mrsbishwit Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 I was at my LQS today buying fabric for yet another project I want to start this year and while I was there I decided to check to see if I needed to replace any of my brochures. I still had a few there so I was good but I noticed how much the the amount of business cards grew in the past few months. So I decided to take one of each to see how everyone else was advertising thier business. This is what I have found out so far 1) There are currently 13 long armers advertising at this LQS 2) Only 2 of these 13 actually have websites set up (mine and our own Judy Clark from this site...BTW Judy your cards are perfect! All of the right info and straight to the point 3) Only 2 stated that they own a computerized longarm (which is good if anyone is looking specifecally for one) 4) 3 stated that they only did custom longarm machine quilting (also good if someone only is looking to have custom done) 5) 4 only had the minimal info on them (name of business, name of person, and phone #) 6) and 1 that I thought was a little odd to find. On this long arm business card she states several different services that she offers...long arm quilting, sewing arts, and massage therapy! Anyways most of these in order to check out pricing to see what the going rate is in my area you have to call each one descretely to compare each price structure. Which I do not intend to do since I am not a new business and I am pretty comfortable in my pricing that I already have established. I also noticed that most business cards/brochures at my LQS are pleasing to the eye whether it be the name of the business or the unique creativity that went into the graphics on the cards. -What info do you put on your business cards/ brochures? -Do you also have a website? - Do you find that having a website also helps bring in the customers? I have both business cards as well as brochures (I leave brochures at this paticular LQS) and then I have recently started leaving cards at my local sewing machine dealer because the owner asked me to start leaving my cards there, she said they didn\'t have any longarmers to refer to their customers...boy did I jump at this opertunity, lol you don\'t have to hit me in the head with a brick wall. On my cards I have the basic stuff...my logo/business name, my name, address, phone #, fax #, website address and e-mail address. In my brochures I have all of the business cards info plus a short who am I section about who I am, my minimum fee, my pricing, binding service teh type of threads I use, and any promotions that I offer. I also have a website and I think it has been a big asset to my business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Country Living magazine had an interesting article on business cards last month. Did you know that 90% of buisness cards you give out are thrown away within 24 hours!! I don\'t know if they are talking about us just giving someone our card or someone picking our card up at the fabric store or both. They said really great business cards are a great tool. They suggested using cards with different shapes other than the normal business cards. They listed a couple of web sites to give you some ideas: www.crane.com for cards and dafont.com for downloadable fonts. I like the idea of special shaped cards, they are more than likely more expensive, but may be worth it if they look clever and catch the right person\'s eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doodlebug Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 i like my website because i have a gallery of quilted quilts and i have customer comments, which give me some creditiablitiy. i\'m one of those people who a picture is worth a thousand words. On my business cards i have my name with my phone and website info. i have my pricing structure on my website, also i have the normal "before you bring it to me" checklist. This month\'s Unlimited Posibilites issue has a article about websites.... if you like, my website is: www.luckydogstitches.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Yes, that is a great article and so helpful. I am in the middle of getting my web site ready and that article was just in time to help me tremendously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted March 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 Shannon; I love your website Is that your dog on the home page? He/she\'s a happy dog for sure. I like the lucky dog raffle you have in place for 2008, it\'s a great way to get people in the door to try and win the prize. I have a on going promo that is called the quilter\'s dozen...where the customer has an ongoing tally of quilts that she has brought me and when she gets to 12 then she gets her 13th one done for free. I had 1 customer hit it 2 times last year...it\'s a big hit. I am also in the process of sending out update cards to all of my customer base (60 wonderful ladies) that lets them know how many quits they have gotten done so far and I also sent out a $20 off coupon good on any 1 quilt that is twin size or larger. Should also be a hit with the base. I plan on sending out update cards every year with a little something extra inside as a thank you...next year I am tossing around the idea of sending out a "BOCO" (buy one quilting service and get the 2nd equal or lesser value at 1/2 off, limited to twin size or larger quilts) coupon to the customer base. I think that it takes awhile to build up your base initially but it requires a lot of hard work (such as a good rep)as well as incentives to keep them comming back to you and to continue to pass your name around the quilt groups and guilds. It\'s all a part of the marketing strategies we all need to do in order to stay competitive. What incentices or promos do some of you use to draw in customers, what works? What doesn\'t? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doodlebug Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 JoAnn, Yup that\'s my lucky dog. He\'s my "doorbell" i can\'t hear over my machine when customers knock, so he does this puff bark. i stop and get the door. I joke with my customers that when they come to drop off they have to pass their "lab" test and if Lucy is in a social mood, they also have to pass a "cat scan". As far as promos, i always send out christmas cards with a coupon good for jan/feb. These tend to be slowish months and it keeps them coming back. (in all honesty, i sent out 45 coupons, and as of today, have only had 10 come back) The raffle i\'m doing has almost doubled my customer base since the first of the year. plus, by doing it the way i\'m doing, i have very little paperwork to keep up with. (that makes me happy ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted March 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 Wow, doubling your base, good for you! Looks like you should do one raffle a year since it\'s been such a big hit. I haven\'t sent out any Christmas cards as of yet but every year I think this would be a good year to do that as well maybe even send a coupon saying come in for your free gift when you bring in your next top and then have the free gift be a fat quarter or something like that...the buzz of what the free gift would sure to bring in/or back a customer. Maybe could even send them out in November and say that they need to bring in a top in Dec. but the turn around time wouldn\'t be until after the first of the year. That way a long armer could start out the new year with a back log! Can even wrap up the individual fat quarters in little gift boxes, would make the customers feel special. And clear out some out of control