The Next Chapter in Pest Control Marketing: How the Industry Is Evolving And What Comes Next

The pest control industry has never stood still, but the past decade has ushered in one of the most dramatic shifts operators have ever seen. As Scorpion’s team shared during a recent webinar with PCT, “The Next Chapter in Pest Control Marketing: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going,” modern homeowners expect faster communication, more transparency, and seamless digital experiences that mirror the convenience they enjoy everywhere else online. At the same time, inflation, rising costs, and increased competition are putting pressure on operators to make smarter decisions about where they spend their marketing dollars and how they run their businesses.

This evolution isn’t slowing down. But the path forward is clearer than many business owners think.

Below, we share what’s changed, the challenges pest control operators are facing today, and how leading teams are adapting their marketing and operations to capture higher-quality leads, grow recurring revenue, and strengthen their local market presence.

Where We’ve Been: From Phone Books to Multi-Channel Digital Experiences

The shift from traditional to digital marketing in pest control has happened in phases. Here are the four major eras:

• 2005–2018: Early digital adoption, dominated by basic websites, Google search, and online directories.
• 2018–2022: Multichannel emergence, with growing influence from social platforms and mobile-first behavior.
• 2023–today: Search everywhere, where customers move fluidly between search engines, social platforms, review sites, and AI tools.
• 2025 and beyond: AI-driven expectations, where instant information and convenience increasingly separate the companies that grow from those that stall.

As Gabby Cash, owner/operator of Double C Pest Control, shared, her business went from being “almost entirely referral and phone-based to a true digital-first local brand.” That evolution included upgrading the website, adding online contact options, leaning heavily into Google reviews, and adopting FieldRoutes as a CRM to streamline operations.

But the biggest shift hasn't just been digital tools, it’s the way customers communicate.

“Consumers are typically very impatient now,” she explained. “They want it to be quick, they want options.”

Where Many Operators Are Struggling

While technology has created new opportunities for growth, it’s also created new challenges. During the webinar, Scorpion noted that:

• 87% of consumers expect a response within 24 hours of contacting a pest control company.
• 67% check three review sources before making a decision.
• 46% want multiple ways to contact a business.

These shifting expectations have introduced friction for companies that still rely on legacy processes or single-channel communication. Michael Smith from Scorpion noted that even businesses with long-established customer bases “still struggle to catch up to where their customers are and what their customers actually want,” especially when younger homeowners prefer chat, text, or online booking over phone calls.

The result is a widening gap between consumer expectations and operational readiness. For many operators, response times, lead quality, and customer retention are the top pressure points, all of which were reflected in the real-time poll results during the webinar.

Inflation and rising costs compound these challenges. According to a PCT survey, 56% of pest control operators say inflation is their biggest worry in 2025.

How Leading Operators Are Evolving Their Marketing and Operations

1. Connecting Marketing Spend to Revenue

Increased competition and rising costs have pushed operators to become much more precise in how they invest in marketing. Instead of focusing solely on cost per lead, leading operators are aligning their marketing strategy with customer acquisition cost and lifetime value.

Cash explained that tying Double C’s marketing spend to operational data through Scorpion and FieldRoutes has been transformative.

“By tying our marketing spend directly into our operational data, we know where we're spending the money, what leads turned into booked jobs, and which channels lead to profitable long-term customers rather than noise.”

This alignment is also central to Scorpion’s RevenueMAX approach, which connects marketing performance to real revenue outcomes. When operators know which campaigns generate real customers, not just leads, they can redirect budget to the strategies that create measurable growth.

2. Responding Faster and Communicating the Way Customers Want

Speed is now a fundamental differentiator. As Smith emphasized, whether a customer is asking a question about an existing treatment or inquiring about new services, “they don’t want to have to wait.” And because platforms like Google Local Services Ads reward businesses that respond quickly, slow follow-up can directly impact visibility and cost.

To address this, operators are expanding communication options:

• 24/7 chat or AI-assisted chat
• Text-enabled business numbers
• Online scheduling and “book now” options
• Messaging integrations through Google Business Profiles

Cash shared that adding AI chat has allowed her team to stay “awake and responsive even when the office is closed,” capturing key details like the customer’s issue, address, and urgency before a staff member ever picks up the conversation.

This allows her team to be “10 steps ahead” when they follow up the next morning and prevents leads from slipping through the cracks.

3. Using AI to Improve Lead Quality and Conversion

AI has become more accessible and more necessary. Smith emphasized that improving lead quality begins with feeding platforms like Google the right data. Scorpion’s AI-driven lead quality scoring tool examines variables such as service type, location, and whether the CSR scheduled next steps, and sends that data back to Google every hour to help train its ad-serving algorithms.

When operators close the loop between marketing and operations, AI can automatically:

• Prioritize campaigns that drive real customers
• Identify high-value ZIP codes
• Improve LSA refund recovery
• Reduce wasted spend
• Strengthen customer acquisition cost

This is where RevenueMAX plays a measurable role, ensuring that marketing decisions aren’t just based on lead volume but on actual revenue impact.

Where We’re Going: The Next Chapter of Pest Control Marketing

AI Search Is Changing How Customers Find You

Consumers are no longer searching only for “pest control near me.” They’re searching for specifics: pet-friendly treatments, environmentally friendly options, women-owned businesses, and even payment preferences. Cash noted she now gets far more questions about eco-friendly and pet-friendly products, as well as detailed upfront pricing information, long before a technician visits the property.

As AI search tools pull directly from websites, operators must ensure their content addresses these detailed questions clearly and directly. If the information isn’t on your website, the customer may never find you.

Video Content Is Becoming a Trust Signal

Smith emphasized that video is increasingly important in both traditional search and AI-generated search results. Video helps demonstrate expertise, show real technicians, and build trust more quickly than static content can, which are all signals that AI now evaluates when determining which businesses to recommend.

Operational Readiness Will Define Growth Capacity

Finally, operators must prepare for growth before demand spikes. Double C recently had its highest-performing month of the year, and Cash attributes the team’s ability to keep up to investments made ahead of time: hiring early, refining processes, adjusting routes, and monitoring pressure points through data. “Marketing has definitely driven more calls and more web leads, but that only works if operations can keep up,” she explained.

What Pest Control Operators Should Do Next

Based on insights from the webinar, here are the key action items for operators heading into the next chapter of industry growth:

• Respond faster than your competitors across every channel.
• Meet customers where they already are: search engines, chat, text, and online booking.
• Strengthen your visibility by maintaining consistent SEO fundamentals. Add more video to your website and digital presence.
• Use your data, especially revenue data, to guide your marketing investments.
• Reinvest in the channels that actually grow revenue, not just leads.
• Apply AI tools that support speed, quality, and operational efficiency.

If you’d like to hear the full discussion between Scorpion’s experts and Double C Pest Control, watch the full webinar from PCT.