Best Ways to Advertise Cleaning Business Locally for Free – A Complete Guide in 2024

A business must have the capital to get off the ground, but in order for it to succeed, you must market it effectively using a variety of strategies.

Advertising cleaning services can be quite expensive for a small or new business. To compete effectively with the competition, you must learn how to get clients for the cleaning businesses and how to promote your cleaning company in a way that saves money while producing results that are comparable to those of paid advertising.

The information provided in this guide will help you learn the strategies to advertise cleaning businesses locally for free.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

Key Strategies to Advertise Cleaning Business

Free promotional places are available for both online and offline situations. However, the marketing approaches used in each location vary significantly from one another.

Let’s check out some of the places where you can advertise your cleaning business for free.

Don’t forget to read: SEO Packages for Small Businesses

Create a website or blog

People will look for your website first after learning about you from other sources, so having a well-organized website is essential to staying in business in the long run. Since your website will serve as your online business location where potential clients can access your services, it must be fast-loading, clean coding, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.

You can create a website using free tools like Wix, GoDaddy, Weebly, etc. However, you can use website builders like WordPress, Squarespace, etc. to create a website that looks professional. Unfortunately, there is a cost to using these website builders. For business purposes, you have to pay around $23-$25/month if billed annually and $33/month for a monthly plan.

Your website should include all the information that potential customers might need to use your service, including your location, contact information (phone number, email address), pricing information, offers, active hours, packages, and FAQs. You can also work with a professional web designer to create a user-friendly website interface that will encourage visitors to get in touch with you.

The following should be considered when designing a website:

• Keep the website interface simple so that customers can move around easily.
• Mention interesting details highlighting your areas of strength and expertise, as well as the reasons you stand out from your rivals.
• Use a call to action (CTA) to persuade them to contact you.
• Use your work experience like the before and after images to build credibility for your service.
• Include customer testimonials to build trust in your service.
• Provide resources like blog posts regarding cleaning hacks, cleaning strategies, effective cleaning materials, and many others.
• Keep the pricing, sign-up, contact, and other important sections separate.

Most importantly, use SEO strategies for cleaning business, such as keyword research, analyzing Google pages, backlinks, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, In-Depth technical SEO, content, etc. They will help your potential customers find you easily when they search for their needs in search engines. Besides, you can borrow ideas from your rivals to improve and enhance your website.

Don’t forget to read: How to get clients for a cleaning business

Get Listed on local business

After creating your website, your first task is to list your business in the major online business directories. Customers look for cleaning services in various online communities, including Google, Yelp, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and many others. So, to see your service on their search list, it is crucial to get your business listed on the popular directories.

You might now be wondering how to list your company in online directories. For that, follow these 2 steps-

First step: The first step is to claim your business page. For that, you must fill out every listing with valid and up-to-date information, including your company’s address, contact number, email address, active hours, etc.

Second step: Then the next step is to verify your listing. As anyone on the internet can access your listing, you must follow the website verification guidelines to verify your listing successfully.

You must consider the following to make the listing work effectively for your business.

• Provide consistent information, such as company name, contact number, email address, etc., in each listing.
• Provide a detailed company description, including your offerings and inspiration.
• Add your website link to gain traffic.
• Verify the listing to become credible.
• Use images and videos in your profiles to increase the conversion rate.
• Collect customer feedback to give the search engine more confidence to recommend others.

Get benefits from local citations

The terms “local citation” and “business listing” are interchangeable. Now that you have listed your business in online directories, you might be wondering what kind of benefit you can derive from it.

We have identified a few benefits that you might find intriguing.

• Create an impact on search engine results
• Enhance your brand’s reputation and credibility
• Provides more reviews
• increase brand visibility
• Promote your company locally
• Drive quality traffic to your website

Use social media

A recent survey shows that there are more than 302 million American social media users in 2022. Therefore, using social media can be the best strategy for you to promote your cleaning business.

The algorithms of every social network are different. Thus, you need to be aware of how various social media platforms should be utilized when marketing a cleaning business. However, one common thing is the use of hashtags to reach out to a larger audience easily.

