Flyers

[crober53]

One thing I am incorporating to my mobile detailing business is a mobile wash. I am trying to decide where to pass flyers. There is a town near me with about 20k people and not a car wash. It is not a high income area. However, there is affluent area about 12 minutes from a car wash. I'm trying to decide which area to pass first. The lower income town is 23 minutes from a car wash.

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[Pureshine]

I'm not a fan of flyers but they may work for you. If your going to do flyers just pass them out in both areas.

[VP Mark]

Where are you going to pass these flyers out? Door hangers are a much more proven print material marketing method. Get some door hanger bags, put your flyers in them, and start hanging them in nice areas.

[cleanmycorolla]

I once read that flyers were the most disliked form of advertising. Also, they're the least often read. Don't waste the paper!

Also make sure it's legal to hand out flyers in your area. I know where I live you can get fined for handing out flyers and the fine is more than you'd get for the job!

[Calendyr]

Let me tell you from personnal experience: Don't waste money on flyers.

In the past for my Poker Club, I have done 3 different flyer distribution. Each was 2000 flyers. First one was for a Texas Hold'em training I was giving, second was for a special tournament we held and last one was a general invitation to become members.

First one I did using black and white photocopies on a nice yellow paper. Cost me 10 cents per flyer and they looked pretty good. I did the distribution myself. So that was 200$ Worth plus about 8 hours of my time designing and having them printed plus around 8 hours to distribute them door to door. Total return on investment: 0$. Not a single person came to the training because of the flyer.

Second time around I used a color flyer I printed on my Color Laser Printer and then had them folded at Stapples. Cost for that was about 30 cents per flyer. So came to about 600$ plus the same 8 hours (roughly) for design and print and an other 8 hours to distribute. Result: Again, not a single person came to the tournament because of the flyer.

Finally my last shot I used a professionnal graphic designer to produce a 2 side half page flyer printed on thin cardboard. It looked fabulous and I paid to have in included in a publicity distribution run. Cost of all that was over a 1000$. Result, I think you know where I am going: Not a single person again.

So save your money, people take these things and throw them directly in the trash without even looking at them. And that was poker which has 1 in 8 person (roughly) interested. Now imagine for car detailing, we can't touch much more than 1% of the population...

Instead of spending a fortune and ton of time on flyers, I would offer free détails with an agreement person would promote you. For 1000$ Worth of work you are bound to get a few clients. You could also get people to sell your service for you and offer them a cashback. Places like car dealerships, garages, body shops.

I intend to try to build a network when I start in a few days. I will offer cash back for referals that get work done. And I will ask the same if I send them clients. For exemple with a body shop you can send them clients that have issues you can't fix and need a repaint. They can refer clients to you that just had their cars repainted and will need to protect the new paint after a month or so. You can both cross sell and make a bit extra money.

[garyg7133]

Stay away from flyers. People ( including myself ) HATE them. Personally I avoid any business that puts a flyer anywhere near my house or vehicle and I am not very likely to keep a flyer that is handed to me beyond the nearest trash can.

[hellfst]

I have passed out flyers and business cards. Out of 40 flyers that I pass out on doors, I got two customers, One is a regular now. Out of 1000 business cards that I passed out, I got ZERO clients. I am not lying either. I think if you go to a wealthy area and pass out door hangers, people will like the idea. But if they don't know the difference between a car wash and a detailer, you are going to have a very hard time selling...

[hellfst]

Let me tell you from personnal experience: Don't waste money on flyers.

In the past for my Poker Club, I have done 3 different flyer distribution. Each was 2000 flyers. First one was for a Texas Hold'em training I was giving, second was for a special tournament we held and last one was a general invitation to become members.

First one I did using black and white photocopies on a nice yellow paper. Cost me 10 cents per flyer and they looked pretty good. I did the distribution myself. So that was 200$ Worth plus about 8 hours of my time designing and having them printed plus around 8 hours to distribute them door to door. Total return on investment: 0$. Not a single person came to the training because of the flyer.

Second time around I used a color flyer I printed on my Color Laser Printer and then had them folded at Stapples. Cost for that was about 30 cents per flyer. So came to about 600$ plus the same 8 hours (roughly) for design and print and an other 8 hours to distribute. Result: Again, not a single person came to the tournament because of the flyer.

Finally my last shot I used a professionnal graphic designer to produce a 2 side half page flyer printed on thin cardboard. It looked fabulous and I paid to have in included in a publicity distribution run. Cost of all that was over a 1000$. Result, I think you know where I am going: Not a single person again.

So save your money, people take these things and throw them directly in the trash without even looking at them. And that was poker which has 1 in 8 person (roughly) interested. Now imagine for car detailing, we can't touch much more than 1% of the population...

Instead of spending a fortune and ton of time on flyers, I would offer free détails with an agreement person would promote you. For 1000$ Worth of work you are bound to get a few clients. You could also get people to sell your service for you and offer them a cashback. Places like car dealerships, garages, body shops.

I intend to try to build a network when I start in a few days. I will offer cash back for referals that get work done. And I will ask the same if I send them clients. For exemple with a body shop you can send them clients that have issues you can't fix and need a repaint. They can refer clients to you that just had their cars repainted and will need to protect the new paint after a month or so. You can both cross sell and make a bit extra money.

That's a really good Idea, and I do feel sorry for all that wasted money. People don't know the life of an entrepreneur. I too did the same things, but flyers got me at least one customer, and I use my house printer with in and paper from sam's club. I am now trying to network, joining local car clubs maybe Ill get notice now by people that actually care about their vehicles.

[hernandez.art13]

Word of mouth has got me going, I have been working on friends and family and now I got an offer to donate to a big car club in Los Angeles (classics) so they can promote my name.

And take a ton of before and after pictures. To show off you work, just like Tattoo Artist do.

Flyer's IMO are annoying, but to each their own.

Art