When owning a cleaning business, marketing may not be your expertise or at the top of your mind. At Insurance Canopy, we want your cleaning business to succeed. Today we want to walk you through what’s included in a cleaning business marketing plan and how you can execute a successful marketing campaign.
What is Included in a Marketing Campaign?
There are several components that make up a marketing plan. They should all be executed strategically, in order, and with an end goal in mind. We will go over what each one means and how you can successfully go through each step to achieve the results you desire.
Goal
You’ll first want to start with an established goal. What is the purpose of your marketing campaign? What do you want to achieve? Perhaps you want more customers. Maybe you’re trying to expand your carpet cleaning business to an entirely new geographic area. Whatever your goal is, make sure it is clearly understood.
The best practice is to set S.M.A.R.T. goals, which is a great acronym to follow. Is your goal specific? It is measurable, will you know when it is completed? Is it attainable? Be realistic with how far you can push yourself. Is your goal time-bound, as in you know when the goal should be achieved. All of these things will help you define clear goals and achieve them on a better time table.
Objectives
Your objectives go hand in hand with your goal. The objectives are specific results that will help you achieve your goal. This is the part of the goal planning process where you will need to identify aspects of your goal that are attainable, realistic, measurable, etc. For example, you can specify your marketing campaign will end by May 20th and you will have increased your customers by 20%. You can then set objectives to break down how you will increase customers by the end date, such as make social media ads or start an email campaign. You can then break your objectives down into specific tasks. Whatever objectives you decide to set, make sure they are SMART Marketing Objectives.
Marketing Plan Idea
Once you have established your goal and objectives, you are ready to think about the bulk of your marketing campaign—the idea you will carry out. The rest of your marketing campaign will be planned around this one big marketing idea. Part of this idea could also be a slogan or catchphrase that encapsulates your plan.
Marketing Idea Example
If you need an example to better understand, let’s talk about Old Spice. In the late 2010s, Old Spice realized they needed to appeal to a younger audience to stay relevant. They came out with the campaign “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The campaign’s first video aired in February 2010. This video went viral on YouTube and had over 20 million views in three days. A series of videos for the next couple of years turned the brand around; you may remember the other videos with the phrase, “I’m on a horse.” Because of this campaign, Old Spice was able to regain its business traction and increase sales by 60%. Their big idea was “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” and they built the rest of their campaign around that idea.
People loved the campaign because of its originality and creativity. When coming up with your big idea, make sure it fits your brand, it is unique and memorable, and creative.
Target Market
After deciding what your big idea will be, you need to think about the target market you are trying to reach. If you are a window cleaning business, perhaps you’re trying to find eldery people who are looking for people to wash their windows. Or maybe you’re looking for more commercial businesses for window washing. Your audience is important to establish because you would market your idea differently to an elderly retired man than you would to an office manager of a business park.
Strategies and Tactics
Your strategies and tactics are the bread and butter of your marketing campaign. The strategies and tactics are the how of your campaign. With the Old Spice example, they chose to film a video and post it on YouTube and other social media platforms. The strategy was to get the attention of the target audience and the tactic was a video on YouTube. Think about how you will carry out your goal and where. If you’re trying to expand your online presence, consider creating a TikTok and posting consistent content, like cleaning videos.
Calendar and Budget
With all of the above in mind, you will need to keep track of all the expenses and when everything will take place. Keep track of this on a spreadsheet so everything is organized and in one place. Perhaps your campaign will run for six months, or maybe just 90 days. You’ll want to put all your strategies and tactics on this calendar, and keep track of how much money is being spent.
Return on Investment
In the long run, you are likely running a marketing campaign so you can get more business which leads to more money. You need to make sure that every dollar you put into your campaign, you’ll get that back—and then some. A successful marketing campaign will have a positive return on investment (ROI).
How Will You Move Forward?
Knowing what you know now, how will your cleaning business move forward? What will your marketing campaign include? Make sure to follow all the steps and work hard so you can see the results you want. We wish you the best of luck with your cleaning business marketing plan!
