Why is promotion so important?
The toughest thing about running a new business or keeping the one you’ve been doing for years on track is attracting customers. As no matter how advanced your services are, there’s no way you’re going to be successful and gain some significant profit if you don’t promote your company on the market and don’t spread the word about it among the potential clients. It’s as simple as can be: no customers – no job – no money. You don’t have to be too good at marketing and promotion or have an incredible business aptitude to understand that. Nonetheless, promoting your business is much easier to say than do. And I’m almost sure that it’s the issue most businessmen had to face at some point of their engagement, especially when the business is fresh and new. Moreover, marketing is an ongoing process for a company (including a cleaning one) that thrives to grow and develop, so as an owner you’re going to think and do something about it throughout the entire existence of your company.
Promotion is something a brand-new cleaning company should really focus on. Unlike in other business spheres, you just can’t avoid reaching out ordinary people to get them use your services. In general, cleaning is a great option of a family home-based business that can be developed and expanded into something bigger and more profitable overtime. The start-up capital doesn’t have to be too high, but the amount of work you’ll have to cope with considering compiling the clients base is just immense, unless you hire a marketing specialist or promoter to help you out. But, when you’re just a beginner, you might not be able to afford their services, so you’ll have to deal with promotion of your cleaning services on your own.
Unfortunately, business promotion and marketing is quite tricky. I mean, it may cost a lot in the first place. Also, it’s necessary to ensure that you develop a proper unified promotion strategy for the services you’re intending to provide, as some random and uncoordinated methods won’t make a huge difference to the company’s success or even throw it back. Then, sometimes even a well-developed at the first sight promotion system won’t give the desired results due to some reasons. And, you’ll have to figure out how to make the promotion methods more appealing and effective so that they will work in favor of your company.
Besides, you have to direct your promotion efforts to the group of your potential clients and, thus, take their general needs and preferences into consideration while developing and embodying your marketing strategy. You don’t have to split into several parts in attempts to take all orders of different kinds. Concentrate on something you’re able to do the best. Lastly, it’s important to keep abreast of the situation on the cleaning services market to meet its requirements and trends.
Therefore, I’ve attempted to look for the most affordable yet effective methods to promote a cleaning company to help out those businessmen out there, who’ve embarked on this task on their own. So, unless you’ve decided to hire a professional promoter to serve your cleaning company’s needs, let’s go through them together!
5 Ways to Online promotion your cleaning business
That’s one of the cheapest methods and also the one you can’t ignore at all. Just ask yourself where you’d order pizza, find a mover or look for a handyman to get the job done quickly and qualitatively and you’ll understand why. So, let’s see how you can promote your cleaning services while sitting in front of your laptop or even on the phone.
1. Social media
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the platforms you don’t want to miss out on. Create separate profiles for your company to post information about the services you’re ready to provide, materials, tools and cleaning supplies you primarily use to make potential clients aware of the benefits and advantages of your company and decide whether they’re ready to hire you to clean their houses.
If you have permissions from your clients, post the pictures showing results of your work. Also ask your customers to give the shout outs on their social media to help you out.
Don’t forget to add relevant hashtags to your posts, come up with catchy headlines, include the name of the town/city you’re working in into the titles or account name to let everyone know your operation area.
Conduct various contests or giveaways on your social media, provide modest discounts for followers or people who repost your posts on their pages.
Pinterest might be a place to post cleaning tips and tricks while mentioning the name of your company and including the links to your company’s website or profiles on other social media to provide an easy access to your contact information in case if people decide to entrust the house cleaning to professionals. But, you have to be quite creative and artistic when creating a Pinterest post to attract people to it, so take your time to choose the right pictures and come up with the perfect text for the post.
If you have a cleaning blog on your company’s websites, don’t forget to repost the blog posts on the social media pages to diversify the information your display out there, but don’t limit your Facebook or Twitter activity to this part only. Be more down to the earth and communicate with people to receive a positive feedback.
2. Hiring services
There’re plenty of online services which gather information about those or that types of services (moving, cleaning, contracting, babysitting, etc.) provided in certain local area to give the users an opportunity to find the kind of help they need and hire an according professional right away. They remind of freelancing websites.
For instance, you may create your own business profile on HireRush.com completely free of charge. Provide the possible customers with the detailed information about your company, including each type of cleaning you can do (like spring cleaning, carpet cleaning, window washing, move-out cleaning, etc.). Mention the cost of your services and indicate separately if you’re ready to provide maid’s or housekeeper’s services. Don’t forget to leave your contact information (address, links to your website and social media profiles, e-mail address and phone numbers).
3. Free Internet advertising
Some websites allow posting classified ads free of charge, but you have to figure out which of those platforms are the most popular within your local area. Post your ads on both local and universal websites. Make the advertisements as appealing and laconic as you can. Don’t commit to the platform if you don’t notice any positive outcome.
