Marketing help

cardwizzard

Hi we are a new start up company in the home improvement industry. Not got a huge budget but looking to do the best we can with that.

Looking for some help around a marketing push to help us. Thinking both on and offline. Fb, twitter, linkedin, pinterest, google+ and instagram online.
Looking at a few local papers, leaflets( not great for roi) and local sponsorship is a few ideas for the real world.

We know our market and the potential customers profile, gender, age, location, spending habits. But that's about it. We need someone to help identify exactly where they go online, what they read, where they talk online etc. I understand this is vague info but I'm a duck out of water here.

Am I looking for a marketing expert or a blend of people here?

Any help or suggestion very welcome.

rubberdiddies

my 2 cents.....

Establish your online presence and build your online brand. This can be done relatively quickly and cheaply.

claim your twitter, facebook, linked in pages etc.
create a blog....write unique, regular, funny and informative blogs based around home improvements. share these on your facebook, twitter etc.
source funny (home improvement style if possible) pics and share on facebook. these type of posts get the most engagement.

showcase your work online, but ensure any pictures taken are quality pics.
give a good offer via facebook.....25% off etc

Get testimonials from previous customers and showcase them.

There's so much you can do online in this respect. and you can start that now.

Offline, i'm not very familiar with so wont advise, but you might find you need to do some offline marketing in conjunction with online.

jimmii

Where are you based? We advertise in some publications that might suit you (we sell a brand of paint) but their circulations are very much based in Leinster. Facebook is definitely the easiest way to get the word out there we have our budget set to €1 a day and even at that price the new likes keep coming in you just need to do it the right way. With Facebook you need to get to X number of likes before claiming the shorter URL which you will want for marketing so probably get started on that I think the number is <100 so its easy enough to get to.

Sounds like you know your customer pretty well so it should be easy to figure out what they are likely to read and what sites they are likely to visit and its easy to find out the circulation numbers for more niche titles in your specific area.

Offline advertising is obviously a lot bigger investment than online but its worth giving a try its worked really well for us.

Are people going to be able to benefit from the home renovation incentive? That would definitely be something you want to market!

We were able to get a good bit of free editorial when we were considered "new" so make sure you take advantage of that as much as possible.

cardwizzard

Hi,

Yes thanks for the ideas, yeah I get the social media thing but I just have to implement it. I'm going to take a day or two and get them up and started at least. Then set aside a x amount per week to update abd add photos etc.

Jimmii a euro a day and still getting likes is great. We were thinking trade shows, interior mags that kind of thing also. What paint do you sell?? I'm in that game also. Pm if you can't post it here, maybe our paths can cross.

Anone know how the jnrs worjks and how to access that info?

Based in Meath, but will cover Lensister initally, then by end of year 3 national is the great plan:-)

scwazrh

Answering the phone helps Philly

cardwizzard

Lol, what's happening Neil. How you keeping, hope your making a few bob.:-)

Any luck with your marketing scheme there a while back?

jimmii

cardwizzard wrote: »

Hi,

Yes thanks for the ideas, yeah I get the social media thing but I just have to implement it. I'm going to take a day or two and get them up and started at least. Then set aside a x amount per week to update abd add photos etc.

Jimmii a euro a day and still getting likes is great. We were thinking trade shows, interior mags that kind of thing also. What paint do you sell?? I'm in that game also. Pm if you can't post it here, maybe our paths can cross.

Anone know how the jnrs worjks and how to access that info?

Based in Meath, but will cover Lensister initally, then by end of year 3 national is the great plan:-)

I think its ok to post it! We stock Annie Sloan. Trade shows and interior magazines are definitely the way to go but you need some money to invest in them to really have it work. You need to dedicate time to Facebook to have it really work for you there is no point just spending money on which most people seem to do and then moan when its not working out for them. For us Facebook has been very profitable it generates a lot of sales for us both through the website and online.

cardwizzard

jimmii wrote: »

I think its ok to post it! We stock Annie Sloan. Trade shows and interior magazines are definitely the way to go but you need some money to invest in them to really have it work. You need to dedicate time to Facebook to have it really work for you there is no point just spending money on which most people seem to do and then moan when its not working out for them. For us Facebook has been very profitable it generates a lot of sales for us both through the website and online.

I knew it was Annie Sloan!! Who are your typical customers? A friend used it on some furniture and came up great, posted it on fb and was attending a course i believe. Full circle there. She if 35i, is that your average customer or am i waynout? ve heard nothing but good things abouut it but have never used it before.

I realize I have to drive it no good just throwing money at it. Friday evenings 4 to 6 is what I'm scheduling with an hr mon and wed. Is it realistic to hope 4hrs a week on social media will be enough. I guess if I need to I can dedicate more time.

Thks

jimmii

cardwizzard wrote: »

I knew it was Annie Sloan!! Who are your typical customers? A friend used it on some furniture and came up great, posted it on fb and was attending a course i believe. Full circle there. She if 35i, is that your average customer or am i waynout? ve heard nothing but good things abouut it but have never used it before.

I realize I have to drive it no good just throwing money at it. Friday evenings 4 to 6 is what I'm scheduling with an hr mon and wed. Is it realistic to hope 4hrs a week on social media will be enough. I guess if I need to I can dedicate more time.

Thks

4 Hours a week is enough if you use those 4 hours wisely use scheduled posts so that you have content going out every day Ideally 3 posts one to catch the people logging into Facebook on their way to work so some time in the 7am-8.30am range then one lunch time one and then one around 6pm-8pm those are the times that work the best for us. If you like I can PM you our Facebook page so you can see the sort of thing we post.

The Annie Sloan range is incredible and has transformed our business! Our range of customers is massively wide you get people from early 20s to early 70s using it the ease of use is the real beauty of it makes it easy for anyone to do a good job.

What sort of thing are you going to be doing?

cardwizzard

Pm sent :-)

rob_ibts

cardwizzard wrote: »

Hi we are a new start up company in the home improvement industry. Not got a huge budget but looking to do the best we can with that.

Looking for some help around a marketing push to help us. Thinking both on and offline. Fb, twitter, linkedin, pinterest, google+ and instagram online.
Looking at a few local papers, leaflets( not great for roi) and local sponsorship is a few ideas for the real world.

We know our market and the potential customers profile, gender, age, location, spending habits. But that's about it. We need someone to help identify exactly where they go online, what they read, where they talk online etc. I understand this is vague info but I'm a duck out of water here.

Am I looking for a marketing expert or a blend of people here?

Any help or suggestion very welcome.

Hi Cardwizzard -

I might be able to help you here -
Can you PM me your email address and I will mail you?

Regards,
Rob