There were these two food trucks in my home town, we'll call them Taqueria and Cilantro's.
Now, Taqueria and Cilantro's were in competition with each other - they were only a few blocks apart, they both served tacos, and they both inhabited the same niche.
Taqueria sold the better tacos - they were a little cheaper, and a little bit tastier. However, the line at Cilantro's was always twice as long, and you could tell from a glance that Cilantro's was making real money, whereas Taqueria was struggling.
How was Cilantro's so much more successful? And how does this apply to competing with other cleaning companies?
The key to Cilantro's success was how they brought in their customers.
See, Taqueria sold only tacos and drinks - that's it. So if you wanted a good taco, Taqueria was your place. But Cilantro's did so much more than tacos. They sold burritos, panchos, and these fried, rolled-up tortillas filled with meat called flautas.
You might be thinking, "Well that's obvious. Cilantro's made more money because they had more options."
And you would be dead right!
"Wait, are you saying I should offer more services?"
No! If you have a maid service, I'm not saying you should expand into carpet cleaning or window washing.
This is about marketing. This is about giving your future clients more options to hear about you!
Can you count the ways you're marketing to new leads on one hand? If your answer is yes, then you aren't doing nearly enough - you aren't giving your customers enough options to sign up for your cleaning services.
You know what your competition is thinking?
"I LOVE when my competitors do only one type of marketing."
If you're in the cleaning industry, you know how competitive it can be - but you also know how profitable it can be. According to this franchise report, in 2010, there were more than 50,000 cleaning companies in the U.S., and they made a combined $40 billion in revenue.
If you want a slice of that $40 billion, you have to beat out your competition. You've got do something your competitors aren't doing. Does that mean you need to sell more types of maid or cleaning services? Nope.
Let's say you're only marketing through social media (Facebook and Twitter). You've got a long list of ways to market to your future clients:
If you're looking for more ideas on how to start marketing, here's a great list of low cost marketing options that you can start on today.
Consumers sign up for maid services for different reasons, as well as through different means. Some react better to soft-sales, some react better to in-person sales, and some love signing up for services on the internet. If you give your potential clients a bunch of ways to sign up and you'll get a bunch of sign-ups.
Thanks for reading!
Tags: Marketing
