Advertising your cleaning business online is a necessary, but often confusing and expensive task that, if done correctly, can lead to rapid growth for your organization.
Advertising Your Cleaning Business Online
Online advertising is now virtually mandatory for the success of small businesses, especially in competitive markets, such as commercial cleaning.
Unfortunately, many small business owners avoid diving into social media and website advertising due to several factors, including:
- Cost.
- Perceived complexity.
- Time constraints, and;
- Perceived value.
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However, studies have shown that time and resources invested in online advertising pays.
According to a survey conducted by HubSpot, a leader in digital marketing:
- Inbound marketing generates leads at a cost 61% lower than conventional outbound methods, such as cold calling.
- Blogs and social media are cited as the least expensive avenues for generating new leads, with telemarketing and direct mail coming in at approximately twice the cost.
- The conversion rate for leads derived from online search (15% and social media 4%) are well over that of outbound efforts, which came in at a paltry 2%.
- 92% of companies who posted new content to their blog and shared it out to their social media several times per day acquired a new customer via inbound marketing and online advertising, and;
- 62% of those surveyed said that leads from social media were most important, with 52% citing SEO, while only 9% felt telemarketing leads were most important, with leads from direct mail coming in slightly higher at 10%.
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Why You Need A Website
Websites are vital to the success of small businesses.
According to Business Know-How;
Simply put, if you have a business today, you need a website and a social media presence.
Period.
In the U.S. alone, the number of internet users (approximately 88.5 percent of the population) and e-commerce sales ($394.9 billion in 2016 according to the US Census Bureau) continue to rise and are expected to increase with each passing year.
At the very least, every business should have a professional looking and well-designed website that enables users to easily find out about their business and how to avail themselves of their products and services.
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The key phrases to walk away with are 'professional looking,' and 'well-designed.'
Poorly designed websites typically rank very low in search ranking--a factor that could make or break a small business.
According to a recent article by HubSpot;
The first position on Google search results on desktop has a 34.36% clickthrough rate.
The first position on Google search results on mobile has a 31.35% clickthrough rate.
For every $92 spent acquiring customers, only $1 is spent converting them.
Why You Need Social Media
On the other hand, social media is necessary to increase traffic to your website, as well as the reach of your content.
Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are indispensable tools for sharing blog content, advertising products and services to a hyper-targeted audience, and engaging with current and prospective customers.
A strong and consistent social media presence that routinely shares valuable information and industry-relevant insights will establish brand loyalty among customers and followers, often turning them into online brand advocates, commonly referred to as influences.
Additionally, Twitter and Facebook allow the customer and prospective clients to actively engage with a business through instant messaging and post comments.
Finally, social media is a proven avenue for revenue generation and, according to Fortune Magazine, the future only looks brighter.
90% of businesses see increased exposure and more than half report improved sales from social media.
A 2012 McKinsey Global Institute Report concludes that social technologies stand to unlock $1.3 trillion (yes, trillion) in business value.
And yet, only 3% of businesses are maximizing this opportunity.
Around 2 billion people — more than a quarter of the planet — are now on social media.
Investing in a social strategy now is the single best way to future-proof your business for the years ahead.
Online Advertising Tips for Cleaning Business Owners
- Don't cheap on your website--any money you save in the short-run will be lost in the long-run due to loss of prospective sales.
- Publish to your blog often and consistently with useful content, such as blogs, infographics, and videos that help prospective customers learn about you and your organization and, more importantly, learn to trust you.
- At the least, set up a Facebook Business Page, Twitter business account, LinkedIn Company Page, and Google My Business account.
- Make sure that your contact information is correct and identical on your site and all of your social media profiles to increase the likelihood of showing up in Google Local Map Pack for local searches.
- Develop a buyer persona by analyzing your most successful (profitable) customer engagements and use that to demographically stereotype social media users to target for paid advertising.
- Use high-quality images for your website and social media platforms--you could be penalized for using low-quality, pixilated pictures.
- Install the Facebook Pixel, as well as the authentication code for Google and Bing in the Header of your website to analyze traffic and to improve ad targeting.
Takeaway
Online advertising is a proven method for generating new leads and revenue streams for business, both large and small.
The three keys to success are:
- Identifying your target audience.
- Consistently posting and sharing high-quality, relevant content, and;
- Monitoring the response rate of each platform and campaign to ensure it is delivering positive results.
Starting out fresh with little knowledge of online advertising, especially on a small budget, can be extremely challenging.
However, with drive and dedication, you can succeed, even against larger, better-funded competition.
If you are a small cleaning business owner and would like to learn more about the benefits of merging your current commercial cleaning business with the Vanguard Cleaning Systems Franchise Program–contact us today!
In Bakersfield CA, call (661) 4373253
In Fresno CA, call (559) 206-1059
In Valencia CA, or Santa Clarita CA, call (661) 437-3253
