marketing advise

arfur

arfur

arfur

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Joined
26 Nov 2006
Posts
1,091
I run a repair centre, there is a competitor further down the road who's closing for 2 weeks, I need marketing ideas to try and tap into their customers they may be losing. (legal ;) )
 
Is there a Bus stop or Advertising board outside their store? Alternatively pay a student with a Sandwich board to stand outside their shop for 2 weeks. Make sure he's a burly fella though, just in case!
 
Closing down or just closing the shop for a couple of weeks? If the former then it's fairly easy, you could ask them to pass your details on to customers and you naturally take on the support work. If the latter then it's more difficult, at least to do anything without quite clearly just poaching customers - it may be worth putting on a special offer for customers of theirs who still need a repair service during the time they are closed, maybe label it as a way of ensuring they can still have their repairs done without downtime and hope that when the shop reopens the new customers will remain with you as yours is the better service?
 
This is probably totally naive, but maybe strike up a relationship with them - agree to pass business to each other when you cant service the customers? They stick a sign in their window saying sorry, we're on holiday atm but go an see arfur up the road. You do the same for them when you are on holiday.
 
sldsmkd said:
This is probably totally naive, but maybe strike up a relationship with them - agree to pass business to each other when you cant service the customers? They stick a sign in their window saying sorry, we're on holiday atm but go an see arfur up the road. You do the same for them when you are on holiday.
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not happening, we steal enough customers due to poor service as it is, but I want to "maximise" on this opportunity, thinking of doing a few leaflets for lamp posts in the area but not sure on the legallity of it
 
arfur said:
not happening, we steal enough customers due to poor service as it is, but I want to "maximise" on this opportunity, thinking of doing a few leaflets for lamp posts in the area but not sure on the legallity of it
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fair enough, it works in some cases - not in others. I know a bunch of designers that network and pass work to each other, but clearly it's not applicable in your situation.
 
sniffy said:
As long as you don't mention the competition in your advertisement I fail to see what legal issues could arise. Just use common sense.
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You can mention your competition, you just can't be defamatory (without proof).

It's quite alright to say something like "8 out of 10 customers expressed a preference for Arfurs shop over the bloke down the roads shop" - if you have documentary proof to back it up.
 
sldsmkd said:
You can mention your competition, you just can't be defamatory (without proof).

It's quite alright to say something like "8 out of 10 customers expressed a preference for Arfurs shop over the bloke down the roads shop" - if you have documentary proof to back it up.
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Oh! Saying that, I do remember a goodfellas advert that said something along the lines of "x% preferred goodfellas to dominos". Sorry for the incorrect info :)
 
Make a sign post with this phrase.

"Are You Tired of repair shops that close for a week and show up gain then worry no more because we are here to serve you not to survive on you"
 
You run a repair shop - repairing what?

Surely by the very nature of repairs your customers are reactive. If they have something they need repairing and the other shop is closed, they'll come to you anyway - they won't wait 2 weeks.

Rather than any distressed tactical marketing to capitalise on this situation, you just need a better, longer term marketing plan to take a leadership position in your local area.
 
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