Expert Roundup: Marketing Tips for Junk Removal Companies

We asked marketing experts one question: What marketing advice do you have for junk removal companies? We got a lot of responses and loads of valuable tips. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Alistair Dodds, Marketing Director, Smoking Chili Media

My advice to any junk removal company is to ensure they optimize their Google My Business listings and website fully. Obtaining top 3 rankings in Google local pack results (the local map result that appears before normal google results) for geolocation specific searches is one of the quickest ways to grow your business. Reason being 70% of all internet searches take place on Google (1.2 trillion a year) and up to 60% of those search users will click on the top 3 results.

The starting point is to ensure your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) are correct and match what you register on your Google My Business listing and your own website. You then need to ensure the exact same NAP is applied at all top citation sources such as Bing Places, Apple Maps, Yelp.com and so on. Google needs to know that you are who you say you are and are located where you say you are. They need to see this consistency replicated across the top citation sites they trust.

Next, you need to ensure your website’s onsite optimization fully adheres to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. So, for example, ensure the site has a working SSL certificate, is fast loading, has a canonical tag and so on. Once fully optimized you need to start building backlinks to your site. Think of newsworthy content about your business that you can share with local bloggers and journalists. For example, charity events, fundraising or going against the grain on a local issue. Also, join local business associations as most have directories where you can include a link to your site. These are usually authoritative and trusted in your local geographic area.

2. Shel Horowitz, Profitability Consultant and Author of Guerilla Marketing to Heal the World

Junk removal companies can stand out from the competition by emphasizing how they make the planet and its people better. Examples:

• Keeping stuff out of the landfills and incinerators
• Saving people money by refurbishing and re-selling furniture
• Creating wildlife habitat, planting trees, etc. (and this one is not part of the basic job description)
• Turning things that had no use into things that have lots of use (for example, working with a company that turns empty plastic bottles into tote bags, apparel, and even lumber)
• Generating jobs for low-income folks processing the salvaged goods (extra points if they include people with disabilities, minority youth, etc.)
• Donating a portion of revenue to a noncontroversial charity with a mission that’s relevant to junk removal in some way

3. Hung Nguyen, Marketing & Support Manager, Smallpdf

I think SEO is the best way to start for junk removal companies with their marketing. It’s free and directly reaches the target customer base — if done right. Furthermore, when it comes to ads — it might be hard to know who to target as well!

A brief search on SEMrush shows that the term ‘junk removal companies’ has only 480 monthly searches in the US. If a junk removal company coined this with their location and targeted a longer tailed keyword, i.e. ‘junk removal companies in dc,’ the search volume will be a lot less, and it will not be hard to rank for such keywords.

Similarly, think about other specific keywords to search for, i.e. ‘cheapest junk removal company in dc’, ‘junk car removal companies in dc’…etc. This way, the people who need their service the most will come to them.

Content SEO is not as hard as it may sound. Just make sure they are speaking not only to the people, but also Google – the machine.

4. Cristian Rennella, CEO & CoFounder, oMelhorTrato.com

My marketing idea for junk removal companies: content marketing through FAQ as an expert!

After working on the internet for the last nine years and having tried more than 54 content marketing strategies online, I can assure you that there is ONLY ONE marketing idea that generated the best ROI results in 2018: Answer the questions of your users AS AN EXPERT!

We receive more than 50 queries per week on different aspects of our service, but the vast majority are general questions, that the answer will not only help that user, but hundreds or thousands of people who have the same question.

That is why, each question of a client we respond in a special way, dedicate time and effort to give a perfect answer. This response is not only sent to this user, but we publish it on our site as if it were a post on our blog.

Some Examples

“How to compare and choose a junk removal company through the Internet?” “What is the estimated price to do a junk removal job?” “What should I take into account when hiring a junk removal company? etc.

Then Google or any other search engine indexes this content and new potential customers can Google to find our answer. As the answer was valuable, with very useful information, these new customers take our brand as a reference and begin to see (eventually buy) our products.

This mechanism of transforming the traditional questions and answers (FAQ) section in a blog where we published all our answers helped us to grow by 34.7%, which today represents revenue of USD 3.4M per year, (yes, AMAZING!). And this is a general tip that can be applied to all business types.

5. Anthony Kane, Director of SEO, 1SEO

As a digital marketing agency, we’ve had some awesome success with identifying specific areas or use cases that would benefit from a junk removal service and then designing a specific pin drop campaign on social media. Take college campuses as an example. Right around May of each year, students are moving in and out of rental properties and you can find at least one dumpster on just about every block.

We’ve set up various social media campaigns that target a controlled radius around college campuses offering specials and promotions to hopefully entice property managers in the area. This has been incredibly successful for us due to the fact that if you land one property management company it usually comes paired with a few different properties that need work.