fabric stahes as well, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 this is a great thread! I\'ve been trying to get my quilting business off the ground since last year... finding the guilds, the shops, etc is a challenge! my business cards have the regular info on the front, and I put the pricing structure on the back... I had gone to many websites to get it right. I averaged what I found and that\'s what I\'m using... Joann, I like what you said about the $20 off. I have just put together a brochure and I was going to put $10 off your first quilt, but I like the $20. It\'s more of an incentive. I was in advertising for 18 years, and I always hated it when someone wanted to only give a 10% discount. That\'s not an incentive for someone to come in. But, when you charge around a $100 to do a quilt, and you take off $20 it seems like more than 20%. People really like a dollar amount off. good going! These are great ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethDurand Posted March 8, 2008 Report Share Posted March 8, 2008 This is really Mary Beth on Beth\'s computer:) Someone metioned a way to build your customer base by offering X amount of $$\'s off for referals. Then the old customer gets something and you get a new customer to boot. I\'m going to try that one - I think.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyA Posted March 9, 2008 Report Share Posted March 9, 2008 I\'m reworking my business cards right now. On the back I have a statement regarding calling for a brochure and for information on the Customer Referral Program. What I just started doing was giving an existing customer a 10% discount on quilting services on a future quilt (excludes batting, thread, binding...) when they refer a customer. The way the discount works is whatever is larger, their quilt cost or their referral quilt costs, for calculating the discount (they love that). The referral quilt must have been completed and paid for before a discount is provided. In explaining the program to a new customer this week and one last week - it was a real hit. They were thrilled since they knew of others that were just beginning to quilt too...and that\'s business for me coming down the road. I think this will work better than giving a new customer discount because they tend to get disapointed(sp) that as a returning customer they do not get a discount... (use to work in the direct mail business) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeoldeforest Posted March 9, 2008 Report Share Posted March 9, 2008 -What info do you put on your business cards/ brochures? Business name, tag line, phone number, website -Do you also have a website? - Absolutely - Do you find that having a website also helps bring in the customers? I think my website is one of the reasons we have been so successful our first year but it really takes a lot of time especially if you maintain it yourself. I really think my customers like their quilts displayed on-line. They can give their friends and family the link, even if they live far away...and they can see their quilts too. Whenever potential customers call..I\'ll send them to our Gallery page on our website to see the types of quilts that we do... Also, with the website host that I have, I can see surfing behavior and know that a lot of people look at the Gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeoldeforest Posted March 9, 2008 Report Share Posted March 9, 2008 Oh..almost forgot.. we had over 2500 hits to our website the first 6 months...at least to the home page...when I changed my website design the counter got reset. oh well:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwltnldy Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 Boy, what a topic. Let\'s see, in the 2 or so years I have been doing this I have done every single suggestion here. Advertise in Guild newsletters Cards in every shop Website $$ incentives (15% off first quilt, referral bonuses, buy 12 get 13th 1/2 off, "meander only" special (which means, back in one week) Flyers on every flyer table at shows and guild meetings. I have kept up with the response to all of the above and here are the results: Nobody responds to the guild ads. I even had someone say "Oh, I never read those ads" Flyers at shows - a thousand flyers, about 5 responses in 2 years Website - too early to tell, but have had lots of hits, 1 inquiry about rentals that I no longer do, no quilting requests Cards in shops - this has been the most effective along with word of mouth from the LQS owners that know you personally and word of mouth from previous customers. Incentives - only 1 person specifically asked for the 15% 1st time customer discount and I was already giving that out without being asked. So, who the heck knows what really works??? Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 Wow, what great info you ladies have offered--and I didn\'t even have to ask!! I\'ve had my Millennium (Mel) for almost 2 weeks now and purchased it with starting a business in mind. I plan to retire from my County job on my 50th birthday (21 mos and 3 days, but who\'s counting??) and hope to make enough with my retirement and quilting to eat and feed the ponies. Everything else will be icing on the cake!! I have some hurdles that most don\'t have; I live in a very small town in a rural area. However, I\'ve also walked into some great opportunities without even trying. I have an accountant friend that is going to set me up with QuickBooks in exchange for my making a t-shirt quilt for her; I work with a woman who wants a quilt for her daughter\'s graduation in 2009; and on Friday when I was in a QS in Reno, the owner commented that she had a particular quilt that she was sick of. I offered to quilt it for her for free if she\'d put my cards in her business--she agreed. I was, however, smart enough to tell her that it would be at least a month before she saw it again and she was fine with that. I\'m putting an ad in our guild newsletter that I\'ve just gotten Mel and that I\'d be happy to do the guild\'s charity quilts at no charge while I\'m getting familiar with the machine. When I\'m confident enough to actually feel comfortable providing a service (hopefully way before I actually turn 50!), I\'ll put another add in offering a 20% off coupon for any quilt that a member wants quilted that year. I figure that way they can bring me a small quilt to see if they like my work, if they do then they can bring back the quilt of their choice for the discount. As far as actual cards go, I was thinking of having both normal business cards as well as bookmarks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 Dorothy, Bookmarks sound like a great idea! Hmmmm, might have to copy that one.... Don\'t despair about being in a rural area - I look out on 28 acres and I\'m seven miles from the little town - not even a quilt shop there! But there are lots of ladies around who want to piece quilts who don\'t have time (or the patience!) to hand or machine quilt them themselves. One of the ways I started out was doing Quilts of Valor (actually I\'m still doing them). The audience is non-critical, you don\'t have to ever see it again (if you\'re like me, you know where every single flaw in your quilting is!) and it serves a wonderful cause. Check out their website at www.qovf.org Another great startup practice is baby quilts for the local hospital or Family Crisis outreach. Also a very non-critical audience! Actually, you\'re off to a stronger start than some, so keep up the enthusiasm! And practice, practice, practice..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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