Locksmith Marketing: Keep Your Name In Front of the Public

To run a successful and profitable business, even the most skilled locksmith needs effective marketing and advertising. Ed Fitzgerald is the owner of Arnold’s Safe and Lock and he knows this. He purchased the business from his former employer, Marty Arnold.  Locksmith Ledger interviewed Fitzgerald about how he successfully promotes his business. Following are the Ledger’s questions and Fitzgerald’s answers.

What comes to mind with regards to successful advertising?

I think everyone’s realizing the Yellow Pages isn’t cutting it anymore. I also think there’s too much false information on the internet. You do a locksmith search in any town and very few actual, legitimate locksmiths are found.  The internet was supposed to replace the books but you remember the book had long, long listings of locksmiths with many addresses in many towns. That’s been cut down drastically. Either way, if you look at any phone book, you notice there are hardly any listed locksmiths and only a few display ads at best.

How long has Arnold’s been yours now? Are you doing things much different than Martin, the former owner did?

I’ve been the owner for about 10 years now.  Yes, we have a website just like every locksmith should. As far as reaching customers, we're relying more on word of mouth as well as repeat customers. When it comes to reaching new customers, what’s worked best for us has been cable TV advertising.

Do you appear in the TV ads?

Yes, but I don’t speak. I’m just a safe delivery man in one commercial where we promote Gardall and AMSEC. I’m thinking about doing a new commercial and the company doing it for us suggested I be on camera and speak. It won’t be for long but they suggest my voice be the voice of the company.

How did you first decide to do a Cable TV ad?

Martin had done cable advertising back in the mid 1980s. Back then, he ran one ad that was the first local commercial that came on after Sunday night football on ESPN. The way it worked back then, when you bought the package that included every Sunday night game for the season, they would throw in additional spots that would run on any cable channel anywhere at any time.

We ran that ad for two seasons of Sunday Night Football. Even three, four or five  seasons after the ad stopped running, people still said they remembered seeing the commercial. The staying power of the ad was very impressive.

These days it’s different; you can choose the show(s) you want your ad to appear during.

And these were folks who knew nothing about Arnold’s?

Or people who about us already but it reminded them down the road when they needed us again. I’ve had people tell me they remembered us from the ad years later, so when they needed a locksmith, they recognized our name from the ad. Cable TV keeps your name in front of the public. They may not need you now or in the next few weeks, but if they need you in six months or a year, there’s a good chance they’ll remember the ad. From there they can Google your name and find you. If they just search locksmith, who knows what will pop up. With cable TV I think you keep your name with the public for the time they do need you.

How do you determine who sees your cable ad?

In this area they take Camden County and split it into east and west zones and then Burlington County is its own package and Gloucester County is another package. We can pick any number of channels, time frames or zones. Now, our ad is running in Camden County west and Burlington County. We generally rotate around the three zones. Right now we’re running on the Lifetime Channel, HGTV and H2. We’ve been on The History Channel, Discovery, The Golf channel, ESPN2 and Comcast Sports Net as well. With the help of your representative you can choose where to be, based on the demographics you’re trying to reach.

What other marketing has proved worthwhile?

Back in the early days, you were primarily doing the Yellow Pages. We did some newspaper ads but they aren’t as popular as they once were. We do advertise in our town’s local paper with a monthly display ad. We’ll do some local golf tournaments and placed our ad in the program or on the tee box. We probably do about 10 golf outings in the area, as well as placing an ad on the scorecards.

So your focus is on keeping your name out there, correct?

Without a doubt. Customers may not need you right now but you want to keep your name in front of the public so that when they do need you, they remember you.

Did your recent move to a new, more visible building help?

Now we’re on a major county road and people are coming from Philadelphia to the Cherry Hill Mall and vice versa all the time. I always wanted to be where we’d be more visible so our signage would do as much as possible. We’re a standalone building with plenty of onsite parking.

How else to you get your name out there?

We do pens and key tags. We recently got some key fobs made up with our logo and phone number. We’ve sponsored softball, football, or soccer teams and that goes a long way; everyone who comes out to see their kids or grandkids play sees our banner every game or the kids walking around with your company name on their shirt.