4. Develop a website for your company
That’s quite important and time-consuming process, as it’s necessary not only to create a website, but also keep it rolling. However, promoting your business throughout its personal website is not only rather effective, but also just the site’s existence is a bonus to the company’s image.
Introducing methods and techniques of website managing that make it more visible for the search engine and increase the numbers of visitors, developing a pleasant-looking and neat design, maintaining the site’s content and complying with the latest trends of internet promotion requires constant professional attention. That’s why it’s better to hire an IT and SEO specialist who’ll take care of your company’s website on a constant basis and make it rank hire within the category of similar services in your local area.
Use your website to carry out various contests, spread the word about your services, attract new clients and make the existing ones rehire by offering free bonus services and discount codes, share cleaning tips and educational materials about benefits or negative consequences of using particular kinds of cleaning products, explain the necessity of regular professional deep cleaning. Make the Internet users remember your site, convince that your company is exactly what they’ve been looking for.
Start a blog on the website to post some useful information there and create a platform of communication between the company and its clients.
5. Publish your company’s press releases on free websites
There’re a lot of services providing such an opportunity, but you have to use it wisely. Press release has to be informative and bare important information, so publish one to let people know about your company’s opening, or in case if you’re introducing new kind of services, or if you’re carrying out a discount program during holidays, etc.
Offline promotion cleaning business – 10 Tips
- Flyers all over the place
Think through the flyers’ design carefully. Consult with a promotion specialist to make them as attractive as they can be. Remember, that the perfect size of flyers is a half of the page. Don’t be too shy and uncomfortable to distribute them all over your local area. Visit supermarkets, offices, small shops and gas stations, municipal centers, dry cleaners, beauty salons and ask them if you can leave your flyers on their counters, cash registry spots and bulletin boards.Walk through the neighborhoods where people are more likely to hire professional cleaners and put a flyer into people’s mailboxes. - Business cards
You may design and print them on your own or get printing services do that for you. Either way, you have to obtain a bunch of business cards to give away to your friends, family members and simply people you meet. Make the most of a business card as of promotion mean: include your company’s name and logo, website and social media links, e-mail address and contact numbers. List the services you provide and mention special offers for regular customers. - Meet local companies to offer your services
Office buildings, shops and other institutions are all cleaned by professionals. So, pay them a ‘promotion visit’ and make them interested in addressing your services. - Mail and door-to-door marketing
Just print out simple letters describing your company and offering your services, use online search to figure out the house addresses in the designated neighborhoods and send them to your potential clients. If you are able to pull out the name of house owner you’re sending a letter or a postcard to, it will be even better.
Come up with a discount system for regular clients, significant orders and people who bring new clients. Offer lower costs for complex cleanings. - Make your logo noticeable
Your company’s and employees’ vehicles, business cards, leaflets and flyers, online ads, servicemen uniforms should spot it for sure. Design it in such way that even one brief look at the logo will make a person understand what kind of services you provide. - Introduce a uniform for co-workers, as it makes your company look more respectable and professional.
- Consider joining Chamber of Commerce in your area to promote cleaning services to owners of other companies, which might be interested in hiring professional cleaners. You’ll have to pay a member’s fee, but the Chamber is a great promotion spot, as there you’ll have a chance to talk directly with those people, who may decide to use your services on an ongoing basis. And, that will ensure stable and constant income for your company.
- Cooperate with the adjacent businesses
Get acquainted with moving and real estate companies, visit builder’s offices and apartment complexes for promotion reasons.Those are the types of companies that might offer their clients additional cleaning services provided by your company. For instance, movers may suggest hiring cleaners to conduct move-in or move-out cleaning, real estate companies may hire you to prepare a house or an apartment for a new buyer/tenant.So, leave your business cards and flyers at their offices to provide them with your contact information or ask them if they could display your advertising materials at the info boards. - Involve your employees
Provide them with business cards and flyers to spread among people they know to cover a wider audience. Ask them if they could repost your Facebook, Twitter or blog posts and share the company’s website address on their personal social media pages.Offer bonuses for those co-workers, who attract more new customers. - Ensure proper customer service
That involves the quality of cleaning services, convenient time and performance speed, pleasant discount system and refunding in liability cases.
Another useful tip: people are more willing to trust certified companies and cleaners, who went through professional training (this applies especially to maids and housekeepers). Clients just feel safer to leave such people in their houses to get their places cleaned and expect better services from licensed cleaners. So, take care of that issue as well to present your company as more reliable and trust-worthy one.
Great way to grow your cleaning company. I find starting a website first is the place to start, then market your site using pacific key words like cleaning services, Etc. I am going to study this article further, they have some great advice for getting the word out
Thank you!
Very informative blog! This is a helpful blog that business ownersmust-read because it can serve as an inspiration, an instruction learning from experienced that they can use to focus on the business growth and marketing. In Australia, we will ask you the important questions, and more importantly, we make sure you understand the process. Some of the most important considerations are simple questions but are often overlooked.
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