Implementing a smart marketing strategy will help you determine the steps to take to communicate your business to potential customers effectively and where to access information to see which strategies work best.
Developing an effective strategy for marketing cleaning services involves defining your brand, communicating it to the public, and delivering your services. Understanding useful marketing tools will help you grow your network and expand your business.
What Is Marketing?
Marketing is defined as the process or approaches to take to promote and sell your business. It involves communicating your product or service to potential clients, customers, or the general public to grow your network.
Marketing is often misinterpreted as sales, and while the two are complementary, they are not interchangeable. A clear marketing strategy and goal open the door for sales conversations to happen, but you need to develop a clear marketing plan to begin selling your business.
The Four P’s of Marketing
Understanding these four cornerstones will help you develop a comprehensive strategy for marketing cleaning services.
Product
A product is generally a tangible item, but in this instance, a product can mean a good or a service that you are trying to sell. Understanding and establishing your marketable niche will help you to determine how to promote your cleaning business better.
Price
Determine price points where you want to begin offering your services. Clear and consistent pricing will help lay the groundwork for client negotiations and service agreements.
Promotion
Promotion is one of the most well-known aspects of a marketing plan and involves many elements to communicate your message effectively, including:
- Advertisements
- Social media strategies
- Public relations
- Email marketing
- Search engine marketing, like Google Adwords
- Video Marketing
When used appropriately, these outlets and tools can amplify your message.
Place
Understanding the types of customers you are trying to reach will help optimize your marketing for cleaning services. Today, ‘place’ refers to where you intend to sell your product or service both on and offline.
Develop a Marketing Cleaning Business Plan
Creating a comprehensive marketing plan will also help you establish a solid understanding of the goals and mission of your cleaning business. You need to determine which cleaning services you will offer, whether you are a home or commercial cleaning business and goals for promoting your cleaning business.
Working from a marketing cleaning business plan will provide a guideline for who your target audience is, how you should advertise cleaning services, and who your competition is. You can create an effective marketing plan on your own. Be sure to provide an overview of your business along with details like who you are, what your objectives are, and a clear promotion strategy.
15 Ways How to Market Your Cleaning Business
1. Learn Your Audience
Start by researching who your cleaning business marketing is looking to reach. Your potential audience may be in a specific area or certain types of business owners. Looking into who your competition is communicating to may also help you establish your audience. In marketing, learning your audience is referred to as identifying a target market.
Understanding the demographics of your target market (age, gender, location) will help you craft a message that is more personal and relatable.
2. Create a Brand
Developing a logo and color scheme to be used in all communication with the public and potential clients will set you apart from your competition and make you more memorable.
While creating a logo may seem daunting, it is crucial to increase your business’s recognition. Think of Pepsi or Mcdonald’s. You probably immediately think of the Pepsi globe or the golden arches. Your cleaning business logo should be recognizable and also relate to the services you are trying to sell.
Along with a recognizable logo, you want to narrow your colors down to a few options that you reuse throughout all communications. Colors like white and blue are associated with cleanliness, purity, and calm, while colors like orange and yellow spark optimism and cheerfulness.
3. Develop a Conversion-Focused Website
It is essential to provide your services and contact information. Still, when you are starting a new cleaning business, whether it is a carpet cleaning or regular cleaning business, it is just as important to collect email addresses and contact information from those visiting your website. Adding visitors to your email or newsletter list can help turn them into regular clients.
Here are some easy-to-use websites that offer conversion tools to increase your return on investment (ROI):
- Wix
- Squarespace
- WordPress
- GoDaddy
4. Invest in Pay Per Click Advertising
Utilize digital marketing strategies like pay-per-click advertising to drive traffic to your cleaning business website. Websites like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising offer paid plans that will prioritize your website over a competitor’s site when someone searches for house cleaning, commercial cleaning, or another service your business offers.
5. Utilize Social Media
Understanding how different social media channels work will allow you to market your cleaning business better.
- Facebook – Facebook makes it easy to set up a business page and have users follow you. From your business page, you can post operating hours and services offered and also run Facebook ads. Customers can also provide a review on your Facebook business page, and better reviews help more potential customers find your page.
- Twitter – Twitter also allows you to create a business page. Having a Twitter business page will enable you to create paid advertisements to reach more potential customers.
- LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a professional platform and a free way to post job openings. It is also a great way to create awareness for your cleaning company’s brand.
- Instagram – Recently, Instagram has become the primary platform for social influencers who have a large following and usually get paid to promote businesses and products. Influencers can collaborate with you on how to promote your cleaning business.
6. Invest in Effective CRM Software
Customer relationship management software (CRM) allows you to more efficiently and effectively schedule and track your clients and store contact information for streamlined house cleaning marketing.
The software offered by WorkWave allows you to maintain a customer database easily, send quotes and estimates, schedule one-time and recurring appointments, and assign work orders to your staff.
7. Grow Your Email List
Email marketing today is very saturated, but there is a good reason for it. Email is a quick and inexpensive way to reach your audience. As mentioned earlier, developing a conversion website to collect contact information like email addresses is one of the best ways to grow your network.
If you are looking to expand your email reach beyond those who have visited your website, you can purchase email lists. Companies like ZoomInfo, Exact Data, and Sleeknote provide lists that you can buy based on the demographic information you provide, improving how you market your cleaning business.
