Re-thinking advertising

[joebob051977]

I have had some sucess with running Craigslist ads for a free machine for your business. This sucess has me starting to wonder if other outlets of advertising your services could be effective. I've always thought that advertising for vending locations would be ridiculous notion, but I am re-thinking this.

I have thought of making shirts to advertise free gum/candy machines for your business that I could wear around or use as pay some college students to wear around the city. I could cheaply use a car door magnet as well. While the expense of the traditional advertising may be higher, it might have some sucess. I haven't looked at newspaper advertising, but many business owners read the paper. Billboard ads run around $500/mo, and radio advertising isn't super expensive either. If a billboard could result in 10 quality locations in one month it would be just as cost effective as a locator. Plus, your time wouldn't be spent finding locations. I know this is a ridiculous thought, but I can't help but wonder about it and how well it might work. There are so many businesses that we miss when we locate, or struggle to get passed the secretary.

[dsimms]

I have never had any luck with craigslist finding a business. I do get a lot of spam...

or people fishing for my email..."what is the cost?"  when the ad reads "FREE"

I am not to sure about renting billboards. I would think that on the most part

large corps with big wallets. You seem to forget on how large a billboard is...

it is just not the cost...do you have the money for layout design on what

is going to be on the billboard?  Radio maybe more effective...you never

know when a small business owner maybe tuning in...no matter which

one you go with, it is going to cost you a chunk of money...

it is an interesting theory...

I think more research needs to be done, or you could be

spending money, and getting nothing in return...

[alyssamma]

dsimms, I agree with you about CL. I've used it for other things and, like you said, get a ton of spam.

That being said, I've discovered that people do *not* read the ads fully. So, when people ask you how much, I would bet that 50% of them never read the "free" part of your ad. The other 50% probably are fishing

Kevin

[dsimms]

dsimms, I agree with you about CL. I've used it for other things and, like you said, get a ton of spam.

That being said, I've discovered that people do *not* read the ads fully. So, when people ask you how much, I would bet that 50% of them never read the "free" part of your ad. The other 50% probably are fishing

Kevin

I think for now, a good locator would be the best bet, at least if you want one location, you get

one location, as with billboards, radio, you are putting up quite a bit of money, and you are

hoping it pays off in the short term...and with radio, you have to keep the ads going...once

it has been played, out of sight, out of mind...you could easily spend $500-1000 a day to

run 3 radio spots...that $500/mo billboard is sounding a lot better at this point and relying

on other people to were shirts to advertise for you...that would be a waste of money...

in business, you only can rely on you, not others to do it for you...

[mxer518]

Billboards have worked wonderful for me in the past but that's more with Full Line vending. I can not see investing any money into bulk vending advertising. I would also guess that you are going to get a ton of calls for Full Line machines if you do any sort of advertising since the average person does not know the difference they just understand vending in general.

[Poplady1]

Think sports,  From your photo it looks like you have some children.  Maybe if you start donating some commission to your local sports team, school or whatever.  Local folks like being connected to their local little leagues and such...that is something I would do if I were trying to build either a bulk route or full line route.

You might even sponsor a little league team and get your name out there..

Blue Moose

[Jarola]

Hi Joebob:

I'm wondering how you presented the offer... were you offering machines that donate a portion to charity? I kind of wonder how successful this would really be, but then again the price is right so even if I get no leads at all, I'm not out anything.

Any further input you (or others) care to provide would be greatly appreciated by this newbie.

Best regards,

Jarola

[BnDVending]

I have to jump in the pool here and put in my two bits. For starters any advertising that is cheap or free is a benefit. CL is a homerun no matter what. (Would you be willing to post your CL ad as example and for use to others?!) I believe that billboard advertising is also a homerun if you can justify the expense with having 20+ machines to locate. If you figure the cheapest locator charges $50 per machine...if you place 10 machines from the billboard, you've done an excellent job. You would really need to focus on the wording and ad design (which is an added expense and isn't cheap!!).

As for other methods: car magnet - excellent way to advertise and EXTREMELY inexpensive (again, important for design and wording), college student wearing shirt - where is the student wearing the shirt, can you trust him/her, is there a way to track it, specific number or website?!

