Professional cleaning services are in demand in both B2C and B2B sectors. In the first case, cleaners are trusted with maintaining cleanliness in offices, various commercial, entertainment, sports, and educational establishments. In the second case, cleaners handle the cleaning in residences of individuals who don’t have the time or desire to do thorough cleaning themselves. People let specialists into their homes, so the level of trust plays a significant role. Therefore, we’ll discuss the most common and some less common methods of finding clients for a cleaning company.
What are we talking about?
- Where to look for cleaning clients?
- What to consider when creating a website for a cleaning company?
- Conclusions
Where to look for cleaning clients?
The approach to advertising cleaning services must be special, as this niche contains many target audience segments, whose representatives are guided by fundamentally different motives when choosing a company. To attract and retain clients, it’s crucial to have a deep understanding of customer psychology. Initially, it’s necessary to create customer profiles for different groups:
- Corporate companies;
- Owners and renters of commercial properties;
- Event organizations;
- Busy families who don’t have time to maintain cleanliness at home;
- Homeowners who rent out their properties, etc.
For each of these categories, it’s necessary to develop a separate sales funnel, create different lead magnets and promotions, unique selling propositions, and CTAs. Don’t try to cover everyone at once at the start — begin with one, the most profitable group for your case.
“Most cleaning companies focus on busy moms, affluent neighborhoods, or commercial entities that require regular cleaning. Choose the clients you are most comfortable working with, and tailor your advertising to meet their needs”. “The Best Facebook Ad Ideas for Cleaning Service Businesses”, — Janette Conwell
Let’s consider the main channels for client acquisition that a cleaning company can use.
📌 Read the article: How to Create a Company Page: With Examples for Inspiration
Contextual Advertising
This method is universal and delivers quick results because users who type a query into Google see the paid advertisements first. The text that potential clients read should contain key triggers that influence consumer emotions and highlight advantages that set the offer apart from others (such as “professional eco-friendly products”, “available 24/7”, etc.).
It’s crucial to specify the main focus of the service (like “Post-renovation cleaning”), the region, and, if possible, any promotions or bonuses. For example, “Get a free sofa dry cleaning when you book a cleaning service”.
The screenshot shows a special local listing. To learn more about this — read our article: “Guide to Running Campaigns in Google Local Services Ads”.
However, this method can be costly. If you are just starting in the cleaning industry and are not ready to invest substantial sums into paid traffic monthly, consider the following, more budget-friendly method.
Social Media Advertising
We recommend creating business pages on Facebook and Instagram, where you can create inexpensive ads targeted at different customer segments. Keep track of the specific platform’s requirements (like restrictions on text in advertising images for Facebook) and user preferences (focus on aesthetic visual parts for Instagram).
Fill out the profile and analyze competitors on social networks. Based on this monitoring and brainstorming, create a content plan and assign a copywriter to write advertising and informational texts. Posts can be related to the themes of cleanliness at home, comfort, for instance, discussing popular interior design concepts (“Wabi-sabi philosophy in interior design”, “Hygge and lagom in a modern country house”, etc.).
A separate section of the content plan should include case studies. It’s best to present a portfolio in a “before and after” format. Social networks are also the best platform for distributing client reviews.
At any stage of running a business, you can start a video blog about performing services on YouTube or share photos on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.
Analyze where your clients spend the most time. If they don’t use a particular social network, there’s no need to create a page there. For B2B, Facebook is ideal, while for B2C, Instagram or TikTok are better. Use trending publication formats, like Reels with a touch of humor.
After creating a business account on any social network, it’s crucial to maintain your online presence. Determine the optimal frequency for posting new content and stick to it. Seeing that the content hasn’t been updated for a while, random page visitors might think the company is no longer operational. Only active pages with high-quality design and content attract attention. Profiles with sufficient information about the organization, photos of specialists, and video clips inspire trust. On Instagram, fill out the profile header and create saved stories (Highlights).
Content Marketing and SEO
Organic traffic can be generated by regularly updating your website with useful content and publishing articles and videos on other relevant platforms.
Google Business Profile
The Google Business Profile service allows potential clients to see photos and reviews at the top of the Google search page. Since people often look for cleaners nearby, it’s important for them to see the company’s location on Google Maps.
Crowd Marketing and Native Advertising
Use websites that can help you obtain quality backlinks. These could be thematic blogs, forums, review sites, and other platforms where your target audience spends time. It’s crucial not to confuse this approach with simple link building and to choose only reputable websites with good ratings. This will help not only in finding new clients but also in improving your website’s SEO and increasing the volume of free organic traffic, helping to bring your target page to the top of search results.
Directories and Marketplaces
Foreign cleaning companies actively advertise on such platforms. In Ukraine, these platforms are less prevalent and not as popular, but it’s worth trying this client acquisition channel.
Printing Business Cards and Flyers
This method is not mandatory, but for a business operating within a specific geographical area, it can be quite effective, especially if you plan to attend fairs and other thematic events or meet with potential business clients.
