Advertising advice

**kqmx586** · 08-24-2010 06:55 PM

I own a marine detailing company in NJ and i am not getting any new customers. I advertise on craigslist. In the spring I put adds in the used boat publications etc.I also have truck magnets.Have a website and in merchant circle and yellow pages. I feel like thats not enough, what are some other good ways to advertise my local biz? Is it illegal to put flyers in peoples mailboxes who have boats?

**kqmx586** · 08-24-2010 07:51 PM

I just emailed several marinas in the area to see if they would like a contract.
Please explain what your described strategies are.. im new to this game.

**mort2610** · 08-25-2010 01:10 PM

i think craigslist is full of tire kickers. you are on the right path. contact local marinas and explain them about your service. print brochure and ask if they can be displayed in the marina. when i purchased my car the financial guy started selling me auto detailing services for 5 years bla bla for x amount of dollars. i declined but the auto detailer was a third party. that can be you. contact marinas and boat yards and offer your services as a package to their customers. its win win win...the guy who buys the boat or rents the slip gets a clean boat, the marina is offering more services to its clients keeping them happy, and you are making money

orrrr check out the sport fishing circuit. my girlfriends father paints marine art. they are all over the east coast at these boat shows and marlin tournaments setting up counters. there are fishing tournaments all over nj...i was at the mid atlantic 500 last weekend in cape may. winning fish took 800gs. the clients down there have money to pay for the service you provide...look for local fishing tournaments and see how much it costs to be a vendor at the tournaments. there is another tournament next weekend in manasquan nj. alot of people frequent these and most of them are all local boat owners. take your business mobile and offer winter cleaning at their driveway....

**RealProfitStrategies** · 08-25-2010 02:24 PM

Are you keeping in touch with your existing customers, via email or other methods? If not, you should be. And if you are, try asking some of them for referrals. You can offer them an incentive (discount on a future purchase, or a commission for each person they send you who becomes a new client) to get them sending new business you way. You could also check out some trade magazines in your industry and make a list of vendors who sell related products/services and ask them if they'd be interested in partnering with you, where they offer your services to their clients and get paid a commission for each lead they send you who becomes a client.

**RealProfitStrategies** · 08-25-2010 02:28 PM

As far as the referrals thing, especially, you should make it part of your normal sales process (if you're not already doing it), so that you or your salespeople ask every customer if they know other people who could use your services. Make it worth their while to do so, and just that alone can increase your number of new customers and sales.