How many inspectors/ realtors advertize at the grocery store?
It has always been my contention to try and reach potential customers at places where they frequently visit. I don't know about you, but I visit the grocery store at least once a week, and I suspect this is true for most people. Two weeks ago I started my grocery store test marketing campaign. This is not a new concept for me, even as a kid; I would stick flyers up at the grocery store, and every public bulletin board in town, to market my lawn mowing service and best of all it's free. I continued this tradition over the years, by pinning business cards to every bulletin board, in every public place I would visit.
I don't know about other parts of the country, but here in St. Louis and the Belleville Metro east. The simple grocery store bulletin boards have been replaced with what is now a full wall of elaborate advertizing space. Most of the grocery stores in the area have a vestibule entrance, where there is a stand for all of the free publications, mostly real estate related. Next to that is a beautifully designed oak display case where the grocery store hangs their specials of the week. On each side of the display case is several dedicated 8 1/2" x 11" paid advertizing spots for local business to advertize. Next to the display case is a very well organized free area for anyone who has something to sell can fill out a pre-designed card that fits nicely into a wall rack. I even see advertizing spots at the checkout, under the area where you write your check or swipe your card. Believe it or not, most of the ads I see are from local realtors. Does the real estate community now something we home inspectors are missing?
Has anyone tried these paid advertizing spots at the grocery store? And if yes, what were the results?
I haven't tried the paid spots yet, but two weeks ago I thought I would try the free area and try to track the results. My test campaign targeted just one grocery store close to my home. On week one I would visit the grocery store once a day to see if my ad was still there. I printed out a nice looking full color business card label (avery 2"x4") that I simply stick on the cards provided by the grocery store that fit nicely into the rack. I stuck the labels on two or three of the cards and randomly placed the cards in various parts of the rack. At the end of the first week, the results were as follows: Only three of the cards were missing from the rack. No phone calls and no business.
On week two I decided to take a different approach. Instead of printing a business card I simply printed a label that read; Home Inspection in large bold letters, my website http://www.fivestarpi.com/ , my phone number 1-877-378-2774 and that was it. I also put the label on 4 cards instead of just two or three. Again, I visited the grocery store once a day to see if the ad had been removed. At the end of the second week the results are as follows: 17 cards had been removed, hopefully not by the competition. I received three phone calls inquiring about the cards. Two of which were just curious as to what a home inspections was all about and the third call I booked by first grocery store home inspection. The client is a FSBO, pre-listing standard inspection. $379. 15 minutes a day. Free advertizing. And hopefully hits to my website.
This is the beginning of the third week of my grocery store test marketing campaign and this week I am taking a wider approach. Instead of just hitting one store once a day; I am going to hit every store in the area, once a week. Place several sticker labels with different ads: Home Inspection, Warranty Inspection, New Construction Inspection....ect. I am also going to increase the number of labels to 10 per store. I am also considering approaching the different stores and asking if I can hang a wall rack for my brochures.
I will keep my fellow home inspectors /real estate community up to date as to the results of this campaign.
Has anyone tried this before? If so, what were the results? Any creative suggestions?
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