Optimize Google My Business
Take advantage of Google My Business listings and make sure that you're receiving the most you possibly can out of them. You could receive a lot more traffic and publicity online if you took proper advantage of the resource at hand. However, you’d have to do this in a smart way as Google is the #1 search engine in the world. Seeing as it ranks that high and roughly 90% of all searches online are on that site, you’d have to be clever with how you get your business ranked highly.
First, you should ensure all your information matches up and is in order with what you registered on Google My Business. If anything is inaccurate, then it will be harder for Google to verify that you are the owner of that business and that you are located where you claim you are located.
It's just harder for it to verify that you are indeed the person who should be registering this business. After all that, you will need to make sure that the website complies with Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Make sure that all of that is in order so that you can quickly get your business to a higher ranking.
Market Eco-friendly Aspect
Considering the state of the environment right now, there are people out there who would appreciate a junk removal business that cares about the environment.
They would like to work with someone who disposes of their junk properly; recycles when it's possible to (which is, pretty much, all of the time); and, in general, works to keep trash out of landfills.
Performing simple jobs like that is what's going to attract customers, especially environmentalists, and convince people to work with you.
In addition to the simple tasks, you could be a more helpful junk removal business. This kind of attention and dedication to the environment is what will set you apart and give you that extra edge needed to be a unique company.
Doing things like planting trees, donating part of your funds, creating a habitat, etc., are the extra miles you could go to that people want to see. If you can do and market that, then you'd be set.
Use SEO
This is an incredibly useful tool that will help boost your sales. SEO will encourage the kind of traffic and publicity that you're looking for, as well as boost the Google My Business listings. It's not that hard to come up with special SEO keywords, but it does take a little bit of cleverness to do so. If you can get your company’s listings just a little bit higher, then that will be more publicity that you'll receive, more visitors to your website, and more sales as people become more aware of your junk removal services and products. You'll find this aspect of marketing incredibly useful, and once you learn to utilize it you'll see the results.
Of course, you should also keep in mind that only white hat SEO strategies are acceptable. Strategies such as competitive benchmarking and link building are essential to success. Interesting content is also a tactic that should be perfected as that’s what’s going to keep visitors to your site. Be sure to avoid black hat strategies as those will risk your website getting kicked off of Google and other search engines.
Answer Questions as an Expert
There will be questions that potential customers and clients may have about your junk removal services. You'll be able to answer them as an expert. If you give people online the chance to ask you questions about your services, they will ask and you will answer. If you provide your professional opinion, knowledge, and advice, they will accept it and use it to judge your services.
The point we’re trying to reach is that there will be plenty of general and generic questions asked about your junk hauling services that a lot of customers will want to know the answers to. If you can answer them, then you will have satisfied a lot of your potential customers’ and clients’ needs. Then, you could post those questions and answers on your blog so that they could be easily found if someone looked up similar questions online.
Use Social Media
Social media is your friend. As a professional company, utilizing this kind of platform is essential to your business’s success.
In today's age, where everything is digital, it would be near impossible for you to reach the kind of level that you’re looking for without the help of websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Pinterest and YouTube.
There are several companies with YouTube channels that offer advice, information, and suggestions to people who are in need of it and who likely wouldn't read an article or look at a website.
There are people on Pinterest who want to see photos and images of actual jobs being done, and if you could provide that you would find another audience.
Social media is a platform to be exploited. Market yourself everywhere because you'll increase your outreach and reach more people that way. More people equals more sales.
Create Videos
Create videos. Make videos of the employees at your company in action. Show them using the trucks, lifting any junk like furniture and electronics, and just being themselves.
This will build a level of trust between you and your potential customers because they’ll see you in action. With a website only, all customers know is what you put online and usually that doesn't include the heart or quality of your business or your junk pick up service.
Having a video creates a level of transparency between you and your customers that can cause them to trust you, believe you, and want to hire you. It also puts more money in your pocket.
Add Messaging to Google Listing
There are people out there who would rather text you for important information than call you. This is due to a preference for texting rather than conversations. Again, in today's age texting is preferred as it is a faster and more direct method of communication. The times have changed, and your customers are much more likely to contact you if they have the option of texting than if they don't. This is simply because if you have that option and your competitor doesn't, your customers will contact you because they don't want to have a conversation over the phone. This may seem lazy to you, but that’s just what it is in today's world. So you could increase your leads if you make that option available.
Utilize Content Marketing
Content marketing is a very important tactic that you should be using. All major brands and companies do as it is essential to attracting and keeping potential customers while avoiding sending them away.
To explain, content marketing is about providing potential customers and clients with something that isn't your product without advertising your products or services. It’s also about making your company seem unique, or making your customers feel that way. By doing this, you’ll attract people to your company and make them interested.
For example, Hootsuite, a social media management platform, released a video titled “A Game of Social Thrones” back in 2014 that connected Game of Thrones fans to this company. Hootsuite redid the hit show’s opening title and replaced all the kingdoms with popular companies. It was a hit among Game of Thrones’s fans despite several people being unfamiliar with the company. That didn’t matter, though, as it piqued people’s interests and made them want to learn more about the company.
This is what you want to happen for your business. If people are interested in what you provide (everything that isn’t your product or service, but something like a blog) or you make them interested through something interesting like that video, then you’ll have plenty of people find out about you and want to talk.
Network with Other Businesses
Take the opportunity to get to know the local businesses in your area and try to form a partnership. Look for businesses that offer industry services similar to yours or that could be helpful to your customers, and team up with them.
Offer your customers some sort of incentive to visit another business when you're done finishing a job for them. It could be as simple as asking them if they need spare tires, if they have any junk cars they want to get sold, and other things and then refer them to your partner. This will result in you both having more customers as your partner will be doing the same thing for you. You can rest assured that you'll end up with more customers this way.
Respond Quickly
Your customers will be looking all over the internet and all over the city you're located in for a good offer and a good deal. If you're able to respond quickly when they contact you, then you're more likely to have them choose you because you're quickly presenting them with the information they need to make a decision. That kind of efficiency is what's going to make them like you and make them more likely to choose you further down the line.