Learn how to market a cleaning business in 7 steps
1. Define your target market
The first step to successful marketing will be defining your target market. This is the group of people that you want to focus your marketing efforts on. You are selling a service and your ideal target market is people that need this service fulfilled. Build your marketing plan around this particular group of people.
In order to define your target market, begin by looking at your current customer base. Who are they and why do they buy from you? What characteristics do they all have in common? By answering these questions, you can begin to define your target customers.
The 5 steps below, applied to a current customer base and worked in order, will tell you more about your target customer:
Find your most profitable customers.
From the above group, identify those that refer.
From that even smaller group include common demographic characteristics.
Take the time now to understand the behavior that makes them ideal.
Draw a fully developed biographical sketch to use as a marketing guide.
If you are just starting out and don't have a list of customers, take a look at your competition's customer base and start analyzing their customers. If you are still unsure of your target market, analyze what services you provide and determine what people will most benefit from those services.
From the above group, identify those that refer.
From that even smaller group include common demographic characteristics.
Take the time now to understand the behavior that makes them ideal.
Draw a fully developed biographical sketch to use as a marketing guide.
If you are just starting out and don't have a list of customers, take a look at your competition's customer base and start analyzing their customers. If you are still unsure of your target market, analyze what services you provide and determine what people will most benefit from those services.
By focusing your marketing efforts towards your ideal targeted segment, you will be getting your name, brand, and services in front of the people who are most likely to buy from you. This will save you time and money and will generate the most new business for you.
2. Differentiate your business
Cleaning businesses absolutely must find or create, as part of their strategy, a way to differentiate their business from all the other businesses that claim to do the same thing. You can't say the same thing that everyone else says, like we provide quality cleaning, or you'll always be competing on price. Figure out what it is that you do better than everyone else.
Here's a good way to get a sense of this idea. Cut and paste the first paragraph of your top five competitors websites, blacking out all references to names, and then pass the document around the office to see if anyone can recognize which company each paragraph belongs to. Chances are, the descriptions will be nearly impossible to tell apart.
It's amazing how quickly core differences come to the surface, directly from the mouth of a satisfied customer. Look for common threads that surface in conversations, and then develop a core message that supports those themes. Step outside the box and start separating you from your competition.
3. Create content that educates and builds trust
By this we mean you need to be creating content that addresses the topics, problems and issues that your potential customers are searching for online.
By now small business owners are tired of hearing the phrase, "Content is King." As true as it may be, today's prospects instinctively gravitate to search engines to answer all their burning questions. The mistake many businesses make is that even if they churn out continuous content, they don't make it part of their overall strategy.
Your content and publishing efforts must be focused on achieving two things: building trust and educating. These two categories of content strategy must be delivered through the creation of very specific forms of content, not simply through sheer volume. Every business is now a publishing business, so you must start to think like one.
Examples of content that builds trust:
Blogs. They make content production, syndication and sharing so easy. The search engines love blog content, not to mention the fact that blogs allow one to produce and organize a great deal of editorial thinking.
Social Media. Building rich profiles, and optimizing links, images and videos that point back to the main site is an important part of the content strategy play.
Reviews. Ratings and reviews sites such as Yelp!, MerchantCircle and CitySearch have become mainstream, user-generated content hubs. Businesses will never have total control over this category, but ignoring it may be one of the most damaging forces for a brand.
Testimonials. Customer testimonials are a powerful form of content. Every business today should seek customer content in multiple forms: written, audio and video.
Examples of content that educates:
The point of view white paper. Every business should have a well-developed core story that's documented in the form of a white paper or eBook. This content must dive deeply into what makes a firm different, what the secret sauce is, how the company approaches customer service, and why the firm does what it does.
Seminars. Today, people want information packaged in ways that will help them get what they want. Presentations, workshops and seminars (online and off) are tremendous ways to provide education with the added punch of engagement.
FAQ's. There are those who want to know very specific things about the company or approach, and these learners get the most value out of the traditional "frequently asked questions" approach.
