Don’t get confused about the relationship between advertising and marketing.
Marketing is the overall process of creating, communicating, delivering, exchanging and sustaining offerings that have value for customers and clients. It includes the process of market research, product development, distribution, pricing, and promotion.
Advertising is a subset of marketing in the form of ads placed through various channels to promote your product or service.
In summary, marketing is the strategy and advertising is one of the tactics used in that strategy.
Table of Contents
Advertising
Advertising is what you do to promote your business and sell your services as a task within your marketing process. It can be an audio, video, or other visual forms of getting your message to the right people. You can pay to have established channels promote your advertising such as in
- local magazines,
- newspapers,
- direct mail,
- or online sources like Google, Facebook, or Instagram
You design the ads and you pay the advertising source to place your ads in their program.
You have a better chance of acquiring new customers through advertising when you run your ads on a regular basis. The usual return is by using the same ad to the same people at least 5-7 times. You can expect a 1% response, which is the advertising industry average. As you can see, it’s just a numbers game. Send your ad to 500 people and you should get 5 responses. If you need a higher response, you’ll have to increase the number of people you target.
Many people place one advertisement and are crushed when they don’t get any (or 1) calls. If you don’t get any response from the ad, keep modifying it until you do. What many new businesses don’t know is that if they keep placing the ad that works, their response rate will increase with each publication. That’s because people who see the ad will begin to trust the business just from the repeat advertising.
Read my post on cleaning service promotion ideas that will help you in creating ads for your cleaning business
Networking
Businesses are built on networking. This is the process of getting your name and company known and can be done with local business groups in your city:
- Chamber of Commerce
- Rotary
- MeetUp Groups
- Breakfast Networking Groups
- Trade Shows
Another way to network which many people don’t consider is by giving your time to a church, charities, hospitals and thrift type of organizations. Every time you are at a function in the community, you have a chance to tell people about yourself and your business. This is one of the best ways to grow your business because you get to know the people in your community and they get to know you. This is how the best referrals are sent your way.
Choose a Method That Works Best for You
The type of advertising you choose for your business should be based on what works in your city. For example, the Better Business Bureau works on the east coast, but not on the west coast.
Also consider your personality type. If you’re not comfortable networking in-person, maybe using techniques that are available online should be considered. You can use a Facebook page or even create a group for people in your city to discuss their cleaning issues.
If you have an advertising budget, use the method to reach your target market. Do your research to discover what platforms they use so you don’t waste money. If your target market is 35-60, you probably won’t find them on Tik Tok.
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Marketing
Marketing is a strategy – a set of processes that are defined to establish how a business will reach their target market to generate interest in their services. For instance, when defining who your best customers are you would also identify where you will find them. If you are targeting senior citizens, you must identify:
- Where they shop
- What they read
- What activities they frequent in the community
- What is important to them
Once you have this information, you can design advertising that speaks directly to them and then place the ads in front of them where they shop, what they read, and in the places they frequent.
Put together a marketing plan based on the amount of money you can spend on advertising every month. Then include other ways you can market your business by giving of yourself.
Having a plan to follow allows you to be prepared, budget the resources and track your results. By tracking your results from year-to-year, you will begin to see patterns, have the ability to make adjustments and make the right decisions to grow a healthy business.
Getting Started
This may sound like a daunting task, especially if you are a new business owner or are just starting to increase your advertising budget. Each type of business has their own advertising channels that work best for that type of business.
A fast food restaurant may do well with Facebook ads that offer coupons for free drinks or buy one get one off, but that doesn’t mean it will work for your business. Established beauty salons and furniture stores do well in glossy magazines, but for most cleaning companies, they are a waste of money.
The important thing is to start small to see what works for your business. Once you have an ad that is working, you can increase your budget and run it more often.
I put together a small report on what you need to know about advertising a residential cleaning business and what to avoid. Also included are the steps you need to take to ensure the success in advertising for a cleaning business.
Join us in the House Cleaning Business Mastermind, if you haven’t already!
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