Let's face it: the janitorial and cleaning industry is very competitive.
Between housekeeping, window cleaning or even event cleaning, customers are looking for cleaning services every day.
While you can still rely on some traditional marketing, it's more important than ever to have a great online presence to be found and chosen by more customers and be one step ahead of your competitors.
Here are four tips to spruce up your cleaning business’s digital marketing:
Before you can start to market your cleaning business online, you must make sure that your business is able to be found by clients. And, if your information is inaccurate, it will tarnish your search ranking and make it more difficult to stand out from the competition.
So, what can you do first?
Start by verifying that the following is correct:
This is called your NAPU, and it’s crucial that it stays the same across all online directories to ensure that you’re found when clients search for your business.
You’ll also want to make sure that your hours are accurate. Along with your business’s location, this is one of the most important things that people look for when searching for businesses online.
Another way to be found online is by using plenty of keywords to improve your SEO value.
Is your cleaning business focused more towards residential cleaning or commercial cleaning? Do you specialize in carpet cleaning, or do you have a maid service?
Be sure to specify the cleaning services that you offer and place relevant keywords throughout your website.
And, since voice search is also growing, you’ll want to place long-tail keywords in your website to make it easier for your clients to find you when they use their Amazon Echo or Siri.
Not sure where to start with long-tail keywords? We recommend that you have an FAQ section with questions such as “How late is (your business) open?” or "Where is (your business) located?".
Paid ads are an excellent way to target (and re-target) clients who may be interested in your business, as well as notify them of any sales or specials you may be running.
They can also give your cleaning business that extra boost to shine and compete effectively against the bigger brands in your locality.
But, although people can benefit from cleaning services year-round, we can’t deny that seasonality plays a role in the success of a local cleaning business.
That’s why it’s important to pay close attention to these peak-times and develop a strategy for how you’re going to advertise during both the busiest and slowest times of the year.
For example, when college leases restart in August, you’ll want to start advertising your services from as early as May to as late July to target those college students or leasing companies that’ll need cleaning services.
Or, you can launch a “holiday cleaning special” around the end of the year, advertising to clients who may be interested in housekeeping or commercial cleaning services after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Lastly, you’ll want to have plenty of online reviews to build trust and bring in more clients, so if you haven’t started asking your clients for reviews, now is the time.
I know it can feel like you’re making your clients uncomfortable when you ask for reviews. However, about 70 percent of people leave a review when asked by a business, so don't be afraid to ask.
If you’re friendly and your client is satisfied with your service, they’ll most likely leave you a bright review.
And, even if you receive a negative review, you can clean it up by responding to it in a timely manner and solving the problem effectively so that your customer stays loyal to your business.
So, start asking for those reviews and work on keeping your business's reputation spotless!
Final Thoughts
We understand it can be difficult to stay ahead with your online presence and digital marketing when you're busy running your cleaning business.
But, one thing is certain: you need to make sure your cleaning business's online presence is squeaky-clean to have the largest impact on your clients.
Whether your cleaning business needs to be found by more clients online or needs to revamp its review marketing strategy, we have a digital marketing plan that can work for your business!
For more information on digital marketing, check out these resources:
Justin Dunwiddie, Content Contributor
Subscribe to our email list to get the latest digital marketing content delivered to your inbox each week!
