Marketing Tips For Cleaning and Restoration Business Owners

Small businesses across all vertical markets often face unique challenges when it comes to marketing, but restoration business owners have a unique challenge because the restoration industry is extremely competitive.

How Much Money Do Restoration Companies Make?

After reading this blog you will have a basic understanding of your restoration marketing needs. Equally as important, you will know that marketing is not sales. Finally, you will have the confidence to make better marketing decisions for your restoration business.

Essentially, marketing is the art and science of building and maintaining client and customer relationships.

Top 3 Competitive Factors To Consider:

• 1-Market Saturation:
  • Across the United States there are thousands of cleaning and restoration companies. According to a 2015 study, California has the most cleaning and restoration companies followed by Florida, Virginia and Texas.
• 2-Low Barriers to Entry:
  • The relatively low barriers to entry allow new businesses to enter the market easily with minimal capital. Overcoming these barriers require careful planning, significant investment, and a deep understanding of the cleaning and restoration industry.
    • • Top 5 Barriers To Successfully Grow Your Restoration Business
        • 1) Financial Investment: Equipment, Licensing and Certifications and Insurance.
        • 2) Competition: Established Businesses and Local Market Saturation.
        • 3) Insurance Claims Process: Complex Procedures and Payment Delays.
        • 4) Customer Acquisition and Retention: Building a Reputation.
        • 5) Economic Fluctuations: Natural Disasters and Market Cycles.

• 3-Restoration Specialized Skills:
  • The first certification to start your restoration career is the Water Restoration Technician, (WRT) Certification, which you can obtain online at The Academy Of Textiles and Flooring.
  • The first certification to start a cleaning company is Carpet Cleaning Technician, CCT.
    •   IMPORTANT NOTE: most advanced restoration business owners hold IICRC Master Designations.

Despite the competition, there are many opportunities for cleaning and restoration businesses to differentiate themselves by having a unique value proposition (UVP),  exceptional service standards and top tier, customer experiences.  This equates to going above and beyond.

Technique: Purchase and giveaway, BRANDED STARBUCKS GIFT CARDS.

The Basics Of Restoration Marketing

• What is marketing?
  • Marketing is the bridge between a restoration business and its customers. This process requires the understanding of customers needs and wants and creating the value they are in search. The more unique your service the more memorable the experience will be lead to referral business, and online google reviews.
• How is marketing different from sales?
  • Marketing is the focus on creating demand, while sales focuses on converting that demand into new customers or repeat customers.

• Market research:
  • Understand your target audience, their preferences, and behaviors through surveys. |Consider, Survey Monkey.
• Pricing:
  • The ability to build a pricing model that attract a larger audience.  (Consider: Xactimate).
• Promotion:
  • Create brand awareness by offering a unique service, in addition to your standard services list of water restoration, mold remediation, odor removal, carpet cleaning, etc.

Customer Relationship Management ( CRM )

• What is CRM?
  • CRM stands for customer relationship management and is a system for managing customer information including all interactions across email, text, phone, orders, etc.
• How can CRM benefit my small business?
  • CRM can help you improve your overall business efficiency, customer satisfaction, increase your sales, and build customer loyalty.

• What is the Best Way To Use a CRM?
  • Build and maintain a database of strong and current relationships. | Consider Salesforce or Hubspot

Develop a Marketing Strategy

Key aspects of marketing to consider: 

• Where should I start?
  • Begin by best understanding your target market/s. and creating customer profiles.
    • I.E. If you target property management companies, it’s best to fully understand their needs and requirement to do business with them.
    • Next, present to them a unique value proposition (UVP), and a well-defined list of why your restoration company should be at the top of their vendor list.
• How do I create a restoration marketing plan?
  • A marketing plan is very necessary for restoration companies to help you outline your week-to-week, month-to-month and year-to-year marketing efforts.
    • With a marketing plan you can determine which roles need to be filled.
      • Top Marketing skills
        • Graphic Design
        • Website Management
        • Content Manager/Copywriter
        • SEO Specialist
        • Brand Manager
        • Data Analyst
        • Be sure to take the most important step which is to align your marketing efforts to a business goal.

• What are some of the most effective digital marketing strategies for restoration businesses? This is a very unique question and will depend entirely on how many team members you have and your marketing budget.
  • Focus on digital marketing start here:
    • Content Marketing
    • Social Media Marketing
    • Google Business Profile/  For Social Media & SEO
    • Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
    • Online directories, paid and unpaid.

How To Measure Marketing Success

• How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
  • Track key performance indicators (KPIs) from your website with Google Analytics, social media insights, email data and actual sales. Most marketing platforms offer some level of marketing insights for business accounts including, Instagram and Google Business.
• What are some common marketing mistakes to avoid?
  • The most common mistakes
    • include inconsistent branding
    • lack of proper customer profiling
    • neglecting to survey customers
    • not tracking results.
  • Unrealistic business goals. Most people get into the restoration industry with a goal to make $1,000,000.00 in the first year. Although that is certainly possible, there are many factors needed, to make that happen. Primarily having a background in construction is helpful. Read more about how much money restoration companies make here.

Marketing Budget and Resources

• How much money should I allocate to marketing?

• General Guidelines:

  • Startups: Allocate 10-20% of your revenue to marketing.
  • Small businesses: Aim for 5-10% of your revenue.
  • Established businesses: Consider allocating 3-5% of your revenue.

  Note: Depending on the number of competitors in your market, this number could be higher or lower.

• Can I do marketing on a tight budget? Yes, you are can always do marketing cheaper, by doing most of the work yourself, just be sure to have a marketing plan. As with any other DIY process, it’s important to stay consistent with your efforts to gain traction in your month-to-month restoration marketing efforts.

Build Brand Awareness

• How can I increase the brand awareness of my restoration business?
  • Consider partnering with local community based organizations, fire departments, city hall and local schools.
• How can I make my restoration business stand out?
  • Develop a colorful and creative logo design, have fun on social media campaigns, sponsor community events and get noticed annually in a public relations campaign.
• What is the importance of branding for a small business?
  • A strong brand helps you differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Digital Marketing

• What is digital marketing?
  • Digital marketing involves using online digital channels to reach and engage current and prospective customers.
• How can I leverage social media for marketing?
  • Create informative and engaging content that will provides value to your target audience.

3 tips to build your brand on social media:

1. Be authentic. Let your true personality shine through in your business posts.
2. Engage with your audience. Respond to comments, messages, and mentions.
3. Use high-quality visuals. Images and videos are more likely to catch attention. Allocate a budget for photography and graphic design.

• Should I pay for advertising?
  • Yes, you can consider, a combination of both organic and paid advertising options, short term. Long term you can establish relationships that will provide a consistent stream of business and build your brand’s authority online.

Need expert marketing help, contact Marketing 4 Real Results for a FREE, no obligation consultation.

This blog was written by Nia S Pearson, MBA and supported by Bard, a large language model from Google AI.   Nia  S.  Pearson , MBA is the founder of Marketing 4 Real Results, a full-service marketing agency based in Los Angeles, California.   Nia has two decades of B2B and B2C marketing experience and is frequently sought out for her expertise in marketing through seminars, workshops and academia. Nia is a strategic and creative leader that supports business growth through multi-channel integrated marketing techniques.

The post Marketing Tips For Cleaning and Restoration Business Owners appeared first on Marketing 4 Real Results.