FWIW...
I learned that as this industry and society has changed, so has our approach to marketing.
I believe in "Living" marketing objects, those that don't expire, like calendars. Business cards are great, mine are double sided with the subject's court date filled out on the back, for the defendant, mom, girlfriend etc. It also has my website and they are verbally directed to it to maintain accurate control of future court dates through my courts link. The only value to being in the phone books for me is the column ads, because that is what is posted in the jails. The phone book full page ads are too expensive, not utilized as much and their delivery to households has been all but eliminated. Where I live, they stack them up in the post office. The pricing for this type of advertising has not been reduced any and they fail to acknowledge the diminished value of this marketing option.
I have coffee mugs in my company colors, gold and black, with my PI business on one side and my bail bonds business on the other. These have been given to attorneys, their secretaries (the real gateway to continued business) as well as local diners and restaurants. My t shirts all have my logo on the front and different sayings on the back, I never do the same t shirt twice, it keeps them fresh. I give these out at biker bars for fund raisers, my local HD dealership, and my clientel. Annually, I give very nice gifts to attorneys that I share business with, like recording pens, pens with an infrared pointer etc. I also market at stock car tracks and drag strips, billboards are usually $500.00 per year, and they keep your name out there. You can buy virtual toll free numbers to track your response to specific advertising, which is a great idea. Do not overlook your local websites, I use Southern Maryland.com (
www.somd.com) and rotate banner advertising between the PI business and the Bail Business.
Lastly, on my indemnity agreements, there is a place to check off how you learned about our company. This allows us to quantify advertising that works.
Contrary to popular opinion, my entire marketing budget is far less than what I used to spend on Yellow Page books alone, since we had to market in Yellow Book and Verizon Yellow Pages.
I started out small and remain that way. I do not write a very large volume of bonds, but am careful of what I do write. I have been criticized for not writing more loosely, given my ability in the recovery department. I would prefer that my competition write the bonds that I choose not too and then pay me to clean up the mess, it is far more profitable.
Scott
ya know folks in small towns love sitting on those benches. 