Bus Stop / Bus Shelter Ads: Range of $150 - $600 for small to medium size markets and $3,000 to $6,500 for high-income areas -- per ad per 4 week period.An effective size campaign on a popular station could cost $500 per week in small town - See more at:
http://fitsmallbusiness.com/radio-advertising-costs/#sthash.ClEkIiDV.dpufcomfortable
I agree 110% you have to be comfortable with what your selling or they can tell and the deal can fall through. Don't undervalue the service you are offering this system can make the clients you work for a lot of money if you don't believe that look into other types of marketing and the cost associated with them. Billboards cost 1,000s a month. Many keywords on ad words cost $10.00+ (50 click $500) a click. An effective size campaign on a popular radio station could cost $500 per week in small-town. TV ads cost even more. Bus Stop / Bus Shelter Ads: Range of $150 - $600 for small to medium size markets and $3,000 to $6,500 for high-income areas -- per ad per 4-week period. These are all types of things people are buying so always keep in mind business people are use to spending money and expect to.
Great baseline of comparison. Thanks!
Coming from school of hard knocks, IRL (though not SEO/IM, should still relate), a few points...
Agree with originalposter...Reputation and uniqueness are the biggest hurdles. Having been on the other side purchasing services, those can be overcome IF a GREAT value proposition can be effectively demonstrated. This takes preparation and salesmanship.
If you don't have rep or uniques behind you, expect your ratio of NOs to be much higher (vs what you may find a year later, when you can send your prospects to REAL and happy references). Until then, you cannot give the prospect a reason to have the littlest of doubt.
For example, it is almost certain (if they are smart) they will search for and check out your website - one sniff of BS, and they are GONE. Also, your website should be an extension of your sales pitch - how does it support what you are telling clients? If the message is disjointed (vs consistent), they are GONE. That's just two aspects of many to consider.
In dealing with those with low ratings on Yelp, one problem is that they are there for a reason. No way you can fix their online rep if their business thoroughly sucks. Gotta filter out those guys before pitching them, by doing your homework - increasing your YES ratio. Maybe all you need to do is drive by, or google street walk their business, to see what it looks like? Just one simple task might save you a bunch of work.
On pricing, it has to match your value prop. High price for high value, low price for low value. "Low value" here, doesn't mean poor quality. It is "value to your client". If your service only delivers $2K per month of new business, maybe $250 is too high (e.g. if their profit margin is 20%, you would be asking for 63% of their profit before taxes, etc.!). It takes homework before hand to find the sweet spot of clients.
You have to decide if that price point is profitable for you, or if you are going to get something of value out of it (e.g. reference, experience). And, you ought to have this well understood before you engage / negotiate with the client.
Hope this helps!
