How to Set Your Company Apart: Marketing Strategies Part One

Do Your Marketing Strategies Differentiate You from Other Cleaning Companies?

Cleaning companies are a dime a dozen these days. From large, national corporations to the small locally owned businesses to single cleaners trying to make it on their own. If you do a Google search for cleaning companies in your area, you’ll get hundreds of listings. And many of those listings are seemingly selling the same things, “We can do everything all for a great price! We’re available any time!” We all know that these promises sound great on a website or in an ad, but when it comes to a company doing what they say they’ll do, not all companies are the same. So, if you’re the owner of one of those companies trying to get your business out there, how do you get potential customers to notice? How do you set your business apart?

Changing Your Strategy

Marketing isn’t for everyone – most people, when thinking of how to market themselves, would shudder at the thought and would have no idea what to do. When it’s your company, finding the balance between being overconfident and underselling yourself can be difficult! A lot of business owners don’t even know where to start when learning how to market themselves, so in this three-part series, we’ll cover the following key strategies:

1. The Basics of Marketing
2. Digital Marketing
3. Print and In-Person Marketing

Strategy 1: Basics of Marketing

When starting anything new (or improving what you’re already doing), it’s best to go back to the basics. So much of what you want to promote to your potential clients can get lost in fancy marketing options or by attempting to under or oversell your business. Here are three basic pointers to being purposeful and intentional in promoting your cleaning company:

1. Find Your Ideal Client

The secret to creating the best marketing ads for your business is taking the time to figure out who your ideal client is. This will help you determine the rest of your marketing campaign. If you try to sell to everyone, your company will get looked over by those who are looking for something specific. Who would your best client be?

• Large apartment complexes?
• Colleges or universities?
• Office buildings?
• Homeowners looking for help?
• Older professionals?

Print out a picture to represent your ideal client and write the ad to that person. Marketing is all about selling what you have to the people who need it. Writing an ad to a specific customer or business will help you focus on the positive and keep your wording familiar but concise.

2. Sell the Benefits AND the Services

Many companies make the mistake of only creating ads for benefits or services. They only list the benefits of hiring their company without providing a list of services that include what the potential client is looking for, or they list the services provided in boring detail and lose the interest of the potential client. You must be sure to identify a problem your customers face (an office needs the bathrooms cleaned on a regular basis), provide a solution for them (you have services for daily, weekly, or monthly cleanings for the entire office) and show the benefit of hiring you over someone else (competitive pricing and increased availability). You can stay above the fray of competing voices by giving the customer both the services and benefits of what you’re selling.

3. Be the ‘Pink Elephant’

When a potential client is looking to hire a cleaning company, they’re thinking of two things: cost and value. If you think about buying something at the grocery store, like ice cream, you have a few choices:

• The store brand (usually the cheapest option)
• The good brand (the recognized name for a little bit more money)
• The Pink Elephant brand (the brand you would choose on a special occasion, something more expensive but so worth it)

The store puts the first two options right next to each other because logic dictates that you would likely choose the store brand because it’s cheaper and the differences aren’t enough to make you spend more money. But you know the Pink Elephant brand’s differences are unique – better taste, nicer carton, more flavor options (you can picture in your mind what that brand of ice cream would be; mine would be Haagen-Dazs). Now that’s effective marketing! You want to promote your cleaning company like the Pink Elephant – you need to focus on what differentiates you from your competition so that you stick in the mind of potential customers. Look at your competitors – find what no one else is offering and offer it!

In this series, we’re covering the three key strategies for effectively marketing your company. Be on the lookout for part two, Digital Marketing, next week!

If you’re looking to be the Pink Elephant in your marketing ads, Janitorial Manager is the business solutions partner you’ve been looking for. Our cloud-based software program can help you manage all parts of your business in one place, giving you a competitive advantage over the competition and allowing you to be the best option when potential customers are looking for a cleaning company. Give us a call or schedule a free demo today!