Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

I did this very thing for a few years so I may be able to help.

I'm kinda swamped at the moment, but will come back to answer some more later on.

In the meantime, are you registered Trading Assistants?

Koncentric

I have a friend who goes to garage and estate sales, buys stuff and sells it on eBay (common practice I’m told). Things you could try:

Look for estate and garage sale ads in newspaper and offer your services
Look for obituary notices (sort of grim) and offer your services
Give away free garage sales signs and offer your services
Check with apartment management and storage companies for abandoned stuff

I’m sure you will get some great ideas from others here.

Good luck,

- Steve

Drive that truck around!

Seriously, on "slow" days, you need to make the truck visible, especially in the residential areas you think are likely to have stuff you can sell.

Be on the road during peak traffic times. Park near busy intersections, even for a few minutes at a time. On Saturdays, drive through the parking lots of some of the biggest grocery stores. When there's a big event somewhere, cruise around casually. Or heck, even small gatherings like soccer practice might be good places to attract some eyeballs.

Hi koncentric

so far my understanding is that, your company buys products/things from people who have used it and now want to dispose of. That means used-things buying-selling. Am i right??

Anyway, I fully agree with Shelly and Vikrant regarding driving the Truck around with Ads on the truck to get notice of people. Specially i agree with Shelly's ideas of places where you should drive the truck.

Then again you can try these on top of what other experts have said so far.
- Tap into the paperboys of your locality and get info from them about who is moving (changing home or others) from that locality/neighborhood. Then you show up at that home, as invariably somethings the moving family will want to sell off/drop off to reduce hassle. you got your merchandise!
- What is the item you buy and sell most? Make a dummy of those items of paper. this paper is actually the flyer/brochure you want to distribute to people (contianing your toll-free number, web address etc.) And then distribute these modified-shaped-brochures.
- all the newspapers the paperboys distribute are rolled. Make a Bright Orange cover of that rolled-newspaper and then distribute by the paperboys. Consumers will at least have to take that cover off to read the newspaper. your cover will be your advertisment.
- last but not the least, you can make your company a MOVER (packing & moving/transporting company) as well as an eBay type company. That might get you access to more people and business.

well those are from top of my head, will get back if anything new comes up.

cheers!!

I suggest registering as A trading Assistant. AS soon as I did and started posting the icon in my auction I recieved a flood of people from my area asking for assistance.

It helps to have a good profile and experience.

Be aware there are new companies opening up everywhere allowing people to drop off their items, sign some forms, and leave. As soon as the acution is over, they mail a check.

I have a Trading Assitant agreement I used for all of my clients. I'd be happy to sell you a license to use it for your own company. Please send me an email (just click on my name) for more info.


Thanks and Good Luck!

Become a member of SquareTrade as well ($8 per month). It is WELL worth it.