I need advertising help - please

[Bullshop]

I want to order pens.. i get *4* lines... i want to let them know what we do... guns/ammo/etc... want to attract the other gun *nuts* out there.. we specialize on custom cast boolits

what should i put on the pens??

our motto is *Stop In and Shoot the Bull*
our business name is The Bull Shop

thanks!

Bull Shop Mom

[carpetman]

I have tried various forms of advertising and frankly,except for the Yellow Pages,none seemed to work for me. There was a tv channel here that gave weather and time and had ads. I ran an ad with a special and said mention this ad. Ran it a month and had one person mention the ad. That person was the guy that sold me the ad and had came in to renew it---yea right. One of the high schools put out a plastic bookcover for the phone book. Had ad on it and if I got one call from it,I didnt know about it. Have had ball caps with logo and other stuff. Have ran ads in the regular newspaper and the weekly "Thrifty Nickel" and never got a call from either. Seems when people are looking for your services,they go to the yellow pages. Expensive,but the bigger the better. I'd say spend your advertising $$ there. People don't read stuff they carry around----what all does it say on a dollar bill for example? If you were in a highly specialized business that catered to a very small target,it might work. For example if you were casting gold teeth that Dentist installed and you could make up enough pens for all the dentists that might get some mileage. But in business for the general public--go Yellow Pages.

[Shepherd2]

I think advertising pens mostly benefit the pen seller. Most of the pens I've received over the years were given to me while I already was in that person's place of business. The pen didn't bring me in. For guns, ammo etc. I agree with Carpetman about the yellow pages. Get the biggest ad you can afford.

If you ship your custom cast bullets outside your area, you might want to think about a web site. We sell breeding stock (sheep and cattle) and wool. We advertised in a couple national livestock magazines for several years and never got a call. After we started the web site (my wife did the work) our business picked up to the point where we sell all our wool at very good prices and we have a waiting list of sheep buyers. We've shipped sheep and wool all over the country so we are getting lots of exposure. Cattle sales are mostly local but even then some customers come from the website. Once you get some happy customers out there then word of mouth kicks in and helps your business too.

My advice is to forget the pens, unless you want to hand them out as a "Thank You", and spend your money on a yellow page ad and a website.

[wills]

I like to look in an old telephone book. If the business was there a few years ago, and is still there, that is at least some intication of reliability.

[grumble]

"our motto is *Stop In and Shoot the Bull*"

You can't use that motto anymore. It would be false advertising.

[NVcurmudgeon]

As a twelve-year survivor as a service station owner, despite the enmity of the State of California, most of my employees, and the oil company itself, I found that word-of-mouth to be the best form of advertising, followed closely by the Yellow Pages. All other forms of advertising were worthless. Pens? They wind up in the kitchen junk drawer and never see the light of day again.

[carpetman]

What is a JC sales rep?

[StarMetal]

My vote is yellow pages also.

Joe

[felix]

Yellow pages only if a big ad, otherwise not. Most important are the web pages. Computer savy folks use yellow page lookups quite often, so there is no real need to have actual telephone books with the ad. ... felix

[StarMetal]

Yeah but the thing with the web advertising for example, when you do a search say in Google, it usually brings up a billion hits. How many of us even go through two or more pages of them? I don't. The yellow pages on the other I read all of them.

Joe

[Gunload Master]

My personal opinion is if it's cheap and you have the money, try it. If you never get response from it, don't do it again. Even if you spend 30 bucks on doing it and you get one person come in and he/she spends 100 bucks (35 bucks profit) than its worth it.


The Bull Shop

Custom Cast Bullets

http://www.wildak.net/~bullshop

Phone:907-895-4739


I would highly recommend a good website and a domain name (www.bscastbullets.com (http://www.bscastbullets.com/)) or something similiar.

[Bullshop]

What is a JC sales rep?

JC rep ... for us is the most important kind it means *Jesus Christ* rep

and in case you wonder BIC (the way Bull Shop signs) is *Brother In Christ*


Bull Shop Mom

[carpetman]

I suspected JC Sales Rep meant Jesus Christ. To me that sure has a commercial tone to it. I also think commercialization of religion has had a big negative impact on religion. But what do I know? I have violated the principle of not talking politics and got in trouble from it,talking religion falls under same principle and I have already gone deeper than I should.

[carpetman]

Shepherd2---You ship breeding sheep all over the country. Was wondering if you ship large amounts of them to Somers,Mt?

[Shepherd2]

Carpetman. We not big players in the sheep business. Weavers and spinners are our main customers. Most of our shipments are 2 or 3 sheep. We have 6 going to Washington State soon. To us, that's a big shipment. We have shipped to Montana a couple times.

[carpetman]

Shepherd2---Would bead weavers order breeding sheep too?

[Bullshop]

My personal opinion is if it's cheap and you have the money, try it. If you never get response from it, don't do it again. Even if you spend 30 bucks on doing it and you get one person come in and he/she spends 100 bucks (35 bucks profit) than its worth it.


The Bull Shop
Custom Cast Bullets
http://www.wildak.net/~bullshop
Phone:907-895-4739


I would highly recommend a good website and a domain name (www.bscastbullets.com (http://www.bscastbullets.com/)) or something similiar.

