CleanCraft's Business Growth Series
Marketing
You can be the best carpet cleaner on the planet, but ifword doesn’t get out, nobody will know it! Marketing is a vital component to your business growth. I am going to be honest, most smallbusinesses fail here. Sure, a businesscan survive and even grow with terrible marketing; however, a strategicmarketing plan can do wonders for any small business. Many small business owners get to a pointwhere they are “contentâ€� with the way things are going, and believe theirbusiness marketing is good enough with word of mouth type marketing. Yes, “Word of mouthâ€� is great, and it costbasically nothing. However, relying on this type of marketing is one of theslowest ways to grow your business. Thisshould only be one small aspect of your marketing. Every small business should also incorporatemany other types of marketing to grow. Below, we list multiple types of marketing that have worked for us overthe years. Plus, as you see, weincorporate strategies to make multiple marketing methods work together synergistically. A key aspect to remember is to be consistentwith marketing. Marketing should be along term strategy to will continue to build upon itself year after year.
Let’s take a look at some marketing products &strategies:
PRINT Advertising
Yes, everything is not digital. Print advertising still works today. With the right strategies there are manyforms of print advertising that can really boost your business.Here are a few…
Business Cards: Let’s start with something simple. Every professional carpet cleaner should havebusiness cards on them at all times. Whether you are handing them to customers or whether you meet someone atthe store, passing out business cards is an easy way to get your company nameout there. CleanCraft has made it easyfor you to have your own professional looking business cards. We even incorporate a coupon on theback. Check out our Business Card offering.
Referral Cards: Even “Word of Mouthâ€� type advertising needssome helpful tools. The purpose of ReferralCards are to use your customers as your sounding board. Simply hand your customers Referral Cards topass to their friends & family. CleanCraft’s Referral Cards were designed to offer incentive for yourcustomers to pass out the cards. Thecards include a coupon that can be used by the customer’s friends &family. The customer is actually doingtheir friends & family a favor by passing out the cards. CleanCraft has multiple Referral Cards tochoose from. See CleanCraft’s Referral Card Offering.
Door Hangers: Something as simple as a nicely done flyerhanging on a potential customer’s door can bring in business. However, most people do not get good resultswith door hangers. This is because 99% of small business owners use doorhangers incorrectly. Most people take aSaturday and walk door-to-door hanging a few hundred door hangers. On a beautiful day, this isn’t so bad. However, when calls don’t come in, smallbusiness owners quickly put an end to this. Unfortunately, this was a lost opportunity. The proper way to use Door Hangers is to onlypass out a few, but consistently pass them out every day. If you pass tons out at once, what is theodds that all these people need carpets cleaned right now? Pretty low. So, it is better to spread out the distribution of door hangers. How do you do this? Simple, after each job, pass out door hangersto 10 neighbor’s homes. Not 5, not 15,but 10. We chose this number, because itonly takes about 30 seconds to pass out a door hanger. A technician can spend 5 minutes passing outdoor hangers after each job. Byconsistently doing this, the numbers add up. Plus, you are spacing out your marketing efforts. Over time, the calls will start rolling in. CleanCraft has beautifully designed doorhangers that can be customized with your company information. See our Door Hanger Offering.
*** Also, check out our article “1-2 Knockout Punchâ€� on how the use of Referral Cards and Door Hangers work together to produce great results.
Thank You Postcards: In the hustle & bustle of life, we oftenforget to follow-up with customers. Sure, we say, “Thank you for your businessâ€� when we leave. However, a Thank You Postcard gives thecustomer an extra sense of appreciation, while at the same time following up withthe customer by presenting additional services you offer. Thank You Postcards are simple to do. When you are filing your workorders/invoices,simply address a Thank You Postcard and drop in the outgoing mail. Not only will the customer get a sense ofappreciation from you, but you will be surprised how many customers call youinquiring about your additional services. Check out our Thank You Postcards.
Reminder Postcards: Time flies, and customers forget how long ithas been since their last cleaning. Plus, no matter how good of a job you did, customers sometimes forgetthe company they used for carpet cleaning. Don’t put your customers in a position where they suddenly realize thatthey need to call for carpet cleaning, and they end up calling anothercompany. Reminder Postcards are a simpleway to be proactive with your customers. Plus, no high tech computers are needed for tracking. You can do this the old fashion way! Get 12 boxes or buckets. Mark each box with a month (ie. January,February, March, etc.). Now, after eachday of work, fill out a Reminder Card for each customer you did that day. Then, drop the Reminder Card in theappropriate month box (Example: Today isMar 12th. Drop the ReminderCard in the March box). At the end ofFebruary of next year, you will dump out the “Marchâ€� box of Reminder Cards andmail them out. This mailing will captureall the customers you did last March. Ayear reminder is a perfect time frame for a Reminder Postcard! CleanCraft has amazing pricing on thesesimple, yet effective cards… Check out our Reminder Postcards.
ONLINE Advertising
Marketing online is a little more technical and usuallyrequires some computer skills. However,CleanCraft has developed a couple online tools to help you market withoutknowing much about online marketing activities. Here are a few:
Company Website: Every professional carpet cleaning businessshould have a website! A website is likea 24/7 voice for your company. At thevery least, your Print Advertising should list your website for your potentialcustomers to go to for more information. Print Advertising will draw attention, but in many cases, your websitewill close the deal. Most likely, yourwebsite will also be a tool to attract potential customers when doing a websearch. Let’s face it, if you currentlydon’t have a website, you are not being found online. With a website, you now have a chance everytime that homeowner asks his/her phone for a carpet cleaner in your area! Now they can link into your website forinformation about your company, special offers, etc. Don’t know how to build a website? No problem, CleanCraft offers websitebuilding and hosting. These website arenot only beautiful, but extremely affordable. This will probably be one of the most effective forms of marketing youcan do. Plus, you don’t need to knowanything about building a website. CleanCraft does it for you! CleanCraft also builds websites that are “Responsiveâ€� and “SEO Friendlyâ€�to help you be found by your customers. Checkout our Website Building & Hosting page for more info.
Business Email: Gmail, Hotmail, Ymail, etc are nice, freeforms of email. However, these types ofemail addresses really don’t put a professional image to your company. Small businesses should have an email addressthat includes their website name in the email address (ie. [email protected]). Not only is this more professional, but thisalso keeps work & home email life separate. When you Build & Host a website withCleanCraft, you get an email address included at no extra cost! Check out our Website Building & Hosting page for more info.
Online VideoCommercial: They say a pictures isworth a thousand words. Well, we say avideo is worth a million! Howprofessional would you be with a commercial? CleanCraft offers customers the potential to use our “Your Best Choicefor Carpet Cleaningâ€� online video commercial for FREE! This onlinevideo shows why potential customers should choose your business for theircarpet & upholstery cleaning needs. It can be put right on your company website. This video is so effective at increasingcarpet cleaning company’s sales, that we guarantee it will grow yourbusiness. Want to know how you can usethis commercial? Visit our Online Video Commercial page for more information and guarantee.
Now that you have the marketing tools you need to grow, let's move on to Diversification.
