Where to advertise cleaning business?

[Zoe1004]

Hi All,

Thanks for reading. I have put every penny I have into starting a cleaning business, I have invested in advertising ppc with google and with yellow pages, but I don't seem to be getting any calls (apart from people trying to sell to me) I have checked and I'm under the right section on both and have used the keyword thing on google, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Am I missing something? Is there a better place to advertise? Where do businesses like to look for cleaning services? Any help would be brilliant.

 

[Berics Accounting]

Hi Zoe

Congratulations on the new business venture. Its always tricky getting initial advertising right. My personal opinion is that PPC can be great for immediate response however, can prove very costly on an on-going basis. How much have you put into your website and SEO? Have you looked through the SEO forum? There is a lot of really good and helpful information in there. From the sounds of your post, you dont have a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to SEO, so perhaps have a think about spending money on this rather than PPC, as it will probably work out better in the long run for you. Maybe have a look to see if there are any SEO specialists in your local area and see if they can offer some advice for you

 

[JohnJP]

Hello

I used to run a computer support and maintenance business based from home, I now do at lot with domain names and have posted about elsewhere my advice on that.

You did not say whether your target customers were business or consumer, mine were SOHO business users and consumers, so if you are after bigger fish then other means are needed than what detail below - the last paragraph will certainly apply to any business.

When I set up I did a simple website but realised most of my target customers were local and that web advertising was national/global - so never went down the PPC route. Once you register with all the free directories all you get is calls from other businsess trying to sell you stuff, the best advertising that worked for me was targetted local stuff - example local display board in corner shop, school or church newsletter, leaflet drops etc. etc.

Think about if you only had 1 customer who would that ideal customer be? spend quite a lot of thinking about it, write it all down and think about where typically that 'ideal customer' might look to acquire the services you offer. If you can't answer this question then you need to do some reasearch, it is called 'marketing' others may say marketing is about sales or promotional activities, it is not marketing is about understanding firstly 'what you have to offer', 'who will buy it' and 'how you do business with them'.


Johnjp

 

[JoshB92]

Hey Zoe,

I think your looking at this from the wrong way round. Adwords used properly is a great tool, but it's an advertising tool with so many variables. SEO isn't the way to win here either when you're first starting out, there's no point investing in optimising when you haven't discovered who your customers are, and there are cheaper and often more effective things to focus on.

You need to be thinking in terms of marketing first, getting your audience and message right before spending a lot of money on advertising. Once you know your audience, you can target your offering to them and work out how to reach them - whether that be through building relationships with other businesses to provide you with leads, or going down the advertising route.

 

[theBagShoppe]

I am new to this forum but I love to tell what I know. What I have suggestion is that you should focus on Facebook.com for advertising and you should use the parameters correctly and with right location of audience, I am sure it will be targeted and people will get back to you.

Do you research A/B test and try to spend some $50 a week not more than that so to avoid pouring extra money in FB.

 

[DavidP2P]

Hi Zoe!

Go out this week and knock on people's doors. Tell them you are starting out a new business and how difficult it is at this moment in time doing so. You are looking for ten people this week only (scarcity) who wouldn't mind having their windows cleaned for free...in exchange for their testimonial.

As you get friendly with them and chat about all things, you would really appreciate a short video testimonial about the BEFORE/AFTER of the service, plus a recommendation by your name. Just have them identify themselves as "<<First name>> from <<town>>". People get hung up really about being identifiable for anything. If they ask, tell them it it will be used only with telling people about your business on your website and marketing material.

Once you gather ten testimonials you now have legitimate marketing material to endorse yourself on brochures, websites, business cards. People are more likely to believe others than believe you.

You can spend time and money frigging around with PPC, or go out and grab the market by the throat. Get 2-3 testimonials within a nearby neighbourhood, then go tell nearby neighbours that their neighbours had the service to make them feel like it's okay to say yes. Even give a promo offer, again in exchange for a testimonial.

Build your business on word-of-mouth of others.

David

 

[MRLogodesign]

Where are you based, whenever i launch a new product range or arm of my business i pull out my advertising trailers and have them in 2 spots in the city, they are private car parks of which i pay the owner £100 for a month. Well worth it - 16 x 8ft trailers being seen in a city with at least 50,000 views by real people each DAY . Works well - the cost to buy a trailer is about £1250 new and banners are about £100 a side.

 

[makeyourbusinessbetter]

Hi All,

Thanks for reading. I have put every penny I have into starting a cleaning business, I have invested in advertising ppc with google and with yellow pages, but I don't seem to be getting any calls (apart from people trying to sell to me) I have checked and I'm under the right section on both and have used the keyword thing on google, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Am I missing something? Is there a better place to advertise? Where do businesses like to look for cleaning services? Any help would be brilliant.

Hi Zoe,

Your post says 'where do businesses like to look for cleaning services', are you aiming at commercial clients only? What about domestic customers too? What about the over 65s? It's already a large market, with over 10million in the UK, and will be a growing one for many years to come. How many are in your area?

While the over 65s do use google for some things, for services like yours they tend to use local publications and word of mouth recommendation.

Get out there and introduce yourself. Where do the over 65s go in your area? What publications do they read? Get 10 customers, do a great job, provide a great service, be reliable, be pleasant and you will be rewarded with repeat business for years to come. Not only that, they will tell all their friends what a great job you do. The best advertising by far is personal recommendation.

Good luck with your business.

Gordon
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