I understand the having a *good* website part, but have no idea how to get a *real* one! i tried a few years ago to have one done by a company (i don't remmebr the name ) it was HORRIBLE! they not only jsut *copied* my info, they took 3 months to do it, no fancy anything... and it was $100 set up fee, and something like $30 a month... a JOKE! (weird because they hosted the NEI old site, and did a good job, guess Walt must have deisgned it) anyway we can't afford anything like that ... as it is we pay $30 a month just to have the internet hookup and the free site we do have (i get the limited website space and 2 email accounts for the fee)... too bad *I* can't change it myself and upgrade and such...

Bull Shop Mom

[Gunload Master]

Bull Shop Mom.. P.M. me and I might be able to help out..

[Buckshot]

............I will 2nd or 5th or 7th the suggestion about the Yellow Pages. It's been around a LONG time. Everyone 'knows' the "Yellow Pages". The phone company advertises the Yellow Pages. If you want something in town you pick up the phone book.

In my post here about buying new tires, you noticed I CALLED 8 or 9 places? I did not go on the web looking for a local tire dealer. Heck I can drive to 5 or 6 within 2 miles of my house, but I didn't want to drive to each in turn. All the places I called I found in the Yellow Pages.

The last one I called? All the previous had been local outfits in town. The last place I called had the biggest add in the section. They didn't have a big picture of their big tire store. They did have a list of their certificatons and credentials, that they were a member of the BBB and the services they offered, the brands they carried, etc, etc.

So that was the last place I called.

But here is where it may be different for you. Why have a huge add in the Yellow Pages if most all your business is out of state? If I were looking for commercial cast bullets, I probably wouldn't look in the Yellow Pages but most of that is because I already know that none are around!

However I understand you guys retail more then cast bullets so an add in the Yellow Pages is still a VERY viable means to advertise. But if much of your business is mailorder a webpage would be an outstanding addition. The Yellow Pages are local and best for that. The web is international.

...............Buckshot

[David R]

I put a pen or key chain in every car or truck I work on to keep my phone # in front of the customer so they will come back. I only use a cell phone so the yellow pages are out. At the last garage I ran, the yellow page ad only brought in customers that wanted a NYS inspection at 4:30 on friday afternoon.

If I meet someone that wants my #, I hand em a pen. They always say thank you. My business is all local, passed around by word of mouth and the advertising (in person) I did when I started out last year. I don't even have a sign.

[Shepherd2]

Carpetman - So happens I know a bead weaver that has breeding sheep.

[Bullshop]

I suspected JC Sales Rep meant Jesus Christ. To me that sure has a commercial tone to it. I also think commercialization of religion has had a big negative impact on religion. But what do I know? I have violated the principle of not talking politics and got in trouble from it,talking religion falls under same principle and I have already gone deeper than I should.

yes, i suppose it can sound commercial......really, we just want to acknowledge the Lord in all we do ...we have a service called Christian help where we offer to go do chores and odd jobs for people, and we refuse to take pay,or donations, so that no one will ever think we are doing it for our gain... we have been offered money and just tell them to donate it to another cause if they feel they have to give money.. we get our children involved with this, and they love helping others :-) ...
so please forgive the *commercialism* sound of JC sales rep... sales not in terms of pay, but acceptance

Bull Shop Mom

[carpetman]

Shepherd2--You know a bead weaver that has breeding stock(sheep). I know of similar situation perhaps it's common?

[Gunload Master]

........... The web is international.



Actually the Web is World Wide. WWW= World Wide Web
:-P

[MT Gianni]

I had a friend with a Lennox furnace dealership. He said Lennox's advice was there were only two kinds of people that used the Yellow pages. Those that wanted the cheapest deal possible and those without any friends. What Lennox implied was for walk in business's, word of mouth locally was the best advertising. Dad ran a sewer and drain cleaning bussiness for years. He felt that his best advertising was a sticker on the drainpipe with his phone # on it.
For a casting business I would include a certificate for a 5-10%discount on the next order if someone else ordered a certain amount from you and mentioned their name as a referral. I would include a give away catalog in every order repeat or not and 2 business cards for products. I would give away pens only to people who bought products at gun shows or product shows. I would send free samples of a size requested to gunwriters [regardless of what we think of them , they get the public eye.]I would see if someone going to a big shoot would put up a sign and have some samples available. From the samples I saw and the set up that you had in MT you do excellent work and deserve to have your bus. grow. Gianni.

[wills]

You need to begin at the beginning. Define the problem. First determine who the customers are. You know they are people who want to shoot cast boolits, and don’t want to cast them. Who are these people? (a priori reasoning might suggest people who shoot a large volume of ammunition and reload for economic reasons, but this could prove untrue) Cowboy action shooters, perhaps, who else? What do you know about your present customers, where they are, what they do with the boolits you sell? Which boolits do you sell most of, and what are they good for? After you decide who and where they are then work on how to reach them,

[Bullshop]

thank you ALL for taking the time to give me your suggestions! I now have some ideas to work with

Bull Shop Mom