6. Nate Masterson, CMO of Maple Holistics

1. Google ads

Local Google Ads are a great way to improve your visibility. Everyone uses Google and if you’re working locally, then your business can benefit greatly from ad space on Google. The first place people tend to look when actively trying to solve a problem is Google, by making Google a part of your marketing campaign, you are ensuring that your business is getting its best chance for exposure.

2. Facebook

Everyone is on Facebook, your business should be too. The thing that makes Facebook such a successful platform for business is that it gives your business a chance to have a personality. Have an active profile, and buy Facebook ads. Facebook ads are the best PPC investment you can make, and running a Facebook profile is the easiest public relations you can do for the kinds of results you get.

3. Mobile billboards

Everyone is on the road, making billboards a mainstay of advertising. The only problem with billboards is that they only market to one segment of your potential customer base. That’s why the best bang for your buck comes from taking your billboard on the road where all sorts of people can see it.

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7. Kent Lewis, President, Anvil Media Inc.

As a career agency professional specializing in SEO since 1996 and owning my own measurable marketing agency since 2000, I’ve consistently seen search engine optimization (SEO) generate the best ROI across all marketing efforts. We’ve worked with self-storage companies and other businesses similar to junk removal and can validate the success.

At Anvil, we utilize a few different ‘white hat’ fundamental SEO strategies to maximize rankings:

• Competitive benchmarking: the best place to look for inbound links is competitive websites. By conducting an inbound link analysis, you can identify which sites are desirable (high domain authority) and likely to provide a link to your business.
• Compelling content: this seems obvious, but far too many businesses fail to create unique content that is shareable. This could include timely blog posts, well-researched articles, infographics, and videos. Based on the competitive benchmark mentioned earlier, you should have a good idea of what type of content is being developed and how to do it better or differently.
• Get coverage: Leverage resources like Cision’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO) to pitch yourself as an expert and secure quotes with links back to your website from credible third-party press/media sites.
• Add structure: Used structured markup to ensure your business information (name, address, phone number) as well as other key information, is properly formatted for Google and other engines to index properly. This is especially vital for emerging trends like voice search, not just for local SEO.

Related Article: 22 Things You Still Aren’t Getting Right with SEO.

8. Steve James, Marketing and Corporate Outreach

Any service-based business needs a market and a Unique Business Proposal. For this kind of service, you are offering a time-saving service that assists in clearing your house, without you lifting heavy boxes, so who would want it?

The retired, those that are downsizing or are selling a house would be a good place to start, which equals a lot of people and a certain age group. Therefore a city-based service, marketing directly to the over 60’s should do well.

9. James Pollard, Owner, TheAdvisorCoach.com

What I’ve found to work the best is Facebook ads because you can target by geography and test multiple ads to find what works best. For example, you can test images of a junk-filled area vs. a clean area to see which gets a bigger response. When you target your area, you ensure that the only people who call your phone are people that you can reach.

Plus, if you include your phone number in your ad, people may call that number without ever clicking on your ad. Which means you don’t get charged at all. It’s a pretty sweet deal.

10. Craig De Borba, Senior Digital Marketer, OnPoint Internet Marketing

Here is some data and advice from a recent campaign we launched for a local junk removal company.

In the junk removal industry customers are calling around shopping for quotes, so a quick response time to the lead is crucial to closing the deal. In a recent campaign, we ran Adwords click-to-call campaigns on a hyper-targeted geographical area alongside a dynamic landing page that sent a SMS text message to the business owner whenever he got a new quote request. This quick response time enabled the company to close nearly 50% of new leads.

Crafting the perfect landing page using competition spying and market research to find out the buttons of the market demographic also enabled us to achieve a 28% conversion rate, thus increasing the ROI on ad spend dramatically. Take the time to do the market research to craft the perfect offer and landing page then create geo-targeted campaigns and you’ll see an uplift in qualified leads.

11. Shelley Grieshop, Marketing at Totally Promotional

Junk removal isn’t a sexy topic that is easy to approach with potential customers. To reach your audience you need to use a professional yet realistic tone in your marketing plan. You can’t sugarcoat the type of service you offer, but you can show empathy for your clients’ needs with a little humor thrown in.

Promote your company at the local level with personalized giveaways you can distribute at parades, festivals, fairs, open houses, holiday and community events. Select eco-friendly, reusable tote bags with plenty of room to print your name, contact information, services, and a creative, funny trash removal design.

People will carry these totes everywhere — to the beach, the gym, the grocery store, on vacation — so you are reaching a huge audience for a very small investment.

12. Nicolas Straut, Content Marketing Associate, Fundera

Junk removal companies often rely on memorable slogans plastered across their trucks like “1-800-GOT-JUNK” or “College Hunks Hauling Junk.” Don’t get me wrong, this is an effective marketing strategy but if you don’t yet have a brand presence, it could be difficult to rely exclusively on it.

