fliers - or print a new flier that says to the effect that you have just completed work at their neighbor's house and to call you when they have need of a quality plumber.

Good work, Dave.

[cbscreative]

Paul's advice to check local restrictions is an excellent precaution.

I would go a step further since the effort requires more of your time and you want the best possible return. Let me say in advance you will need to also check local laws on this idea, but it should be OK. When putting up the door hangers, no amount of info on the door hanger itself will close the deal. If you can get them to visit your web site, you've brought them one step closer, right?

Give them a good reason to visit your site. Give them something. You could do a free coffee to a local coffee shop (maybe hand delivered with a free toilet inspection to check for leaks), or a "register to win" something of higher value. If they fill out a form or take a short survey, they get the gift or are entered to win one.

Not only can you "bump" them with useful emails (not "selling" emails, but useful info or offer emails), if you use a survey, you can structure it to provide valuable info. IOW, make the survey so they tell you how to sell to them. Half the battle in marketing your services is knowing what motivates your customers.

As others have already said, many homeowner service providers use door hangers. Step it up a notch and be different.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by cbscreative

As others have already said, many homeowner service providers use door hangers. Step it up a notch and be different.

Yes, Steve, distinction is of vital importance. It is essential for businesses to distinguish themselves in their marketplaces.

An excellent book is The Collapse of Distinction by Scot McKain (sp?).

Paul

[vangogh]

Consider selling the other side to another vendor, such as an electrician, painter, etc. It should more than pay for your production of the piece.

Or consider an exchange where you get the other side of his door hanger.

[Steve B]

"3 houses left and 3 houses right"

I doubt something this small will have any noticeable impact. If it does, it would be like winning the lottery with only buying a couple tickets. You need to think in terms of MUCH bigger numbers with this kind of advertising. I always put my marketing literature in the newspaper boxes of homes in the sub-division where I install fences. (Our houses are too far apart for putting them on door knobs). I usually blanket the entire area. I repeat in the same areas every month or two. I have a very well designed piece - professionally done (printed by Remipub - a member of this forum). I need to hand out thousands to get a single phone call.

I'm sure it works better for other businesses (landscapers, painters etc.), but you need to be realistic about the numbers. A friend of mine has a poop scooping business - his numbers are better, but not much better.

[nealrm]

I was thinking about doing something similar with real estate photography. When we shoot a house in a neighborhood, sticking a door hanger on other homes that are for sale. I'm thinking that is they know their neighbor is using a professional photographer, they may feel the need to use one too.

What is a good source for the hangers?