Marketing question

[Nobby Thomas]

Hi Mark,

I would suggest flyers explaining hat you are now able to offer Digital printing, I presume alongside normal cutting?????
I found this works really well, the problem with cold calling is trying to find enough people who want signs and banners and alike in the first place. Advertise on the company vehicle, even personal vehicles, something small on the rear is better than nothing!!
I’m no marketing guru, but I have been in the same position as you before, as you say, letting the machine have a rest is just no good!!
Hope this helps a little mate

Nobby 😀

[Nobby Thomas]

MIKE sorry!!!!!

😳 😳 😳 😳

[Nicola McIntosh]

good luck mike with your printer!! hope it earns you loads of pennies!! 😛

sorry i can’t be of any help!! all the best Nik

[Andy Gorman]

In my experience flyer drops don’t do much. I have found that concentrating on a smaller relevant group of prospects yields better results. I guess the first thing to do is make a list of the new services and products this kit will enable you to offer and then find companies that would use these things. This all sounds pretty obvious I suppose but that’s about as far as my marketing expertise goes. Another thing of course is that you will start to offer full colour work more often to any enquiries that come along which generally means more perceived value in the end product and therefore more moola.

[evo1v]

I know this is different but when i first started with my plotter i tryed the flyers and kept meticulous reperts on my advertising, for every 50 flyers I posted I received One response……………Not enough!!… So I called around shops and Industrial units…. I find that many people want to talk with someone face to face…….My results were One response to every 10 Calls!!!!! since those days all my work has been word of mouth!!!

[Rodney Gold]

Mike , we did VERY well by making up “promo” booklets , we printed the front page on vinyl (its small , about 12cm x 8cm) , the next page we used black paper for and stuck all manner of decals both sides (laminated and unlaminated) and the back page was a print on paper which we hot laminated (encapsulated) and we put this together with one of those file slider thingys.
We then targeted markets , firstly ad agencies , then promotional agencies , signage guys , corporates etc and sent this to them with a covering letter and some other products. worked well for us , we stressed we werent the cheapest around but we would deliver top notch quality , and best of all , we would do so in time (the Cape town syndrome – more is nog n dag:)
We also have “open” days once in a while , free booze , decent snacks and invite a target audience but we do have the space in our showroom for that.
In the meanwhile , harvest your e-mail lists and send a notice out that you are doing new stuff. One thing we have found is this , getting NEW business is a MAJOR mission , but expanding on exisiting customers is VERY easy.

[Martin C]

One word the council, sorry two words, the local council, oh well you get my meaning! 😆

If ever you design a new chair and want it tested, take it to your local council offices whereby you will find many hundreds of people willing to do little else but sit on their butts all day long. But that’s good news for anyone offering a service and particularly one as mundane as print, small quantities of occasionally required digital media and the like. This job is often handed to the office junior who will require every ‘t’ crossed and every ‘i’ dotted, the sort of sales call that the bigger boys wouldn’t have the patience to make.

Try the Leisure Services Department, Museums, the Environmental people, anyone really who you think may have need for your services. Of course there will be a main marketing department as well but in my experience there is a lot of stuff handled in the sections.

[kev hoy graphics]

I think Rodney’s method of a small booklet of samples is a good one. People like to see, touch and feel. I remember getting a similar booklet. Nothing big or fancy, just several types of print about 6 inch square with a hole in one corner with one of these office type paper ties going through it.
Basically each page was a print that had an image showing the quality with a short text message going over it. Like Rodney it may have said something like laminated prints optional, & so on! Each had a small logo in the corner and the last page was all the company details and website with more images but with more details.
I would imagine it pennies to rattle something like this out. Maybe 50 or 100 booklets. Then target your customer rather than just any door.
Look locally first. This is helpful for you because you can give a better faster service & vice versa for them.
Advertising companies, architects, sports centres, head office modern home developers etc these are companies that give repeat business.

[Ray]

I will try to be as positive as I can – I used to give marketing advice to people and even wrote a book called Marketing Magic plus a newsletter…. both now out of print. . .

Anyway, I think the problem here is that you have got things about face. The first rule in marketing is to start with the market – not the product. Here you have bought a machine that creates a product for which, as yet you have no market. What I would have advised you to do before you bought the machine is to talk/mail your existing customers plus any potential customers, and ask them what services they would like you to supply, when you had ascertained a need for a certain type of product, then you invest in the kit to make that product. – Not the other way round.

Since it is done, however, you are finding yourself at the bottom of the mountain, so you need to find the best way upwards and onwards. First I fully endorse what Rodney said, start with existing customers. Look at what you have done for them in the past and see how you can improve the benefits that you have given them with the new kit – better graphics – whatever……

There is tons more I could post if anyone is interested, but for those of you out there who are considering buying shiny new kit from that nice rep, find your market first…. your love affair with the new machine will go rapidly downhill if it sits in the corner of the shop glowering at you.

One of my marketing teachers/gurus once told a group of us a story. He said imagine that I had a hot dog stand and you had a hot dog stand. I will give you every advantage you want and I will only have one advantage that I want. People in the room said they would take the best hot dogs, the best prices, the best signs, etc etc. Fine he said, all I want is a hungry crowd.

All the best

Ray

[Mike Grant]

Thanks all for your replies, It looks like I got a bit of homework to do! 😮