Hi
I'm going to be putting an ad in a few local newspapers for my taxidermy business this fall. Our archery season starts in mid Sept. and the gun deer season is in November. Just wondering what you think on timing. Am I best to run the ad the two weeks before the gun season and two weeks after or for a few weeks at the start of the bow season and then again just before the gun season? (The two papers in question are both weekly, not daily papers.) Also looking for opinions on a '$50 off shoulder mount' coupon. Trying to establish a customer base.
Thanks,
Steve
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I would think running the ad later would get your name in front of more people closer to the time they harvest the animal, however, some guys don't have freezer space and go straight to the taxidermist. If they don't know you're out there you might miss a chance at a few early ones. If you're running a few ads run them periodically throughout the season instead of a concentrated time.
Personally, I would think a $50 coupon is pretty steep. I don't know what you charge, but $50 for most would probably be a 20% + discount. Develop your customer base by doing good work and taking care of your clients and they will do the rest by word of mouth. Good luck!
Where you located, sounds like maybe MO. Anyway I'm in a rural area and it seems like most people don't care what's in the paper, they go off who there buddie, uncle, cousin uses. I got ALL my new customers last year from word of mouth along with several repeat customers. I did have an ad in local paper I got 1 single phone call and they were price shopping. So long story short do the best work you can and they will come. Good luck
Is there any way to get your work displayed at a local sporting goods store or even a bait shop. Most owners would welcome a couple of deer heads in thier stores, and maybe a stack of business cards. Try going in one day and purchase something small, then just ask. Word of mouth will always be your best advertisement. If your work is up to par you should'nt have any problem getting customers.
Good Luck!
I forgot to say, kinda along the lines of what ToddK said, I take a nice photo of a several of my mounts on a old barn blow it up to take up about 1/2 of a 8x11 sized piece of photo paper, staple or glue a clear piece of plastic to it on the bottom 1/2 below the picture. I use the kind of plastic used to protect papers when in a binder. And give the plastic enough slack you can put several business cards in it. I hang them at sporting goods stores, coop's, mfa, convenience stores anywhere that will let me. Cost about 4 bucks each and a lot of people see them and they see your work in a quality photo.
Go to the local meat locker where everyone takes their deer. Ask them if you can put a flyer AND/OR give them a stack of business cards to set out for those who are looking for a taxidermist. Last year we found a guy thru a friend that works with my husband. But before that we found the guy at the local butcher shop where we took our deer. (He ended up moving to Idaho) The meat locker is one of the BEST places to pick up new clients. Noone really thinks about a taxidermist until they need one. Which is usually about the time the shoot a nice one.. and then of course they head off to the meat locker. Seems to me you could pick up ALOT of clients that way :)
Rae
I asked the owner of a meat processing shop if I could put up a head. He readily agreed and it got me quite a number of sales. He processes over 400 deer a year. Hunters need to see something in person these days to be convinced.
Just look at this site as an example. Words are cheap, as those who still wait for their goods will agree.
Oh yeah, don't forget a small gift card at the end of the season. This helps him to remember to point out the mount.
Not a bad idea, but take it a step futher. Couple of years ago I was getting a lot of calls, but after they would hear a price you would hear "I may be in later", and of course, no show. I did not lower my price, but started telling customers "for every deer that you refer to me I will take $50 off the price of their mount. When they heard this, everyone that called seemed to show up. It was a win-win situation for me. At the most, it might have cost me one free mount, but I got 8 for regular price.
One way to get business, although not always
practical, is location, location, location.
For some reason I noticed, at least here in Texas, a
hunter may spend thousands to nail a 160 class buck
on a ranch three hundred miles away, hunt
with a thousand dollar rifle, and when he's
driving ninety miles and hour home in a 40K truck,
swing into the first taxidermist thats on the side of the
highway. I don't want to sound cynical but I've seen it.
And the guy with shop on the side of the road cranks out
substandard work but is swamped.
I made the mistake of stumbling in there but the deer
he did I had to have redone by someone who is
off the beaten path but does competition caliber work
and is equally swamped.
is far and away the best form of advertising.First you find some people with big mouths that run in large circles and hunt,treat them exrta nice and you have started the snowball.the hard part is weening them off the favors when thier work is done.Don't be phony about it e this is how the world works.It's not how good you are, it's who you know and how good they think you are! LOL
Advertising costs money, if you want to make it your going to have to spend it. But spend it wisely. All the folks listed above did a good job. Let me tell you what I did. I tried radio, newspaper with dismal results. But it was cheap and I thought it would get my name out. It didn't.
