The moving industry is a competitive one, and if you wish to grow, you need the right knowledge. Hence, moving business owners need to be prepared to commit to the professional development of their moving business. The good thing is that there are plenty of ways to do this. So to give you a general idea, here are some marketing development guidelines to help further the growth of your moving company.
5 Marketing Development Tips to help professional movers grow
#1: Design an Effective Moving Company Website
The marketing development of a moving company is very dependent on the overall quality of their official website. Many new leads – regardless of how they discovered you – will first check your website, which is a step that creates a strong impression. They will decide whether they want an estimate or not based on your:
- content and the quality of it
- offers in terms of services
- overall image and design
Your website is the first place you have to communicate your value. You use the offers you have to distinguish yourself from the competition. It needs to be modern, simple, and – most of all – clear. If your website gives the impression that you’re outdated or if it confuses people, you’ll lose the lead. And if that happens once or twice, it’s bound to continue to happen. So this is something you will wish to avoid by investing in the optimization of your website.
#2: Buying Moving Leads for the purpose of Marketing Development
If you are a relatively new brand in the moving industry with a long way ahead, the chances are you’ll need to look into buying leads. Sites like Home Advisor, Angie’s List, as well as moving-specific sites like Moving.com and Relocation.com are places your customer base turns to, so there are viable leads on them. These services come with certain difficulties, however. The biggest problem is that you’re in competition with other movers to both reach the lead first and give the most competitive estimate.
Here are some pro tips:
- Be ready to take/make calls. The number one thing you need to do to win business when buying leads is to be the first to make contact. Many people report that when they use services like Angie’s List, they just go for the first contractor to call them. If you delay, you’re wasting your money. So be sure to get that first contact before everyone else.
- Work on your soft skills. This is a skill you need no matter what, but it’s essential when buying leads. You need to sell them “yourself” on that first call. Be prepared with questions you can ask about the move that will help you understand the main needs of the lead. Then craft your pitch around those needs. Also, do your best to keep it light and be funny. If you can get the lead to laughing, you have a much better chance of winning the business.
- Avoid the possibility to undersell yourself. Caution is advised even when you are buying leads. It is a double-edged blade, as those same leads can turn out to be the very worst clients you have. They will nitpick at every offer you provide and still never be satisfied with your work. Then they leave you negative reviews, making it harder to win new work. So be sure to stay in control when it comes to such sources.
#3: Master Search Marketing Development Ideas
There once was a marketing service printed on yellow paper and left at people’s doorsteps. Now its main purpose is to be used as a doorstop. Today when people want to look up a service like a moving company, they do it with the help Google. And this is something you will find 80% of your leads do. So it’s a major advantage to have your business appear at the top of search results. In fact, it demonstrates moving company development. There are three headings you can take with this goal in mind:
- The organic listing and expansion of your website. The main fuel behind this is your search engine optimization (SEO) work. Optimize your site for target keywords, get some backlinks into your site, and enrich your blog on a regular basis to get quality rankings.
- Use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. You use Google Adwords to bid on keywords and gain placement at the top of the page. The top four results on any search page are all PPC. And this method can be quite useful as a short-term instant solution. But as soon as you stop investing in it, you lose out on everything.
- And then there is the Google My Business listing. This is a free listing that ties into local search and Google Maps. It’s important to optimize your description and service listing with the keywords, particularly for the areas you service. As a moving company, this listing will largely tie into your physical location. To get search results in other areas you service, you’ll need to run PPC ads. Also, more positive reviews will help your ranking.
Note that you can use your blog to optimize content for a variety of searches, including common questions people have about planning a move. This is a great way to introduce your brand to leads doing research and get them into your marketing development engine.
#4: Social Media Advertising
When we talk to most movers about social media marketing, the interest is still minor. Most are not truly aware of how powerful a tool Facebook and other social media tools are, but they are slowly realizing. For example, Facebook has an enormous amount of info on users. You can actually target demographics and life events to the point that your ads can predict when someone might move.
If you happened to meet a young couple expecting their first child still renting an apartment, you’d (rightly) assume a move might be in their future. And that is when you provide them with a business card or any form of contact information. Other social media platforms shouldn’t be neglected either. They might not bear as much information as Facebook, but when it comes to open promotion or marketing development of your company, they do the job.
#5: Manage Your Online Reputation
It is possible that there is one type of content online that’s actually more influential than your website. That content is online reviews. Reviews seem to be everywhere nowadays.
People today tend to trust online reviews, and they expect reputable companies to have them. They not only trust reviews, but they go as far as holding out on any decision based on the reviews they find. So if you have a poor or non-existent review profile, it’s going to cost you leads and business. There are two important steps you need to take to build up your tower of positive reviews:
- Simply be aware that you’re going to get written reviews posted by your clients. Those reviews will be about the quality of your work. As long as your work is excellent, it stands to reason your reviews will reflect it. The opposite is also true. Strive to provide the utmost perfection when it comes to service. Go the extra mile and delight your clients. Trust me, all this effort directly relates to your marketing and lead generation. There is no better way for you to build a brand than by making good on the promises you make.
- Be sure to ask happy clients to leave reviews. The unfortunate reality of online reviews is that unhappy people are more motivated to write them. Use emails, social media, and just asking in person as ways to get more positive reviews. Overall, be sure to monitor your online profile and image. Give thanks for glowing reviews, and respond to problems like a professional. A strong review profile is an important weapon in your online marketing efforts.
