I believe we can agree that there is nothing dazzling about pest control.
And in the trendy world of marketing, words like “sexy” and “attractive” are staples.
Granted, you can’t advertise your termite-extermination service as a luxurious experience that indulges all the senses. But, there are a few points that work to your advantage when your market is in this space:
- When people need pest control—they really need pest control.
- The market is ballooning with over $12.7 billion in revenue (2018).
- The market will keep ballooning due to warmer weather and ever-growing urban sprawl.
So there is a massive piece of the pie to be claimed.
The question is—what steps are you taking today to capture new pest control leads, grow your customer base, and dominate this market?
To help you out, I’ve compiled 4 foolproof marketing strategies. These will assist you in boosting pest control leads and sales, and differentiating your brand from the competition:
Strategy #1 – Invest in Your Pest Control Website
You probably already have a website.
An inviting homepage, content pages for services you offer, maybe even an inspirational “About Us” page.
Great!
But do this extra work, and you’ll turn visitors into paying customers at a higher rate:
- Demonstrate your market credibility by including testimonials from satisfied customers.
- Showcase industry awards and articles that shine a positive light on your company.
- Add some statistics about your success rate at being the fastest, most efficient, eco-friendliest company, or whatever your main selling point is.
Your website should also be visually appealing, well-designed, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.
So if this means you need to go back to the drawing board and redefine your website—do it now.
Make sure you write high-quality content and have an easy mechanism for visitors to share it on social media. And, since all your potential customers are high-intent users (they clearly have a pest problem and need to resolve it ASAP), you must define a super seamless funnel for them to go through. Use features such as an online booking system or a highly visible contact form.
If your services are offered in various locations across the country, it may also be wise to have a dedicated site for each branch.
And, most importantly: having a responsive web design, one that can properly adapt for mobile viewing, is something you must take into consideration when you’re building and optimizing your website.
It’s because Google “punishes” websites which are not optimized for mobile. It weeds out non-responsive webpages and makes them harder for mobile users to find in their results pages.
In today’s mobile-first world, this can be a death sentence.
Follow this thorough guide to make sure you keep converting mobile leads.
Strategy #2 – Create a Strong Value Proposition
Now that your website is a lean, mean conversion machine, let’s dig deep into the psyche of your potential customer.
Sure, they’re looking for someone who will eliminate their pest problem, but what is the real value they’re getting when choosing you specifically?
This is where a strong value proposition comes into play.
Your first job as a marketer is defining what this is for your company.
So let’s brainstorm together: what is the No. 1 reason for customers to choose you over the competitors?
Perhaps you offer an eco-friendly service, or your solution lasts 3 times longer; or, maybe, you offer same-day service without any wait time.
Do you deal with a specific type of pest? With all pest types?
You might also want to take an emotional approach—as pests generally scare the living daylights out of people. Maybe your value proposition has to do with putting people at ease.
Once you’ve decided on your main value proposition, this should become the anchor. All of your marketing and advertising activities should resonate with this value. Be sure that you weave it into all of the marketing and website content that you’re creating.
Moreover, all company employees must be aware of the value proposition and communicate it to the customers at each and every touchpoint.
Strategy #3 – Get Creative with a Company Video
Keep in mind that many of your potential customers are probably millennials, as people in their 20s and 30s are becoming homeowners.
That’s why delivering dynamic, visual content must be part of your marketing strategy if you want to outshine and position yourself as a successful business.
Video content has been shown to significantly boost marketing efforts, all the way from the awareness stage to the buying stage. For example, Strategic IC compiled various data points researched the value of video content and have proven that “76% of businesses said that video has helped them increase traffic to their website.”
Video is also a very versatile form of content that can be shared across many different channels—like newsletters, social media, landing pages, display ads, etc.—to draw users over to your website.
Here’s an excellent example of how to lead with a value proposition by Terminix:
See what they did there?
By putting their service technicians center stage, Terminix communicates their trustworthiness and the humane aspect of their services.
A lot of your competitors create quirky, humorous videos that demonstrate what their company is all about. These commercials are really perfect for leaving a memorable impression on the viewer. Here’s an example from Clark Pest Control:
The options are endless. And after you establish your company’s value proposition and core values, the creative brief simply writes itself.
Strategy #4 – Be There When They Compare
You can be certain that a user who types into the Google search field “best exterminators 2019” has a pest problem.
They are not just browsing the internet to find information for their academic thesis.
These users are what we call high-intent consumers. They are ready to purchase a service; the quicker—the better. Therefore, it is critical that your company appears prominently in Google’s SERP (Search Engine Result Page).
How can you achieve this?
First, you’ll want to set up a PPC campaign, which—when done right—can provide traffic, pest control leads, and customers almost instantly.
If you’re just getting started, you’ll first need to do some research and identify the keywords that are most relevant for your targeted demographic. Words like “bed bugs,” “termites,” and “cockroach” might be a good fit when you need to attract more pest control leads.
You can also use a tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to see the search volume data, trends, cost per click, and competitive data on the keywords you’ve chosen.
To get a full rundown of how to launch a successful PPC campaign, use the numerous tutorials that exist on the web.
Aside from paid advertising, you’ll also want to boost your organic search too. There are various strategies for improving your position in Google’s SERP by implementing SEO best practices.
Another effective way to boost your visibility is to partner with comparison websites. These websites give consumers a one-stop research hub that houses all of the relevant information about various pest control companies: details about their services, their primary selling point, and—of course—their rates.
Remember, your potential customer is in a rush to buy, and does not have any specific brand preference. So the most effective way for them to choose a service provider is by doing a cross-comparison of the top pest control companies.
Comparison sites, review sites, and interactive quote calculators may not be something you can do yourself. However, it pays to partner up with third party agencies and take advantage of these high-intent users who are not married to a specific brand.
Now It’s Your Turn
Some of the strategies above can be implemented in 3 minutes, some take months.
It’s important to prioritize and follow the path until you can whole-heartedly say: my marketing strategy is complete.
And then monitor, draw insight, improve, and repeat.
Are you ready to dominate the lion’s share of the market, generate more pest control leads, and boost your conversions by up to 36%? Then it’s time to collaborate with an existing comparison website. It will help you beat the competitors to the punch.
Click here to learn more about how Natural Intelligence can help your pest control company to improve conversion rates.
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