Public Advertising Legality?

[Mike39]

I have several hundred business card sized advertisements aimed at businesses to get them to list on my directory site, I have recently been going around and walking into a biz and handing them a card and explaining a little about the site and my back-story, this comes with varied responses from managers/business owners and it takes a LONG time, some guys talk for like 15 minutes and I don't want to be rude and them I have to leave. Today, I went out and bought a couple of rolls of double sided tape :icon_super:, the idea being, tonight I could go out and stick my card to the front of every franchise/small business in my area's shopping centers, I could do 100 biz's instead of 10 in a day (night). The only reason at night is that people won't see me sticking ads to the front of stores and someone won't rip one off, the person opening the store the next day will be the first to see the ad.

I know this is not the most personal and friendly way of getting my name out there but would you say that this would be legal? I don't want to get any sort of repercussions for say littering or soliciting or anything of the sort.

Not looking for definitive legal advice, just opinions from someone who has some knowledge with these type of things.

Thanks,
Mike


:wave:

 

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[mayana]

You might just get some complaints from either the store owner or the owner of the shopping center (if the tenants complain). But I'd do it, as long as it was just once.

I think you can run into more problems with this sort of thing if you leave them on cars or in mailboxes.

As it goes, it is much easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

 

[Mike39]

You might just get some complaints from either the store owner or the owner of the shopping center (if the tenants complain). But I'd do it, as long as it was just once.

I think you can run into more problems with this sort of thing if you leave them on cars or in mailboxes.

As it goes, it is much easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

Decided not to go last night and think about it some more, but I decided that I am going to go out tomorrow (Sunday) so that businesses will be closed earlier and I can get maybe a couple of shopping centers. Thanks for your .02 ntapia. Well see how it goes!

 

[PatrickP]

My buddy created his lawn cutting business by doing exactly what you said except he stuck them in people's screen doors.

Never paid a penny for advertising besides the cost of the cards. He now turns down business because he does not want anymore accounts.

 

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[Kak]

Sick pat!

This could be helpful to me too. Maybe order a ton of those vistaprint postcards and hire some HS students to do some legwork for $30 per night plus like $100 per close to keep em honest and not throwing them in the trash.

B2B is where it is at for me. And mike I love the night idea.

Put a profound pitch statement on it like "quit throwing money in the trash" or "drop your needlessly expensive (insert company) right now"

 

[Kak]

I have several hundred business card sized advertisements aimed at businesses to get them to list on my directory site, I have recently been going around and walking into a biz and handing them a card and explaining a little about the site and my back-story, this comes with varied responses from managers/business owners and it takes a LONG time, some guys talk for like 15 minutes and I don't want to be rude and them I have to leave. Today, I went out and bought a couple of rolls of double sided tape :icon_super:, the idea being, tonight I could go out and stick my card to the front of every franchise/small business in my area's shopping centers, I could do 100 biz's instead of 10 in a day (night). The only reason at night is that people won't see me sticking ads to the front of stores and someone won't rip one off, the person opening the store the next day will be the first to see the ad.

I know this is not the most personal and friendly way of getting my name out there but would you say that this would be legal? I don't want to get any sort of repercussions for say littering or soliciting or anything of the sort.

Not looking for definitive legal advice, just opinions from someone who has some knowledge with these type of things.

Thanks,
Mike


:wave:

Play the young entrepreneur card. This is America and people for the most part admire young entrepreneurs. People who dont wont be good customers anyway. :thumbup:

 

[PatrickP]

Sick pat!

This could be helpful to me too. Maybe order a ton of those vistaprint postcards and hire some HS students to do some legwork for $30 per night plus like $100 per close to keep em honest and not throwing them in the trash.

B2B is where it is at for me. And mike I love the night idea.

Funny timing on this thread. The same day I talked to the same thread and he showed me a magnetic business card he found stuck on the side of his lawn cutting trailer. It was a company that did onsite hose repair for equipment and trucks. He said the guy just slowed down and tossed it onto the side of his trailer lol Didn't even have to stop his truck.