These are all ideas to think about that will help with your focus for advertising. Obviously advertising isn't a huge budget item for small bulk vendors like ourselves, but it can definitely help!!

Barry S.

4 - Uturn 8-heads (1 placed)

4 - Uturn 4 heads (3 placed)

[joebob051977]

I've gotten 2 locations with this craigslist ad:

Free Gum/Candy Machine for your Champaign Business

If you are a business in Danville or Champaign or anywhere in-between we can provide a Gum/Candy machine on a stand for your business at absolutely no cost to you. This is not promotional and we will never charge for our services. We are a professional Gumball/Candy machine business. We clean, service, and fill the machine at no cost to you. We offer a commission scale, but most of our locations prefer to have their commission donated to C.A.R.A. which works with the Vermilion Co. Animal Shelter in providing homes for rescued animals. We use only the highest quality machines. NO PLASTIC BIZ-OP JUNK! JKL Vending retains all rights and privedges as the machine owner.

I love free advertising! The audience of Craigslist is very limited but I got 2 locations (sold 1). I am thinking I will be getting a car magnet to advertise a "Free Gumball machine." I can get a t-shirt made for around $8 to advertise too. I'd love to join the Chamber of Commerce, but they are just way too expensive to join, but it would be a good opportunity to network with decision makers. 

[mxer518]

Car magnets are great, considering I own a sign shop I have them made dirt cheap, there are more places than cars you can place these thing that will be seen, for the very small investment its worth every penny, less than one location on place for 1 month can have each of them paid off.

[westlakevending]

visit www.vistaprint.com for free items such as magnets, tee shirts, buttons, brochures and most products are free through vista print just pay the shipping which isnt bad.

I had a hat, ink pen, and business cards made it only cost me 18.74 with shipping.

Shawn

[West Coast Vend LLC]

You could try advertising on your car or truck. Its a good place to do it since you are driving all over your route anyway. It's a few more dollars than magnets, but you could have your back window covered in that see-through plastic, (sometimes you see it all over the body of a car) with a picture of your machines and your phone number. If you are seating in traffic or parked, everyone sees it. If you park in a parking lot that faces a main road, I would back in to your spot so the sign shows all day.

This is a great subject, that we should experiment with, and post results.

Gary

[westlakevending]

I thought about making flyers up and passing them out on cars with a catchy logo. What do you think

[West Coast Vend LLC]

We have done flyers on cars before but it's a lot of walking an you cover a very limited area, (parking lots, etc.) Plus, there are a lot of centers that will come after you if you flyer cars. I think most of the flyers end up on the ground or in the garbage.

I think it's a waste of your time. It was for me.

Gary

[joebob051977]

It would be fun to experiment with inexpensive types of advertising and see how it works. There is only one recognized name in my city for vending (not mine  ). I think that even if you don't directly get any locations from vending, If you can at least have a recognizable name, people may be more receptive to you when you go out locating since they will perceive you as a professional. We have a mud volleyball tourny coming up and perhaps sponsoring a team with shirts would be possibility. I've also heard of sponsoring a fun run would be an inexpensive way to advertise.

[antoniocinisi]

I think flyers might be a waste of time,since it seems that you have to put out many fliers and hope that a biz owner actually reads one.

A billboard will coast you 500 bucks a month or so but they also charge you that much for set up fees.it might still be worth it if you have a lot of machines.I was able to negotiate a billboard down to 400 a month from 500 last year when the economy was at a low,I had to commit for a year though so getting a billboard just for a month might cost even more or that option might not be available.they may want you to sign up for 3 month minimum.

putting a sign on your car while serviceing could also be apealing to thieves,I would put a sign on my car any other time but take it off while collecting money.

