Sunday, April 8, 2007

Your Marketing Ideas

Justin and I drove around Reno yesterday, all day, going to the houses he pooper scoops on his normal Tuesday/Wednesday route. He came up with the idea of sending a direct mailing to all all of the people on the street in which he already has a customer: target the area where you already have customers. So we went to each customers street, Justin drove and called out house numbers while I wrote them down; up one side of the street and down the other. So now we have about 600 houses in Reno that we can do a direct mailer to.

Other marketing ideas we have had and done:
  • Newsletters to customers
  • Flyers around town (Reno and Sparks) at people's houses (that didn't work very well)
  • Flyers on community mailboxes
  • Flyers on bulletin boards at stores where they have bulletin boards (like grocery stores, the vet, etc.)
  • Referral program for current customers, they refer a client to us and after the new client pays their first invoice, then the person who referred gets a week of pooper scooper for free
  • Referral program for non current customers and businesses, they refer a client to us and after the new client pays their first invoice, they receive a check from us for $10.00
  • Signs placed around Fernley and Reno advertising pooper scooper...these are signs that are either placed in the ground (like ones you see for new housing developments or gardeners, etc.) or on telephone poles.
  • Driving around town in our Hanly's Hounds wrapped vehicle...parking at places like Costco (where if we get front row parking, we stay there for hours because there is no place busier than Costco on the weekends.) We've also parked and driven by dog parks, all of our customers houses looking for people who may be walking their dogs.
  • Justin put in a PA system in the wrapped vehicle so that when people are outside he can press a button and the sound of a dog barking happens (to grab their attention).
  • We are members and attend all Chamber of Commerce events. In fact we are hosting a Chamber of Commerce Mixer (party) at our house in May.
This is not a comprehensive list, but we are looking for more creative ideas. So if you have a marketing idea for Hanly's Hounds, please let us know. (Advertising in the newspaper and in the phone books do not work around here. And we don't have much money to spend.) We would be very, very grateful!

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