8. Network
Having an effective online and advertising strategy is important, but it is also important to meet up with potential customers in person. Establishing a personal connection with prospective clients may lead to new customers and customer referrals.
Join your local chamber of commerce to meet other professionals in your town or city. They may become potential clients or simply grow your list of connections. Getting involved in community events is another excellent way to meet customers and build your network to market your cleaning business through word of mouth.
9. Maintain Your Reputation
Having a reputable business that people trust is important for commercial and house cleaning marketing. You will earn more referrals and repeat customers by instituting best practices to maintain your cleaning business’s reputation. Be sure you and your staff listen to your customer’s needs and work to fulfill those needs.
Customer satisfaction is the best way to grow your network and establish a recurring customer program. You can do this by always being transparent and honest to your customers and your employees. Employees also have a lot of customer interaction and are an advertisement for your cleaning business.
10. Think Outside of the Box
You may have already started developing a website and creating a Facebook Business Page, but also consider innovative advertising techniques for how to market a cleaning business that will catch a potential client’s eye.
- Turn your car into a moving billboard. You can buy branded magnets for your vehicle and your employee’s cars. This strategy for marketing your cleaning business will help you get seen on the road and by people who may not have seen you any other way.
- Purchase door hangers and flyers in local neighborhoods. You are not allowed to put your business flyers in private mailboxes, but you are certainly entitled to put them on doors. Door hangers are less likely to fly away and are an easy way to share your cleaning business’s information.
- Place Your Business Card at Local Businesses. Many local eateries, gas stations, and other small shops will allow you to set your business cards out for free. Network with local business owners and ask if you can take advantage of some free promotions.
- Blog! Many websites offer free blogging plugins that you can add to your website. Creating informative blogs that are relevant to your cleaning business will improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and drive more traffic to your site.
Be sure to maintain branding and provide contact information on any out-of-the-box marketing cleaning business techniques you implement.
11. Purchase Targeted Mail Lists
Much like email lists, you can also purchase targeted snail mail lists for house cleaning marketing. Software like Service Autopilot helps you to maximize your target area by offering a partnership with Smart Maps to cover your mailing routes better. Take advantage of features like creating a radius from your cleaning business office.
Services like Direct Mail also offer mailing lists that you can buy to reach your target audience through mailed newsletters and offers. Not all customers will have access to or prefer to use the internet when searching, so mailings are still an effective way to promote your cleaning business.
12. Ask for Reviews
Honest reviews from current and past customers help build credibility that you can use to your advantage when you are developing a marketing plan and promoting your cleaning business. Current statistics show that 84 percent of consumers read reviews for local businesses before they make a decision.
It is important to understand that negative reviews may hurt your cleaning business, but striving to achieve customer satisfaction will help you earn positive reviews. In the past, customers would only tend to leave a review if they had a negative experience, but now, customers are providing more reviews for positive experiences as well.
- Google – Google is the most popular search engine today, and positive reviews on Google will help you to show up higher in their searches.
- Yelp – Yelp is an excellent tool for marketing your cleaning business. It is one of the original review sites and is still used by many consumers today.
- Facebook – As mentioned earlier, positive Facebook reviews will help increase your visibility on Facebook and can help your Facebook page show up in general search engine inquiries.
13. Emphasize the Benefits
It is easy to start listing the services your cleaning business provides when marketing to the public. Still, potential customers are reaching out to you because they have already decided they need carpet shampoo or window cleaning. Be sure to highlight the benefits of choosing your company over choosing a competitor.
Perks like free estimates and emphasis on how simple your process is will help you stand out. If you are trying to build a recurring customer program, offer loyalty rewards. Bonuses like a free extra room, a bottle of cleaning solution, or other complementary add-ons will help you retain customers.
14. Get Certified
Having a certified cleaning business is not required for you to operate, but it is another added benefit that will set you apart from the competition. The International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) was founded with the mission of uniting cleaning businesses and establishing best practices to offer safe and sanitary solutions to customers and corporations.
Applying for CIMS Certification through the ISSA requires your cleaning business to meet best management guidelines in six different areas:
- Quality Systems
- Service Delivery
- Human Resources
- Health, Safety, and Environment
- Management Commitment
- Green Building
There are fees to submit an application, assess your business, and maintain membership, but having this certification will help to improve your customer credibility and is excellent for marketing your cleaning business.
15. Shoot a Promotional Video
Filming a promotional video may seem intimidating, but it is a great way how to market your cleaning business. Promotional videos allow you to tell your customers what you offer without them having to read and scroll through a website.
Today social media like Facebook and YouTube have made it so anyone can create videos as long as they have a smartphone or some basic equipment. Customers are not always looking for the highest quality video when searching through YouTube. They are usually looking for a friendly face who can provide knowledgeable information to answer their questions.
The Bottom Line
When you are trying to determine how to market your cleaning business, it is best to develop a comprehensive marketing plan. Unlike sales, marketing plans first work to define target audiences, establish channels of communication, and build a memorable brand that will support your cleaning business and help it grow.
Today’s technology has made getting your message out easier. Social media, CRM tools, and websites with built-in SEO and conversion tools all help you to understand which marketing tools work best for your cleaning business. Follow these best practices to learn how to market a cleaning business.
