Using note pads to market your business

[johnson28]

Many of my business friends have started to use personalised note pads or post it notes to hand out. Is this a good idea or old fashioned? (I run an landscape business)

I got a few prices. They vary from under £200 up to £1,000 quid. Should I use my limited budget of £2,000 on e-marketing of printed handsouts?

[Peter Bowen]

Hi, I used to own a garden centre and a landscape business. it was in south africa so what we did there might not be exactly right for your area.

Your advertising budget must do two things: get to the right people and tell them how much better their lives will be if they use your services.

You should look at two things when selecting the medium

1. Reach

Reach is how many of the right people you can put your message in front of.

2. Frequency

How often you can repeat your message to the right people

So, the first thing you have to do is to define who the right people are: I would guess that there is a geographical constraint to where you can work - lose all your profit if you're driving 100 miles. The right people will also own homes with gardens. (Tenants are unlikely to spend on the gardens and homes with no gardens probably won't need your services)

So define your target area, find out how many houses with gardens there are and work out the best way to reach these people.

You're probably better off with a smaller reach and a greater frequency - ie advertise more often to a smaller group than once only to a large group

Cheers

Pete

[MarkCrowther]

I was wondering the same thing and in fact got some printed by the online company called Vistaprint.

To be precise I got A4 letterheads (25), Sticky notes (5), logo'd envelopes (25), desk calendar (1) and business cards (250) for about £30. The quality was acceptable and for future use I'd hit a print shop, get my logo designed properly, see proofs.

I've currently used up about 20 business cards. My intention is to use the other items as small gifts to those who hire me on contracts. Also, to have them available as part of a goody bag for a Software testing expo I'm planning. Obviously a few more than 25 though.

I have seen great quality items including pens, key-rings, caps, shirts, etc. as I'm sure you know - but I'm not convinced they're THE tool for getting the message across to my target audience and keeping AG Technical in mind.

Of course they may be just the thing; a subtle non-pushy reminder, everpresent by being practical to use and adding some form of 'value' to your business by being so, maybe people just think it's cool to get branded stuff for free...

hmm, thinking about it I do feel hard done by if a supplier doesn't come with the goody bag (take note)

Mark.

[stratigen]

Originally Posted by johnson28

Many of my business friends have started to use personalised note pads or post it notes to hand out. Is this a good idea or old fashioned? (I run an landscape business)

I got a few prices. They vary from under £200 up to £1,000 quid. Should I use my limited budget of £2,000 on e-marketing of printed handsouts?

Hi,

You certainly don't need to be spending 200 quid just to get some personalised notepads. As Mark suggested, Vista Print is a low-cost printing solution. I've used them too, for various things - prices are so cheap, you can do some trial and error ... to determine what works best.

SJ.

[Ender]

The problem with a notepad is that it's gone in a few weeks. I'd prefer something more permanent like a decent pen or calendar for example.

[Peter Bowen]

Whatever medium you choose you should make sure that the message is worth the cost of the ink.

Your company name, a catchy slogan, your logo etc is not worth much (please forgive me for being so blunt here) - the customer really wants to know how what you do is going to make their lives better.

A hero of mine once told me "Big business can afford to build a brand - small business needs to make a sale - today" Is your pen/pad/calendar going to help you make a sale?

Cheers

Pete

[MarkCrowther]

Good point Pete,

I think it's too easy to shift focus and start thinking brand, logos, colours, marketing merchandise, slogans, etc. and risk not clearly defining why a customer would benefit from doing business with you, what value you bring them, what it is you do that no one else can.

My view is items such as Post-It pads, pens, etc. are prompts, reminders, just to stop a possibly fickle customer 'forgetting' about you in between sales. I guess there's a whole other conversation about this area.

I'm also a big fan of the 'goody bag' as mentioned before

Mark.

[Richie]

I think it depends on who you are giving it to, we supplied our clients with post it note pads which suited them as they don't all have desks and an office.

[speedyturtle]

Originally Posted by Richie

I think it depends on who you are giving it to, we supplied our clients with post it note pads which suited them as they don't all have desks and an office.

I agree with richie, if u give ur notpads to house holds and they use it for there shopping list than its a waste of money.

[sash gold]

Hello

might i suggest a one stop shop to get all your advertising and print done.


when started my business up it was difficult to make special journies out to each and every business that might be able to help me. I realized that the best friend a new company can have is the internet. from the comfort of my favourite armchair i could research everything from competition to best prices for materials and services.

on my travels I came across a site which enables the customer to either design their own stationary on the website and then pay and within a week it all arrived. Or you could design your stuff before and they would check it and print it for you. The more I looked the more I found, from stickers to billboards. Stamps to brochures. They were called flyer24.co.uk

I hope I was some help.