Top 7 Marketing Strategies for Pest Control Business Owners

You have your head buried in your business, scheduling techs, making sure they have the products they need, following up on their jobs, maybe doing some callbacks, and even doing some of the routes yourself.  You probably don’t have the time to prospect enough or at all, so where are the new customers going to come from?  A marketing campaign needs many parts, but here are the Top 7 ways to kickstart your Pest Control Marketing.

1. The Importance of a Quality Website for Your Business

Dude, you DO need a new website! (or maybe just an update):  So, you got your website up online, check.   Is that the end of it, and those leads are rolling in?  Likely not.  As much as 80% of online pest control purchases are made on mobile/portable devices.  Is your website optimized for mobile?  Do you have a solid Call to Action?  The easier you make it for the customer to buy from you, the better your site will perform.  Another common element often missing is not clearly defining your service area with a Google Map. And of course, an active plan for Search Engine Optimization is key to get your site noticed.

2. How to Target Your Pest Control Audience

Narrow your Audience!  Wait, what?  Make it smaller?  Carefully consider the audience for your Marketing Campaign.  Your budget is not as big as the national players, so just “getting your name out there” just isn’t going to work.  Throwing a bunch of money at advertising to everyone in your service area doesn’t make sense, because you’ll never be able to spend enough to make enough impressions.  Instead, consider your current customer list and think about the demographic of who made the decision to start your service.  As an example, most Pest Control buying decisions are made by women, probably at least some college, and married.  Your marketing dollars will go further (and get more impressions) if you put a laser focus on the demographics that work.

3. Getting the Best Value for Your Advertising

Start small, measure, then go BIG!  What’s your cost of customer acquisition?  What’s the lifetime value of that customer?  How much are you spending on Ads?  For you to know if the ads are paying off, these are some of the questions to ask.  Is the campaign breaking even – meaning is the revenue generated from the campaign, covering the cost of running it?  Are you willing to run negative considering the l

ifetime value?  Is it a total bust?  Start small and test the effectiveness of the ads.  Often.  What ads are getting more leads?  Run more like that.  Which ones are getting few or no responses?  Kill those early.  Once you see what’s working and your return on investment (ROI) is positive, then crank it up.

4. Pest Control Solution Versus Product

Don’t be afraid!  Your customers are though and you need to take advantage of that.  Remember, pest control and pesticides are not the product you’re selling – it’s Peace of Mind.  Customers don’t care that your products are non-repellant, eco-friendly, grandma approved.  They want to feel safe in their homes, and not worry about bugs crawling all over the yard eating the greenery, roaches in the pantry, or fleas on Fido.  They have an ailment and you’re the Doctor.

5. How to Make Your Pest Control Business Stand-Out

You have to be different than the competition!  It can be hard to do when you’re in essentially a commodity market, but closely aligning the messaging around what it is you sell in #4, it’s important to think about why a prospect should buy from you?  The answer to this shouldn’t be the usual, “outstanding customer service”, “money-back guarantee”, etc.  People buy from people, so be one.  Include in your messaging some aspect of your personality, and don’t change into “sales mode” when talking to a customer.  At your home you have the same pest concerns as they do, so be yourself when you meet or have them on the phone, and use that humanity in your sales calls instead of giving them the list of features.  If you can’t differentiate yourself from your competition, neither will your customer, except for the cost.  Don’t race to the bottom to gain accounts.

6. Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Pick something and stick with it!  Okay, you do Interior, Exterior, Lawn pest and fertilizer, shrubs, termites, mosquitoes, etc.  Don’t shotgun your advertising.  Your ads should not only narrowly focus on the audience, but also on an offer.  Maybe it’s the most profitable service you do, the one that’s timely for the season, the easiest, whatever, just pick one.  You can run multiple campaigns, but they should be one offer each.  The ad’s goal is to get the customer to your website or get them to claim the offer, not throw your whole arsenal at them.

7. How to Get the Most Value in Your Pest Control Advertising

Go narrow and deep!  Don’t rely on a single venue in your Marketing Strategies.  You’ve narrowed your audience and your offer.  Spreading your budget over multiple areas, (recommendations are from 3-5 different platforms) monitoring the ad performance, emphasizing and shifting to areas working better is key in successful campaigns.  Limiting advertising to Facebook ads, as an example puts your budget in a riskier place – changes in markets, opinions, feelings even, will affect performance.  Don’t put all your eggs….

Conclusion

It’s tough out there, you’re putting in the hours and trying to run a profitable business.  Focusing your marketing efforts, considering your objectives, clearly defining your audience and offers will help you find your niche.  You may be trying to do all the marketing on your own, in your spare time, etc., to save money – small business owners often DIY a lot of things to work with a limited budget.  Hiring an outside Digital Marketing agency can be a tough decision and an expensive proposition.  Highly successful pest control owners though would rather spend the money, which frees up their time to focus on their customers.  You’ll never have more time, we all get the same amount in a day, but money spent wisely on effective advertising pays for itself.  At SeaGlass Media, LLC we can work with you to develop a successful marketing plan, and help you grow your business.