 

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[Kak]

Look what ive got here! 300 advertisment cards printed back and front. Going out myself tonite at 3am LOL. Entrepreneurs have been known to do crazy stuff. I know im gonna look back on this as one of those things i was willing to do before I made it.

 

[PatrickP]

CONGRATS man, best of luck!

I know you have already printed those but a couple suggestions for the next printing.

How much do people pay per kw now? I have never looked to see how much I paid even though I had approx 10 bricks and mortar locations. So maybe something like Save OVER 20% on your electric each and EVERY month!

Also maybe be a little more creative not just line after line with bullet mark next to them.

And I am not really sure what you are selling or what your company does. Do you own an electric company?

Edit I see in your sig you are an energy broker, I never even knew such a thing existed. Is it possible that you know your business so well that you are assuming that your potential clients have more knowledge about your sort of company than they really do?

Another idea, maybe something that says FREE REPORT 10 things your electric company is HIDING from you! Hurry before they find a way to stop us from telling you. Then a link and they down load it, of course you get their email addy and then you can tell them about your sevice.

 

[Kak]

Sure sure! The reason I like the actual amount though is because commercial rates are always "contact us here" or "we will get back to you" BS believe it or not im pioneering the non haggle commerciak energy rate tomorrow morning and actually going to back up the next load of these with its own web site.

Most people buy and leave it alone forever so are actually paying 10-12 cents so Id actually save most people a lot. Kinda like car ins when you leave it alone for years.

 

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[Kak]

Well I hope to be back in bed by 5 haha. If this lands one new customer it would be worth it.

 

[Mike39]

Well I hope to be back in bed by 5 haha. If this lands one new customer it would be worth it.

Good to see someone else is doing the same thing!

 

[Kak]

Seriously cheap advertising, these cost me a pack of cardstock and a 10th of a 13 dollar ink cartridge. I run a brother business printer too. Amazon has great bulk ink deals just didnt think that far ahead. Like a buck per cartridge.

I really like the hired distribution idea too.

 

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[PatrickP]

Sure sure! The reason I like the actual amount though is because commercial rates are always "contact us here" or "we will get back to you" BS believe it or not im pioneering the non haggle commerciak energy rate tomorrow morning and actually going to back up the next load of these with its own web site.

Most people buy and leave it alone forever so are actually paying 10-12 cents so Id actually save most people a lot. Kinda like car ins when you leave it alone for years.

I think you are making my point no one knows what they pay so when you say pay only 5.6 cents no one knows if that is good or bad.

BUT if you said we will cut your electric bill in HALF so you will only be paying 5.6 cents instead of the 12.2 your currently pay. THAT would get my attention.

 

[Kak]

Could say average customers that switch save 35%. I should also probably mention the competitors tendancy to try to haggle.


Customers in dereg areas do usually know ballpark what they are paying but it has no context for them. They may think they are getting a good deal at 12 cents.

I dont even know my own rate because, go figure, my corner of The Woodlands is regulated under ome company and there is no chamging my rate it sucks bad.

 

[PatrickP]

Kak go do your thing tonight and have confidence you are going to get some new customers.

Then go read about copy writing, look at the junk mail you get see what colors they use. Look at the words they use. Make it EXCITING so people read it!

Do you really think that:

average customers that switch save 35%


is attention getting? It sounds like a Geico commercial we all ignore.

Now what about this?

CUT your electric bill by OVER 1/3 in LESS than 24 hours!

 

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[Kak]

I guess I just always error on the side of classy not salesy annoying stuff. I need to flip back through cashvertising i guess.

YOU ARE THROWING YOUR MONEY IN THE TRASH! QUIT PAYING FOR FOOTBALL STADIUMS AND RADIO COMMERCIALS! YOUR BUSINESS IS SMARTER THAN THIS!

SAVE UP TO 60% ON YOUR ENERGY IN MINUTES!

 

[Kak]

Sorry for the thread jack mike.

