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By Colin Croteau
This is part 1 of a three part series, providing you, the floor cleaning company, some very simple, yet extremely effective marketing tips that you can implement as soon as today! Some of these points may seem painfully obvious, yet, they are often overlooked, leading to a service value that will not reach its full potential. All of these points are what I call “off-site” value. 1. “Perceived value”
Often times, carpet cleaners get so wrapped up in the quality of their work and building what I like to call “on-site value”, that they forget about what I refer to as: “off-site value.” Although quality should be of the utmost importance to the carpet cleaner, you’d be shocked to know that your customer does not care about quality as much as you do. Think about it – famous mega-companies like McDonald’s, Nike, and Walmart do not offer the highest quality of goods and food. Yet, they maintain steady market share growth, are household names, and are trusted by consumers across the globe. #1 Fresh, relevant logo: Your logo should look modern, yet timeless; meaning, it should be as good for today’s crowd, and tomorrow’s crowd alike. A logo that doesn’t lose it’s allure with time, is a logo that will help a company reach the sky. Relevance doesn’t necessarily mean it has to embody your offered service, either. Relevance can have to do with your service provider area: for instance, if you live in Boston, implement a celtic theme into your carpet cleaning service, or a red sox theme into your service… these are already recognized by your entire service area, are specific to your service area, and will actually establish a trust for your service in the mind of You can also try to use certain colors within your logo, as colors often represent emotion, and people make decisions on emotion. For my business, I want to come off as a trustworthy service provider: so I use navy/ royal blue, which represent trustworthiness, steadfastness, etc. #2 High quality business card:
You’d be surprised at how often someone will judge you by your business card. When you are out door knocking, or handing out your business card: you need a card that sets you apart from the other business cards. I’m not just talking the other carpet cleaners business cards, I literally mean any other business card your potential customer may have on hand. People are handed business cards everyday, especially business owners for those commercial accounts. Make sure your business card makes a statement. How you can do this, is by choosing a simple design, yet with your great logo clearly displayed. No need for rounded corners or anything fancy, instead, supplement those things with thicker card stock. Thicker card stock is higher quality, and creates a perceived value in the mind of your customer that you are a higher quality service provider. Flimsy, cheaply made business cards, will often make you come off across that way as well. Glossy cards are not as great as you think either, especially when coupled with a poorly designed logo, and rounded corners. These types of cards often look cheesy, and will likely find a place in the trash before they find a place in your customers hand ready to call you back. If you really must get fancy, add what’s called a “spot UV” to your card, but only on your logo. The spot UV makes your logo stand out even more, and will give your customer an easier time remembering you while it creates that much more perceived value. You can use this same idea across the board: for your website, any brochures, vehicle wraps or vinyl lettering. Don’t be scared to hire a professional, it can set you back a few hundred dollars for a quality logo design, but you won’t regret it! This may be incredibly obvious to some, yet often times it is absolutely overlooked by the carpet cleaner. Dressing like the boss does not mean wearing dress pants and a sports jacket to work! You are a carpet cleaner, not a wall-street executive (not yet at least). Unless you are strictly in the office, do not dress to the nines! It’s cheesy, and easy to see through. Your customer knows you are a blue-collar worker (even if you get paid like a doctor!). Overdoing is just as bad as under-doing it. Aim for a happy, middle-ground: nice khakis, with collared t-shirt (a.k.a golf shirt) including your logo on it….. tucked in! Having your shirt tucked in is a huge marketing strategy that adds perceived value and markets you and your brand as being a professional service. This is both “onsite” and “offsite” marketing. It sets atone for who you are: you are the boss, and you ARE a boss! 3. Get in your customers mind:
The most important part of branding, is getting your brand stuck in the mind of your customer. This is fairly simple to do, and can be done for free, or done with just $30 a month. How I do this is: A. Before and after photos with your logo on every single photo! Any image you post to your website, your blog, your Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc… should all have your logo slapped on it! Consider it the “stamp of approval” before posting it online. It’s very simple to understand, the more your potential customer sees your logo,the more likely they are to remember you, and call you when they need you! This adds value to your service |
3 simple & effective ‘marketing’ tips to add value to your cleaning service in 2019 (Part 1)
21
Jul
