Interesting way to generate Local Traffic/Leads

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n3tprofit

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Nov 26, 2009
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San Diego
This may not apply to many of you, but nonetheless I thought I would share this idea I had yesterday.

I was outside one of my favorite local pizza restaurants yesterday where there must have been a pet grooming salon next door that recently went out of business. In the 10-15 minutes I was sitting there I must have seen 3-4 people and their dogs come up trying to get their dog groomed.

As I watched them peer through the windows at the empty unit, attempt to even open the door, and then leave disappointed that fluffy wasn't going to get their haircut/shampoo/whatever that day, I thought to myself what a waste of targeted local leads.

Turns out a friend of mine owns a local mobile dog grooming business, so I called her up and recommended she go down there and tape on the door some paper tear-off's with her number and business. If I saw 3-4 within the 10 minutes I was there, I have a feeling that over the course of a few weeks/months there would be quite a people who may be needing to find a new dog groomer.

So wtf is my point? Im sure everywhere businesses like this and businesses of all kinds are closing down, moving, and are forgetting about all those customers who may not know they are closed for a long time. Why not capitalize on this and try to direct that targeted traffic?

I'm not saying this idea has never been thought of, but I have never seen it so maybe some of you can expand upon this and make it work for you in a way.
 
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It's a pretty decent idea. What's the worse that can happen? The owner of the place rips it down and throws it away?

I'd say do it for them and try to get a per lead commission.
 
Rage9 said:
I'd say do it for them and try to get a per lead commission.
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The owner of the building or the old business? Chances are this isn't the same person, but it would be funny if the business moved and then you were referring their own leads back to them.... probably wouldn't last too long once they caught on LOL.
 
n3tprofit said:
The owner of the building or the old business? Chances are this isn't the same person, but it would be funny if the business moved and then you were referring their own leads back to them.... probably wouldn't last too long once they caught on LOL.
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I mean someone who can use the leads obviously.
 
That's a great idea!

If you find enough of these closed business spaces you can definitely find a business that needs the leads in a phone book, through a referral or wherever. Either you can put up an ad without contacting the owner of the empty space (accepting that it will sooner or later be torn down) or you can call the management company or owner in charge of the empty space. Like LotsOfZeros suggested, approach them about paying a small price to put up an ad in their window – I would think most companies and owners would go for it and not hesitate.

To make money you can charge say the mobile dog grooming business a flat fee or percentage of the total amount spent for each customer. They would have to ask the client how they were referred to find out if you get the credit. Or like you said you can put up the sign with the paper tear offs that have the number and a coupon code of some kind so when the customer calls with that code the groomer knows they were referred by you. One downside to this is that they can cheat you out of some leads if they weren’t honest.

You can take it a step further and charge them on a per call or lead basis - maybe $2.50 a call or $5 or $10 a lead (just made up numbers). The great part about this is that you can set up a system to track all the calls. For $2 a month you can get a 888, 877 or 866 number through Kall8 that has a nice reporting interface, gives you a summary of the calls, allows you to forward the incoming call to different messages or other numbers at given times of the day and even can send an email to alert you and the client of a new call! I know there are others out there that do the same type of thing - I believe RingCentral will. This is a small investment but you will be able to track the call activity or lack of call activity right online. If you get enough of these businesses signed up you can set them all up in one account with their own number for a few bucks extra a month and watch how well they are all doing at a glance. Then when you bill the client at the end of the month or whatever there payment terms happen to be you can give them a report that you can print right off the site!

This is just something that I thought of from working on previous projects and may be an effective way to be able to visually see just how well your concept is doing.

Good luck with this and keep us updated with your progress!
 
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n3tprofit said:
This may not apply to many of you, but nonetheless I thought I would share this idea I had yesterday.

I was outside one of my favorite local pizza restaurants yesterday where there must have been a pet grooming salon next door that recently went out of business. In the 10-15 minutes I was sitting there I must have seen 3-4 people and their dogs come up trying to get their dog groomed.

As I watched them peer through the windows at the empty unit, attempt to even open the door, and then leave disappointed that fluffy wasn't going to get their haircut/shampoo/whatever that day, I thought to myself what a waste of targeted local leads.

Turns out a friend of mine owns a local mobile dog grooming business, so I called her up and recommended she go down there and tape on the door some paper tear-off's with her number and business. If I saw 3-4 within the 10 minutes I was there, I have a feeling that over the course of a few weeks/months there would be quite a people who may be needing to find a new dog groomer.

So wtf is my point? Im sure everywhere businesses like this and businesses of all kinds are closing down, moving, and are forgetting about all those customers who may not know they are closed for a long time. Why not capitalize on this and try to direct that targeted traffic?

I'm not saying this idea has never been thought of, but I have never seen it so maybe some of you can expand upon this and make it work for you in a way.
Click to expand...
It might work in the states, but I'm pretty sure it's illegal to stick that stuff up like that - if you get cuaght it's a fine. I seen club promoters stick stuff up on phone boxes n stuff and get caught and given a fine lol.
 
I've seen it done before, a florist I know went out of business - another local florist went there the day after the closed and put up a sign saying that if they were looking for flowers to go to her shop.

It's a good idea, but you've got to hope its someone in the same trade as you that goes out of business!
 
In a down economy, with more and more business closing their doors, they amount of advertising opportunities is growing...

Now, if only I could find an acai berry store that has recently closed.
 
Sohan said:
It might work in the states, but I'm pretty sure it's illegal to stick that stuff up like that - if you get cuaght it's a fine. I seen club promoters stick stuff up on phone boxes n stuff and get caught and given a fine lol.
Click to expand...

Laws like that are typically local (city/town) ordinances here in the states.
 
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