any mobile service marketing tips to get customers (credit, insurance, commission)
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I've been trying to start a mobile service business and it isn't taking off very well and needless to say I'm a bit discouraged right about now.
My big plan was to slowly get it going while continuing to work my regular job. The businesses are in the same field. However, I recently had some health issues which forced me to quit my regular job. Now I need to get my business going full time as it is all I can do due to flexibility. My regular job which was most of my income has been seasonal, the business was to add to the season by getting things ready and prepped as well as winding down/prepping for winter.
Any ideas on marketing?
I just started advertising in a local weekly paper which caters to this particular group. Unfortunately, I was too late to be able to get my add in the color service section so it is just a random 2" X 4" b/w add in the weekly paper. The seasonal paper ends in Sept and I need to make a strong push for the fall clean up.
I have lettering on the back of my truck. I will probably go ahead and order it for the side windows as well.
I have buisness and rack cards in the local shops where potential customers would visit.
I have a web page
I have put the free advertising on craigslist and asst similar pages though all I get is spam.
Money is limited as liability for this line of work is expensive and advertising isn't cheap either. At the moment I have just about broke even for the year, but have a couple more insurance payments plus another 2 month's of advertising to deal with.
I know its hard to suggest things on the internet without knowing all the details but I'm looking for some generic tips to help get the word out that I am doing this. I feel it could go well in time. The customers I have had have been happy with what I've done and my prices have been good as well. Actually cheaper then my competition. But I have not had a call in over a month and we are in the height of the season.
I've been trying to start a mobile service business and it isn't taking off very well and needless to say I'm a bit discouraged right about now.
On the shore? It would be tough enough in B'more or near DC
Quote:
Any ideas?
It's not about marketing.
It's about the too low density and too static population.
If you're good at what you do then go up the food chain.
Instead of competing with the local NON mobile services... get them as customers.
Do what they don't like to or aren't as good at.
im kinda confused what is your business exactly? what is mobile servicing? that wil help us answer you better. In terms of your marketing dont mean to insult you but its nothing impressive. nobody looks at business cards on counters. yeah good to have them there someoen might see but dont rely on this. advertising on truck goodjob there but again not gonna bring a ton of people. webpage is great but are you doing anything to drive traffic to it? have you submitted it to search engines? do you have social media directing people to it? and while on the topic do you have socila media pages for your business? as for craigslist, again good job there may as well its free but probably gonna get a lot of spam. give us a clearer idea of what you do and id be happy to give some suggestions as i love guerilla marketing and low ost markting ideas.
It's a boat detailing, maintenance, and bottom paint business. Being mobile is common in this line of work. I have worked as mate/captain on sportfishing boats for over twenty years so this is part of what I have been doing. What I mean by mobile servicing is that I can go to wherever one keeps their boat to clean/detail it.
Saying my current marketing is not impressive does not insult me one bit. I know it's not so that is why I'm asking for some pointers.
As far as submitting to search engines, I have had my page crawled some and linked to the best of my knowledge through google web services and microsoft but that is the extent. This is all new to me as well and the only way it comes up on google search is through craigslist.
I have also started a facebook page but it doesn't have much on it at the moment. I need clients so I can get work to get pictures if that makes any sense.
I have links on my web pages to products I use but I don't have any links leading to my pages from anywhere other then my facebook page or craigslist.
And MrRational, I understand that the eastern Shore is not the best place for business. However, this is a marine business which is one of the few that can make it here. There is also the whole eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay that I could extend to in time.
However, this is a marine business which is one of the few that can make it here.
You might have mentioned that before
I made the assumption of automotive work...
and that the mobile aspect is set you apart from your competition.
(I used to have a buddy that did diagnostic work for shops out of a van)
As to making it on the shore (in anything)... it's still about getting past being the new guy.
And on that point I'll stick on the suggestion of working with/through existing operators.
You only need one good one to get some leverage for more.
Mr. Rational, thanks for adding more info. I would say best thing you could do is start talking to managers at Marinas, boating stores, bars on the water, etc. Start networking with people and getting your name out there. Word of mouth is often the best advertising and if you can start getting some of thos type of people knowing about you they deal with people with boats all day long and people with boats need their boats cleaned.
Not sure if your looking to spend money on advertising but look for low cost ways of advertising maybe a church bulletin, people often like doing business with someone in the same social or religious circles as them. Not sure what type of boating events the y have but if there's some local events maybe advertise in their pamplhets or whatever they give out to promote the event or the show.
In terms of your business since it's mobile detailling and you need to be near their boats this somewhat limits you in that your clients have to be local but none the less join some online forums like this one, maybe you can find one unique to your area. Many forums will let you put a link in your forum signature. Maybe join a forum about boat maintenance. Put your link in your forum and don't spam the boards but offer helpful advice and tips and answer questions. If people see you know what your talking about they may bring their boats to you if they are local.
Make sure you have a facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest account. The pinterest and instagram would be especially cool since you could take pics of some nice boats and nice work you do. Dont just setup the accounts and think they will automatically work, you have to join facebook groups and interact with others.
I will suggest you to keep the marketing as the main focused. Next, Please make sure your presence over the internet and especially over the Google Search Engine Ranking Pages. It will help you to get the clients from the internet as well.
one othr thing you may want to look into using google adwords. they normally give you free $100 credits so you can try it out before you actuallly pay out of pocket.
Buy any 3 books by Jay Conrad Levinson about Guerilla Marketing. jay conrad levinson - Alibris Marketplace
Buy the cheapest copy as you really don't care about condition.
Each will be about a 1 hour read and will give many marketing ideas that can accomplished for little or no money.
Boat detailing is going to depend a lot on word of mouth. Sorry, but I don't let a stranger touch my boat unless I get a reference for him from someone I trust.
So, big first importance, be personable and do an excellent job for a decent price. You probably have to undercut the market a bit when you are starting out.
I would have some coupon deals, which is going to maybe involve paying for some ads in places where boat owners are going to see them. You waste money to advertise in general venues, where the majority of readers don't own a boat.
You can do coupons on your website, too, and on Craigslist, which has a boat section.
Offer something tasty as a coupon: free sail mildew treatment and 1 small sail repair for free with a scrape and paint. Something where the customer feels it is a great bargain. Then you do your very best work and he tells his friends that the boat looked great when you were done.
Try offering the marinas a commission every time they send a customer your way.
You've got to build up a customer base and you do whatever you must do to keep your customers as repeat customers.
I know it is expensive, but a booth at a boat show might do you some good. Hand out coupons. Have nice photos of your work, before and after.
Best luck to you.
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