Are You Blogging Your Termite Takeovers?

What are small businesses spending their promotional dollars on?

Ad-ology Research’s recent study of the tactics used by US small businesses published in eMarketer this year sheds some light on current marketing trends. The study is particularly helpful for those of us getting used to the changes in the tools we can use to promote our pest control businesses.

Digital marketing commands more than 30 per cent of promotional budgets.

About 25 per cent of the marketing budget went to signs and local advertising; another 23 per cent to fliers, sales brochures and telemarketing; and 30 per cent went to an assortment of internet marketing activities such as websites, social media and a new term called ‘content marketing’.

Content marketing used by three in four small businesses

According to another US researcher, Business Bolts, in a January 2013 report, content marketing – writing articles and blog posts and putting them on your website or blog or Facebook page for example – accounted for a greater share of small business marketing budgets than social media advertising.

Web articles (74 per cent) and blog posts (64 per cent) were the types of content most favoured by small businesses that used content marketing as a tactic to promote their services. And three in four of those surveyed would continue to use the tactic.

Almost 50 per cent of surveyed small businesses were publishing social media content and about 20 per cent used email newsletters.

What is content marketing for pest controllers?

More than 50 per cent of small businesses surveyed used articles, social media content, blog posts and videos as part of their content marketing activities.

For pest control companies, content marketing means an article you put on your website, Facebook page or website blog about the key pests that invade local properties you service.

The aim is to write and produce compelling content to catch the attention of property owners when they are searching for pest control services. As consumers’ attention spans become increasing fragmented, it seems that using ‘content’ to capture interest and engage potential customers is increasing.

Compelling content can help pest control companies share their knowledge and professionalism, build trust and build credibility with those searching for a service to control their pests.

Termites can be the stars of your show

Video as a content strategy – placed on your website or blog – was considered best by 51 per cent of small businesses in the surveys, even though video was considered difficult to create. Fortunately most iPhones and smartphones have a camera and can shoot video.

Imagine you’re on a property and discover termites in a tree in the backyard. You whip out your phone and video the termites as you open the galleries. At the same time you voice it with a brief description of the type of termite, the suburb you have discovered this in, and what the implications are of having termites active in the backyard.

When you get back to the office you upload this to your website or company Facebook page with a link to your website.

Of course you would want to get your feet into this pool quickly – before your competitors – as content marketing looks like being the leading focus for marketing professionals in 2013. More important than social media, search engine optimisation (SEO), email, mobile and pay-per-click advertising.

So start honing your videoing skills!

To find out more information, reach out to our team.

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