Pest control marketing: Let’s make that phone ring

You got into the pest control business to bring in revenue. But with so many other local pest control companies making competition tight, keeping that phone ringing with new customers may not feel as easy as you thought. To keep your pest control business growing takes marketing know-how; marketing is the bridge that connects your business with your potential customers — the people who make it all possible.

But how do you actually reach those people? After all, you’ve been trained in the pest control business — not marketing — so how do you know what type of marketing will work for you?

When we asked our pest control business clients what their biggest challenge is, the resounding response wasn’t surprising: How to reach more people who need their services.

The answer, of course, is marketing. But not just any kind of marketing; you’ll want to pinpoint the right marketing strategies that can work for your area and industry.

We’ve compiled this pest control marketing guide to help you attract more customers and get your phone to ring off the hook.

Why you need a proper pest control marketing plan

With over 30,000 pest control businesses in the US, your company faces some steep rivalry in the market. When you take the time to develop a strategic marketing plan, it can help put your business in the spotlight so you reach people who need your services most. Because marketing isn’t just about being found; it’s about being chosen. 

A well-crafted pest control marketing plan helps you stand out, shares your unique value propositions with potential customers, and helps build trust in your services.

Before you start marketing your pest control business, Create a pest control marketing plan

A marketing plan is like the blueprint for how you plan to grow your business. It maps out the different components needed to help you start gaining more customers and earning more revenue. Here’s how to get started:

1) Get to know your target market

Start by defining your ideal customer: Are they homeowners, businesses or maybe apartment complexes? Include specific factors like: 

• Location
• Property type 
• Common pest issues they face

Understanding your audience is the first step in tailoring your marketing messages. Get out there and talk to potential customers. Learn what they care about, what challenges they’re struggling with, and what language they use to describe their needs. Listening to how they talk will clue you into how to speak to them in a way that’ll resonate. 

For instance, if you specialize in eco-friendly pest solutions, your target market might include environmentally conscious households in urban areas. After talking to a few homeowners, you realize that non-toxic pest control chemicals are important to them to help protect their kids and pets. Now that you’ve narrowed down your audience and discovered what matters to them, you can tailor your marketing messages to speak directly to their needs and concerns.

2) Analyze your competition

Knowing what you’re up against is the first step in being able to differentiate your services in the local market. Look at how some of your local competitors are marketing. What are they doing well? Where are the gaps that you can fill? 

For example, maybe you identify three main companies and notice that none of them are targeting a new housing development in your city — yet. This could be a good area to target for focused marketing. Or, say most of your competitors are only focusing on offline advertising methods like direct mail. So, you see an opportunity to stand out with a strong digital marketing strategy targeting local groups on social media. Taking this new approach is more likely to reach a different audience than your competitors. 

3) Set clear marketing goals 

What do you want to achieve with your marketing efforts? Set a concrete objective that you and your team can work towards together. Common pest control marketing goals include: 

• Generating X number of leads per month
• Increasing your customer base by XX%
• Signing X number of new retainer contracts each month

When everyone knows what the end goal is, it’s easier to keep staff motivated and working towards a common objective. 

4) Choose your marketing channels wisely

There are a ton of ways to reach your target audience, which we’ll get into in more depth later. From offline marketing to pest control digital marketing strategies like SEO, content marketing, and social media (sound like word salad? Don’t worry, we’ll explain.); there are so many options to choose from that it can feel overwhelming. 

Think about where your potential customers are most likely to find you and focus your efforts there. You may discover going to your customers at their homes is the best place to meet them since your services are designed to protect their properties.

5) Craft your message

Remember when we talked about developing your brand and defining your user value proposition? Your brand identity and the value you promise are the foundations of your marketing message — and your message should speak directly to your potential customers’ needs and problems.  

One important component to your messaging is to highlight the benefits of your pest control service, whether it’s all-natural ingredients, timely service, specialized offerings or something else. Focusing on the benefits in your pest control marketing can help you connect with people on an emotional level. Take the example from above: In marketing toward an eco-friendly audience, you could say something like: “Protect your family and the environment with our non-toxic pest control services.”

