Cleaning Business Marketing Ideas (What Worked, What Wasted Our Money)

Every marketing idea below has a number attached to it, and a person who paid for the lesson.

Jen and I spent about $14,000 on advertising across our first year and a half. We did not drop it in one go. We reinvested profits straight back into ads to grow fast, and it worked.

Then we stopped and switched to SEO. We spend about $300 a month with Google now and bill between $600,000 and $700,000 a year, and almost everything comes in organically.

We stopped because the clients worth having do their research. They do not click on ads.

The short answer

• Free and best: Google Business Profile, reviews, and answering the phone.
• Cheap and underrated: emailing realtors and letting agents, one at a time, every day.
• Paid and useful, with care: Google Local Services Ads, if you answer every call.
• Where money goes to die: flyers, Angi Leads, and pay-per-click before you know what you are doing.

What works

1. Google Business Profile

Free, and the highest-return thing you will do in your first month. Fill in every field, list every service with the words people search, post updates one to three times a week, and reply to every review.

The three businesses in the map pack get the calls and pay nothing. We are number one in our city. Jake and Emmy are number four in Dubuque within months of launching. Read the full setup in Google Business Profile for a cleaning business.

2. Emailing realtors and letting agents

One of the emails we sent in our first year went to a realtor named Danielle. Since she said yes in September 2021, she has booked 47 cleans with us. That is $16,718.34 in revenue from a single email.

Jake and Emmy spent two days calling realtors when they launched and landed an 8,000 square foot commercial property out of it. In their first month.

Sending 20 personal emails a day is not hard. Doing it every single day until it works is the hard part, and that is the difference between building a company and having a hobby.

3. Reviews, on autopilot

Reviews decide whether you make the map pack. Asking manually does not last, because you stop.

We use NiceJob, which plugs into Convertlabs.io (affiliate link, 30 days free) and asks after every clean. Sandra used to spend most of her time chasing referrals and reviews by hand.

"NiceJob, complete game changer." Sandra, Maid Knows Best

Reply to every review yourself, including the unfair ones. Your calm reply to an unreasonable review is a public demonstration of how you treat people, and your ideal client reads it that way.

4. Google Local Services Ads, if you pick up

Local Services Ads put you at the top with a Google Guaranteed badge, and you pay per lead. They work. They are also getting expensive, and they only work if you answer.

Thomas in Wyoming pays 25 to 30 dollars a lead and it is his number one source. Daniel got leads at 10 dollars each briefly and closed half of them with a card in hand within seven minutes. Jake and Emmy are the only cleaning company using it in Dubuque, so they are first for house cleaner searches no matter what.

The catch: if you are not answering, you are paying for leads that go to voicemail. And Darren was at $3,000 to $5,000 a month before he started shifting toward organic.

5. Answering the phone

This is a marketing channel and I will die on this hill.

Thomas won a four-year contract cleaning an Air Force base because the base called several cleaning companies in town and the others let it ring. That is the entire origin story of a federal contract.

What wasted our money

Flyers

Jake and Emmy spent $500 on flyers and walked them door to door with their daughter. No traffic came of it. When realtors asked them to drop flyers at the office, they could have emailed a digital version for nothing.

The one exception: someone who already has your number on their fridge, from a flyer, may call you. It is a slow, expensive way to become a fridge magnet.

Angi Leads

Emmy complains about it daily. You pay a $300 annual subscription for the privilege of then paying for leads. Angi demands you call within 15 minutes, three times on day one, twice on day two, and the leads blow up your phone all at once.

Nine times out of ten the person never answers. Jake and Emmy have gotten no business from it.

If Angi calls you after you register your business, say no.

Pay-per-click, too early

Jake and Emmy spent $500 on Google Ads in a single week and it hurt. It generated website traffic and not much else.

Everybody I have talked to in the community in the last six months has found pay-per-click to be a long game that does not translate immediately. Start with it and you will burn cash while you learn.

Branding, before you have clients

Sandra did the full package. Car decals, logo shirts, business cards, the whole Molly Maid impression.

"Do not spend a dime, not even a dime, on the branding of your car, your clothes, your business cards. I did all that." Sandra, Maid Knows Best

Your clients are choosing you because you are not a national franchise. Looking like one costs money and works against you.

What we cannot agree on

Yelp. We paid for it three times, took the "spend $300 get $300" bait, and made nothing back. One member in our community is crushing it on Yelp.

Which tells you the only rule that always holds: test it in your own city, with your own messaging, and watch what converts. What fails for me may work for you two hundred miles away.

The one system worth stealing if you want to go outbound

Darren in Minnesota runs a four-week loop he calls the Golden Groove, aimed at commercial buildings:

• Week 1: a personalised sales letter in a heavy black envelope, because a plain white one goes in the bin
• Week 2: postcards
• Week 3: a cold email and a cold Instagram message
• Week 4: more postcards, then repeat

Envelopes cost him about $65 for 250 on Amazon. A law firm he nurtured for six months eventually came back to him.

It works because he is established and has cash. It is not where you start.

What a sane marketing budget looks like

What you do not want is to still be spending five thousand a month in year four because you never built the free channels.

The order I would do it in

1. Name the company location plus keyword, so people can find you
2. Publish your prices and let people book online
3. Set up Google Business Profile and fill in every field
4. Email 20 realtors and letting agents a day
5. Automate review requests after every clean
6. Post updates to your profile weekly, forever
7. Only then, test one paid channel at a time with a budget you can lose

It is consistent effort every day over time. It is boring. That is why it still works.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best marketing for a cleaning business?

A complete Google Business Profile with steady reviews, plus emailing local realtors and letting agents every day. Both are free. We spend about $300 a month with Google and get nearly all our leads organically while billing between $600,000 and $700,000 a year.

How much should I spend on marketing for a cleaning business?

In year one, most owners in our community spend $500 to $1,000 a month while they work out what converts. By year four we spend about $300 a month. Spending five thousand a month years in usually means the free channels were never built.

Do flyers work for cleaning businesses?

Rarely. Jake and Emmy spent $500 on flyers and walked them door to door, and no traffic came of it. If a realtor asks for flyers at their office, send a digital version and save the print cost.

Is Angi Leads worth it for a cleaning business?

Our members say no. You pay a $300 annual subscription and then pay for the leads on top. Angi requires you to call within 15 minutes and repeatedly after that, and nine times out of ten the person never answers. Jake and Emmy got no business from it and are locked in for a year.

Are Google Local Services Ads worth it?

They work if you answer every call. Thomas pays 25 to 30 dollars a lead and it is his top source. But if you are not picking up, you are paying for leads that go to voicemail, and the cost per lead keeps climbing. Build the free channels alongside it.

How do I get cleaning clients without paying for ads?

Google Business Profile, reviews, and 20 personal emails a day to realtors and letting agents. One email we sent in our first year went to a realtor named Danielle, who has since booked 47 cleans, worth $16,718.34.

Should I brand my car and buy uniforms?

Not in month one. Sandra bought car decals, logo shirts and business cards and told us plainly she wished she had not. Your clients are choosing you because you are not a national franchise, so looking like one costs money and works against you.