The biggest return seems to come from our TV advertising in spite of it requiring more money to do; it doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think. The commercial we’re running now was shot in 2008. They do them now way differently than they did back in the 1980s when it was done on a tape. Now it’s done digitally; they can take a 7 or 10 second part, which they call a donut, and replace it with another donut. So when we moved,  we used the same ad but inserted footage of the new building

To shoot the commercial was less than $1,500. The rates for running it vary greatly depending on things like the zone, the channel and the time of day it’s shown. You’ll pay a premium to be on during Phillies, Flyers, or Sixers games that are on Comcast Sports Net; sporting events tend to be more expensive and the rates can be based on how well the team’s doing.

With limited space available to effectively letter your trucks, what’s most important for you to communicate to the public?

We use our name and the logo and decals of some of the products we carry; a safe and a Medeco key for example. We have a Nissan NV van and a Dodge Sprinter and those are like billboards on wheels! People can take a quick picture with their cell phone and have it when they need it. Having your location on your trucks lets customers know they can come to you for help and purchase products instead of buying on the internet where they can’t touch and see something first.

How do you convey to the public that they should use your service and feel good about that decision? Why should they trust you?

EF: On the bottom of all our stationery it says, “over 50 years experience”. That’s an important message to convey every time you do a quote or send them something by email or fax or old-fashioned snail mail. They’ll see that message across the bottom. We must be doing something right or we wouldn’t still be here.

The best marketing you can do is to always do the right thing by your customers and keep them coming back. We have numerous people come in and say they have a buddy that recommended us.

Getting back to the public not seeing the value of what you have to offer, are you thinking more commercial or residential?

It’s both. Sometimes you work with commercial accounts that are number crunchers and they’re trying to buy something as cheaply as possible. They ask for a price on a dozen padlocks and then tell me they can get it for less online. You see this a lot with certain pushbutton standalone products. They want it with key override and passage function but don’t realize that’s not what they saw and were quoted online. It’s all about educating your customers and gaining their trust.

Is there a segment of the population that you haven’t reached yet that you’d like to?

Now in the age of the internet, people tend to price shop and all they’re after is the best price.  Then when they have a problem with it, they want you to fix it. It’s not my product;  they bought it on the internet, but they need me to fix it. I’m sure every locksmith and every service industry experiences this. if you’re in a brick and mortar, everyone is trying to undercut your pricing by selling online and they will because they have no overhead! It’s being sold from a warehouse where it just has to be pulled off the shelf by someone making minimum wage and they have no knowledge of the product they’re handling.

Another frustrating thing is when you spend a half hour educating  a customer, only so he or she could buy it elsewhere for much less.  You have to be able to sell people on the idea of buying from you because of the warranty and service they’ll get later when they need it. If you bought it on the internet, I’m going to have to charge you for repairs or adjustments that would be included if you’d bought it from me. I’ll get a call from a safe company to go service a safe sometimes. The people didn’t buy the safe from me and often they seem resentful that I’m charging them as if I work for free. If they bought it from me things would be different because I want to stand behind what I sell.

Are your employees part of your plan?

Long time employees are very valuable.  There are times when commercial customers call and ask for a certain guy to come out since he’s been servicing the account for over 20 years! I’ve had numerous customers mention to me how helpful my employees have been when they visit the shop. We have three employees who have been with the company over 20, 30, and 40 years and others with at least five to 10 years’ experience. That’s good marketing you can’t put a price tag on. People like to see a familiar face they can trust to get the job done and solve their problems.

What do you say to locksmiths starting out or looking to increase their business from a people/business standpoint?

Probably to focus on relationships with your customers. Get out there and press the flesh and ask, “What can we do for you?” It seems like that’s a dying trend, the act of getting in front of customers and prospects.  You’ve got to keep your name out there but more importantly you’ve got to be out there yourself, let them know who you are as a person.

Regardless of how well you do with marketing, your business you’ve got to be ready to service the customers you’ve reached. It’s not uncommon to hear about a shop that’s too busy to get to a customer; you’ve got to have enough good people to be able to help everyone who does call or stop in. In this business when it rains it pours. It could be slow for hours and then out of nowhere you’ve got 6 people at the counter and the phones are ringing off the hook. If you can’t give them all the attention they deserve, they may leave and not come back. Advertise as best you can and then be ready to handle the results of that effort.