Advertising for home business

[Moonpiepoodlz]

I have a question for you home grooming business owners.
After 20 years of working out of the home and owning businesses in store fronts, I'll be relocating the business to my home by the end of the month and I have NO IDEA how I should advertise!!
I'm a pro when it comes to store front advertising but this to me seems like a whole other world. I'll be just off a main road, there are sidewalks and I have an alley way on each side of me. Now, I was thinking I can get a couple of those yard signs from Vista print on put one on each side of the alley entry way since both sides not only wrap around my house and another, they also go through the block so that would be 4 signs right there. My big issue is getting something out by the main road. I don't know if I can put anything on the sidewalk as it would block part of it; there's a house on the corner and I don't know if they'd allow me to put a yard sign on the very edge of their yard.
I'm trying to not cause a mass panic to my new neighbors and have them retaliate against me.
Do any of you have any ideas besides what I've got?

[luvpups]

Did you check with the city yet if you are able to do a home business? They would have some sort of rules on signage I would imagine.

[kats_melody]

You may be getting ahead of yourself. If you are in a residential area, usually you will not be allowed to run a business where people come to your home unless your neighbors are informed and allowed to express their objections. Count on some of your neighbors having objections.

We can run our business from our home in our community if and only if:

we do no grooming from home
we accept no shipments or mail for the business at home (that means a rented mail drop in town)
we do not have customers visit the house
we do not have employees work at the house
we can only have ONE 1 foot by 2 foot sign, single sided, at the front yard.

and we have to pay a yearly fee to the county for the privilege of running a business from home.

You can try to circumvent the zoning and business laws if they are restrictive where you are, but when you get caught, expect big fines and court fees. Did I mention those objecting neighbors? The ones who will file a civil suit if you don't follow all the rules?

Check to make sure you CAN run a business from home before you spend money you might otherwise waste.

Laura

[BeeJL]

I'm trying to not cause a mass panic to my new neighbors and have them retaliate against me.
Do any of you have any ideas besides what I've got?

Where I live, the surest way to have the neighbors retaliate would be to put up signs. I think of a sign as a way of confirming to new cleints that, "yes, you are at the right house" rather than as advertising.
Bee

[fiveoclockdog]

You can see my sign in the "snow" pic on FB. I started promoting the biz as a quieter, more relaxed alternative to shop grooming. This attracted a lot of peeps. I'll try and attach a pic of the sign on here.

[Addiron]

Here we can only do services from home an not retail. We are limited to one 3'x2' sign and must have a double wide driveway. We have to be rated R2 and we are due to before buying the house it had an apartment in the basement. To do retail we would need to be zoned commercial which they refuse to do it even tho less than 100' away is an RV center and a commercial location that is for rent. I am planning to open shop in our basement in the spring and hopefully after a year move downtown if I have enough clients. The bonus for me is most groomers in the area do only shavedowns and we will off more of a spa experience. I am crossing my fingers! I am currently in a dead end job and it looks like I might end within 12 months. So I am going back to grooming after a 10+ yeah hiatus.

[flyingfur]

Do you want walk-in clients? I think most home-based groomers go "by appointment only", since you really don't want people knocking on your door all the time. I live in a condo, and all I have is a wooden dog hanging from my mailbox, no sign. It is there just to say, yes, this is the right door! Any advertising I have done (way back when) was in the local newspaper, and my address was not listed in the ad, just the phone number.

[4Sibes]

Moonie...do you have any idea (at this point) what percentage of your current clientele will follow you to your home-based?
Based on that...I have several ideas.

Around my parts....signs are big no-no, but I wouldn't want them anyway. Too many wierdo/waste-your-timers poppin in and out. You'll never get anything done.
But...there are plenty of alternatives.

[k9groomer8157]

We started doing the home grooming business full time this past May and have gone from 20 dogs a month to 77 for December. This is basically with outside advertising. Would like to be able to double that number, and time will only tell.

Our HOA does not allow signs, but they have not said anything about the lettering that we put on the back of the car which sits in the driveway. Found the lettering online and ordered for about $15.00. Basically we don't get anyone stopping because of it, but it helps with people finding the house and a few have called saying they saw the car on the road.

Good luck....