Now pull all of the components together to create your pest control marketing plan. With a well-developed plan in place, you’ll be well on your way to getting more phone calls from new customers.

 

Different pest control marketing strategies

You’ve analyzed the competition and gotten to know your potential customers. Now it’s time to dive into the concrete strategies that will get you in front of the right people.

Many successful pest control businesses today find that it takes a mix of online and offline marketing strategies to keep the phone ringing. The main difference between the two is simply where and how the audience prefers to receive the marketing message: in-person, not on a computer (offline), or while browsing on the Internet (online). 

Online vs. offline marketing

One perk of online marketing is that it gives you a lot more data to work with so you can gauge how effective your efforts are. Online marketing also typically offers more precise targeting so that you can get in front of the right kinds of people more easily. Offline marketing, which some people call traditional marketing, can be an effective way to build brand credibility and awareness — and also to reach people who are less active online like older generations.

And when you take the best of both worlds, you can use a combination of both online and offline marketing strategies to reach your target audience and make your business thrive.

Online marketing strategies for pest control businesses

With 98% of people searching online for local businesses every day, ignoring online marketing could be a huge mistake for your pest control business. Here’s how to use digital methods to help your business stand out from your competition:

A high-converting marketing website

Your website is often the first impression that people have of your business. For it to be the most effective at convincing people to use your services, make sure your website is: 

• Visually appealing with colors and fonts that are easy to read
• Easy to navigate with simple site navigation
• Optimized for conversions with clear calls-to-action (CTAs), an easy-to-find booking or contact form and prominently displayed contact information including a local and toll-free phone number
• Mobile-friendly since a significant portion of visitors will access it from their smartphones

Note: For a pest control business, before-and-after treatment photos are a great way to show the effectiveness of your services.

Paid ads/PPC

Paid ads, also known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, are powerful tools for you to reach potential customers online. With PPC, you’re essentially paying for visits to your website rather than earning them organically, which is great for new businesses with brand new websites that might not have a strong online presence — or who are looking to boost their visibility quickly, in the short term, while they work on other marketing objectives.

Google Ads is one of the most effective PPC marketing channels to help pest control businesses reach a specific, desired audience.

For local businesses, Google offers two different types of ad options, Google Local Service Ads and normal Google Ads.

Google local service ads

Google local service ads can be a godsend for field-service businesses. They’re the fastest way to get in front of people searching on Google for the specific services you offer. Your ads will show up to potential customers in your area. The best part? You only pay if a potential customer contacts you directly through the ad.

Another plus with Google local service ads is that you only pay for legitimate leads (in other words, not spam leads). The cost per lead varies depending on your service and location. For example, the average cost of leads generated through Google Local Services Ads in the Miami area is $39-$59. The good news is that you can cap your spend at the budget you choose:

Want to be able to budget more precisely? Use this lead cost calculator to get a more exact idea of how much you’ll pay for each new lead in your area.

Note: To be eligible for Google’s local service ads, you’ll first need to confirm your eligibility by providing the following documents:

• Pest control business license
• Pest control insurance document

Once you’re deemed eligible, you can get started with Google local service ads in three simple steps:

1. Sign up as a service provider
2. Set your budget
3. Create your ads on Google

Here’s a look at how Google local service ads show up in the search results:

Google ads

General Google ads are a way to serve up an ad to people who are searching for a specific keyword. When you type something into Google, a list of results pops up on the SERP (the search engine results page), which shows organic and paid results.

Paid search results have a little green box with the word “Ad” before the listing; this is where your company’s Google ad could show up. Basically, you’re paying for your company to show up closer to the top of the list.

You can achieve this positioning through a Google Ads search campaign, which charges you a small amount for every person who clicks on that link. Paid search works to drive traffic to your website through relevant ads.

Here is how a Google text ad looks in the search results:

Why use Google ads for pest control businesses?

