As an active marketeer, I try to keep my website visibility up as much as I can. I register my company and my website with many many other outside sites to try to help raise my profile. One of those sites is the local Atlanta portal, Kudzu.com.
I’ve been listed on Kudzu since it’s inception. About a year ago I signed up for every kind of advertising upgrade that they have, for a trial period of 2 months. Prior to that the listing was free. At that time, the monthly rate for all their advertising was in excess of $1500 a month. But we all know that as long as advertising works well, the cost is irrelevant. I tried it, and my calls and contacts did not increase at all. Experiment over, I went back to the free advertising.
This week an account executive from Kudzu came in to my office with a proposal to upgrade my advertising again. Since a year ago, they’ve increased their profile and increased their media presence. The new proposal was for about $1000 a month. I relayed my experiences from last year, and once again offered to try the service for a month for a greatly reduced fee. When the smoke had cleared, the minimum monthly amount they offered was $750. I asked the account executive again what would be my minimum investment for ANY advertising, and she confirmed $750. As you may expect, I passed.
I like Kudzu, and I get some calls and contacts through their service. It just seems that if you have a past client who had a bad experience, that maybe the offer to try it again would be a little more attractive.
At Georgia Lending, we now offer a risk free mortgage guarantee, that you can see here http://www.georgialending.com/risk_free_guarantee.pdf. This is our Bill of Rights. My feeling is that if I can’t deliver what I promise, then you should be able to hold my feet to the fire. Unlike Kudzu, I’ll put my money where my mouth is.
Don’t misread my message – I think Kudzu is prudent advertising for any business in Atlanta. I just haven’t been convinced that the PAID part is worth it.
