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I was having a conversation with a small business owner the other day about branding. They really weren’t sure what it all really meant or if it was worth investing into.
I started to explain that branding is all about making your company stand out and build its own unique identity. From the use of an appropriate logo, a memorable tagline, a unique company name, to specialized services or promises your company makes to their customers.
However, much like the business owner I was speaking with, many pest control companies tend to overlook this aspect of their business, assuming that branding is only for large brands and it’s not worth the investment.
To think of it differently, I sometimes discuss the concept of branding like this. I’d like you to think about branding in a slightly different way. Instead of just equating branding to just a fancy logo, and so forth, I’d like you to think about branding as your company’s reputation.
I bet If I asked if having a good reputation as a pest control provider was important to you, I’d get a resounding “heck yeah!”
While each company has their own end goals and vision, they usually share a similar objective, to make a name in their respective industry. If you want to successfully establish your pest control company as a leader within your service are, it is important to understand why you need to invest in a good branding strategy.
Consider the following benefits of branding your pest control business and why it should be important to you:
1. Branding allows your clients to distinctly remember you.
The fact is, there are probably more than a few pest control companies that share your service area, thus the competition is undeniably stronger. So, good branding is important for your customers to acknowledge you as one of, nay, their best option.
By working on a good branding strategy, you’re making your company recognizable, thus easily remembered when the customers think of a service provider they can immediately contact.
2. Branding attracts potential customers.
Branding is adjacent to marketing. When you work on a good branding, you are also allowing your company to catch more attention and generate potential customers. Whether it is by offering promotions, designing a unique logo, producing a creative advertisement or pulling off a real fancy company name.
Once you have captured their consciousness, it is only a matter of time when your pest control company spreads through word of mouth. This is where social proof comes.
3. Branding builds emotional connection.
Building a good relationship between the products or services and customers is one of the most important goals to make your business successful. By working on a brand that appeals to people’s emotions, you are connecting with your customers on a much deeper level, thus every time they see your company logo or name in one of your advertisements, they will automatically feel safe and secure.
4. Branding builds trust.
Trust is perhaps the most important element between a company and their customers. But, we all know that trust is not something that you can easily work on overtime, thus it is important to pull off an effective strategy that will make your customers confidently invest in your pest control company.
Think about this, they are inviting you, a complete stranger (at least for new customers), into their home and trusting you to keep their family safe.
If you were to put yourself in the shoes of your customers, would you rather choose a company with a generic name and sketchy looking logo who doesn’t have much of an online presence or someone who takes pride in their image, has an established online presence and amassed tons of great testimonials and reviews?
By creating a good, professional and relatable brand, you are letting your potential customers know that they can trust you to do the job well and keep them safe.
Tips on building a brand
To help you start building a brand for your own pest control company, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Unify your identity by creating a logo, company name, and tagline that are coherent with each other. The goal is to get your brand to a point where your customers can easily recognize you by looking at your logo alone or by simply hearing your tagline.
- Choose colors that perfectly reflect your company. Yes, the colors in your website, logo, and posters are not merely for aesthetics; they actually mean something. There’s a whole color theory process you could consider. For example, you can work with the color blue which emphasizes trust, or green which works best for eco-friendly and sustainability. You get the point.
- Having a consistent presence is one way for your customers to remember you. You want to be sure your brand is expressed the same way on your website, business card social media and everywhere else.
These are just some of the steps in establishing your own brand. Everyday, you are given the opportunity to level up your game as the world of business is getting more and more competitive.
Adam Allen is the CEO and Founder of PestCon LMM, a division of LeaseMyMarketing. After working in corporate marketing with national brands such as Trane, Wells Fargo, Penn State University and more, he’s applying those same learnings to his work with small business owners to help them grow. Now, he’s helping pest control owners drive more sales for their businesses through the use of cutting-edge marketing technology.
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