Investing in Google Ads for your pest control business can help quickly increase the number of leads so your phone starts ringing a lot more often. Google Ads lets you:

• Reach your customers when they want your service, no matter what
• Use Precise Target to specify who you want to see your ads. You can target based on:
• Geography
• Time of day
• Device (mobile, desktop, or both)

Many pest control businesses run Google ads only from Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm, since businesses are typically closed or tend to be slower on the weekends. The limited hours can help maximize ad spend. Other things to know about Google ads include:

• You can engage your prospects and customers again using retargeting
• Depending on your campaign’s objectives, you pay only for the clicks and not the impressions

Here are stats from a pest control business’ 2024 Google Ads campaign over one week:

• Daily Spend (the amount of money spent on ads per day): $200
• Clicks (the number of times people have clicked on the ads that you’re running to learn more): 33
• Impressions (the number of times the ad has been displayed to potential customers): 963
• Click-thru rate (CTR) (the ratio of clicks to impressions; so of every 100 people who saw this ad, 3 or 4 of them clicked on it): 3.4%
• Average Cost Per Click (CPC) (the average amount of money you pay each time someone clicks on your ad): $32
• Total spend (total amount of money spent on ads over a certain time period): $1,000
• Leads generated (each lead is a potential customer who’s shown interest in the products or services you offer): 111

For a minimal budget, generating 111 leads in a single week is pretty impressive.

Since Google ads are more of a pay-to-play strategy, you’ll want to know when these types of ads make sense for your pest control business and how to optimize them. But how do you execute this strategy at a low cost while also tailoring it to your services and business goals?

A well-thought-out Google Ads strategy involves:

• Finding your unique selling proposition (USP)
• Keyword research
• How to start with Keyword research
• Build your keyword list
• Leverage the Keyword Planner
• Use keyword-matching options
• Writing ads that convert
• Headline
• Description
• Display URL
• Experimenting with ad variations
• Setting your campaign the right way
• Creating high-converting landing pages
• Conversion tracking

If you don’t know much about marketing your business yet, all of this information may seem like too much to handle.

Well, to be honest, you’re not necessarily wrong. To see success with Google ads, you may want someone to hold your hand or show you the path.

So we’ve created a step-by-step training on Google Ads for pest control business owners like you. 

 Here’s how it’ll help: 

1. You ( or your admin/office assistant) can go through it and learn at your own pace
2. It’s super easy to follow; turning ads on and off will become akin to simply flipping light switches.
3. It covers everything you need to get started with Google Ads and acquire new leads for your pest control business.
4. It’s 100% practical — no fluff.

Social ads

There are Google ads, and then there are social ads. Social ads are served up on a specific social media platform to the audience on that platform. Facebook and Instagram both offer easy ways to target specific groups of potential customers based on demographics, interests and behavior. 

For your pest control business, you’d likely target homeowners within a specific geographic area. You could take the targeting a step further by refining based on an interest like the environment (for eco-friendly pest control, for example). Other platforms like TikTok and YouTube cater to different types of audiences and might also be worth exploring depending on who you’re targeting.

Google Business profile (formerly Google My Business)

Google Business (formerly Google My Business) is a local business listing that also allows you to control how your business shows up in Google Search and on Google Maps. It usually takes a few months to start seeing results from your Google Business listing — but once the calls start coming in, you’ll be well on your way to growing your business.

When optimized effectively, your Google Business listing can significantly increase your company’s visibility in local search results and Google Maps. Make sure to fill in your profile with:

• Up-to-date contact information
• Business hours
• Services offered
• High-quality photos

And always remember to ask happy customers to leave a positive review. The more 5-star reviews you have, the better your listing will look to potential customers.

To learn how to make Google My Business work for your pest control business, check out this free local SEO course.

Local SEO

Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is like putting up a big sign that says “We’re here to help with your pest problems … ” but online. Local SEO practices involve optimizing your business’s online presence to get more leads from people conducting relevant local searches, like “pest control Los Angeles.” While a local SEO strategy can be extensive, beginner steps include: 

• Incorporating local keywords into your website content

(Imagine you’re looking for a pest control service. What words would you type into Google? Those are your keywords.)

• Creating location-specific pages on your site
• Adding your company to local business directories, including the Better Business Bureau (BBB) 

Appearing in local search results is an excellent way to increase the number of leads you’re drumming up every month. 

Cost-effective? You bet; in the long run, local SEO can be a far more cost-effective approach than Google ads. While ads do have the potential to leave a gaping hole in your pocket, local SEO can help boost your online visibility without breaking the bank.

