Janitorial Marketing Fundamentals

The basis of any marketing program in the janitorial industry must encompass every available vehicle. The marketplace is too competitive to rely on old standbys that worked in the past. The companies that are experiencing solid growth understand the current market.

Old-line companies that do not understand the market have seen growth stagnant or stand still. Failure to understand the current competitive landscape will yield disappointment and waste valuable limited resources, particularly in a small or start-up in today’s market.


The vehicles that MUST be employed include the traditional ones of:

1. Networking through professional associations
2. Telemarketing
3. Direct mail
4. Fax follow up
5. Personal sales calls
6. Public relations (writing for local media, volunteer programs, and community involvement)

With the widespread use of computers, these vehicles MUST include:

1. E-mail campaigns such as Constant Contact or iContact
2. A significant web presence (optimized), which includes a web site, a response device, an ongoing blog updated twice weekly, and video/audio links (NO cheesy, home made videos, they will only HURT)
3. A unique selling proposition, which is a position that differentiates you from all others
4. A social media presence

All of the vehicles must be employed and then integrated to work together. No one vehicle will work all by itself, and each vehicle cannot be pulling in separate directions. Using one or two will not work effectively, period. Not having them integrated will not work either. Now here’s the really important piece. Just one or two methods worked at one time. Many great companies were built with just networking or just personal sales calls.

The days of four TV channels is over as are the days of horse and buggies. THINGS CHANGE. Some folks recognize the changes, and some are stuck in some nostalgic fog. That’s why today you see 60 year old guys running around with ponytails, earrings, and Jefferson Airplane concert t-shirts, who punctuate every sentence “faaar out.”

You have two choices: Recognize the current reality or “keep on truckin’” down nostalgia row and you too can wind up in a multi-colored, VW microbus covered with flower-power decals and peace signs, broken down on the interstate, which will definitely NOT be “faaar out!”

Ed