Marketing car transportation service?

[mc_blue]

I've been looking at the market structure for quite some time. There is considerable competition in the market however due to the capital intensively these are usually one man bands with one vehicle willing to do the work at a cheap rate.

As we work as sub-contractors, we attract fleet work over private individuals. However, I have started looking into attracting more private work - we're currently not even in the Yellow Pages - so I assume this would be the first port of call. In addition, I think increasing brand awareness in the local are with specific door to door mail drops with special offers may help. I'm quite sceptical as to the benefit of a google Adwords campaign however I think I will allocate a reasonably small budget to testing this in the near future.

Any other suggestions?

Many thanks!

[carps]

Hi MC

I'd certainly look at the Yellow Pages - with all this newfangled stuff, many companies overlook the benefits. Pay for a good sized, distinctive ad though, otherwise you'll just be overlooked - and make sure you get the online listing too.

In terms of online activity, there are the same pitfalls as with traditional marketing. Sending an email that will get deleted, is no more effective than sending a letter that will probably go in the bin. The key will be finding something about your business that makes you distinctive. If nothing leaps to mind, I'd suggest looking at your competitors and trying to think what it is that they don't offer. Only when you've got a 'hook' (you're the biggest, the one and only, the cheapest etc) have you got any basis to actually start an effective campaign. Without that, it's going to be hard to establish a connection with potential customers - beyond just 'Oh - I've heard that name before'.

As for AdWords, I'd definitely recommend it - even just as an exercise to see how many people are looking online for a business like yours. You might be surprised. I can't think of a single person in business that I know who wouldn't use the internet as their first point of research for a service.

[mc_blue]

Many thanks - you've raised some key points, which I will consider carefully.

I will start a keywords campaign in the near future and will post my finding on the forum for other user's benefit.

Once again kind regards.