Advertising

Yep. $2,400 for 30 seconds. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Worst $2,400 I ever spent. Think how many margaritas that would buy. Oh, now I’m all depressed. It might take more than two margaritas, a margarita pie, pizza, and jalapena nachos to get me out of this depression. :frowning: Anyone wanna be depressed with me? I can promise good margaritas and a unique margarita pie. :smiley:

Wow that’s not good. They’re offering me around $300 per spot done at the news hour. There is a potential of 169,000 households seeing the TV ad. They say it will take several runs to get any effect. Even at $300 I don’t want to take the chance on it.

I was in prime time, 7:30-8:00, major network, a special report on real estate here in San Diego. Other sponsors/advertisers included all the top real estate agents in San Diego. They had already committed, which is why I did. I think that type of advertising is better left for business that are in their mature phase as opposed to start-up and growth phase.

One thing I was thinking about is home inspectors aren’t household names. You can name the car dealers, restaurants etc. in a town but home inspectors are not on the tip of the tongue. I think marketers call it a Q score. I hope my ad on the TV station home page will bring my Q score from next to nothing to a higher level.

How many of these 169,000 households are in the market to purchase a home this week?

Personally, I think it’s a big waste of money.

I have just been given word that I may be doing a special on a local cable television show entitled "A day in the Life Of "… and in my case, a home inspector. I do not have to pay, just allow the camera crew to tag along with me for the day.
I will fill you in with the results.

Be very, very careful about that, about what you sign to give your rights away, and about your rights to view the film and the finished product. Those shows sometimes wind up as traps for investigative reports on the “inconsistent jobs” that home inspectors do. As my attorney advised me when I was asked to do a similar stunt and took the contract to him, “You’re signing everything away. You have no rights to view the film, approve editing, or approve the final product.” I declined the “opportunity.” After all, if the movie stars get to approve their work before it gets released to the public, I should have the same privilege.

Very good point, Russ.

My page hits have trippled after the ad. It’s just the first day though. I hope for good things.

Excellent.

If the hits have tripled, then your bookings should have improved.

Did they not?

On a different thread I asked about joining the local board of realtors. The cost is $260/year, but you do get the ability to advertise in the local home guide. $5 for a line listing, and I assume up from there. They have never had an inspector affiliate ask about SuperKey, and they need to get back to me. What do you guys think of targeted ads in local home guide (free publication)? Thanks.

Here, I’ll print you as many of these as you want. Pass them out to all the real estate agents. They love them. You will be swamped with work forever. There is no charge: http://www.nachi.org/forum/showthread.php?p=29968#post29968

If you want, you can even go to a big real estate office or even an agent, offer to include an ad about the agent or the agency within the paper at no charge. Then deliver the papers back to that agent with his/her ad inside.

You can also sell ads inside it. Lawn maintenance, local attractions, paint stores, insurance companies, remodeling contractors, whatever… the local NACHI Chapter can keep the ad money.

Excellent.

If the hits have tripled, then your bookings should have improved.

Did they not?

Yep, it’s working