[pianotech] experience advertising w/Angie's List?

[Mark Potter]

Greg -

Thank you so much for delineating your detailed experiences with Angie's List.  Your comments/observations/conclusions are much appreciated!

Best regards -

Mark Potter





________________________________
From: Greg Newell <gnewell at ameritech.net>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 8:23:13 AM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] experience advertising w/Angie's List?

 
Mark,
                I have a lot of experience with them. Where to
start. 
                I have been their “Super Service Award “
winner in my category for the last 7 years consecutively. I’ve advertised
with them a fair amount. I get enough customers from the advertising that I
feel it’s worth my while to do so. That being said, the only complaint
that is ever reported about me is that my prices were too high. Like many or
most on this forum I feel that I am more than a “tooner” and
therefore my prices are higher than most in my area. Angie’s Lists
customers are often price shoppers. They do offer a way to reach customers who
are looking for quality and it is one of the ways that I try to set myself
apart from my competition.
                I don’t think that Angie’s list is
national but I’m pretty sure that they’d like to be. “Angie”
hails from Indiana and her business covers most nearby states to her. I’ve
been miffed by a few things in dealing with them. I’ve wanted them to tell
folks who won their categories each year and asked many times why this was not
done and the reasons for it. I placed quite a few phone calls and received
quite a few promises that someone would call me back. This never happened. Most
recently I signed a contract and paid the money for an ad for this upcoming
year. They told me that they would create the ad with my input. I gave them the
link to my Yellow Pages ad to use as a base. After at least 6 weeks of dragging
their feet they sent me a copy of my new ad and told me I had 4 days in which
to make corrections and send it to them. Two of those were weekend days. The ad
was horrible and I had MANY corrections, in fact I told them to scrap it and
start over as it was unacceptable. They told me it would have to run because
they didn’t have enough time to make another one. I finally got it
straightened out but lost a month with a crappy add They ask their customers
for ratings on local businesses. I wonder what they would think about the
rating that the businesses give them.
                All in all I would say that it has been a
frustrating but rewarding experience. The “list” has had a positive
effect on both my reputation and my wallet.
 
Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
www.gregspianoforte.com
216-226-3791 (office)
216-470-8634 (mobile)
http://www.wealthyaffiliate.com?a_aid=NNaYfMKd
 
From:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
[mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark Potter
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 6:26 AM
To: Pianotech
Subject: [pianotech] experience advertising w/Angie's List?
 
Greetings -

As they are a national organization, I assume most of you have heard of
'Angie's List'?  For those that don't know, members of Angie's List
(consumers) pay a fee to have access to a list of service people who have been
'graded' by other members.  There's more, but that's the basic concept, I
believe.

 Apparently (perhaps?) because some of their members have been leaving
positive comments on my business, I have been contacted repeatedly by them the
past 6 months regarding advertising piano servicing on their web page and in
their magazine.  Obviously they are trying to drum up advertising dollars,
but before I even look into the details, particularly the cost, has anyone had
any experience advertising piano servicing with this organization?  Just
wondering....  

Thanks for any replies

Mark Potter
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