Neighborhood Outreach Marketing (NOM) was developed with an understanding of three truths:

1. While word of mouth is still the best form of advertising, the bigger the base the faster the word will spread.

2. Your base of core customers typically come from your surrounding neighborhood*. 

3. Neighborhoods can be diverse. It’s best to focus on the areas of your neighborhood that will be more drawn to your business and have the disposable income to spend there (your target market).

NOM uses these truths to optimize your advertising dollar, bringing you outstanding ROI, near immediate results, and budget flexibility. (See cost structure here.)

Based on typical response rates, in most cases, if you are a brick-and-mortar location, you can expect to recoup your investment with your new customers’ first visit and realize many times more than your investment when considering the lifetime value of those customers. And that’s not even considering the other customers they will inevitably bring in with their word of mouth.

In the case of service-based businesses such as housekeeping, lawn care, pool maintenance, pest control, etc., a single new account generated from NOM can far exceed your advertising investment. Not only that, but since your new clients will be in the same compact geographical area, your route will be optimized, and you will have less drive time between accounts. I’m sure we don’t have to explain to you how much drive time presents a significant opportunity cost. Add the cost of gas and vehicle maintenance, and you will not only be increasing revenue but also lowering your costs with NOM.

(*Note: For service-based businesses it’s generally best if your initial customer core comes from a fairly tight geographical area to lower travel related and other opportunity costs. You can then spread your service area neighborhood by neighborhood from there.)