Facebook Adds Birthday Sponsor Spot

I am not going to lie, it’s pretty freaking ingenious. Especially if Starbucks is paying on a per click base. I’m guessing that this little ad is worth it’s weight for both facebook and Starbucks. If only pest control were as cool as coffee. Unless… maybe… do you think customers would buy pest control for their friends??? Uh… Nevermind. Snap out of it. Wake up and smell the coffee!

Facebook Birthday Targeting

Apparently at one point they had birthday targeting. Then it seems they relinquished it. Perhaps now it has a 2nd life in this new ad layout.  Facebook birthday ads are back. Perhaps this time to stay since they may actually be targeting the birthday present buyers rather than the birthday present receivers??

Home & Garden Shows for Marketing Pest Control?

Google
by Thomas B.
I was approached about setting up a booth for a Home and Garden Show in San Antonio, Texas. Pest control should do well in a marketing effort targeting homeowners, right? The promotional material sent to me included the following quote:

“Dollar for dollar, consumer shows continue to offer the
most significant return on investment and are the most
effective use of the marketing dollar.”

– The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 2007

Intrigued, I searched this article out online. …It was no where to be found.

Reviewing the Quote

Beyond the fact that I could not find this quote anywhere online, I see some flaws here. The quote is 5 years old. A ton has changed in 5 years. Internet marketing is still in it’s infancy. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that internet marketing can be beat on ROI. But that’s only speaking from my experience as a pest control guy. As it were, the fully report cannot be located online, therefore I cannot even determine if internet marketing was considered in the study. The quote alone a reveals nothing as to the business or businesses that they used to determine that Home Shows were the best ROI for marketing dollars. Sorry, but this quote does nothing for me. I need real data please.

Marketing Dollar for Marketing Dollar best ROI

market 1 (Photo credit: tim caynes)

Where would you put your money for the best marketing ROI? Well… that really depends on who YOU are. If you expect to get the exact same results as everyone else in a specific marketing avenue regardless of your business, of you location, or of your target audience then you don’t understand marketing. “Consumer Shows” probably work extremely well for the wedding industry. It’s a very niche audience, the attendees are looking to buy your service. But for the vast audience of “Homeowners”, not all of them will need new flooring, new windows, or new appliances. And many of them will not show up at a Home Show with the sole intention of finding a pest control company. Therefore, it becomes a harder sale. An exterminator’s ROI is not going to be the same. And the San Antonio Home and Garden show isn’t cheap, well not by my standards. How many pest control services would one have to perform to recoup the money and time investment?

Weighing Marketing ROI

Don’t buy into the “Branding” concept. Don’t just assume that you have to brand your business and that the ROI can not be determined for every marketing endeavor. The best way to determine ROI is with hard numbers. Find a measuring stick and use it. And work it backwards. How many widgets do I have to sell to break even on a given marketing campaign? Does that number seem feasible with the size and demographics of the audience? When it comes to numbers, my accountant has taught me to error on the side of caution. Be realistic. Look at the worst case scenario. Once you determine how you will measure the success and considered the value at the worst case scenario, then you can proceed and report on the success or failure.

but hey… i am just a pest control guy.

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Online Reviewers wield great power for better or worse

Dealing with happy customers and positive experiences which lead to wonderful online reviews is very rewarding.

But, dealing with a negative experience and the threat of a bad reviews is painful, as explained by one restaurant owner. A user of Yelp himself he finds it repulsive and revolutionary that a tool that can do so much good can be used for a weapon of extortion.

Read it hear: http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/05/30/restaurants-say-online-reviewers-exploit-their-power

I couldn’t help but leave my thoughts and comments, despite the horrid abuse or even the sometimes justified vindication users have, online reviews are changing the buying, shopping, and business world.

Online Reviews are Powerful

You give a man an inch and he takes a mile.

…but the good news for small businesses is that instead of spending $10k a month in newspaper or yellowbook advertising, they can spend time and energy impressing their clients and earning good reviews.

