Marketing Your Cleaning Business: 8 Tips to Get You Started
People start a cleaning businesses for many reasons. Possibly they enjoy cleaning and think, “Why not make some money doing what I like?” Maybe they have always wanted the opportunity to be their own boss. Or maybe they are attracted by flexible hours and the chance to begin something from scratch.
People don't start a cleaning businesses because they have an insatiable desire to market themselves for the same reason that actors don't choose their careers for the joy of scrounging up audition chances. However, marketing your business is essential. Don't think of marketing as a necessary evil. Think of it as a chance to think creatively and logically while building a customer base.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. Before you begin marketing and setting up your website, establish how you are going to brand yourself as a business. Your brand is a set of human characteristics that reflects who you are as a company. For example, will you play on any of the following main branding personality types?
- Excited: Carefree, spirited, youthful
- Sincere: Kind, thoughtful, centered around family values'
- Rugged: Rough, tough, outdoorsy, or athletic
- Competent: Successful, accomplished, influential, a strong leader
- Sophisticated: Elegant, prestigious
A cleaning business could make any of
these branding personalities work. For
example: - Excited: You could focus on your young energetic employees who love cleaning.
- Sincere: Describe your family cleaning business and the fact that you built it after recognizing the chaos of the average tightly-scheduled family and the need for outside help in keeping the house in optimum condition.
- Rugged: Your cleaners aren't afraid of a little elbow grease! They will buckle down and get to work to get rid of tough stains.
- Competent: Focus on the experience, on how highly-trained your employees are, and on the fact that they are all certified in Commercial Cleaning.
- Sophisticated: Here is where you showcase your business as the gold standard. Explain how it stands apart from other cleaning businesses and offers the best of the best.
2. Believe it or not, your employee uniforms are part of your branding. Simply the fact that your cleaning teams have uniforms gives your business credibility. This is a professional enterprise. The colors can also play into the personality of your business and can mirror the brand color or colors you have already chosen. According to Psychology Today, a study called Impact of Color in Marketing found that up to 90% of snap judgments made about products can be based on color alone (depending on the product). There have been many research studies about color connotations, but let's just stick to the branding personalities above:
- Excited: Try yellow, orange, or red to show eagerness, confidence, and warmth.
- Sincere: Blue is the most popular color in all businesses and presents as trustworthy.
- Rugged: Brown would work here -- or any strong color that isn't pastel.
- Competent: Green is said to be a calming color, but blue or black would also work.
- Sophisticated: Purple is thought to be dignified, possibly because it is the “color of royalty.” Silver or gold wouldn't work for uniforms, but they represent prestige and may be part of your logo and other branding vehicles.
3. Market your business with a Google My Business page. This is a free business profile that will appear on a Google search or Google Maps when potential clients are looking for house cleaning companies. If you personalize it with photos, introductory offers, and up-to-date information about your cleaning company, you can attract new customers. Having a professional presence on Google can inspire trust in potential clients. Google research has shown that customers are 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider purchasing/engaging a business that has a Google My Business listing.
When you fill out the information about your business on the google.com/business page, include as many details as possible. Also, make sure to check the box saying “I deliver goods and services to my customers.” (Cleaning is the service you deliver.) For more detailed information about this process, please read our article, How to Advertise a Cleaning Business with Google My Business.
4. Promote trust in your company by using actual photos of employees in cleaning situations. Using stock photos can give the impression that you are hiding behind a screen or that you are not giving a genuine representation of what you do. Clients can see for themselves that your employees possess and use the appropriate equipment and cleaning protocols. Using real photos instead of stock photos establishes credibility on your website (see below), and can also boost engagement on your Google My Business page.
5. Build a solid website. It takes .05 seconds for users to form an opinion about your website. They are not reading all about your services in mere milliseconds -- so what is it that can hold someone's attention, or conversely, cause them to close the page? Think colors, (this is connected to your branding) design, and ease of use. Use a theme that is simple, not full of distracting pop-ups, and pleasing to the eye.
- On your website, explain in easy-to-read text how your cleaning service stands out from the competition. List your price information and services clearly, and make sure that your contact information is accessible.
- Include text and buttons that will automatically take potential customers to the next step, which is requesting a quote. For example, look at the link in the next part of this sentence: for more tips on setting up an engaging and effective website, check out the article, 8 Essential Website Design Tips for Cleaning Companies.
6. On your website, your Google page, your Facebook page, your flyers, and anywhere else you write about your company, including your customers' own words in your messaging. You can do this by pulling language from customer feedback surveys and testimonials. People like to see that others have trusted your company and have been pleased with the results.
7. Draft a sales pitch that doesn't seem like a sales pitch. Instead of selling your cleaning business's services in a pushy way, lead with your customers' needs, and then talk about how you can help. This problem-solution approach is far more likely to capture a homeowner's attention than a message that starts with information about your company or your services.
8. Research your potential customers. Know your target demographic audience and market to it.
- Do you live in an area where a majority of homeowners recycle and where green energy is popular? Are you marketing to millennials? Make sure to emphasize the fact that you use products and procedures that are safe for the environment and don't emit any pollutants.
- Are there a lot of pet owners in your area? Market directly to this demographic by including pet dander removal in your SEO keywords.
- If there are a lot of rental units in your area, you may wish to advertise your move-in/move-out cleaning services.
- Likewise, if your demographic consists of clients in large houses filled with rooms of furniture, emphasize your company's cleaning expertise with upholstery and leather care.
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