having a good time building these bikes and now i want to sell them to the public on a '' shoestring '' budget, tried craigslist and other free internet marts but not much luck at all, anybody have any ideas? expierence's?, sure would appreaciate it, living in raleigh nc, thanks for looking!!
marketing ideas
- Thread starter larry k
- Start date
beachcruiser
Member
If you have a work area with the proper tools and welding equipment
.... you might try offering a build your own motorized bicycle class for the beginner. Alot of beginners have no access for modifcation of their bicycle
project and everytime you need something welded it becomes expensive.
A person that has experience and hands on help becomes a very imporant
access to a new beginner to alot less frustrations dealing with all the small set backs with these 2-stroke china motors. By teaching the beginner the care, maintance and trouble shooting while giving them the hands-on building
of their motorized bicycle project. By offering to do the welding and their
cutting modifications with the class.
I know this very informative MB site is for alot of these purposes. For the
new begginner with no access and no community friends into motorized
bicycles this becomes a big set back for them.
......it is only merely an idea and have no intention of offending
anybody on this very informitive MB site.
.... you might try offering a build your own motorized bicycle class for the beginner. Alot of beginners have no access for modifcation of their bicycle
project and everytime you need something welded it becomes expensive.
A person that has experience and hands on help becomes a very imporant
access to a new beginner to alot less frustrations dealing with all the small set backs with these 2-stroke china motors. By teaching the beginner the care, maintance and trouble shooting while giving them the hands-on building
of their motorized bicycle project. By offering to do the welding and their
cutting modifications with the class.
I know this very informative MB site is for alot of these purposes. For the
new begginner with no access and no community friends into motorized
bicycles this becomes a big set back for them.
......it is only merely an idea and have no intention of offending
anybody on this very informitive MB site.
bamabikeguy
Active Member
I started by going around to 5 area newspapers to get coverage, because the concept was new back in 2005.
Our area has a "community shoppers guide", averages about 30 pages, delivered free in every mailbox on Wed. I buy 3-4 line ads in that paper, trying to change the wording to keep it timely. So that is about $24 per month. The guy has a tidy little business, about 50,000 circulation in the 60 mile radius, but what makes it excellent is mailbox delivery, unlike those racks in front of stores marked "Free-Take One".
Finally, last year, I built a ladies model for one of his sales employees, she uses it to go see her business clients. Keeping the script clever, I get 3-8 calls per week, moreso when gas is expensive. Reliable demo rides are usually the deal maker.
I use my computer's printer to print out cards to carry with me, and I print 8 x 11 flyers with pictures, either of bikes built or those state lines I've crossed, put them in all the gas stations.
It will take 2 years or so to build up enough bikes out there to make word of mouth a third source of customers.
My "bike shop" business license only costs about $12 a year, but I make sure to have it, even though I'm paying sales tax on purchases, not charging the sales tax to the customers.
The final thing I did is make a scrap book, with all the newspaper articles and pictures of all the bikes, so they can better choose model/color and accessories.
Our area has a "community shoppers guide", averages about 30 pages, delivered free in every mailbox on Wed. I buy 3-4 line ads in that paper, trying to change the wording to keep it timely. So that is about $24 per month. The guy has a tidy little business, about 50,000 circulation in the 60 mile radius, but what makes it excellent is mailbox delivery, unlike those racks in front of stores marked "Free-Take One".
Finally, last year, I built a ladies model for one of his sales employees, she uses it to go see her business clients. Keeping the script clever, I get 3-8 calls per week, moreso when gas is expensive. Reliable demo rides are usually the deal maker.
I use my computer's printer to print out cards to carry with me, and I print 8 x 11 flyers with pictures, either of bikes built or those state lines I've crossed, put them in all the gas stations.
It will take 2 years or so to build up enough bikes out there to make word of mouth a third source of customers.
My "bike shop" business license only costs about $12 a year, but I make sure to have it, even though I'm paying sales tax on purchases, not charging the sales tax to the customers.
The final thing I did is make a scrap book, with all the newspaper articles and pictures of all the bikes, so they can better choose model/color and accessories.
Last edited:
Mountainman
Active Member
hey Larry
location can be important also
if you happen to live on a busy street ?
a guy down in town here has some motor bikes in his front yard
nice motor bikes with for sale signs -- get's him some action
before I got down there to meet this gentleman
many of my friends had told me about the house that has MBs for sale
ride the motor bike
location can be important also
if you happen to live on a busy street ?
a guy down in town here has some motor bikes in his front yard
nice motor bikes with for sale signs -- get's him some action
before I got down there to meet this gentleman
many of my friends had told me about the house that has MBs for sale
ride the motor bike
mlcorson
Member
Larry:
I'd concentrate on Craigslist as your best marketing outlet. Basically, with a little work you'll get the best bang for your buck with the least effort. If you've tried CL and not had good success, I'd suggest you have some fundamental problems with your listings. Without seeing your ads, its difficult to say what it might be but its a lot more than just putting a picture and price. Are you selling finished bikes or trying to build for people? You'd have better luck IMO selling finished bikes. Provide a guarantee, remove peoples fear of buying from you, etc. Beachcrusier's idea about classes is brilliant. This is great self promotion and could be well promoted in CL. I have bought and sold thousands of dollars worth of goods on CL. I have one ad right now (a sofa) that had 52 responses. Send me your ad link by pm and I'll be glad give you some pointers.
-Mike
I'd concentrate on Craigslist as your best marketing outlet. Basically, with a little work you'll get the best bang for your buck with the least effort. If you've tried CL and not had good success, I'd suggest you have some fundamental problems with your listings. Without seeing your ads, its difficult to say what it might be but its a lot more than just putting a picture and price. Are you selling finished bikes or trying to build for people? You'd have better luck IMO selling finished bikes. Provide a guarantee, remove peoples fear of buying from you, etc. Beachcrusier's idea about classes is brilliant. This is great self promotion and could be well promoted in CL. I have bought and sold thousands of dollars worth of goods on CL. I have one ad right now (a sofa) that had 52 responses. Send me your ad link by pm and I'll be glad give you some pointers.
-Mike
M
Member 5549
Guest
The best advertising is people seeing your product in use and saying man I want one of those. It's all about Visability !!!!
Ride that thing all over town and hand out cards, talk to people.
Also the higher gas prices get the greater the interest.
Gas is still cheap but just wait it will go back up to 3 bucks soon.
Also try to get on the Local News, I have seen some clips about M/b's of course it's funny the news people don't know anything about m/b's , I saw one saw that this guy invented the M/B and he was just selling Kaula moon dog's with H/T's installed.
Then there is always the WEB SITE you can create one using Microsoft Front Page it's very easy.. Just like using word...
Ride that thing all over town and hand out cards, talk to people.
Also the higher gas prices get the greater the interest.
Gas is still cheap but just wait it will go back up to 3 bucks soon.
Also try to get on the Local News, I have seen some clips about M/b's of course it's funny the news people don't know anything about m/b's , I saw one saw that this guy invented the M/B and he was just selling Kaula moon dog's with H/T's installed.
Then there is always the WEB SITE you can create one using Microsoft Front Page it's very easy.. Just like using word...