The following are some of the popular social media platforms that you can consider for advertising cleaning services.

Facebook: Around 69% of Americans use Facebook on a daily basis. Although Facebook is primarily used to keep in touch with friends and family, it has recently emerged as a significant platform for eCommerce. You can create a business page to post about your services and activities. Your followers and clients can stay in touch with you and leave reviews as well.

Instagram: About 40% of Americans are active on Instagram every day. As Instagram is specially designed to share visual content, you can share the behind the scene from your service in the form of images and videos. Using small captions and hashtags, you can also share before and after shots from your recent work.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional platform. Nearly 28% of American businessmen and service holders use LinkedIn. On this site, posts and videos can be shared to advertise cleaning businesses for offices.

Twitter: Roughly 23% of people in the USA are active users of Twitter. Here, you can share videos, photos, links, etc., with short text. Besides, using hashtags on this site can bring your business to the spotlight.

Pinterest: Approximately 31% of the population of the USA uses Pinterest. It is one of the most sales-centric social platforms, which makes it a prime place for advertising cleaning businesses. As it is a visual content-sharing post, you can share information regarding your service in the form of a flyer or poster.

Youtube: Almost 81% of American inhabitants spend their time on Youtube. It is the best place to share videos related to your service and get a large audience. Besides, your videos can serve as evidence of your work efficiency.

Tiktok: This newly hyped social media platform has around 21% of American users. To gain popularity among users, you can post 15–60 second videos describing your company or offering cleaning tips.

No matter which social media platform you use, keep your customers up to date with your activities. To attract more customers and keep them engaged, use photos of your service that have significantly changed the look of a location, with short and relevant captions. You can also mention any unique deals or offers if available.

Make YouTube videos

Not every customer prefers to read to search for a cleaning service. Some people prefer visual content to reading materials as it conveys more information in a shorter amount of time while reading calls for a lot of patience. Besides, videos prove a service’s credibility and develop customer trust.

Therefore, Youtube can be considered one of the best online platforms to advertise cleaning businesses in the form of videos. Here, you can use promotional videos to give viewers an overview of your company. You can also show your working methods, offerings, team members, client experience, and other useful details to attract clients to work with you.

Sharing high-quality videos would be great, but it is not a necessity. You can use your smartphone to shoot videos as well. Remember, customers don’t choose services based on the video quality; instead, they examine the specifics of your offering and the advantages of working with you.

So, make your videos as informative as possible. Always include your contact information in the videos since many people will be watching them for the first time. Also, keep the comment section open so that viewers can ask questions and make an effort to respond to them frequently.

Grow your email list and send email newsletters

Email marketing using newsletters is an effective way to advertise cleaning businesses for free. As having your potential customers’ email addresses is the first step in effective email marketing, you must expand your email list by gathering website visitors’ email addresses.

You can also collect the email addresses of people who have never been to your website. For that, you have to contact companies like Exact Data, Sleeknote, ZoomInfo, and others. You can purchase the email list of your potential customers from these companies by providing them with your preferred demographic data.

Most importantly, creating and distributing newsletters based on your client’s requirements is essential. To do this, you must divide your client email list into groups like businesses, residences, and restaurants, and then send out personalized newsletters that highlight various touchpoints, your service, significant updates, deals, and many other things.

Don’t forget to read: How to get effective leads for cleaning business

Get involved in the community

Your ability to network is a major factor in how successfully you can run a business. And what better way to expand your network than to get involved in your community?

You should certainly keep up your online marketing campaigns, but developing genuine relationships with locals can help you attract new clients and receive customer recommendations.

Going door to door to introduce yourself, talk about your company, or inquire about whether they require cleaning services now or in the near future is the best way to establish a connection with neighbors. To further spread the word about yourself, you can participate in community events, organize networking events, take on volunteer work, or broadcast local radio commercials.

