Money and Marketing

A phrase that still turns up a lot in discussions about modern life is "Work/Life balance" and the importance of getting this right.  For many people, their job takes over too much of their life.  They put in long hours, or if their hours at work aren't too bad, they still have a nightmare commute to and from it.  Or the job itself is mentally and physically draining and leaves them with no energy to have much of a life.

My current situation is quite the reverse of this, however, with the balance tilted a little too much in favour of "Life".  One of the reasons the blog has been kept up so well over the last couple of months is that I've been busy in my own garden, but not in anyone else's.  Apart from a spot of tree pruning and potato-related advice for friends, it's been rather quiet.

So yesterday I did the rounds of the shops and post offices in the local area to get some postcard-sized adverts in place.  What was really nice was how many of the little corner shops made no charge at all for allowing me to put my notices up, and nowhere charged more than 50p per week.  So my advertising budget for the month was £5!

This month's advert - minus contact details, of course, as I don't want everyone on the net having access to my address,  'phone and email

Unfortunately a couple of large areas of relatively properous-looking private housing, where there might actually be people who can afford a gardener, seem to exist in a shop-free zone, so I will have to give some thought to the practicality of doing a limited leaflet drop to a few streets.  I don't want to spend a lot on printing, nor waste a lot of paper putting more junk-mail through doors where it is not welcome, but I'm not bad with the old Microsoft Publisher programme and think I can probably get some nice, but not too flash 1/3 A4 flyers dashed off without too much difficulty. 

There's also the question of whether you inadvertently insult someone by putting a gardening service flyer through their door.  I got one last year from a lawn care contractor and had to stop myself running after the guy who delivered shouting "It's supposed to look like that, it's a wild flower meadow, OK?!!" 

Of course the next thing I must do, having got the adverts out, is to get used to:
a) Leaving my mobile 'phone switched on, rather than off, most of the time
b) Taking my 'phone with me when I am out in the garden, on the allotment or away from home. 
c) Set up a personalised answering message for situations where I have neglected a) and b) which will probably still be a disproportionally large amount of time.

As I have just discovered, having put the adverts out, I am now even more aggravated when I answer the 'phone to some hapless soul peddling double-glazing or insulation, or one of those annoying damned recorded messages telling me that their records show I have not yet claimed compensation for mis-sold personal protection insurance.  Go away, unless you are a customer.  Or a friend.  Or both.

I've also pondered allowing advertising on this blog, which Google imply may be an easy route to a spot of filthy lucre.  You designate an area on your page for adverts to go and their programme picks up key words from what you are writing about, and slots in 'appropriate' advertising.

Sounds good in theory, though I have a whole list of unethical organisations and companies that I would grieve to give advertising space to at any price.  Imagine how livid I would be if I had a rant about the ancient oaks cut down in Solihull, just to make way for another wretched Asda store and then an advert for Asda, rotten scion of the corrupt house of Walmart,  popped up next to it.  No thanks! 

I self-moderated that last bit. 

You also have to consider just how random some of the references in this blog can be, how far I can drift from what might be called 'pure' horticulture, and what the Google ads programme would make of this.  In recent weeks there have been references in posts to the Geneva Convention, Renaissance art and history, the films of Quentin Tarrantino, Harry Potter, Stars Wars, genealogy, the Irish Potato Famine and the Emperor Caligula.  That would surely confuse the hell out of Google ads and who knows what would then turn up in the little box.  As for the comment I made on my 'Fruit and Veg' page that Pink Fir Apple potatoes can 'look like something you'd get from Ann Summers rather than Thompson and Morgan'...  Filthy lucre indeed!

In short, with my bizarre sense of humour, I think it's fair to say adverts look a very risky strategy.