Then I started thinking, what would make me stand out? What would make people recognise me over the next guy? I started thinking about other successful companies and how I recognized them and to me, its a unique logo. So I developed a unique logo and color scheme. Then I developed a full color brochure/price list that I literally put in every store, gas station, restaurant that would take them. As an added incentive, I printed up some $50 gift certificates to give to the owners of the shops to keep or pass out to thier friends. I also developed a website that I put on my brochures, my truck, etc. I also bought an ad in the yellow pages, with my logo and website. Further, I sponsor a local big buck contest and mount the winning buck for free(but I get about 200 radio adds out of the deal). Lastly, I contacted the local hunting groups like Whitetails Unlimited, RMEF, SCI etc. I then printed up $50 gift certificates for every attendee of their banquets. They expire on 12/31 but it puts my name in front of hunters.
Did it cost alot to do all that? Well yes it did, but it puts your name out there, and compliments word of mouth referals. You know, so and so says go to you cause your a good taxidermist. The add in the yellow pages, the brochures etc all bring name recognition to you and your logo is recognizable. It works.
I didn't do this all in one year, it took about 5 to develop the plan. And I did my advertising budget based on how many more deer heads I had to take in to afford it. And never stop advertising, cause your competition will be right on your heels.
This year, Ive got my first TV commercial coming out. Its on local cable, its pretty low buget and only cost me $50/week. It starts next week through the 15th of December.
Okay, my ad budget for the year is about $3,500/year. But too many of us spend way to little on advertising.
www.initaxidermy.com
Could you please email your phone# to me? Iwould like to ask a few questions about your big buck contest. I would be interested in doing something similar. Our shop will be a check station this year (In.) Thanx
Thats not the way to "build a customer base" unless you want discount customers. Have you guys heard me use the phrase "tying a pork chop around the ugly kids neck so the puppy would play with him"? Is that how you wanna have customers use your services?
Try giving them a good reason to use you, instead of the promise of money back. The best reason is because they saw you and your work somewhere, or heard of it, and liked what they saw and heard. As for paying for referrals...yikes, think, guys. This is a word of mouth industry. EVERYONE referred that last customer to you, just ask! Dont do it.
Now, on the other hand, if you have a guy who repeatedly brings new customers your way, and you wish to thank him, thats another story, but across board discounts is building a business on very unstable practice.
There are so many sports shows, radio spots, and other easy advertising opportunities out there. Churches have game dinners, and they need a speaker. Go offer to do it. Hunt clubs do the same, and need the same. Again, be there. Libraries have social events and are always looking for unusual hobbies, interests, etc, for discussion. Once again, you be that interesting person. Heck, its almost like manufacturing customers. You are viewed as the expert. I love doing the church dinners, free food, new customers, reinforcing ties with old customers, and all I have to do is remember not to curse during my talk, and thats for 30 minutes tops! Then I can get back to swearing again.
One place I will send discounts, like mentioned above, is at functions like SCI and other pro-hunt clubs. One gift certificate, dated deadlines, mostly for promotion.
I can't believe Im disagreeing with Bill Yox...The $50.00 gift certificates really helped us break into new territory over the years. Last year we set up a booth at a big game dinner and gave out some 325 certificates. We had good traffic around the booth and then about 6 new clients. This was in an area some 45 miles from our shop. The new customers actually made a nearly 100 mile round trip to take advantage of the $50.00. Or maybe they liked our work. Either way, the gift certificate we use is about 5"x6" and has our name, addy, phone and website. Most of the guys take it home and stick it on their fridge to use when they "get the big one". It ends up being advertising even though less than 2% return rate. Your viewed as giving them "something". We used to do some free shoulder mounts for those dinners and it ended up being a huge pain. Our accountant told us gift cert. were better off in the long run.
Hugh
Hi
Well I did get a few different opinions and figured that I might. I realize that good quality work is a person's best selling point and not a price discount. My concern is how to get a customer to refer someone to you if you don't have a customer in the first place. I want to do 75 deer heads this season not 15. I am confident that my quality of work will yield repeat customers as well as referrals. Getting the initial customers is my concern. I think I will simply advertise emphasizing quality and not do a coupon along with the ad.
Thanks for all of the input.
Steve