But the benefits don’t stop there. Local SEO packs a serious punch in the ROI department, with a far superior return compared to Google ads. More than 40% of businesses that invested in local SEO saw an ROI of 500% — because local SEO generates sustainable, long-term results, while Google ads provide only temporary results as long as businesses continue to pay for them. When you start showing up naturally in local search results (as opposed to specific ads you chose to pay to run for a certain period of time), those results don’t simply disappear at the end of a timeline as ads do.

So, let’s talk about the long-term benefits of Local SEO. It’s a solid, long-term strategy that yields sustainable results over time. By continually optimizing and updating your website and Google Business Profile, your pest control business can establish a robust online presence and improve its rankings for relevant local keywords. In contrast, Google ads provide only fleeting results as long as you keep paying for them.

Sounds good, right?

… but what about real-world results? Can local SEO really deliver?

Well, here’s a case study associated with one of the pest control companies we’ve worked with.

Take a look at what their results were in March 2024.

As you can see, they received a total of around 136 calls in January 2023.

That’s the power of local SEO.

Remember, these are calls from people that are contacting the company, actively looking for information, and looking to spend money.

How would your business change if you achieved the same results? Think about it.
If you understand how to use local SEO, it’s entirely possible for you to see those numbers

6) 4Now that you know what local SEO is, let’s have a quick look at the factors that affect the practice

Success with local SEO comes down to getting several things right. If you can check the following boxes — and address each item with a high quality of work —, you’ll see an improvement in your rankings.

To go into more detail, here are the factors that affect local SEO:

1) Google Business profile (Previously Google My Business)

Think of your Google Business profile as your business’s online ID card on Google. It’s a free tool that allows you to manage how your business appears in Google Search and Maps. It includes important information like your address, phone number, business hours and reviews. Having a complete and accurate profile helps potential customers find and contact your business easily.

2) Local and standard citations

Citations are mentions of your business name, address and phone number (NAP) on other websites, directories or online platforms. Local citations are specific to your geographical area, while standard citations can be on any website. These citations help improve your business’s visibility in local searches and build credibility.

3) On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to optimizing the content and HTML source code of your website’s individual pages to improve their search engine rankings. This includes elements like using relevant keywords in your content, optimizing meta tags (like title and description), creating descriptive URLs, and ensuring your website loads quickly and is mobile-friendly.

4) Schema markup

Schema markup is a type of website code that you can add to your website’s HTML to help search engines understand the content better. It provides additional context about your business, such as your location, operating hours, reviews, and more. 

5) Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites that direct users to your website. They’re almost like “upvotes” from other sites, signaling to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy. Quality backlinks from reputable websites can improve your website’s authority and search engine rankings.

6) Customer reviews

Customer reviews are feedback left by your customers about their experiences with your business. They can live on platforms like Google, Yelp or social media. Positive reviews can enhance your business’s reputation and credibility, while negative reviews provide opportunities for improvement. Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, shows that you value customer feedback and are committed to providing excellent service.

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of moving parts to handle? We get it. As a business owner, marketing may not be your forté. That’s why we created a comprehensive step-by-step guide to local SEO to take your pest control business to the next level. It equips you with the tools to tackle each and every aspect of local SEO and help you develop a solid strategy for your business.

Email marketing

While optimizing your online presence with SEO and paid online advertising helps local customers find you, email marketing enables you to engage with them directly, nurturing your relationships with them and driving revenue. And email marketing doesn’t require advanced tech or marketing skills to get started, which is probably just what you love to hear. Let’s explore.

Did you know? For every single dollar spent, email marketing drives $42 in revenue.

However, developing a successful email marketing strategy can be time-consuming. The good news is you don’t need to have a perfect plan in place to get started. As you begin, focus on answering critical questions like:

1. Why are you sending emails? 
2. Who are you sending them to? 
3. What value can you offer subscribers? 
4. What are your email marketing goals?