I know that I am just a pest control guy, but consider this, $10k a month for a full page phone book ad, now take that $10k a month and invest in improving your product or service. Bulwark did just that. We cut phonebook ads and put in back into operations and ultimately our pest control technicians’ pocket. It paid off. Instead of wasting money on advertising that no longer worked, we invested in our people and have reaped the reward.

So yes, review sites like this have a down side, but the rewards on the flip side are well worth the occasional bump.

Invest in Your Future

Investing in your product and/or your people is part of making sure your business survives. Did you know that Gillette invested six years and $750 million to develop it’s razor the Mach3? A razor. A razor that only costs buyers $6 to $10. I can’t fathom spending that kind of money on a razor. How many would they have to sell to make that back? But you know what, it worked. It was a success. The razor is phenomenal. I use it and I love it. That razor captured 20% of the razor market after it’s launch.

An old proverb about investing the future says it the best:

If you are investing for 1 year, plant corn.

If you are investing for 10 years plant trees.

If you are investing for 100 years, plant people.

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Promoted Tweet on Pest Control Twitter Stream by WHO?

A Promoted Tweet on Pest Control term by an electrical company?

“Technology has to be invented or adopted.”  – Jared Diamond

Okay so this is a cool quote and all, but why?

Why would GE want to promote this tweet on the pest control stream? Where is the connection? Did someone just do some keyword research and find pest control related to technology?  Are exterminators a large consumer of light bulbs? Sorry, just not getting it.  Pest Control Technology… Hmmm…. I mean there is a pest control technology magazine. And I often feel that Bulwark Exterminating is becoming more of a technology company than a residential pest control service… but still not getting the full picture here.

I guess the plus side to this is that I am blogging about this simply out of awe. But does it make me more inclined to buy from the promoter of said tweet?

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Image by Thos003 via Flickr

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Christmas Lights Ditto!

I was just emailed this photo… found it funny. Would love to see my neighbors do this. The guy down the street from me has 180 channels for Christmas lights on his home. He sets the lights by channels to music with a computer program that uses an equalizer, fade-in, fade-out, note recognition, instrument recognition… He has another program that helps him designate zones on the home so that he can construct his light show by zones. He tells me that Channel 4 news is going to be down to video tape his home this Friday night. I decided to help out and lend him a couple of power cords. Apparently the power cords are a bit of an expense. So if you see a home in Queen Creek AZ on the news… you know the pest control guy helped.

On a side note, this will be the first time ever that my home has Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving.

Hope the Turkey was good to you this year.

And yes… there are others blogging about Christmas lights as well.

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Would you buy coffee at $41.20 per pound?

Everything Coffee

Prices are increasing on all kinds of goods, but the coffee estimate shocked me the most. Coffee is estimated to reach $41.20 per pound! And get your free t-shirts now because I don’t think I can afford to hand out shirts that cost me $16.27. See it here: http://www.instamerchant.com/blog/inflation-look-into-the-future

What do you spend on average for a pound of coffee now? At what point would you kick the coffee habit?

Scorpion Anti Venom now approved by FDA – Prevent Scorpion Bites

After several years of trials on the anti-venom made in Mexico, the FDA approves the anti-venom. Hopefully within a month or two all Arizona hospitals will have the antivenom on hand.

What can home owners do to prevent scorpions?

Regular service around the exterior of a home is the first and foremost step in scorpion control. Whether you hire a professional pest control service or do your own home maintenance, consistency is the key. Scorpions trouble neighborhoods. We will never be able to rid an entire neighborhood of scorpions. So keep the scorpions at bay with a regular treatment, do-it-yourself or call a professional.

After a regular treatment, additional precautions would be glue traps placed in corners. Glass jars placed around the base of beds and especially cribs. Scorpion seals also create an additional barrier. Treating moisture points in the yard is advised. And treating around pool equipment helps.

It is also advised for those that have allergic reactions to carry an Epinephrine Injection.

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