[BnDVending]

I think a lot of really good points have been made here and I am so glad to be apart of such a wonderful community! One point I want to reiterate is this:

VISTAPRINT! I don't know how the hell they do it, but they have the best damn prices I have EVER SEEN! What they do is the call their products free and then overcharge for shipping, BUT...the good news is, it's STILL way cheaper than ordering it anywhere else. Like a car magnet ends up being like $13.00 bucks WITH shipping. I am clueless as to how they can charge so little but they are an excellent source for all of your printing needs. I use them for my business cards and website (less than $10.00 bucks a month to host, I get 5 pages and 1-2 emails-I only use 1-and hosting...for $10 bucks...can't beat it) and am thinking about expanding my cheap forms of advertising with Vistaprint.

Barry S.

*DISCLAIMER* I am in NO WAY affiliated with Vistaprint and will not make any type of commission through their website.

[joebob051977]

Along thes same lines as advertising creatively and cheaply, did anyone participate in a Labor Day with a magnet on there van and throw candy out to the crowds. I was on the receiving end of all the candy with my daughter. I had a good time, but was starting to think that I should've been in the parade advertising my business and tossing candy out to the crowd.

[BudLeiser]

Along thes same lines as advertising creatively and cheaply, did anyone participate in a Labor Day with a magnet on there van and throw candy out to the crowds. I was on the receiving end of all the candy with my daughter. I had a good time, but was starting to think that I should've been in the parade advertising my business and tossing candy out to the crowd.

Hot idea. Now where do I find info about upcoming parades?

Edit: I liked this idea so much I gave you a respect. Spend it wisely.

[sbishop]

the key to advertising would be to target your customers. In this case we are talking about business owners, office managers, other people with decisison making authroity. Mainstream advertising will show your message to everyone, targeted advertising will target your ad dollars to potencial customers. Here are some examples.

-Post cards to new businesses. You can get new permits info from the newspaper.

-radio ads need to be targeted to you customers. I notice alot of b2b ads on talk raido.

Also, anything that is free or low cost is worth tring. I got asked about my vending because of my van. It has my company name and contact info.

as far as CL get a free email that you only use for the ads then if it starts to get lots of spam, deleate it and make a new one.

If you become good at finding locations, you might be able to make some money on the side selling the locations you do not want.

[sbishop]

after writing my last post, I went into the computer room and saw a local business paper. they have a lot of buisness owners who read their paper. There are opportunities every where we just have to choose the smart ones

[lak20019]

I'd love to join the Chamber of Commerce, but they are just way too expensive to join, but it would be a good opportunity to network with decision makers. 

Have you ever gone to the meetup.com website? In my city, there are quite a few business meetups (over 100) where you can meet other business owners and network. Some meetup groups have quite a few members. So, maybe you could go to a meetup, wear your advertising shirt, drive w/ your magnet on your car, and hand out business cards while you network. Perhaps a little overkill, but hey they'll all know what your business is!

[joebob051977]

I just checked out meetup.com, but unfortunately there are no groups near me that would meet the needs of our business. I just re-checked our Chamber of Commerce site, and discovered that I can join for only $50. I guess that was a substantial amount to me when I only had $500 seed money, and almost $400 was spent on my 1 machine, assumed name, biz license, candy, etc. (boy, was I stupid!).

Our Chamber has an event called "Business after hours," which is kind of a party - get to know you event at your place of business for other chamber members to meet you..  It's a good thing I have a big house...lol! I'd better save up a little bit so I can feed them (or just set up vending machines).

[sbishop]

Here the cost is $300 per yr. The chamber also has "business after hours" meetings once a month. Each month a differrent business hosts the event. I need to start going and pass out some cards. networking is very effective in any business.

If you are looking for networking opportunities, check out BNI.com. they have chapters all over the world. I was a member when I owned a IT consulting firm. I was able to greatly expand my business. I also learn alot about marketing and networking. the whole purpose of a BNI chapter is to refer your cutomers,friends, and contacts to the other businesses in the chapter and they do the same.  Most of the new customers I got through BNI membership, I would have never met alone.

[Rustinm]

Hello,

I just wanted to throw this out there for anyone who might be interested. My stepdad is a radio dj in Flint, Michigan and him and a couple co workers have a production company that produce radio commercials. Im not sure of their pricing but It may not cost as much as you think. It would not cost you near 1000$ per day, I would guess more like 1000 or a little more for a couple weeks of consistent advertising. If anyone is interested and wants more info just send me a pm.