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As a pest control business owner or pest control contractor, every opportunity you have to increase the number of new customers you bring to your small business matters. Learning more about your pest control service’s target audience and developing a lead generation plan are critical to your ability to do this. These tactics also help you stand out among your competitors in the pest control industry.
Continue reading this post to get some pest control marketing ideas that will enable you to generate new and valuable pest control leads for your business.
Pest Control Leads
A pest control lead is an individual who is likely to become a customer of your business. To qualify as a lead, they must show interest in your service. There are many ways they may show that interest including interacting or engaging with your ads, website, social media content, or other marketing materials. A lead may also come to you due to word of mouth or referral.
Pest Control Lead Generation
Pest control lead generation is the process of cultivating more leads — or potential customers — through various marketing efforts or sales outreach. The purpose of this process is to increase the interest of potential customers in order to drive more business.
How to Increase Pest Control Leads
To increase the number of quality leads your pest control service brings in, you need to know where they are. Then you can establish your lead generation strategy. In doing so, you’ll be able to meet your potential clients where they are as well as improve your chances of one day converting them into paying customers.
Where to Find Pest Control Leads
Pest control leads can be found in a variety of places. Here are some common locations:
- Referrals
- Competitors
- Former customers
- Social media
- Google and other search engines
- Website
Now let’s review the steps involved in creating your pest control lead generation strategy.
1. Create a website.
Without a pest control website, you’ll not only have a difficult time attracting leads, but you’ll find it challenging to run your business on a larger scale. Create a website for your business that’s optimized for search engines, includes your contact information and hours, explains your services and pricing, and features customer reviews. A well-functioning and easy-to-navigate website is a key component to your ability to generate pest control leads.
2. Search engine optimize your online content.
Search engine optimization (or SEO) is the process of incorporating keywords and phrases — along with other SEO elements — throughout your online content such as web pages, blog articles, ads, and other marketing materials. These measures improve discoverability — or your ability to appear on the search engine results page (SERP) — when your target audience is looking for a service or content like yours.
Local SEO is useful for small businesses with brick-and-mortar locations. For example, if someone in your geographic area searches Google for “best pest control,” “exclusive pest control,” or “pest control provider,” you greatly increase the chances of your business appearing in the search results for those queries, as they’re searching. If you’re looking for specific ways to improve your local SEO, start by creating a Google Business profile — previously known as Google My Business — and claim your knowledge panel.
3. Create paid ads.
Paid advertising is one of the more popular lead generation tactics because it allows you to place your advertisements directly in front of your target audience and buyer personas based on geographic, behavioral, and demographic criteria that you set. There are opportunities on social media for paid ads as well as websites and search engines.
In terms of paid ads on search engines specifically, Google Ads — which is formerly known as Google AdWords — is quite popular among small businesses. The tool helps you run and manage ad campaigns on your budget and timeline, and place them in front of your target audience while they’re actively searching for pest control solutions like yours.
4. Use social media marketing.
Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing. It entails the use of any social media platform that works well for your business and target audience. Think about where your buyer personas spend their time, and where you feel you’d be able to successfully engage your audience to determine which platform or platforms you’ll use for your pest control service.
Create compelling and engaging content that attracts audience members to your social media profiles. Interact with comments, questions, or direct messages your audience sends you. This will help you improve customer loyalty.
You might also pay for social ads — such as Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads. These paid services will place your ads in front of your target audience based on behavioral, geographic, and/or demographic criteria that you select when it makes the most sense for them to see and engage with your ads.
5. Purchase a home services marketing and lead generation tool.
Whether you go with marketing software, lead generation software, or pest control software, identify the right tool for your small business and your target audience. Think about the features you want out of marketing and/or lead generation tool, as well as how they may integrate with or replace your current systems.
An example of a tool your business may find valuable due to its wide range of features and capabilities is Scorpion — a home services marketing and lead generation tool that’s ideal for pest control businesses.
6. Email your leads.
Email marketing is an effective lead generation and nurturing tool. If you already have someone’s email address, they are a qualified lead. From there, you can send them relevant and timely email content and information based on their needs. This use of email marketing nurtures your prospects by pushing them to the next point in the buyer’s journey.
7. Use word-of-mouth marketing and customer reviews.
Word-of-mouth marketing and customer reviews are two of the most impactful lead generation strategies. If you finish a pest control service at a customer’s home and they are happy with your work, ask them to refer a friend. From that point, you can engage the referral in a customer call or send them an email.
You can also ask delighted customers to leave you a customer review on Google, social media, or your website. Reviews are a powerful way to generate leads due to their impact on prospects. That’s because prospects who are in need of pest control service want to feel confident they’re going to have a good experience with you and your business. So confirming that other people similar to themselves have enjoyed working with your business in the past by reading customer reviews gives those individuals the reassurance they need.
Increase Your Pest Control Leads
To increase your pest control leads, start by creating a lead generation strategy. The result of a successful pest control lead generation strategy will be more qualified prospects engaging with your marketing materials and converting into paying clients.
Learn more about how Scorpion can help you market your pest control business and increase leads.