When you meet someone new, you should leave flyers or your business card so that people can get in touch with you if they ever need your services again. Besides, being involved in the community increases credibility and generates more recommendations, which boosts sales.

How to promote your cleaning business locally for free – 10 Strategies to follow in 2024

Let’s check out some of the ways that you can use to promote your cleaning business for free.

1. Write local intent blog content

Blogging is an effective part of content marketing to advertise a cleaning business. Unfortunately, a lot of business owners undervalue the importance of blogging and avoid it because they believe it is not worth their time. So, to appreciate its true worth, you must know how you can benefit from it.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of writing blog content for your cleaning service website.

• Use SEO to your advantage
• Increase traffic to your website
• Gives you the title of “expert” in this field
• Retarget site visitors with advertisements through Facebook Pixel

People don’t always look for cleaning services nearby or in their cities; instead, they spend the majority of their time looking for assistance, such as cleaning tips, the procedure for hiring cleaning services, their cost, etc. So, if all of your marketing strategies are focused on local SEO, you will miss out on a larger pool of potential customers.

You can research the topics and keywords that receive the most inquiries from your potential clients and write content to solve those issues. Such SEO-optimized content writing will push your content to the top of Google’s search results. As a result, when your potential clients look for those topics, they will naturally visit your website, increasing traffic.

Additionally, as your website’s traffic grows, you’ll be able to add more people to your email lists and keep them updated on your new blog, which will encourage them to visit your site frequently. Moreover, sharing in-depth content will make the customer believe you are a specialist in your field of work and help build rapport with the customer.

2. Participate in online discussion forums

Online forums are very active, with people discussing important or even simple topics. Quora and Reddit currently hold the top spots among online forums. A recent survey found that around 35% of Americans use Quora, and 18% use Reddit.

Numerous people usually ask questions regarding different cleaning issues, like how to remove rust stains or grease stains, how to unclog a toilet or sink, etc. You can participate in the discussion and provide solutions to their problems. You can easily earn the community’s trust if people benefit from your answers.

Moreover, you can mention your cleaning service briefly or include a link to your website while offering the solutions.

3. Write guest posts for other blogs

Writing guest posts is a great way to ensure new potential customers from other popular sites. For writing guest posts, you have to collaborate with other trustworthy and renowned websites to get an effective result from backlinking.

Through guest posts, you can-

• Receive SEO benefits
• Gain traffic
• Increase authority
• Boost your reputation
• Get free promotion

The use of links is the main factor used to rank websites. That’s why writing guest posts for other websites is like killing two birds with one stone, as the website owner will rise in the search engine results, and more people will learn about your service outside of your website through the links used in the posts.

4. Email marketing – Send promotional messages to customers

Email marketing can be a cost-effective way to promote a business or service. Targeted emails are sent to prospective customers to educate them about your service, build brand reliability, and boost sales. However, to make email marketing effective, the emails should be brief, relevant, and engaging at the same time.

Let’s see some crucial guidelines on how to promote a cleaning business through email marketing.

• The first thing is to use an inviting subject line. The possibility of opening your email depends on the subject of your email. So, try using customer benefit-oriented subject lines.
• If your emails contain promotional content too often, customers might disregard them. So, limit the amount of promotional content as much as possible.
• Send your customers helpful content, preferably in the form of your blogs, or anything else they might find useful to encourage them to visit your websites and learn more about your offer there.
• Send promotional content in the form of postcards or flyers. Also, ensure the content is visually appealing and contains bold call-to-action words.
• Providing contact information, a logo, and website or social media links individually for every email is bothersome. Use an email signature with all of this information to make your work easier.

For email marketing, it is recommended to keep your email list organic. Although many business owners buy email lists from third parties, they usually have a higher bounce rate, making them not worth the purchase. So, send emails to people who have been to your website and filled out the sign-up form, as they will genuinely care about your emails.

5. Be active and publish content on social media

Social media is the best free marketing channel for cleaning companies. Since people nowadays spend most of their time on social media, it has become easier to reach a larger audience through social media posts in the form of written text, images, and videos.