Fluffy Puppy Grooming

[NCGroom]

I have a home-based shop and live in residential zoning in my town. Because of this, I am not allowed retail (service only), nor am I allowed signage. This hasn't stopped me a bit. When I first opened, I advertised on Craigs List, got magnetic car signs from Vistaprint and went to every dog related business in town to introduce myself. I found that I received the most referrals from veterinary offices (without grooming), doggie daycares, dog trainers, etc. After that, I took out a very small ad in the yellow pages (which I am still up in the air as to how much good it does) and started my website, shaggytochic.com, which has been the way that most everybody finds me other than word of mouth referrals. You probably already have a client base that will follow you, so it shouldn't take you very long to build your base even if you aren't allowed signage. It only took me about four to five months to be busy full time from home with no signage. Best of luck...being home-based is awesome!

[fiveoclockdog]

I have to mention... in the 18m my sign has been up I've never had a walk-in. All the weirdos have been by appointment only ;-) I have had people call me on their cell from the park across the street or their car to book an appointment or request a nail trim. The sign says "by appointment only" and it has been great as an advertising tool. The website address is on there as well. Sometimes I'll be heading out the door and see people writing info down, so I'll give them a card and introduce myself. The only restrictions the city has are the size of the sign, the number of dogs at one time, and boarding.

[Moonpiepoodlz]

Moonie...do you have any idea (at this point) what percentage of your current clientele will follow you to your home-based?
Based on that...I have several ideas.
Around my parts....signs are big no-no, but I wouldn't want them anyway. Too many wierdo/waste-your-timers poppin in and out. You'll never get anything done.
But...there are plenty of alternatives.

I'm only 9 miles from my current location so I expect to have quite a few follow me. Could you let me know what your ideas are Bernie for following clientele
I have a call into the city for a home based business but with it being the holiday season, haven't got a call back yet.
I was thinking I could probably treat it the same way I would treat a storefront in one sense I could send some cards to the vets that are right up the road and maybe at the stores posting something on their bulletin boards. OOOoooh! Somebody mentioned just saying "yes, right location" but as I was sitting here talking things out with husband I had an idea. Both sides of the garage have a gate connected to the fence so I was thinking I could put one of my poodle crossing signs or something along that lines so people would know ehy're at the right house!! What'cha think of that idea????
Thank you for your help ladies

[4Sibes]

I would absolutely drop cards at the vets that seem to see the majority of your clients.
They may feel like they almost "know you by groom" now, anyway.
The car magnets are a good idea...

The thing I did when I moved 25 miles up the road from the kennel...was I drafted a letter and sent it to each and every client I groomed a dog for in the previous 2 years.

I put a personal "spin" on it...wording like "Dear Valued Clients and Friends, I am very excited to now have the opportunity to groom your pet out of my home in _____--_____. located only 20 minutes from Y and Z. I have created a very unique and cheery grooming environment that I believe you and your dog will love! blah, blah.....specifics, blah.

What was interesting...was I picked back up 5 clients I had previously lost...because the kennel was too far for them, but my home was way closer.
I think out of ~180 letters mailed...I only lost 12 clients due to the change of location.

It took some time to write/address the letters, and as we only had 6 weeks notice the kennel was closing...I jumped right on it, and it was totally worth it.

My only referrals are from clients and 1 vet clinic I haven't had the guts to shut off yet, and that has kept me plenty busy for the past 5 years.

No phone books, no Craig's List, newspapers etc. (for me), but a local newspaper might be worth your while if you can afford an ad that really jumps off the page.

I hope your worry for customers is a needless one, but I would start by personalizing your clientele, now more than ever! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!

FiveOClock....HOW pretty!!!!!!!!

[Moonpiepoodlz]

I would absolutely drop cards at the vets that seem to see the majority of your clients.
They may feel like they almost "know you by groom" now, anyway.
The car magnets are a good idea...

The thing I did when I moved 25 miles up the road from the kennel...was I drafted a letter and sent it to each and every client I groomed a dog for in the previous 2 years.

The letter is already written out and waiting to be mailed...good idea on the car magnets since no matter where I'm at, it's being advertised!

The vets will be new referral sources for me since I am relocating to a new city.

[fiveoclockdog]

FiveOClock....HOW pretty!!!!!!!!

Thanks Sibes! That's my birthday snow.;-)

I agree with you... I started out with a weekly ad (large) in the local newspaper, cards everywhere, website, yellowpages (discontinued paper when YP came out) and just got door magnets for my B-day ;-)