2020 tested every person, in every country, across every industry. Impossible decisions about whether to close up shop crossed the minds of countless business owners, with many unfortunately capitulating out of necessity.
Yet during a year of drastic change at virtually every corner, the professional pest management industry remained steadfast in protecting public health, food and property from the dangers posed by pests, helping to reveal to consumers the true necessity of our services.
The Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) is the consumer marketing arm of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), as well as the unifying voice and advocate for you, the pest management professional (PMP). From our robust media relations program to our integrated social media strategy, digital presence and more, every initiative we undertake on your behalf is aimed at elevating the crucial work you do each and every day: providing homes and businesses with a safer and healthier environment.
SPREADING THE WORD
LOGO: PPMA
Last spring, media and consumer interest started to rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic regarding how social distancing behaviors were affecting pests and animals, and whether they could transmit the disease to humans. By employing a targeted and comprehensive media outreach strategy, we were able to help dispel pest-related myths and alleviate concerns, inserting our experts and messaging into national and top-tier regional articles in publications such as The New York Times, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Realtor.com and Wired.com. We highlighted how professional pest control protects public health for consumer audiences nationwide.
We also released our large-scale video project, “Rodents Revealed,” in conjunction with Rodent Awareness Week (Oct. 20-26, 2020). As an eye-opening awareness and education initiative optimized for today’s consumers, the project brought talking points to life on-screen and emphasized the threats rodents pose to health and property, as well as the importance of professional pest control.
In addition to these timely initiatives, we also forged ahead with our tried-and-true projects, including our proprietary “Bug Barometer” forecast and “Vector Sectors” report, aimed at educating consumers about other important household pest issues and the importance of proactive pest control.
We also have continued to expand our digital presence across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. We generated a combined 9.1 million total organic social media impressions in 2020 alone.
Our long-standing public service announcement (PSA) program continued to be impactful in 2020. In total, our 2020 PSA program secured 118,101 total broadcast airings that were worth more than
386.5 million impressions.
We use artificial intelligence (AI)-powered research techniques to better understand consumer behavior, continuously monitoring both broad and niche pest-related consumer conversations to help glean patterns and top concerns among Americans. This data not only helps inform our consumer marketing efforts, but enables investor companies to make better, more informed choices when determining where to spend their own marketing dollars.
PPMA is funded 100 percent through voluntary contributions from dedicated pest management companies and suppliers. Our work not only benefits all pest control companies, but we give back to our contributors with marketing solutions through our digital marketing service, Mainframe. Everything from photography to customizable press releases, social media posts, ad copy, research and more are made available for pest control companies to use to help grow their businesses.
To help us continue the momentum, please feel free to reach out to me at cmannes@pestworld.org. Through your support, we are able to continuously shape the public’s perception of professional pest control, helping to ensure the longevity of our great industry for years to come.
Read more COVID-19 coverage here: MyPMP.net/COVID-19
MANNES is executive director for the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) and vice president of Public Affairs for the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). She can be reached at cmannes@pestworld.org.
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