Especially on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube, where the number of users is higher, you can show your cleaning service to your potential customers rather than just writing about it. By showcasing your work, you can increase customer confidence and raise your service’s credibility.

You can use the following recommendations to advertise your cleaning company on social media.

• Post visual content like before-and-after photos, cleaning tutorial videos, pictures of your workspace, your teammates, and you, etc.
• Post engaging content that will encourage comments and interaction.
• Create a professional-looking Facebook page to serve as a secondary website.
• In the case of Facebook, you can target your potential customers by joining your local community groups, cleaning service groups, business groups, etc.
• Offer special discounts and exclusive deals for the group members.
• Use Facebook Messenger to enable direct customer contact through Facebook.
• Use LinkedIn to promote commercial cleaning services.
• Use a few popular hashtags that people mostly use in searches.
• Use a few combinations of hashtags that can be used interchangeably to prevent spam.
• Take your target audience into account when designing posts.
• Post when users are most active on social platforms, such as on the weekend.

Managing too many social media platforms at once is difficult. Hence, start with one-two social site to proceed with the marketing activities. When posting on social media, you should prioritize quality over quantity because frequently posting low-quality promotional content could label you as a spammer. Also, offer practical advice and tricks to make a good impression on potential customers.

6. Do a free product giveaway or contest

Giving away free gifts is an effective way to draw customers and spread the word about your business to them. You can use the strategy of giving away gifts, joining contests, giving discounts or vouchers, and more to get more people to join your personal cleaning service group or to follow your page or account on social media.

For example, you could host a competition to grow your group in two ways; either give a 5% discount on their first cleaning service for adding 10 new members or a 50% discount for adding the highest number of members. To show gratitude, you can give each client a gift card.

7. Build trust and encourage happy customers to give online reviews

Establishing a cleaning service’s credibility through online promotion mostly depends on customer reviews. People take into account the overall experience of past and recent customers when judging the quality of service. So, a ton of positive reviews about your service will build trust among your potential customers and encourage them to take service from you.

Positive customer feedback has the following advantages:

• Influences hiring decisions
• Rank higher in the google search
• Increase visibility on Facebook
• Genuine and authentic customer testimonials raise reliability

Usually, people tend to share reviews if they have any negative experiences. So, you can talk to your customers politely and encourage them to provide their honest opinion about your service and their experience. If necessary, remind them to share their reviews through newsletters or follow-up emails.

Also, don’t forget to show your appreciation for their reviews, as it will also encourage others to share reviews.

8. Make and share eye-catching brochures or flyers

The best way to market your cleaning company, whether you’re a commercial cleaner, a residential cleaner, or a specialty cleaner, is by adding a personal touch. This can be done by visiting homes or business places to hand out flyers and brochures.

Sometimes, using an offline method to promote a cleaning business works better than an online campaign. As online ads are temporary, it’s hard for people to remember your service through online ads or TV commercials. However, you can distribute flyers, brochures, and postcards throughout your neighborhood to address this problem since most people keep them in their storage for future use.

Besides, creating flyers and brochures is a cost-effective marketing strategy. All you need to do is hire a freelance graphic designer as per your budget and have them printed. Make sure to use bold headlines, contact information, company description, offers, price, and CTA (call to action). Use eye-catching color contrast and vibrant hues as well.

9. Distribute a press release once a month

Almost everyone, from shops to households, subscribes to a daily or monthly newspaper, despite the fact that most people use social media to keep up with the news. So, you can distribute a press release for cleaning advertisements at least once per month.

Through press releases, you can reach people who may not have known about you or who did not save your flyers. The best part is that you don’t need to knock on doors to advertise your service or hire someone to hand out flyers or brochures to every passerby in the neighborhood.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Making a business flourish requires hard work and strategic promotional tactics. Unlike the older days, promoting business has become easier due to the facilities provided by online platforms like social sites, websites with integrated SEO, and search engines like Google.

Follow the recommendations mentioned above to promote your cleaning service cost-effectively to gain more clients and boost your revenue.