Flyers can be easily customized in the Canva service, choosing from hundreds of ready-made designs.
Partnership Programs
Cleaning can be an additional service for organizations involved in moving, construction, interior design, or other services related to the arrangement of residential or commercial spaces. You can offer to partner with such companies, mutually advertising each other through business cards or simple recommendations, or by adding complementary services into a single service package with a discount.
Word-of-Mouth
Recommendations may bring better results than all the above-mentioned client acquisition methods. Not everyone trusts reviews posted on a company’s website. However, if people who have used your services talk about the quality of the cleaning to their friends, family, colleagues, and social media followers, the number of inquiries is likely to increase significantly.
What to Consider When Creating a Website for a Cleaning Company?
Focus on the usability of the website, simplicity of navigation, attractive design, contrasting buttons, and concise descriptions. Remember that cleaning services are typically used by busy individuals who likely won’t have time to read lengthy texts. It’s beneficial for a cleaning company to showcase the faces of the team on their website. After all, these are the people that clients will be letting into their homes or important commercial properties. Photos of employees and management increase the trust of website visitors.
Ensure there’s call tracking and messaging support, as clients don’t always place orders through a form on the website.
Marketing Nuances for Cleaning Companies
High competition in cities requires cleaning company owners to take their brand reputation seriously. For many potential clients, environmental awareness (such as the use of harmless cleaning agents) and social responsibility are important.
To avoid giving the impression that the company doesn’t actually exist and that the cleaning is done by freelance workers, work on your branding. Develop a logo and display it not only on the website and in social networks but also on uniforms or aprons, and on printed materials.
If you have a customer base and a call center, prepare phone scripts for various scenarios. Plan scenarios for dealing with dissatisfied customers, and think about how you could enhance the positive experiences of those who highly rated your services. Create templates for surveys to control the quality of services and gather feedback.
To retain existing clients, regularly conduct promotions and offer seasonal special deals, as well as discounts on first orders, loyalty programs for regular customers, etc.
“Most cleaning companies know that retaining current customers is cheaper than finding new ones. That’s why they offer discounts for more frequent cleanings.” — “How to Get Clients for a Cleaning Business (in 2023)“, — Brandon Boushy
When posted on review sites, remember to respond promptly to both positive and negative client comments.
Finding followers on social networks for a cleaning company is not an easy task. People enjoy watching funny videos, occasionally photos of fashion looks or reviews of new gadgets, but not necessarily cleaning processes and descriptions of household chemicals. However, even in this niche, it’s possible to demonstrate creativity and prepare quality and unique content.
To showcase the capabilities of your specialists and the high level of services, display the materials and equipment used by the cleaners, such as chemical products that are safe for pets, or specialized equipment. These posts can be promoted through paid advertising on social networks.
Also, it is important to talk about the achievements of the company, specific facts, and the number of orders completed.
Overall, social networks are an ideal channel for disseminating useful information that positions the company as an expert in the market and enhances user loyalty. This can include eBooks, checklists, original videos with cleaning hacks.
Use native advertising by collaborating with well-known representatives of your target audience. This can be implemented by offering several bloggers a free cleaning in exchange for showcasing the results of the work. These individuals can become ambassadors for your brand, periodically reminding their followers about who maintains cleanliness in their homes or on business properties.
Frequently Asked Questions
Clients interested in cleaning services typically look for reviews on portals, review sites, or simply enter relevant search queries into Google. They pay attention to the content on the company’s website, especially examples of completed work.
A cleaning company can be promoted through contextual advertising, targeted ads on social networks, positive reviews and case studies placed on the company’s official website or thematic platforms. Offline advertising, such as flyers and business cards, can also be effective in this business sector.
To find cleaning clients, maintain contact with regular service users and encourage them to share information about the company. It’s necessary to create a website and promote it through paid advertising and SEO, and use various customer acquisition channels, including social networks and newsletters.
Conclusions
The channels for attracting clients for a cleaning company are the same as for most other business sectors. These include the website and contextual advertising, social media and targeting, content marketing, and of course, word-of-mouth. The methods of interacting with potential service clients and the specifics of using various online platforms differ. For this niche, outdoor advertising remains relevant, but only when combined with internet marketing.
If you are looking for clients who want professional cleaning, segment your target audience and focus on a few main groups. This could be cleaning for families who have recently renovated or moved, or tidying up large office spaces.
One of the most important tasks for a cleaning company owner is retaining existing clients. Through their intermediation, you can gain new loyal customers and promote the brand. To this end, run promotions, offering discounts on subsequent cleanings and referrals to friends. Loyalty programs, additional bonuses, and free offers will help increase the average spend and extend the life cycle of clients.
Native advertising is very effective in this sector, but it is advisable to ask for the dissemination of information from real clients who have connections with representatives of your target audience and some influence on their opinion, especially if they are micro-influencers with not too large a number of followers.
