Get More Moving Leads With These 7 Marketing and Advertising Tips

To grow your moving business, you need more incoming moving leads. Getting the attention of people who are ready to move at the right time can be difficult and competitive.

Here are seven ways you can use your time and budgets to get the most out of your marketing and generate more leads.

1. Organic, Local SEO

To start with, you should optimize your website for the key terms that people search for when looking for movers in your area. If you’re a local company and your moving services only originate within one city or town, then optimize just for that area using localized keywords.

If your area covers a whole state or more, then optimize for the name of your state AND create individual pages for the busiest metropolitan areas within your state. Some variation of terms containing “moving,” “movers” and “moving company” plus the name of your area will work best. If you’re creating several pages to highlight your services in different areas, make each one unique. Google won’t reward you with search traffic if all of your pages have repeated content.

3 Key SEO Tips

A. Optimize Your Site and Pages for the Searcher’s Intent

With moving companies, this is relatively easy. If the search term is “Santa Barbara, CA movers” for example, then your page should have plenty of information about moving in Santa Barbara, and mention several of the neighborhoods and any specific local area expertise.

B. Add Your Location Data and Appear in “Google My Business” Searches

Google wants to help web searchers find they are looking for, so they will often provide a list of the top businesses for a search term when it guesses that that’s what they are looking for. A search for “Santa Barbara, CA movers” brings up a map and a list of the top results that have complete business listings:

C. Code Your Business’ Reviews Into Your Search Results

We’ve published a comprehensive tutorial on this already. Hop over there and learn more about how reviews in your search engine results can help you win more business.

2. Paid Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

When organic traffic is not enough, you can employ a bit of paid search marketing to have your business listed in the ads at the top of the page.

Some of the same rules apply as optimizing for local searches, with a few exceptions. If you’re paying to advertise on a search term, it’s a good idea to have a landing page dedicated to exactly that search term. If someone is searching for “Santa Barbara, CA movers” they should be brought to a page that is about Santa Barbara specifically, and not just to your website’s home page. That one tip alone can help you beat your competition by helping to convert traffic at a lower cost.

It’s a good idea to set a maximum amount that you are willing to spend in order to acquire a lead through paid search, and for that matter, to continue your calculations to see what it costs to land a paying customer. You want to make sure that your customer acquisition efforts aren’t swallowing up all of your profits from your moving jobs. The good news is that Google will provide you with access to an advertising consultant for free, and they’ll help you get the most value out of your investment by teaching you the basics and what to watch out for.

3. Remarketing/Retargeting

Picture it: A healthcare executive knows that a position has opened up for them in a different state, and they begin to wonder about the logistics and costs of moving if they get the position. They visit your website from a Google search, but it will be weeks or months before they need to actually book a move. Retargeting involves adding a small pixel to the web browser of a visitor when they visit your website, that makes it possible for you to display your ads to them when they visit other websites using certain ad networks. Use a service like Adroll to make it easy.

You know when you go to a website to look at that new motorcycle you’ve been dreaming about, or those eyeglasses you’ve been meaning to order? Now you’re seeing their ads everywhere you go! That’s retargeting at work, and it’s one of the most cost effective ways to invest in banner ads, with the added bonus of displaying your ads to people who have already demonstrated they’re interested in you service.

4. Organic and Paid Social Media

The Tetris-like symmetry of a well-packed truck, the smiling faces of your hard-working moving crews, or the meticulous wrapping job your team did on that piano you moved last week. All of these would make great social media posts. None would be as popular as a story about a family who is happy about their move and the help you gave.

When you receive positive feedback from customers, ask if they’d be ok with being featured on your social media channels. When you get an especially excellent story, don’t be afraid to pay for a “boost” on social media. Target the ad at people in your area who are thinking about moving. Wondering how to do that? Facebook and Twitter will also help you figure out how to do ad targeting better. With a great ad and proper targeting, social advertising could be the single best source of new moving leads in terms of dollars invested.

5. Publish Your Offers and Pricing

Don’t keep your prices a secret, and don’t be afraid to tell people what your offers are. Have a discount for mid-month of mid-week moves? Let people know. Have an easy way of explaining your pricing, or a low-cost minimum charge for moves within your city? Publish them in your website and make them prominent. Be more transparent about your pricing and you are more likely to get the booking.

6. Turn Moving Leads Into Jobs with Online Quotes and Online Booking

Some customers don’t want to leave a message with you, only to have you call back when they’re busy. Offer online booking on your website, based on your availability. You will remove a lot of friction for your team. You may also gain access to an entirely new kind of customer. Ones who prefer technology-enabled, instantaneous online booking.

In some cases, these are the customers who are less price sensitive, too. They want convenience and professionalism — two things that a functional online booking system can offer. Now, your website can generate not just leads, but actual jobs booked within your scheduling system. With the savings you’ll have from administration and sales, you can invest more in acquiring new customers.

“Movegreen has grown over 38% in our 9th year of operation. We owe a lot of that to our use of moving company software as it assists us with streamlining our process,” says Movegreen CEO Eric Haney. “We are now able to offer modern technology… and offer our customers a fully integrated and paperless experience, from start to finish.”

7. Reward Past Customers for New Business Referrals

Referrals are a great way to generate new leads. You want to encourage more people to refer your business to people who are thinking of moving. Find a reward system that motivates more of that kind of behavior. Look beyond the standard Starbucks card or grocery store vouchers and get creative. A gift certificate to a local kitchenware store or semi-famous local artisan might be a better choice. They can create even closer ties within your community, and get people talking.

Do you want to learn more about how moving software can earn you more bookings and profits? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.