With inflation skyrocketing and cutting costs more important than ever for small businesses, online marketing has become more valuable than ever. Thanks to multiple sites on the Internet, your cleaning business can advertise for free or for a small fee on various websites. Others may only charge a percentage of all business generated from a listing. This creates a win-win situation that can help reduce costs. This list gives you an excellent start to successfully market a cleaning business.
The Most Important Listing to Generate Local Business
If you’re looking for a site that creates the highest potential to be seen and generate business locally, nothing beats Google My Business. Registering a business will put you at the top of local listings when people are searching for cleaning services in your area. You can be featured in the top right corner of Google search results. This listing includes pertinent information about your business, such as contact info, address, hours of operation, and even location on a map.
The process does take a little bit of time as business addresses are confirmed by snail mail. So be sure to include an accurate address to receive that confirmation.
You can edit your listing any time and it’s worth noting that if you need to adjust your business hours for a holiday, you’ll likely get reminders to adjust these settings to reflect your Thanksgiving or Christmas hours.
While most people know the importance of Google My Business, they forget that Bing has a similar service. It works similarly to the more popular search engine directory, although its reach isn’t quite as widespread. But it’s free, so those people who do prefer Bing can find your cleaning business profile.
Put Your Cleaning Business on the (Apple) Map
if you want to help people find your business, this site recommends listing it with Apple Maps. As long as you have a physical location you can use the service. While most people likely think of Apple for podcasts and technology products, you might be surprised how many people utilize the mapping feature.
It’s worth the time to create a free listing on Apple Maps. They sometimes pull information from Yelp, so they may already list your business, and you merely need to claim it and verify its accuracy.
Get Some Word-of-Mouth Marketing for Your Cleaning Business
Speaking of Yelp, this and other customer review sites can inspire confidence in potential customers in your area. Reading about other customers’ experiences with your business creates one of the most effective marketing tools at your disposal. Of course, to get all those positive customer reviews, you want to ensure that your cleaning business provides the best service possible and makes your clients happy — word-of-mouth advertising is often the best marketing for any business.
If you do have some negative reviews, be sure to address them to show how committed you are to making your customers happy and that you follow through on any concerns or complaints. Most customers understand that any business can make mistakes, but as long as you address and correct them, you’ll feel more confident hiring your cleaning service.
Plus, if someone is looking at review sites, they’re likely very motivated to find the right cleaning service and begin service.
Create Multiple Listings for More Business and Greater Authority
You have many more options these days than Craigslist, which has become overrun with scammers and many people are wary of services advertised there. Angi has created a site where you can advertise your services and potential customers seem to have a lot more confidence in their listings, but more listing services are popping up every day online.
You can create a free listing on Care.com, one of the newer sites. Some sites may rank higher in search engines, such as Angi, but adding free listings on as many sites as possible helps marketing. A few other sites have free listings, although they charge a small fee for generated leads. Try websites such as Thumbtack or Porch.
HomeAdvisor offers free listings, but they also offer paid services. Be aware that if you choose a free listing, your business will appear much lower on search results. If you have some extra money for the paid option, it might be worthwhile for your cleaning business.
While the days of finding that big, clunky, yellow book on your doorstep every year may be over, the Yellow Pages is still online. Older generations, in particular, may prefer searching for cleaning businesses using that directory, even if it is now a website.
Don’t Forget More Conventional Social Media Outlets
Conventional social media sites offer free marketing and promotion, so don’t forget sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. While the competition is high on those sites, don’t forget to utilize them to create pages, groups, and post photos.
These services can create a more personal marketing approach with your clients and are as relevant as ever. They also offer some paid advertising options if your budget allows it.
Keeping It All Organized for Your Cleaning Business
ServiceWorks is the perfect software package for managing a cleaning business, whether you’re doing all the cleaning yourself or have an entire fleet. Our software lets customers schedule services online, schedules the most efficient service routes, offers credit card processing, and once leads start pouring in from all your new marketing strategies, it helps you track your leads. That means you can focus on what you do best — providing professional cleaning services that keep customers happy and coming back. You can try it for free today!
