You don’t have to be a commercial cleaning marketing expert to create effective campaigns. Check out these tips to get you started.
You’ve set aside some budget to go towards your marketing efforts. That’s a great start, but where do you go from there? Which kinds of commercial cleaning marketing work, and which kinds don’t? If you’re asking yourself these questions, you’re not alone.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of ideas to help you put together a commercial cleaning marketing plan that works. Keep in mind that a lot still depends on what customers you’re trying to reach, how much you have in your budget, where you’re located, and a few other variables. However, if you use the following suggestions to lay a foundation, it’s more likely you’ll see the rise in customer base that you’re looking for.
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6 Commercial cleaning marketing strategies that work
Marketing tip #1: Target first, market later
The first commercial cleaning marketing tip is more of a pre-marketing tip. Before you start investing time and money, decide you’re trying to reach. Office cleaning contracts tend to be some of the most lucrative just in terms of volume and frequency, but sometimes warehouses and multipurpose facilities can generate a fair amount of income.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t set your sights on, say, medical facilities or dentist offices. The key takeaway here is to focus your marketing efforts on different platforms for different types of businesses. Spend some time learning which ones work best for the customers you’re trying to reach.
Marketing tip #2: Launch a referral marketing campaign
Necessary as other forms of commercial cleaning marketing are, word-of-mouth referrals still beat out other forms of marketing according to Nielson’s most recent Global Trust Survey. But how can you make sure people are telling others about your business?
The answer is to run a referral marketing campaign. Referral marketing is where you get others to send you referrals, sometimes for an incentive. For example, you might offer a free cleaning for a current customer when they refer another business that signs on with you. Or you might ask customers to leave online reviews. (Just make sure not to incentivize online reviews as that’s illegal.) You can even ask those who aren’t your customers to send referrals and offer gift cards or other relevant perks or discounts for their efforts.
Marketing tip #3: Get social
It seems everyone these days is talking about the value of social media marketing, and with good reason. Social media is just a few notches removed from referral marketing with owned and earned channels, and paid channels can be targeted to reach your intended audiences.
Probably the best social media platform for commercial cleaning marketing is Instagram, where you can post professional photos of your work and mark it with relevant hashtags to attract new customers and get people talking about you. (Don’t forget a link to your website in the bio!)
When you invest in social media marketing, don’t skimp on the analytics tools. Google AdWords and Facebook Ads are both helpful and relatively inexpensive platforms that can help you understand the effectiveness of your online campaigns.
Marketing tip #4: Don’t discount print marketing
While all the hype may be about social media and digital marketing, print marketing is still very effective, especially if you’re a smaller local business. Distribute flyers and direct mail postcards to would-be customers that are part of your target market. Leave business cards wherever you can. Post flyers on community bulletin boards.
Add incentive with print marketing by including a coupon for discounted or free services. Though it’s not what it once was, the power of print is still relevant, and it behooves you to take advantage of what it still has to offer.
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Marketing tip #5: Update your website, invest in SEO
Back to the internet. Since online advertising is so popular these days, it’s important that you keep your website current and professional-looking. If you designed your website ten years ago and are still working with that framework, customers will notice. Part of your commercial cleaning marketing budget should go towards the costs of creating and maintaining a current website, which includes hiring a designer.
It’s also helpful to hire an SEO (search engine optimization) company to help keep your website at the top of the Google search rankings. Using primarily blog posts, SEO not only keeps you relevant in search rankings, but it also shows customers that you’re up-to-date on current happenings and trends in your industry.
Marketing tip #6: Rebrand
Rebranding is a rather drastic marketing measure, but if you’ve been doing the same thing for a long time and are looking to attract a different clientele, or if you’ve undergone a leadership change, or if you simply need to reestablish and realign your company values, purpose, and mission, rebranding can be useful.
However, this tactic comes at a cost. Not only is obtaining a new logo more costly than you’d think—about 10-20% of your marketing budget—but then you also have to disseminate your new identity to the public, which includes current clients, who may be a little jarred by the sudden change.