Many cleaning businesses start small — with just a bucket and sponge, ready to get to work. While there’s nothing wrong with this, if you at some point wonder why some clients choose you and others don’t, it may be time to consider a marketing strategy. Don’t worry; developing an effective marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complex or time-consuming.
Understand Your Target Audience: Who are Your Clients?
Your business’s survival depends on your clients, so it’s crucial to understand your target audience when creating a marketing strategy. Are your clients private individuals or businesses? If both, you’ll need to adjust your approach for each audience. Factors like demographics, age, and location can also influence the tone of voice you should use in your marketing materials.
Example
Margaret runs a cleaning business in London with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. Her team of ten employees travels to cleaning jobs by bike or electric car, servicing homes and flats within a 10-mile radius of central London. Most of her clients are wealthy families who view professional cleaning as a luxury, allowing them more time to enjoy life without the hassle of household chores such as vacuuming and sweeping floors.
These insights help you tailor your advertisements, as understanding your target audience is crucial to success. What do your clients value most in a cleaning service? Is it flexibility, attention to detail, eco-conscious products, or something else? Gaining insight into your clients’ needs is the key to creating and promoting a service that genuinely appeals to them.
Know Your Strengths: What is Your Cleaning Business Good at?
Identifying the strengths and unique qualities of your cleaning business can feel challenging, as many Brits tend to avoid self-promotion. However, focusing on your strengths is crucial to standing out from the competition. Are you known for efficiency, attention to detail, or outstanding customer service?
One of the biggest challenges for newly established or smaller cleaning businesses is the temptation to spread themselves too thin in an effort to attract clients quickly. Rather than sticking to their original plan, they begin offering services everywhere, often resulting in half-hearted results. By focusing on your core-competencies, you can avoid this and instead create a service that is strong and well-defined. Your goal should be to deliver something exceptional, not a service filled with compromises.
Unsure about your strengths? Ask your most loyal clients why they chose your cleaning service. Is it your communication, reliability, or something as simple as the photo you send after each cleaning? What matters most is what your clients value, not what you think they should value. This feedback is invaluable for refining your service and strengthening your market position.
Understanding and using your strengths in your marketing not only sets you apart from the competition but also helps build a loyal and satisfied client base.
Example
One of the strengths of Margaret’s business is her commitment to environmental sustainability in both transport- and cleaning methods. By using only bikes or electric cars for transportation, and certified eco-conscious cleaning products, she highlights her dedication to sustainability. This not only attracts a specific target group in London who prioritise environmentally conscious choices but also benefits the planet. For instance, Margaret received positive feedback from a family who chose her service specifically because of its environmental focus. They wanted a cleaning service that met their strict environmental standards without compromising on quality.
Know Your Competitors: What are They Good at?
It’s also important to know your competitors’ strengths. What do they offer, and why do clients choose them? This knowledge can provide valuable market insight and help you identify areas where you can offer something better.
It’s all about finding out what clients value most and how you can excel beyond the competition. Ask yourself: How can I improve the areas I’ve already mastered? Is there an opportunity to expand my service to meet more of the clients’ needs, while still standing out from the competition?
Example
In London, Margaret will likely face competitors offering cheaper cleaning services. Many of these competitors can cover a larger geographical area and reduce costs by using traditional transport- and cleaning methods. Margaret can use this knowledge to strengthen her own offer by emphasising the personal engagement and the environmentally conscious initiatives that set her service apart.
4 Steps to a Marketing Strategy
Developing a marketing strategy is essentially about having a clear plan and understanding the purpose behind your actions. To keep things simple, you can follow these four steps:
1. Segmentation — Dividing into Groups
Think about the market as a large group of diverse people who all require cleaning services. Begin by dividing them into smaller groups based on their interests and needs. Relevant criteria may include demographics, location, income, behaviour, and lifestyle.
2. Choose Your Target Group
Next, select the group you will focus on based on your market segmentation. Choose the group who would likely be interested in your service or has the most to benefit from it.
3. Positioning — Making Your Service Stand out
Decide how you will position your service to differentiate yourself from the competition. Identify what makes your service unique and focus on highlighting these qualities in a way that appeals to your chosen target group.
Read more about standing out in our article How to Make Your Cleaning Business Stand Out from the Competition.
4. Schedule Your Actions
Plan how you’ll communicate your cleaning service message. Decide which methods you’ll use to reach your target group — whether through ads, social media, or even personal contact. Also, consider where and how you’ll sell your service and at what price.
These four steps help you create a clear, focused plan to reach the right audience and convince them that your cleaning service is worth investing in.
Read more about advertising in our article How to Advertise Your Cleaning Business Effectively.