Hows the double sided tape working out? I still need to go to Walmart for some attachment method.

 

[Mike39]

Sorry for the thread jack mike.

Hows the double sided tape working out? I still need to go to Walmart for some attachment method.

No worries Kak, would rather have a discussion on a thread than it just be useless, the double sided tape is working beautifully, maybe a little bit less professional than magnetic backing but I would rather buy 2, $3 rolls of double sided tape than pay for 1000 magnetic cards

 

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[Kak]

Yikes that sucks. Hope it drums up some customers. I got all but 23 of them out. Roads started getting busy and it started taking too long between post ups.

I can not believe that 4 nail salons per mile is a good idea. LMAO.

Car washes, self storage, auto repair, restaraunts. These are the best customers. It's hard to get chain companies.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PatrickP]

I guess I just always error on the side of classy not salesy annoying stuff. I need to flip back through cashvertising i guess.

YOU ARE THROWING YOUR MONEY IN THE TRASH! QUIT PAYING FOR FOOTBALL STADIUMS AND RADIO COMMERCIALS! YOUR BUSINESS IS SMARTER THAN THIS!

SAVE UP TO 60% ON YOUR ENERGY IN MINUTES!

Mike and Kak maybe you can try it both ways. Have different codes on the cards such as XYZ and ABC
One is salesy attention the other not so much so. When the person calls you ask what the code is.

Or on your landing page you ask what it was.

Maybe on the card say something like enter your code to see how much of a discount you can get.


Hey I am just sitting here spewing info on a keyboard you guys are actually out there doing it so who is being more productive and getting things done?

YOU two are of course and I hope you guys keep at it!

 

[Mike39]

Mike and Kak maybe you can try it both ways. Have different codes on the cards such as XYZ and ABC
One is salesy attention the other not so much so. When the person calls you ask what the code is.

Or on your landing page you ask what it was.

Maybe on the card say something like enter your code to see how much of a discount you can get.


Hey I am just sitting here spewing info on a keyboard you guys are actually out there doing it so who is being more productive and getting things done?

YOU two are of course and I hope you guys keep at it!

My cards don't have any code or any REAL marketing lingo other than "List your business for FREE!" and some short info about the site and a URL, but when I print off some more here in a couple of months I will definitely add some sort of code or prize or something!! Thanks for the idea Patrick

 

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[tincho1492]

You inspired me guys! Definitely will do something like this

 

[PatrickP]

My cards don't have any code or any REAL marketing lingo other than "List your business for FREE!" and some short info about the site and a URL, but when I print off some more here in a couple of months I will definitely add some sort of code or prize or something!! Thanks for the idea Patrick

Sounds good.


uggg I am going to get to be known as the Idea guy of FLF, like George on Friends. He would always come up with ideas but never actually produce anything of value lol

 

[Kak]

You inspired me guys! Definitely will do something like this

Well no results yet. Just saying, however my service is something that many people sit on for a while.

I am gonna hit the businesses I hit last night once a month. Gonna try the marketing lingo tonite.

Pat do you like the football stadium and radio ad thing? The funny thing is that at least 70% of people in the area are with TXU or Reliant paying for that crap.

 

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[Mike39]

Ok, all the server problems are cleared up, the hosting service said it was a DDOS from china but I call bs on that one, anyways, now that the site is up and running normally again, it's 9:00 here and just got dark, time to go put my name on every businesses front door within 20 miles oh here :urock2: Wish me luck!!!!

 

[Kak]

I wish i could live long enough to do that in houston haha.

 

[Kak]

Going out tonight, got 300 more in color with some good sales stuff. I saricrificed a little size for a color ad that looks nicer. Got 6 to a page of cardstock now.

The realtor girlfriend was home today and she wanted to cut them out... Haha she is extremely meticulous so they look great.

 

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[Kak]

One customer could finance months of this kind of advertising.

 

[Mike39]

Any results so far, I have gone out a couple times but came down with a cold 2 days ago and have a 102 fever, so far results have been limited for me, maybe I need to re-design my cards