HOW TO START A WINDOW CLEANING BUSINESS
Working in a small town has its advantages, but it may require some creative marketing strategies. People who live in rural areas don’t always keep up with social media and internet marketing. You may have to rely more on word-of-mouth advertising and other offline marketing solutions to generate traffic for your business.
Here are some marketing tips for small town businesses.
Every small town has its own culture. As a business owner, you need to understand what that culture is and how to appeal to it. Find out where the locals go to socialize. This could be a local flea market, a weekly town meeting, a lake or park, a drive-in theater, etc. If you know where people are going, you can develop creative marketing strategies for those areas. In other words, you can put your business where people are most likely to see it.
If you own a window cleaning business, you may offer discounted cleaning services for businesses with heavy foot traffic. Do this in exchange for a small sign in the window advertising your services or the option to put your business cards inside the business. Work out a deal that benefits you and the other business owner so you can help each other grow and succeed.
People who live in a small town love supporting their communities. In turn, they like to work with business owners that participate in community events. For instance, if there is a large pet adoption event in the town square, you may donate your time to help the animal rescue conducting the event. This is a great way to meet people face-to-face and show that you care about the town as a whole.
All it takes is one bad review in a small town to shut down a business. This is scary to think about, but it’s reality. As a small town business owner, you must focus on providing excellent service to maintain your customer satisfaction levels. Some entrepreneurs think that because they have minimal competition, their customers will be forced to work with them. The second a new business comes into town though, all of those customers will immediately go elsewhere. Even without competing businesses, many customers will do the work themselves or find resources from out of town if they are not satisfied with your service. As long as you keep your quality standards high, you won’t have anything to worry about.
Since a lot of your marketing strategies will rely on word of mouth, you need a business name that is easy to remember and share. Choose a name that explains exactly what your business is all about: “Bob’s Window Washing,” “Detroit Roofing And Siding,” “The 5th Street Bakery,” etc. When you become a positive topic in town discussions, people will have no trouble recalling your business name. This will help you in all areas of brand development, which will ultimately lead to more success for your business.
Keep your environment and your audience in mind as you promote your small town business, and you can become a lasting part of the community.