2014 is in full swing.
TWO VERY important things to do:
1. Make sure you’ve written your top goals down. Not just “resolutions”, but real-life goals for your personal life and business.
2. Write out a marketing plan with EVERYTHING you plan on doing to achieve your sales goals for the year.
To help you, I’ve posted an updated list for 2014 of my BEST advertising predictions for cleaners.
What will be the BEST advertising methods for cleaners in 2014? See below for my best predictions.
Google will continue to be a leading way to get cleaning client for little to no money. But the traffic they are giving to cleaning websites will be unpredictable. Only cleaning websites with solid, unique content and a strong social media plan will remain ranking through the year.
Client Newsletters and Postcards will continue to be the number one best way to maintain a steady, predictable cleaning business. Those who pay attention to marketing to their current clients will prosper. Companies who neglect their existing clients will give part of the client base to their competition.
Facebook will be a source that gains many cleaners new clients for little advertising cost. The costs for Facebook’s pay-per-click advertising will rise due to popularity among small businesses. Use their paid advertising early in 2014 to gain new “Likes” and leads before costs go up.
Email newsletters will continue to be a great means of keeping in touch with prospects and clients. It’s low cost will make it very attractive. However, those who use email newsletters must get creative in keeping subscribers interested in remaining subscribed to the newsletter.
Every Door Direct Mail will remain a good advertising option for cleaners. Most small local businesses that want to test EDDM will have already tested it. Many will have tested it with poor results due to running a poorly written ad. Smart cleaning company marketers will continue to use EDDM to dominate the neighborhoods they want to target.
Yellow Pages…RIP.
Coupon mailers like Val-pak and RSVP will continue to hobble along. For some companies with value pricing, these methods of advertising will continue to do okay.
Groupon, Living Social and Similar Online Coupons will slightly gain popularity. Other online coupons will also emerge. Some cleaners will use these with some success.
Newspaper will continue to decrease. Subscribers are at a low due to many people getting their news online. But for some cleaners who service communities with the majority of residents 60+ years old, newspaper can still be a great advertising source.
Radio will become popular for companies who don’t know where to spend ad dollars. However, for many cleaners, radio will continue to be a bust if the campaign isn’t designed properly. For most cleaning companies, the only way your client will hire you is to call you. Since people don’t write down phone numbers from radio commercials, radio is difficult for cleaners unless the campaign is designed appropriately.
Stay BUSY all winter with EDDM, client newsletters, postcards, and more ads, graphic design, and printing done for you in Hitman’s Ad Coaching Club Here.
have gotten back into the carpet cleaning tile cleaning etc… business last year two week before sandy after moving back to nj . i bought the rotovac 360 i love the equipment so much easier to clean then my first unit i bought that was a square old steam jenny and wand in 1987 . have been using some of there marketing tools and flyers and dont think the wording is getting peoples attention. do you think if so i should use there wording for eddm
Old ads can work. But the question is, did those ads ever really work to begin with? I don’t know. EDDM can be great if you are using good ad copy and irresistible offers. In my ad coaching club we offer you proven EDDM templates and we even do the graphic design for you.
Thanks for the tips John, great advice.
I am preparing our client News Letter. It is a one page easy to read Deal Of The Year newsletter. Like you said John you’ve got to mix things up. All I did in 2013 for mailing my clients was Newsletter Postcards and regular post cards. The return was minimal but necessary. Remembering back to 2011 I had mailed a simple one page letter that got great results. I put my name on the return rather than the business. I’ve got to do this again because I have to get some good return. I am also taking your advise on incorporating more services into the deal (upholstery and carpet). That way I teach my clients to use other services. Tell me your thoughts: Deal Of The Year: $119 for 350 sf of carpet cleaning($140 value) and a sofa cleaning leather or upholstery($99 value) Bonus: 25% off any additional cleaning while we are out.
Every time I read your reports I get pretty fired up but I have to admit it is hard to stay focused. Thank you for your direction and experience. It has helped a ton! John is a smart man!
Thanks so much for that Mike. You can never go wrong when you market to your clients. And like you’ve learned, mix it up…do NOT bore them.
Like Mike Kirkman said above, sometimes it is hard to stay focused and fired up when you don’t have the right ad copy or proof that it works in front of you. I have been cleaning professionally for 11 years and it wasn’t until I joined the coaching club offered by hitman advertising that I really started following through with a solid marketing campaign. I am still in the infancy stages of seeing ROI but I know that the systems that I am putting into place thanks to what I have learned from John Braun are going to succeed. It is an exciting feeling. I have always believed in myself and known I will enjoy the fruits of my labor as an entrepreneur, but John has helped me find what was missing, including rediscovered focus. Thanks John
Crazy to see Google listed as number 1 even back in 2014! I’m in the business and am slowly awaking to the fact that people (even grandparents!) are using smartphones to look up their local businesses in their towns! I better jump on board quick!