Facebook advertising is a highly effective way of targeting customers who may be in need of hauling junk. With it, you can target the areas in which your company operates and target prospects with recent interests that indicate the need for junk removal like “home renovation” or “moving.” In your ads, highlight how easy the experience will be for the home or business owner and consider offering a limited discount offer to inspire urgency.

13. Stan Tan, Selby’s

We recently had a client who recycles both computer electronics hardware and data. They recently ordered over 100 signage with us to be placed in their retail stores. The signage is more informational that clearly explains to their customers what they do.

Informational signage has been growing in the past 5 years. Signage is slowly moving from advertisement-style signage such as your “50% OFF” type to more informational and educational.

15. Joe Goldstein, Director of SEO & Operations, Contractor Calls

SEO is a great fit for the junk removal industry because most consumers treat it as a commodity. If you rank first for a local search, chances are great that you’ll get the lead.

To build links, I would recommend creating content around specific kinds of trash and building the company’s reputation as thought leaders.

Since the trash created by drinking straws has become a hot-button issue in some communities, I would start by creating an infographic or video about the impacts, causes, or overall scale of drinking straw trash. Then I would pitch the visual asset as a value-add to every media outlet that has covered the topic in recent history. It only takes a few links from mid-size outlets to put your link profile miles ahead of the competition. Then it’s only a matter of building out a well-optimized website to start ranking and generating real business.

16.  Mike Vannelli, Head Producer, Envy Creative

Promoting your business or brand has changed over the years. While traditional methods of marketing are still used, new technology and content delivery has changed the way businesses and brands market themselves.

Video is one such improvement and using video marketing can help your junk removal business grow. They are the best and most interactive way of showcasing a product, brand or service. With a static homepage or image, no one really knows who you truly are or even if you really exist, since there are tons of phony business sites on the web.

A video will enable you to show yourself. This establishes a level of trust with the viewer and potential customer. But, keep in mind that you are marketing yourself and your brand, product or service. Despite the fact that you’re utilizing the advantages of video marketing, you may not want to physically show yourself to the entire world or make the video yourself. This isn’t an issue, as you can get a video professionally made by a company that specializes in this. You can also get professional actors to portray you or your company, who will look more natural on camera.

To Do (or Do Not) DYI

You might think you could save money by making a video yourself. But you could do a lot of harm this way. There are a lot of details and planning that go into making a successful marketing video. Without the expertise, you risk ending up with a video that looks cheap and tacky. It might surprise you how inexpensive the video creation process can be. A production company will already have the equipment and experience to give your video the polish customers will look for. If you tried this yourself, you might have to resort to inexpensive cameras, amateur audio equipment, and basic editing.

The only real alternative is to buy or rent the proper equipment, which can cause problems too. You also won’t have the experience needed to use that equipment. You are better off leaving your video to the professionals. Studies have demonstrated that we want to watch a video rather than read text.

Video is the thing that we have grown up with and it is natural to us. Video marketing is the way to go when it comes to optimizing your marketing strategy.

17. Kenneth Burke, Marketing Director, Text Request

Add text messaging to your Google business listing, Google ads, and website. You’re spending all this time and money trying to show up in search results and drive traffic to your website. What happens when someone actually does find you? You can improve your conversion rates by adding a text messaging option to your website, ads, and search listing. Here’s why.

Most online traffic comes from mobile devices (some reports say up to 77%). The #1 way mobile users prefer to communicate is through text. They’d much rather text you for a quote or to schedule junk removal than to call your competitor. Google now has options in their ads and business listings for Messaging. So someone can click on your ad to send you a text. Or they can message you straight from your business listing.

With a service like Text Request, those people can even text your current business number. That means you can also start saying “Text or call us…” on all your marketing and advertising materials – including your website. There are also Click-to-Text and SMS Chat options. Potential customers can just click a button on your website to send you a text. In any case, you can reply back to the customer (from your phone or computer) to finalize pickup and earn new business. It works like a charm.

18. Harsh Agrawal, Founder of ShoutMeLoud

One of the best marketing tactics you can employ is creating useful content. Creating useful content – such as helpful blog posts or video guides – will not only provide more value to your website’s visitors, but it will help your other marketing channels.

For example, let’s say you start a blog and create a guide titled “How to Make the Most Money from Your Yard Sale”. In this guide, you have 2,000 words filled with tips on how to throw the best yard sale and improve your sales. As your customer base is people looking to get rid of their junk, chances are they are the same people who would be interested in hosting a yard sale. You can then recommend that they use your service for whatever they were unable to sell.

With a simple guide like this, you give a boost to several of your other marketing strategies. To start, you are now more likely to appear in search engines for people looking for advice on how to host a yard sale. If your guide is particularly helpful, other sites will link back to it, which will boost your SEO efforts even further. Or, if people don’t have their own website, they may share your article on social media, which in turn promotes your junk removal service to all their friends and family.

So, if there’s one strategy I can suggest for junk removal services it’s this – think of what your customers want more information on, then create a comprehensive guide answering their questions.

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