advertising is this going to be any good???

[wishes]

I was just called by someone selling me an advertising space on a chinese resteraunt menu!! Has anyone heard of this or done it? Its going to be £5 a week for a minimum of 12 months!They said it will be sent out to homes and buisnesses and I will be the only beauty in it!! They are going to visit me tomorrow can any of you help me to decide?!?! I think I will have to do it in 3 payments and as I am still quite new and dont have loads of clients I dont have money to waste I just dont know if it will generate clients or not, HELP PLEASE

 

[Verve Designs]

Im not sure its a good idea.

There's probably a reason theres only one beauty company on it. In my experience It's rarely a good opportunity when they call you; its best to source some good advertising/marketing yourself.

I think what they've done is have a think about what kind of things have a good circulation, and then are trying to piggyback on it by selling advertising space.

It's £260 by my reckoning- and you'd be spending that on a Chinese Menu? If it were something to do with your industry then co-operative marketing can work...but Chinese food and beauty aren't exactly related and If you're thinking of building a nice "brand"- im not sure it gives the right signals.

Theres so many other things that you could spend that money on that are at least semi-proven to work. Have a search around on this site, as im sure there's lots of things that would give a better return on investment.

 

[M00min]

Ditto the above! That money could go further elsewhere.

Once your business number's "out there" you will get these calls and sometimes the salespeople are very convincing, but what there actually offering isn't that great!

Also with advertising ALWAYS haggle. It works less with companies like Yell which have standard packages and no print deadlines, but with print and radio always haggle - either for a reduction in price or to get more for your money. I've worked in marketing / PR for 10 years and have never paid full price. Hth x

 

[Glamour Puss7]

Hi,
Yes I have heard of this before, as I have been asked if I would be interested in advertising in a chinese menu. I did not go ahead with it! The best advertising is word of mouth you can't beat it, it's always the best way for me!

 

[angelina221]

Which company is it? There are a few scam companies doing this!
I paid for advertising in a local restaurant and it then closed. 12 months or so later they sent me a menu from a completely different restaurant.
I phoned them up as i was livid. I hadn't authorised the advert. The information was out of date and they had got my design and info from my website.
They still wanted me to pay. I had already paid the first installment 12 months before but i then cancelled the standing order as after researching on the internet, i realised a lot of people had been scammed by this company, which goes under a few different names. I just put my first payment as a loss and promised myself i would look up every company in future.
They said that it says in my contract that they can transfer to another menu if anything happens to their first choice.
This is all very well but 12 months later, all the information is out of date anyway. Also my website wasn't up and running when i paid for the first instalment so they had made the advert up themselves without consulting me first.
I had a right go at them over the phone and luckily i've heard nothing since.
I know they have taken money from other people's accounts but i had already cancelled the standing order, luckily!

 

[Jack Dunn]

I was just called by someone selling me an advertising space on a chinese resteraunt menu!! Has anyone heard of this or done it? Its going to be £5 a week for a minimum of 12 months!They said it will be sent out to homes and buisnesses and I will be the only beauty in it!! They are going to visit me tomorrow can any of you help me to decide?!?! I think I will have to do it in 3 payments and as I am still quite new and dont have loads of clients I dont have money to waste I just dont know if it will generate clients or not, HELP PLEASE

Like the others have said .. its not a good idea.

When you are browsing a take away menu your mind is on other things.. so I think the adverts get lost...

I used to work for a hospital and we had an outpatients map and service guide we sent out to users, and like the menu we had local business adverts on there ( to cover printing costs) and when we surveyed them as we planned to look at other options most of them felt that there was not not much business from the adverts.. with the exception of a local cab firm.. so I think you would best put your money towards other advertising that may be more relevant to what you do...

Jack

 

[Ruth Mills]

I'm with most people on here - you can do a hell of a lot better with £260 than putting an ad on a Chinese food menu! Flushing it down the loo wouldn't come that much lower down on the list!

I'm incredibly suspicious of anyone who "cold calls" me requesting me to spend money on advertising - especially if it's something I've never heard of.

 

[wishes]

Thanks everyone.With your help I can see this is a no go.They are meant to be coming to see me tomorrow,I might just be out!!!!! I am going to put an add in my local advertiser instead as I think it would be more productive and is alot cheaper!Thanks again the advice on this site really is invaluable. xx