# [selling printing services] What has been effective (translating into sales)?



## silverbolt (Aug 11, 2005)

Hi all it has been a while! My business is now 3 years old and has grown since day one. WIth the economy in its state, I am singing a much different tune now. My business has really gotten slow (hope yours is flourishing). Up to now, I haven't had to drop much on advertising, but my previous marketing tactics aren't working right now, so I might have to place an ad somewhere. My question to you, is where have you advertised (print or otherwise)? What has been effective (translating into sales)? Thanks,
Happy Sales to you All,
Desi AKA Silverbolt


----------



## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

*Re: effective advertising*

We've been posting alot on craigslist. It's somewhat effective and free but not great. I'd be interested in the responses to this question as well.


----------



## InkedApparel (Mar 18, 2009)

*Re: effective advertising*

Im also interested in this thread....my sales are nonexistent at the moment.... does anyone use email to advertise?
Inked


----------



## cookieinmysleeve (Dec 14, 2007)

*Re: effective advertising*

I just tried facebook advertising which didn't get me business but it also matters what people are looking for. I got a good amount of views each day on my website and set a limit for 5 dollars a day and got about 30-40 views each day. I was able to target certain audiences with age ranges and certain keywords. It's worth a try. I would see it more effective for an online business. Good luck.


----------



## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

*Re: effective advertising*

Are you looking for local traffic or do you have a web site and you're looking to drive customers there? That's the first question you have to answer. Your most effective advertising methods will depend a lot on the sort of traffic you want. 

If you're looking for walk in or local traffic, or tourist traffic if you're in a tourist area, advertise locally. Local newspapers and tv stations are probably hurting just as much as everyone else right now, so they would probably be willing to make some pretty good deals on ad space. Local magazines would probably be open to that as well. It certainly never hurts to ask. 

Also, if you're looking for local business make sure you look for local business groups like the Chamber of Commerce or a Business District Association or something. Joining those groups puts you in contact with lots of local customers, and can also perhaps give you a heads up on future jobs. 

If your customer base is brought to you through the Internet, then you need to figure out who your target customer is and then figure out where that person would go online. Once you've figured that out, look for places where you can buy banner ads. You might also consider PPC advertising through the search engines, although you need to watch that carefully, as that can get out of hand. 

The main thing is to figure out where your customer base is and then determine how you can reach them where they are. If you can do that, and you have a good message, you should be able to bring in some business.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

What type of business (in general) are you trying to advertise? A business selling printing services or a "clothing line" type business selling your own designs at retail.

That may effect some of the tips that people give so they are more relevant to what you're doing.


----------



## CxCthreads (Dec 2, 2008)

If you are a screen printer and you want to tap into a HUGE market, market to bands. There are literally thousands upon millions that need deals on cheap merch. There are a lot of printers doing this and for cheap but business is business especially in this economy.

Here are a couple that are really popular to give you an idea of the deals they are offering:

www.myspace.com/endlessinkprinting 
www.myspace.com/terminustees


----------



## GraduateClothing (Feb 22, 2009)

hmmm lots of good advice


----------



## JordanP (Apr 11, 2009)

I find blogs have been pretty effective and free. Could be different for us because our site is in the retail market so we can send them a free shirt or a coupon code and have them do a write-up. Some of our best conversion days have been from a great blog post.

Jordan Plener


----------



## silverbolt (Aug 11, 2005)

Thank you to everyone for the helpful advice. I will contact local magazines and newspapers in the the SD area. We offer custom screen print and embroidery, but we also have printed shirts we sometimes sell on Ebay and other sites. My goals this year are to drive traffic to my site, advertise, and boost sales.


----------



## Skiddem (Apr 11, 2009)

*Re: effective advertising*



InkedApparel said:


> Im also interested in this thread....my sales are nonexistent at the moment.... does anyone use email to advertise?
> Inked


I use email to advertise all of the time. You may send quite a few out, but for every one customer you get that is one customer you can keep.


----------



## MeyersPrintShack (Jan 28, 2009)

I went to a local news paper. I offered to do t's for them in exchange for a add. The value of the add is worth twice what I pay for the shirts. We get more business than we can handle most of the time.We also are active members of our local Chamber of Commerce,and other community organizations. It all adds up.


----------

