Are you looking for ways to market your pest control services more? As a pest control business owner, marketing is crucial for gaining leads and customers.
However, it can often be difficult for busy business owners to find inspiration when creating their campaigns. One Semrush study showed that over 63% of small business owners struggle with “having enough time and resources” to focus on marketing.
Luckily for you, we literally wrote the book on pest control marketing, and we’re here to bring you some tips on creating the best marketing campaigns for any local pest control business.
Follow along as we explore three types of marketing that are especially beneficial for pest control businesses. Then, we’ll follow up with some marketing tips so you can get inspired and take your company’s promotion strategy up a notch.
What Are the Best Marketing Campaigns for Pest Control?
As a pest control company, having a comprehensive marketing strategy is essential for success in the industry. However, your strategy will likely differ from an eCommerce store or large, international firm. The challenges and opportunities you face are unique to our industry.
You’ll need to focus on the following:
- Understanding the local market
- Building word-of-mouth referrals
- Targeting more niche areas with specialized programs
Proactive search engine optimization and targeted advertisement on traditional media channels like radio and television ads may also be important aspects of your strategy. However, it’s best to consult with a pest control marketing company to be sure.
Here are three of the best marketing campaigns for most local pest control companies, though.
Local SEO
Local SEO is a marketing technique to optimize your business’s website so that it appears in local search engine rankings. The goal is that it shows up when potential customers search for products or services related to your business.
A successful local SEO campaign for your pest control company should focus on improving its web presence’s visibility in the areas you serve.
For example, the campaign should target specific keywords related to your services, such as “pest control in [city].” Or, it might be better to get more specific with “best termite exterminators in [city].”
Other tactics include:
- Tracking the current ranking for those terms
- Optimizing existing pages for mobile devices
- Creating relevant content about common pests in their region
- Setting up structured data to make sure their business appears when people search within the region
There’s a lot more that goes into a great local SEO strategy. However, all these combined tactics can help build confidence with customers looking to solve any pest problem.
Pest Control Ads
PPC marketing stands for pay-per-click marketing. Basically, you create ads on platforms like Google or Facebook using the right keywords and copy. When people search for a related term, they see your ad, and you pay every time they click.
This makes PPC an effective way to get people interested in your services and products, making it especially valuable for pest control businesses looking for more leads.
The best part? With pest control ads, you always know how much you spend on campaigns. You set the maximum you want to spend, then stop the ad once the desired result is reached.
Additionally, you can target the ads to specific geographic areas and demographics, allowing you to target potential customers who are more likely to purchase your services or products.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing relies on social networks and word-of-mouth to spread an idea rapidly. It works by encouraging people to share your message with others. The result? Higher visibility for the brand or service.
This form of marketing is especially important for pest control businesses because customers often rely on word-of-mouth and personal experiences to decide which services to use. Customers who have had a good experience with one business are likelier to pass the recommendation along to their friends or family members.
One great way to make these campaigns more effective is by utilizing humor. Suppose you want your pest control business to stand out and draw attention. In that case, a humorous approach to promotions will allow you to be much more creative than competitors who rely solely on conventional methods.
Marketing Tips for Pest Control Companies
While the three types of marketing campaigns mentioned above are great, it’s helpful to know how to carry out those campaigns successfully. Here are several tips you can use to scale your business quickly.
Know Your Target Customer
As a pest control company, it’s important to understand your target audience as in-depth as possible. This allows you to tailor your marketing approach to their specific needs.
To effectively target customers, it’s essential to build a customer persona. This starts with taking into account the demographic information of your current and potential customer base, such as the following:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Income level
- Household size
You should also consider psychographic factors like lifestyle choices or why they need pest control services. Finally, understanding buying behavior can give you insights into when they will most likely need pest control services.
Optimize Your Google Business Profile
A Google Business profile is like a virtual listing for businesses. By creating a profile and keeping it up-to-date with accurate information, potential customers can easily find your business in local search results.
To get started, you’ll need to create an official account. This is free and simple. Then, fill your profile with your business information, including location and hours of operation.
You can even target local customers by leveraging the features made available by Google My Business. Add interactions such as customer reviews and FAQs to engage customers and answer any questions they may have regarding services or prices.
Always Ask for Reviews
Having positive reviews online can help you stand out and attract more customers. Unfortunately, many times those who have had positive experiences with your business won’t take the time to leave a review without prompting.
To be successful, you must commit yourself to actively seeking out these customer reviews. This could include offering discounts or other rewards in exchange for leaving feedback online.
Ultimately, with the right effort, online reviews can be very beneficial for drawing in new clients. It can also help avoid any negative impact if your business has a few unfavorable comments among a mostly positive landscape of customer experiences.
Research Local Pest Control Keywords
As mentioned above, local SEO helps businesses target potential customers in their area better. It focuses on keywords that include the customer’s geographical location.
Companies in the local service industry, such as a pest control business, can benefit significantly from this focused optimization by researching more niche, long-tailed keywords.
Once you have a great list of keywords, incorporate them into all online content.
Optimize Your Website
SEO optimization isn’t just about keywords. It’s also essential to have a website that looks great, loads quickly and is easy to navigate.
A website’s performance and functionality can be an important factor in its rankings in a search engine. If users can’t quickly access information on your site, your rankings will suffer. Plus, if your website looks wonky, it paints a poor image of a low-quality brand.
So, invest in a great pest control website. Prioritizing a good user experience with fast page loading times and intuitive navigation will help you rank higher and improve visitor engagement. This is all beneficial for brand growth.
Create Helpful Pest Control Content
As a pest control business, content can play a major role in your SEO efforts and help you reach a wider audience. Crafting helpful articles and how-to guides for your readers is a great way to position yourself as an expert in the industry and get more people to visit your page.
For example, you can write this content from the homeowner’s point of view, with step-by-step instructions on handling certain pest issues around their homes. Or offer tips and advice on protecting themselves from bug problems.
Post On Social Media
Having an online presence is more important than ever for businesses. Social media can be a great way to increase visibility and connect with customers.
Consumers are increasingly choosing social media to research local businesses, meaning it’s essential for business owners to ensure their social media pages are up-to-date and regularly updated with content.
Maximize reach by repurposing blog content. You can also create social carousels that offer helpful tips and advice. Or, post positive reviews as social proof of your great customer service. Doing so will surely add social media zest to your online marketing strategy.
Partner With Other Local Businesses
Joining forces with other local businesses is a great idea. You can share referrals and discounts that make both parties happy (and profitable).
For a pest control company, this type of partnership works best with companies in the following industries:
- Real estate
- Furniture Stores
- Antique shops
- Construction companies
However, ensure you’re not pairing up with competitors. The goal is to work with companies with similar customers without competing for the same services or offerings.
Get Help With Pest Control Marketing
Want to ensure your pest control company has only the best marketing campaigns? We’re here to help you achieve that goal.
At MarketingPests, we have over 15 years of experience building digital campaigns for companies like yours. From local SEO and website design to help with PPC, we’ll help you get your business in front of the eyes of customers looking for your services.
Contact us today to discuss your needs, our services, and how we can work together.