Once you have a plan in place, try not to overlook a few other essential components, including: 

• Growing your email list
• Segmenting your subscriber list. “Segmenting” simply means dividing your subscriber list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, like location, past purchases or services, or preferences or interests.
• Using promotional emails to increase business
• Using nurture email campaigns to convert prospects into paying customers. Nurturing email campaigns are like friendly, consistent nudges that help guide interested folks along the path of becoming your paying customers. They help you build a relationship with them, educate them about your services, and stay top of their minds. 
• Measuring the results of your email marketing efforts. You’ll want to know if your emails are actually working, so you can measure your open rates, which tells you how many people are opening your emails; click-through rates, which measure how many people are clicking on any links you provide; conversion rates, which tells you how many people are actually becoming customers; and unsubscribe rates.

One strategy that some pest control businesses follow involves sending seasonal pest control tips to residential customers with timely reminders about pests that come out at certain times of the year.  

We know, it sounds like a lot of work. But since we’re committed to helping you grow your pest control business, we’ve created a detailed, ready-to-use email marketing course for you to use.

Email marketing allows you to keep in touch with your customers and prospects through regular updates, special offers, and valuable tips for pest prevention. Segmenting your email list can enable you to send more targeted, relevant messages.

Social media marketing

We’ve reviewed paid advertising on social media. Now, let’s talk more about organically marketing your business on these social platforms. Channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter are excellent for building relationships with your community and raising brand awareness. Some strategies to grow your company’s presence on social media include: 

• Sharing helpful content that helps educate your audience on your area of expertise
• Engaging with users by replying to all comments, following accounts that follow you, and liking people’s posts
• Showcasing your services in action through things like before-and-after videos and  customer testimonials

Note: Pair your organic social media efforts with targeted social media campaigns to help greatly increase your brand’s visibility. 

Content marketing

Content, aka educational information related to your services that’s useful to your customers and potential customers, is the glue that holds your message and promotional and marketing materials together. “Content marketing’s” a broad umbrella term that refers to any type of content you publish and offer that can truly influence your audience. Common types of content marketing include:

• Blog articles
• How-to guides
• Infographics
• Fact sheets or brochure pages
• Videos 
• eBooks, surveys, and reports
• Any informational or educational material really

The whole idea here is to create content that answers common questions and concerns about pest control — that your audience will find valuable. Regularly publishing helpful, educational content can help establish your business as a trusted authority in the field. 

For example, a blog post on “The top 5 most common household pests and how to prevent them” can attract visitors searching for this information and introduce them to your services.

Offline marketing strategies for pest control businesses

While our world mostly exists online now, offering what seems like an infinite number of options for pest control marketing, let’s not leave the old school behind us. Traditional “offline” strategies still work to connect with your local community, build recognition of your business, and attract new customers. Here’s how to put offline marketing to work for your business and complement your online efforts.

Door-to-door flyer marketing

Distributing flyers, brochures or business cards directly to homes in targeted neighborhoods is still a thing! It can work for your offline marketing strategy and allows you to reach your potential customers at their homes. And while you’re at their property, you can also do a quick assessment of any pests and — if you happen to catch them — discuss specific strategies you’d employ to manage any issues. 

Consider offering some sort of promotion to help persuade potential customers, like a free initial inspection or a discount on their first service. And remember, not  hearing a “yes” right away doesn’t make it a “no.” People tend to save cards or flyers and call businesses down the line when they need your services.

Sponsor local community events

Show your commitment to the community and increase brand awareness at the same time by sponsoring a local event or organization. Common types of sponsorships include: 

• School sports teams
• Charity fundraisers
• Community fairs 

But sponsoring an event doesn’t necessarily equate to shelling out a ton of cash; sometimes, you could offer free services as a way to sponsor the event. Being present at these events puts your business in front of potential customers without over-selling yourself, giving you opportunities to build rapport with people so they find you trustworthy and are more likely to use your services. 

Partner with local businesses 

Forming partnerships or strategic alliances with local businesses that offer complementary services can be an incredibly effective way of drumming up business. As a pest control company, you may want to partner with: 

• Real estate agencies
• Landscaping companies
• Home improvement services
• Handyman services
• Cleaning services

These types of partnerships within the local service ecosystem are mutually beneficial; businesses can refer their clients to you when they have pest control needs, and you can do the same in return. 

