Becoming a successful cleaning business owner requires more than just excellent cleaning and people skills. An effective marketing strategy is crucial to get noticed, develop your brand, and scale your business.
You don’t have to invest in expensive marketing campaigns to be seen. Joining a franchise instantly scales your business’s presence, due to pre-existing marketing and brand recognition.
Franchising aside, there are many tried-and-tested marketing tools that can increase your cleaning business’s visibility.
This guide explains everything you need to know to market your cleaning business and get your company noticed.
How to reach your target market
Business owners frequently struggle to reach their cleaning business target audience because they don’t know who their target audience actually is. Clearly defining who your dream clientele is essential for tailoring campaigns to reach them.
What does your perfect customer need from your service?
It’s not enough to label your target audience as people who want their home or business cleaned. Finding a niche market can help focus and direct your campaign towards those who need a cleaning business urgently. Niche markets include:
- Retirees
- Moving out services
- Young professionals
- Families with young children
Each of these markets will have different requirements for a cleaning business. Can you handle the mess created by young children? Are you equipped to make an apartment look good as new so tenants keep their deposits? Do you operate at a time to suit busy professionals? These are all questions your prospective customers will need answering before they buy your services.
Where is your perfect customer looking for cleaning services?
Elderly customers won’t be looking for cleaning services in the same places as young executives. Marketing your cleaning business in the right channels is crucial for success. There are an abundance of streams you can use to find your perfect customer:
- Social media platforms, such as TikTok and Facebook
- Physical flyers
- Company website
- Paid ads
- Community events
- Online directories
Not every stream will work for every niche. Elderly retirees are unlikely to find your services if you’re exclusively advertising on Instagram, and busy professionals probably aren’t attending local community events on a Monday morning. Adapting your approach to your customers is essential for your cleaning business to be seen.
How to market a cleaning business with a unique brand identity
Clean and succinct branding across your company name, logo, and appearance can help instil trust in your clients. There are many avenues available to display your branding and build your presence:
- Website design
- Social media accounts
- Uniforms
- Car livery
- Voice and tone
- Company values
Brand identity isn’t just about the visuals – the way you conduct yourself also contributes to your brand identity. Thanks to social media, it’s never been easier to show off your winning personality.
Creating social media content, such as TikTok videos and Instagram reels, can be time-consuming and may feel awkward at first. However, the results more than justify the effort, as over 50% of consumers have been convinced to make a purchase based on how the business spoke online.
Get ahead with a franchise brand identity
Building trust takes time and perseverance. Investing in an established cleaning franchise means you can start your business with a familiar and reliable name, with access to a wealth of insider information.
How to market your cleaning business website
Digital marketing for a cleaning business includes creating a professional website aligned with your brand identity and standards. Your website should hold all the information a customer needs to decide if you are right for them, such as:
- The services you offer
- Your contact details
- Operating hours
- Your pricing
A short piece of writing detailing your story – who you are, why you’re in the cleaning industry, and what you’re passionate about – makes your business feel much more personable. Operating transparently while staying professional builds customer trust and makes them much more likely to buy your services.
Show off your knowledge with value-added content
Value-added content is unique, relevant, and useful content, tailored to a specific audience. This can be in the form of how-to guides, blog posts, and infographics.
Value-added content for a cleaning business could include information on cleaning tricks you’ve learnt and recommended products. The content doesn’t necessarily hard-sell the reader on one of your services, but it extends your site’s visibility and trustworthiness.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) increases your website’s visibility to those looking for your services. Using location-specific keywords strategically can help customers in your area find your company’s site.
Creating a Google Business Profile is essential to ensure your business appears in local search results. Make sure your opening hours, location, and services all match what is advertised on your website.
Provide the best service on the market
First impressions are important – once they are formed, there’s no going back for another go. Being friendly, professional, and competent is critical to your cleaning business’s success. If you fail to leave a good impression, the customer will be unlikely to use your services again.
The only way to offer the best service in your area is by finding out what other cleaning companies are doing. Research your competition and see what services they provide that are received well, plus scout out gaps in their offerings.
Ask for testimonials and referrals
An easy way to build trust with new clients is with referrals and testimonials. Over 90% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase, and use them to make their decision. Furthermore, over 50% would pay more for a service that had mostly positive reviews.
Local businesses, such as cleaning businesses, cannot undervalue the power of word of mouth. Research shows 92% of consumers believe recommendations they receive from friends and family over advertising.
Encouraging your customers to recommend you is a powerful marketing technique for cleaning businesses. You can also reward them for each referral, incentivising them to spread the word more.
Offer strategic promotions
Cleaning services demand fluctuates over time – tenants moving out, spring cleaning, and the holiday season all see an increase in interest.
However, during January, business falls as people tighten their budgets after Christmas. This is an excellent time to offer discounts and promotions on your services to keep demand high.
Don’t undervalue your services, but do offer them at a competitive rate. You can reach new clients, who may opt to become a regular customer when your prices return to normal.
Keep consistent in your cleaning business marketing
Most importantly of all, you have to stay consistent in your marketing efforts. It takes time to build a reputation and gather a loyal base of regular customers, so don’t expect results overnight.
Staying consistent doesn’t necessarily mean marketing the same way, regardless of results. It may be that certain channels don’t yield much success in your niche, so they aren’t worth the time it takes to market to them.
Monitoring what cleaning business marketing techniques produce leads and which don’t is crucial. You don’t want to waste time on ineffective marketing that could be spent productively elsewhere.
Cleaning business franchise marketing
It takes time and money to see results from your cleaning business marketing. A benefit of joining a franchise is the ‘economy of scale’. Ovenu’s franchisees pay a small fee every month towards national marketing, and in return, they get a return on investment between 200 and 1200%.
Ovenu’s marketing campaign includes:
- Retained experts, specialising in SEO, social media, and online and offline content pieces.
- Display advertising in high-circulation ‘Home & Garden’ glossy magazines.
- Display adverts on premium directory websites, such as Yell.com.
- Referrals directly from manufacturers.
- Promotions on ‘Property Specific’ third-party websites with links to our own sites.
Franchise cleaning company marketing is effective because of the instant brand recognition that established companies, such as Ovenu, possess. This usually means there’s less of a delay between the start of the campaign and client leads.
During Ovenu’s five-day training programme for new recruits, marketing experts provide valuable insights and tools. There’s no guesswork as to what methods will or won’t work, as Ovenu has a proven business model that’s been successful for over 25 years.
Develop a franchise cleaning business marketing plan with Ovenu
Rather than start from scratch with your cleaning business marketing, join a cleaning franchise instead. Build your company on decades of knowledge and receive industry-leading advice to market your cleaning business successfully.
Start your Ovenu journey today by registering your interest via our online form.