Pest Control Marketing: How Small Companies Can Compete With The Big Guys

If you're the owner of a small pest control company, you may find yourself struggling to compete with the big boys. Larger corporations tend to have nearly endless resources and capital to throw at their business. It can feel a bit overwhelming for a smaller business like yours. 

But being a small business can be an advantage in and of itself. And if you use the right online tools, there are ways in which you may have a leg up on those corporate monoliths. 

Target Marketing Selection And Branding

One of the main advantages a small business has over a large company is choosing to target a specific market niche. That means being a specialist rather than a generalist.

People are more likely to choose specialists in their Marketplace and pay them more as well. For example;

• If you're getting married, are you going to choose a photographer or a wedding photographer?
• If you've got a skin lesion on your arm, are you going to let a GP remove it or would you rather have a specialist dermatologist to work?

Does this sound like a specialist?

We have been servicing (some large city) pest control and prevention services to help commercial properties, businesses, and homeowners eradicate nuisance pests, such as termites, rodents, cockroaches and more.

If you are competing on this basis,  i.e. we will do everything, you are no different from your large competitors.  Ultimately it's just the race to the bottom on price, and that’s hard to sustain as they have a base level of business they don’t have to advertise for from basic awareness and their existing customers.

So your opportunity as a pest controller to specialise in a particular market. Some examples of this are; 

1. Residential pest control
2. Strata pest control
3. Pest control for a specific location
4. Using eco-friendly solutions
5. Specialising in snake removal
6. Having termite hunting dogs
7. Offering scheduled implementation of pest services

You might worry you will miss out on business when you adopt a specialist market position.  But that's not the case. You are far more likely to convert leads to customers as a specialist and maintain your price if you're a specialist. 

And just because you have a specialist market position does not mean you can't take on other work.

If you specialise you're very likely to;

• Have repeat processes that you can implement more quickly and more cost-effectively than a larger competitor. 
• Deliver a better level of customer service.
• At the same time, you're going to get much better reviews. 

Small Business Nimbleness

You may not have the money or resources of a big company you're competing with. But by taking on fewer clients and having less cumbersome processes, you're also more agile than they are. 

You aren't bogged down by the bureaucratic paperwork many large businesses have in place. Your website doesn't give users endless forms to fill out. You're not a national company, so you don't have to overextend yourself driving everywhere to provide pest control. 

Targeting Keywords

As a smaller company, you've got a little more flexibility than a big company when targeting keywords on your website (SEO).  SEO can help you attract customers online who are performing internet searches for the type of services you offer in your local area. 

For example, a larger company may only be able to target very general keywords such as termite control or pest control. They're not a local business, so it’s harder for them to target local keywords. 

But if you specialise in pest control in a suburban area, you can target keywords like "termite control + suburb" or "pest control + suburb." You can also add the location of the specific city you work in, something larger pest control companies cannot do. 

A word of advice: set up a Google AdWords account and use Google's Keyword Tool to help you pick out the right keywords for you. 

Here are some examples of Pest Control keywords and the volumes of those in Australia

Top Pest Control Keywords In Australia

You Can Offer Superior Customer Service 

Running a small business where you're the company’s face, you have a distinct advantage over a faceless corporation — especially if you specialise. People love to buy from someone they know. They want to talk to the person handling their pest control — it reassures them of any concerns they have. 

Dealing with a nameless drone from a big company doesn't give them the same feeling as talking to someone whose name is on the side of their truck. 

Use this familiarity to your advantage. Build it into your advertising. Remind your customers — through your website, business cards, or any promotional tool you have available — they'll get a personal connection with you they won't receive at a national company.

Your much larger competitors may have a lot more customers than you do. While that seems like an advantage for them, it's advantageous for you when taking on new customers. 

Remind them that the bigger companies can't give them service with a personal touch. Since you're a specialist with a select list of clients, you have more time to dedicate to them individually. 

Prove Your Better Service With Local Reviews

You can also reach out personally to your satisfied customers for user testimonials.  Ask your customers to give reviews of your work.

Here's an example of using online reviews in video. There are plenty of ways to do this better as well, but action is better than inaction!

These are a decisive part of an online marketing campaign because they show potential customers that you're able to do what you say you can. They can talk about the pest problems they faced and how you provided solutions. You can incorporate these into your website either in the form of written reviews or YouTube videos. 

Customers appreciate hearing about these success stories - bake success stories into your customer communications.

Google My Business

In the "Map" section of your Google local listings, you should have a Google My Business (GMB) page. This page will help expose you to more potential customers online with a brief description of the pest control services you can offer them. Using a Google My Business page will pump up your online rankings faster than your website. 

Google offers plenty of instructions on how to set up and optimise your GMB page. According to a survey of SEO professionals by Bright Local, the top five ranking factors for the local pack are;

1. Main GMB category
2. Keywords in GMB business title
3. The proximity of address to the point of search
4. The physical address in the city of search
5. Additional GMB categories

Website Optimisation for Local Businesses

You can use localised keywords on your website. For example, on your home page, your "About" page, your sales page. Local keywords help you attract people in your area who need the pest control services you're offering. 

Your bigger competitors may get many internet search hits from people in your area. Yet, people searching specifically for pest control in your area will likely come to you first. 

You can tailor your website to serve your particular audience, which will help you attract the specific customers you're looking for. When it comes to optimisation of your website, specificity is king. 

Being local specific is preferable to using general terms that your big company competitors will be forced to use when it comes to SEO.  

Develop Great Content

Lastly, you can develop content for your audience. This content can include information on your product or your specific control pest control field. Again, the more specific to your niche, the better. It can come in the form of videos, blog posts, or other social media posts.

Developing great content gives you three advantages over large companies: 

Great content establishes you as an authority figure in your niche in your area. People trust an expert, and they much prefer to buy the services of someone they trust and who they think know what they're doing. 

Corporations may also produce content, but they can't localise it the way you can. That's going to help you attract more internet searches.

It gives you another opportunity to inject a personal touch into your online brand. For example, you can record a video sharing;

• The story of why you decided to go into pest control.
• Talking about the training you received.
• What it means to be able to serve your community.

Just  make sure you keep going if you start so you don’t end up with a dead blog or social media profile because it makes it look like your business is closed.

For more on how we can help you compete, contact us today!