Darby
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Gosh, I wish you well. Too bad you're getting off to a slow start. Self-employed business usually expand by word of mouth. Do you have any relatives or friends that can help you pass the word. Did you work somewhere before. Are any of your former colleagues potential customers. Create a jazzy (what do I know) flier and place them in people's doors. If there's a new, big house development that is nearby, take it there. Post your flier at the grocery store, if it's okay with them. Put an add in the paper. Advertise a Winter Wonder special of some kind. You need a hook (you'd think your prices would do it), but I don't know what it would be. Best wishes. |
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madkins007
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A few questions:
1. Who are your target customers? Age? Location? Income levels? The more of a profile you can build on your target customer, the better.
2. If you were one of your customers, how would YOU find a cleaner? I doubt your target group would search on-line for you.
3. Do you have a good 'intro packet'? Good company name, good logo, good invoice, good flyer of services, etc.? If not, get that fixed. There is a rule for excellent companies- if you offer an intangible service (like cleaning), make sure your tangibles (like invoices and business cards) are perfect, and vice versa.
4. What else do your customers do? Do they use a local spa or club? Advertise there. Are there some local stores you can advertise in? Do it- with very nice-looking flyers (NOT cheap photocopies of Word pages!)
Your job is to get a small core of first customers. Offer coupons, introductory specials, discounts for referrals, etc. Once you get a few customers, OVER-SERVE them to generate word of mouth.
Word of mouth is your BEST advertising value- it is the cheapest, most effective advertising on Earth. |
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mrgerbil
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Pass out flyers, talk to businesses, join the Chamber of Commerce, and promote like crazy!
Good luck. |
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Heads up!
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Go to wealthy neighborhoods and go door to door. |
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acweyman0906
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The best advertisement for a housecleaning business is word-of-mouth. My advice is to offer to clean someone's home that you know relatively well (like a friend's mom, friend of a friend) at a very low cost. Don't be afraid to tell your client(s) to spread the word about you. Oh, and you will probably have to drive quite some distances. That's just the way this business works. |
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Peaches
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Try cleaning for free for a person that you know have a lot of friends and contacts. Then if you do a really great job the word will be out. The best advertising is by word of mouth. |
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hopem
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Word-of-mouth is always good, so get some business cards printed up; creative (full-color is cheap nowadays); something people will remember. Also, offer a deal (a certain amount off the first cleaning, a certain amount off for referring a friend?). Also, getting any emails you have and starting a newsletter...it can be really simple; no graphics or anything; telling of tips for easy cleaning or keeping things clean or the hazards of dirt! People may not use the tips, but will remember you when looking for cleaning. They may even realize they need someone to start cleaning for them! |
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fdm215
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Rather than posting online, you need to figure out who is most likely to be your customer. Is it busy moms, single professionals, big families, seniors? Once you've figure out who to target, give some thought to the best way to reach them. They may not be online!
You might do better to use local papers or set up a table at a flea market. You could donate a few hours service to an upscale church, community group or school. Let them use your service for a raffle! It's a good way to get a foot in the door with an upscale clientele. You'll need the experience and the potential references.
Don't forget to invest a little in your materials: brochures, flyers, business cards, magnets. If your items look cheap, you may give the impression of being fly-by-night. You don't want to look broke, especially if you ARE broke. You don't have to go super high-end but make sure the items look professional.
Good luck! |
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fashiondisaster101
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Perhaps you can post of flyers (with permission) in apartment communities that have a large amount of renters. Maybe around the mailbox area or something.
Secondly, think about advertising on craigslist.org if you haven't already done so.
Think about your client. What kind of person do you want to reach? Who, in your area, needs a housecleaner? Obviously not in the poorer areas...so think about where people who have extra income go! |
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Biz Guru
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Hard work getting a business off the ground.
You might be interested in my article
Guerrilla Marketing for the Small Marketing Budget
http://www.articleshut.com/index.php?page=article&article_id=26934 |
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jenniferjotheos
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My mother asked the same thing. I told her she should advertise that she uses non-toxic, environmentally friendly products and she might get some customers. I know a great product line and it could make you some extra money. See my profile since yahoo doesn't like for us to relay links. |
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hbuckmeister
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If its a legite business, your community will use word of mouth. I suggest fliers and ads in the local newspaper. Thats the only way, if you are running a legite and efficient business, that you will get business. If you can get your community to start with trusting what you do, word of mouth is the best advertisement. People want people they can trust in their homes to clean. If you can provide that with your business. Then, you have a good thing. I also would start volunteering in your community so that you meet new people. Get more involved in your community. That gives them an opportunity to meet you and gives you an opportunity of not only doing something good for your community but getting the business that you need. |
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The Pig!
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Advertise in several different locations. Post your ads on grocery store and laundromat bulletin boards, inexpensive newspapers ads (classified section), make business cards and pass them out to everyone you come in contact with. Stand on a street somewhere and hand out fliers. |
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Wendy P
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Could be that the people you are trying to target are not really interested in hire someone they don't know from the internet, they don't have anyway to check anything you said is truth. My advice is, first of all check that the area where you live (town) is a medium to high class, which are the ones you want to target, since they will likely pay you for cleaning their house. You can make some flyers and go house to house and live them on the door, or cars at the supermarket. And usually how it works is that if you find a house, then the owner will recomend you to someone she knows and so and so. Good Luck! |
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outwest
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Do a direct mail campain. Market only to the neighborhoods you wish to work in. Go to usps.com and do post cards. They are cheap and very effective. Please look at the money you spend on this as an investment not just advertising. Make the postcard a 1/2 off 1st cleaning coupon. Hopefully you market to the proper neighborhoods that can afford your service. I promise, if you do this, you will have plenty of customers. |
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flowergirlsdy
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my sister-in-law had her own housecleaning business and how she got it started was, she made tons of flyers and went to a nice neighborhood near by and just went door to door taping the flyers to the door. Within a few weeks she had 4 clients and then she made them offers like, "if you refer me to a friend, i will give you a discount on your next cleaning." Also, you should ask a couple of your friends if you can clean their houses for half price in turn use them as references for future clients. Good Luck, I wish you the best!! |
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Yvette
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Do you have business cards already? Well through word of mouth your business should get better!! Usually it takes a while but don't worry just be patient and sooner or later you'll be doing great!!!! |
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