How to create a strong brand for your cleaning business

This article is based on a presentation by Jonathan Cromwell at the 2021 Maid Summit, hosted and organized by ZenMaid. Jonathan and his wife Sarah own The Cleaning Force, a cleaning service company. He’s also a certified Cleaning Business Fundamentals (CBF) coach.

What’s your brand? How do you stand out from other cleaning services? In other words, why should someone say yes to your offer?

You could be the best cleaning service in town, but if your branding doesn’t represent what makes you unique, you’ll have trouble attracting the right clients.

Branding is especially important to gain the attention of people who are hiring a maid service for the first time. They’re shopping around and you need to stand out.

Branding that tells the unique story of your business will naturally captivate clients who are excited for your service.

Using what he calls “extreme branding and extreme differentiation,” Jonathan Cromwell grew his cleaning service to a $1.3 million business in less than three years.

According to Jonathan, the key to extreme branding is using psychology in your branding. Keep reading to learn Jonathan’s tips for branding that engages the right clients and grows your business.

Don’t aim for just any clients, shoot for loyal clients

Everything that you do, every message that you send, should be designed to attract clients who will become loyal to your brand.

These are people that connect with your company, your employees, and you as the owner.

They’re likely to become regular clients and will recommend you to others because they’re proud of the fact that they do business with you.

They’re also likely to give you positive reviews that will help build your reputation and attract more leads.

As long as you deliver on your promises, brand loyal clients will go beyond what the average client does to support your business.

Think about who your brand loyal clients are and design your messages and branding for them.

Charge what you’re worth – because they already know what you’re worth

When recommending businesses, brand loyal clients don’t say, “Hey, you have to use this company, they’re so cheap.” Instead, they talk about what they love about the business.

Brand loyal clients are happy to pay your prices because they know your service is worth it. They won’t haggle or say they can pay less for the same service elsewhere.

Many businesses miss out on thousands of dollars in revenue because they’re afraid that charging more might cause people to cancel services. But for some leads or clients, low prices are a red flag because they equate them with poor service or quality.

Use the power of scent in your marketing

What scents do you associate with your favorite businesses? Is it fresh cut lumber at the hardware store? Paper and coffee at the bookstore? Premium leather at a shoe store?

The scents that customers associate with a business help create their feelings and opinions about the service they receive. Cleaning clients are happier with a cleaning if they can smell it.

Develop a signature scent for your cleaning service. When your cleaning team walks out of a home, it should smell a certain way. It’s a scent that the client should associate with your business.

Using scent in your marketing could increase customer intent to purchase by 80% and client retention by 5%, Jonathan says.

Design visuals and messaging to capture attention quickly

You have about 1.7 seconds to capture someone’s attention on Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms. Design your visual branding and messaging to capture their attention immediately – and stop them from scrolling past your ad or post.

Consider the following elements:

Your logo: What kind of font are you using? Is it easy to read? Does it and the overall design of your logo appeal to your target audience?

Brand colors: Different colors inspire different emotions. Red communicates excitement, yellow is optimism, and blue conveys peace and reliability. What do your brand colors say about your business?

Your messaging: Does your messaging – the words and stories about your business – complement your logo and brand colors? What kind of tone do your messages have? Is it confidence or stress? Like the visual elements of your brand, your messages (whether in ads, texts, or emails) help build emotions about your business. Make sure those emotions are positive.

Assure clients they’ve made the right choice

Once clients have formed an opinion about your brand, they’ll constantly look for ways to validate, or confirm, their opinion.

Every interaction with your company is an opportunity to show them that their high opinion of your brand is correct, or to flip any opinions that aren’t favorable. Make every point of the customer journey a five-star experience.

Consider all the details, such as how your team answers the phone and replies to customer questions. There’s a difference between saying “We don’t have any openings right now” and “We have room on our waitlist.” The first option will drive potential customers away, while the second builds an impression of success and exclusivity.

Your branding should evolve with your business

Even if you consider your branding perfect today, it may not resonate with your clients in the future. Even iconic businesses like McDonald’s refresh their branding periodically. Google all the variations of the McDonald’s logo over the decades to see for yourself.

As your business evolves and as styles change, review your branding to ensure it still resonates with your ideal clients and still distinguishes you from competitors.

When done correctly, your branding will attract not only your ideal clients, but also employees who are proud to work for you – and maybe even some buyers who are so impressed by your business and brand that they want to make it their own.

Learn more:

For more resources on how to grow and perfect your cleaning business, check out the replays from the 2021 Maid Summit, hosted by ZenMaid. The summit featured more than 60 presentations from other maid service owners who shared tools and strategies to help you achieve the highest levels of success in your business.

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