Success Stories. Building rich examples of actual clients succeeding through the use of the product or service offerings is a tremendous way to help people learn from other individuals and businesses just like them.
4. Create a total web presence
Did you know that 57% of a buying decision is made before the customer ever picks up the phone to talk to you? That's because your prospects are going online to research the companies they want to do business with. So it's imperative that you have not just a website, but an online presence.
Here are the 5 Keys to Building Your Online Presence:
1. Build Your Content Platform. Content has evolved to be about listening to what's important to your ideal clients, and then creating content that addresses the types of things people are searching for.
Blogging is also an excellent way to start building "know, like and trust". Not only will it help with SEO, but if you amplify your content on social media, even more people will find you.
2. Improve Organic SEO. Your content will be used to drive organic SEO. You want to make sure that when people are searching for answers to their problems, it's YOU they find first. If you're not optimizing your site for the search engines, prospects will never find you.
3. Don't Give Up On Email Marketing. It's not dead! It's actually become even more important, more effective, and still produces the highest ROI of any other medium. And it gets you in front of your ideal clients. Just be sure to offer relevant, interesting content, and send a minimum of one email per month to your database to stay on their radar.
4. Social Media Marketing. Social media is here to stay and should be an integral part of your marketing plan. Social media allows you to expedite the networking process by connecting to people you meet locally, it helps you stay top of mind with customers, and it amplifies your content.
5. Online Advertising. such as Pay Per Click, is a great tool to use for testing and refining your marketing and advertising messages at a low cost. One way to make your online advertising payoff is to use it in conjunction with your educational content, offering compelling information for lead generation - rather than trying to sell your product or service on one click.
Building an online presence can be a bit overwhelming with all the moving pieces. But it's a very competitive marketplace these days, so start taking action NOW or you'll find yourself being left behind those competitors that ARE taking action and building their online presence.
5. Get the word out about your business
Networking is not about making sales. Sure, that's the desired end result, but it's all about increasing your network of people who know who you are. When you meet people, find out about them and think about how you can help them. Also keep in mind that most people you meet are NOT going to be a good prospect for you. But a LOT of them will know people who ARE good prospects for you. So if you take the approach of helping others, then they will eventually reciprocate.
There are lots of networking opportunities - you just need to do the research and start asking other people you know what groups they belong to or suggest. Examples would be joining your local chamber of commerce and attending breakfast, lunch, and diner events. Also, volunteer work. Volunteering is definitely a great way to get out in the community and network with other people. Find an organization that will satisfy your networking needs but that is also a cause that resonates with you.
6. Create a buzz about your business through public relations
No matter how small or big your cleaning business may be, creating a “buzz” about the services and products you offer is an inexpensive way to get the word out about your business and getting the attention of potential customers. Here are some ways of generating interest and publicity for your business.
Charitable organizations and events: Donating your cleaning business services or time to a charitable event is a great way to get your business name out in the public.
Volunteer to speak: Local organizations such as the chamber of commerce or community clubs are always looking for speakers for their breakfast, lunch, or dinner events. Your name and business will be noted in their newsletters or through press releases and is wonderful publicity for your business.
Teach a class: Most communities have educational programs that offer a wide range of classes on a variety of subjects. By offering to teach a class, your business and brand will gain credibility in the community.
7. Create a system for generating referrals from both customers and strategic partners
Creating a system of referrals is one of the best (and least expensive) ways to promote business growth. By using your current customer base and your strategic partners to refer and promote your business, your business can grow in leaps and bounds. Strategic partners are people and companies that have a relationship with many of your ideal customers within your target market. Examples of strategic partners for cleaning businesses could be landscaping, fire restoration companies, plumbers and electricians.
Referral generation is primarily a process of finding ways to be more referable first. It starts with the mindset of making every customer a referral source, and making it easy for them to be one. Once this is in order, you can move to building a network of strategic partners that can be relied on to refer new customers. These leads are often the highest quality.
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