Networking

Discussing the benefits of partnerships brings us to the subject of networking — after all, you can’t forge warm, fruitful relationships in your community without doing a bit of networking, right? You can think about attending networking events and starting to build relationships with other business owners, community leaders, and even potential customers. Find local networking events and try out a few organizations to see which is the best fit. You’ll probably find a range of options, from local business groups to chambers of commerce, service organizations, and industry associations. 

Once you find a networking group that’s a good match for your personality and services, get involved by attending meetings regularly and participating in group events. Getting involved will give you a chance to get to know other members, who can then become referral sources or even customers themselves. 

Keep in mind that networking is about more than just handing out business cards; it’s about establishing trust, relationships and credibility within your community.

Venturing beyond the typical pest control marketing strategies

As you can see, expanding your pest control business requires a mix of traditional, online, and innovative marketing strategies. Beyond the more common strategies we’ve already covered, here are additional tactics to help make your company more recognizable to people and appeal to potential customers. 

Gather more online customer reviews 

Social proof is a powerful thing. When people are searching for local services, they often turn to online reviews. A BrightLocal study found that 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, which means if you don’t have customer reviews, you could be selling your business short. 

The best way to gather more positive reviews is to ask customers who you have a good relationship with to leave positive reviews. Popular review platforms for pest control businesses to target include: 

• Google
• Yelp
• Facebook 

You might also want to explore getting reviews on small business service directories like Manta and Thumbtack.

One of the best ways to get new reviews is through a simple follow-up email or text message campaign. Make sure to:

1. Thank customers for their business 
2. Kindly ask them to share their experience online
3. Link directly to your business profile on the review site to make it as simple as possible 
4. Consider offering a small incentive, like a discount on future services, as extra motivation. But make sure that the review sites allow you to offer incentives, as some have restrictions against that.

Start a referral program

There’s a ton of value in a solid group of happy customers. One way to tap into this group is by creating a referral program. Offer some sort of incentive to current customers to recommend your services to friends and family. This basically turns your best customers into a salesforce for your business. 

This type of word-of-mouth marketing strategy can be incredibly effective since most consumers tend to trust referrals from people they know — 92% of them, according to Nielsen. 

Here’s an example of a pest control referral program:

Eco-Friendly Pest Control: Refer a Friend, Get 1 Month Free 

Send us a new customer and get one free month of pest control services for you and your friend. The sky’s the limit — the more customers you send our way, the more free services you earn! Just tell your friend to mention promo code REFER when they call us.

Referral programs that offer a benefit to both the person making the referral and the new customer can be quite effective. Here’s how to make your program effective:

• Build an email or text campaign around your referral program that clearly communicates how it works 
• Print and distribute flyers about the referral program to customers at their next pest control service
• Let new customers know about the program at their first service
• Include periodic reminders about the referral program in your email marketing to current customers

Join local online communities 

Hyper-local online groups are another way to get in front of the right people who have an immediate need for your services. While this strategy takes a little more time and dedication to monitor and reply to new posts in these groups, it can be an excellent source of new business if you stick with it.

Find local online communities on platforms like NextDoor and Facebook. In neighborhood groups like NextDoor, residents often post asking for service provider recommendations or sharing issues with their property and asking for suggestions. Here’s how to find success with this strategy: 

1. Join local NextDoor communities and Facebook groups that are specific to neighborhoods or communities in your service area 
2. If the group allows it, participate actively in the groups by sharing pest control tips and advice
3. Monitor group members’ posts and respond to any that relate to pest control. Keep your responses informative and helpful without overtly selling your services.
4. Make sure to follow group rules, as some explicitly forbid promotion of businesses or services. If this is the case, focus only on positioning yourself as a trustworthy expert who is available to help or answer questions.
5. When members ask for pest control recommendations (if permitted), have a pre-written response ready to go that mentions your services.

Ready to ramp up your pest control marketing — and watch your business soar?

Remember that the path to success for marketing your pest control business is a balanced, multi-pronged approach that covers different channels  — and online and offline strategies — to reach your target audience where they hang out.

With this new knowledge, you’re ready to grow your pest control business to new levels and watch your phone ring off the hooks as more customers start to pour in.

We wish you luck on this exciting journey ahead!