A residential home business is a great small business to own because there are often low start up costs and low overhead costs. If you are running a residential home business, then you may find it difficult to get new clients, especially if you are new to the business. There are basic ways of marketing that work for residential home businesses that many of these types of businesses use, such as newspaper advertisements and flyers.
If you are working to expand your business, then you may try and target markets that do not normally use cleaning services, but may be willing to try. Here are two creative markets that house cleaning services do not often target.
* College Students / College Apartments
If you live in a college town, then you will likely have a lot of college students who live in apartments and homes nearby. Every semester there will likely be a huge buzz around these apartments of college students moving in and out. Many students will be busy with final and packing and may not be too concerned about cleaning up their apartment to get their deposit back, this is where you can shine. It may be a great idea to canvas the area with flyers around that time and offer a student discount. If you can speak to apartment managers who take care of buildings that house a lot of students, then maybe you can ask him or her if you can post flyers at the front office or place in advertisement on their bulletin board. This can give you a great boost in business throughout the year.
* The Busy Holiday Crowd
If you are often slow around the holidays, then you may start using that to your advantage. During the holidays, many families will be hosting parties and get togethers with friends. Also, many families may have house guests for the weekend or over the holidays. With so much going on, a lot of busy families may need a house cleaning service to help prepare their home. You can target the big need for these folks. Make out specific flyers that drum up the idea that the holidays are going to hectic and taking one chore off of the list can be a lifesaver. By targeting a specific need, you may find that new clients are calling you just because of wanting to delegate the chore of cleaning the house.
Once your business starts receiving new clients from untapped markets, it's important to keep these new clients happy. Offer coupons for the next house cleaning or offer them a discount for their next cleaning if they refer a friend. If you are marketing to the busy holiday crowd, then capitalize on it and offer them an after-party cleaning discount. Give them free stuff like pens, pencils, magnets - anything that will keep your house cleaning business in their mind. It takes a lot of energy to gain new customers, so make sure all you pull out all the stops to keep them. Aside from the target markets above, what other types of clients would be beneficial to target in your local area?
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