Window Cleaning Marketing: A Complete Guide to Marketing Tools for Window Cleaning Franchises

Finding the right set of software tools to support window cleaning marketing can be a challenge. When your franchise is responsible for helping to drive leads for the whole brand and your franchisees, it’s even more of a responsibility. 

Below, we share the best software solutions to support your window cleaning marketing efforts. These tools amplify the impact of marketing efforts to drive more traffic to your website and increase the online booking volume you capture through solutions like Vonigo. For each tool, we share a brief description, what the tool does best, and how much each solution costs. 

Why Window Cleaning Marketing Matters

As consumer behavior shifts online, businesses in all industries have the opportunity to use the internet to increase brand awareness and acquire new customers. A quick look at the 5-year trend in Google searches for “window cleaning near me” shows that the window cleaning business is no different.

There are five online marketing channels that your business can use to attract more visitors and customers:

• Direct visits that come directly to your website
• Search traffic that comes through Google and Bing
• Email traffic that you generate through email marketing campaigns
• Social media visitors that come from platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest
• Referral traffic that comes to your website from other websites

Most businesses get really good at 1-3 online marketing channels over time. It’s ideal to begin by investing time and resources in a single channel to determine if it works well for your business. For example, you can decide to invest $500 in paid search ads on Google, or begin writing a few blog posts each week to capture traffic through organic Google search.

Before investing in online marketing, it’s important to have a well-designed website that tells your potential customers about your business and makes it easy for them to request a quote using an online booking plug-in. We’ve outlined a few of the most popular website builders below, in addition to the best tools that support the various online marketing channels.

The Best Online Tools for Window Cleaning Marketing

Below, we’ve highlighted the shortlist of online marketing tools that you can use to manage your window cleaning marketing.

All of the tools below are category leaders that are used by tens of thousands of local businesses.

Website Builders

Website builders are used by businesses to design and host websites. These are a cost-effective alternative to hiring a digital marketing agency to build your website. The tools below come with features that make designing a great looking website easy, even for non-technical individuals who have never written software code. If your website needs a facelift, these are fantastic tools to understand.

Squarespace: Squarespace is a leading website builder that powers over 3 million websites. It is the most popular simple website builder in the United States. Squarespace offers several plans for website hosting that provide advanced website analytics, the ability to integrate with your company’s Gmail accounts, credit card processing services, and the ability to integrate with your point of sale system.

Squarespace starts at $12 per month.

Wix: Wix is a very popular website builder that comes with 100s of templates and video hosting. The company also offers business plans that allow you to accept payments directly through your website. Wix also offers services for logo design and the ability to create an events calendar to display on your website.

Wix starts at $13 per month.

WordPress: WordPress is the most popular website builder that is used by 36% of all websites. For $4 per month, you get domain hosting, basic support and access to dozens of free website templates. Advanced plans allow you to accept payments through PayPal, and manage your paid search and social media campaigns. If you are slightly more technical and want more control of your website, then WordPress is a fantastic option.

WordPress starts at $4 per month.

Search and SEO Software

You can use search software to support your company’s efforts in paid and organic search. In other words, these tools help your website get more traffic from Google and Bing. If you run paid advertisements through Google Ads, or invest in SEO, it’s worth exploring these software solutions.

Ahrefs: Ahrefs is a very popular all-in-one search software solution that includes tools to help you find new keywords to target through content marketing and paid search campaigns, audit your site for SEO errors, and monitor your website’s backlink profile. It’s best for digital marketers who are focused on content marketing and building backlinks to boost the SEO performance of their websites.

Ahrefs’ monthly plans start at $99 per month for one user.

SEMrush: SEMrush is another all-in-one search software tool that has over 5 million users. It comes with the same set of tools as Ahrefs. Compared to Ahrefs, SEMrush is stronger for keyword research, and keyword position tracking. Keyword position tracking is the process digital marketers use to monitor how well their website’s pages rank in Google’s organic search results. It’s best for marketers pursuing a mix of content marketing and paid search.

SEMrush’s monthly plans start at $99.95 per month.

SpyFu: SpyFu is similar to Ahrefs and SEMrush, but offers slightly less features for a cheaper price. It’s best for finding new keywords that you can target through content marketing and paid search campaigns. SpyFu is a good starting tool for businesses on a budget.

SpyFu’s Basic Plan starts at $39 per month.

Email Marketing Software

Email marketing software is built to help businesses manage their email marketing program. They cost more than using Gmail or Microsoft Outlook, but come with features that will help you save time and send professional quality emails to your customers. These tools can be used for newsletters, automated welcome emails, and transaction confirmations.

Mailchimp: Mailchimp has over 20 million customers. Its platform has all the features you need to manage your email program including a drag-and-drop email builder, a library for your digital assets, the ability to trigger automated emails, and real-time analytics. Mailchimp also offers a mobile app to help you stay on top of your email marketing program while you’re on the go.

Mailchimp’s Premium Plan is $299 per month for up to 10,000 contacts. 

Campaign Monitor: Campaign Monitor is a very popular email marketing tool. It has all the features that you need to manage your email marketing program including hundreds of pre-built templates, a drag-and-drop editor, drip campaigns, and customer segmentation. It’s a good starting tool that can scale as your email marketing program grows.

Campaign Monitor’s Basic Plan is $9 per month for up to 2,500 emails

Mad Mimi: Mad Mimi is a simple, but powerful email marketing tool that is used by 125,000 customers to send over 40 million emails per day. It is easier to use than most other solutions and does offer add-ons for marketers who want to increase the complexity of their email marketing programs.  Mad Mimi is known for its excellent customer support. 

Mad Mimi’s Basic Plan is $10 per month for up to 500 contacts.

Social Media Management Software

Social media management software helps companies manage their various social media channels. If you’re active on multiple social media platforms, these tools will help you save time and better engage your followers. These tools’ most valuable feature is the ability to create one social media post and simultaneously post it to several social media platforms. In addition, you can use them to schedule several posts at once, which saves considerable time. If you spend more than a few hours on social media marketing per week, it’s worth exploring the solutions below.

Agorapulse: Agorapulse is a newer social media management tool that offers much of the same functionality as industry-leading alternatives. This includes the ability to publish content to all major social media platforms, engage audiences online, and the ability to listen for mentions of your company. Agorapulse is significantly cheaper than other options if you manage several social media platforms and have more than 5 users.

Agorapulse plans start at $99 per month.

Sprout Social: Sprout Social is the best social media management product, but it comes at a premium price. It has the same major features as Agorapulse and comes with many extra bells and whistles that you’ll appreciate if social media marketing is particularly important to your business. Its engagement tool for managing social media conversations with customers has a particularly good design.

Sprout Social’s Standard Plan is $99 per month.

Hootsuite: Hootsuite is the most mature and best known social media management platform. It has most of the same features as Agorapulse and Sprout Social. Hootsuite’s streams are its best feature. They let you monitor social media platforms for mentions of your company. You can also keep an eye on any other key terms you want to track. In addition, it offers the cheapest entry-level plan.

Hootsuite’s plans start at $29 per month.

Website Analytics

Website analytics tools are critical for understanding the performance of your website and measuring the return on investment (ROI) of your window cleaning marketing activities. While there are several website analytics tools, Google Analytics is the most robust, and it’s free! If you haven’t learned about how Google Analytics can help your window cleaning business, we recommend starting your research today.

Google Analytics: Google Analytics is the most popular website analytics solution. It is free for small businesses and comes with a plethora of valuable reports. You can use Google Analytics to track the number of visitors that come to your website, understand the traffic sources they come from, and tie all available information to your website conversions. In other words, you can set up Google Analytics to see the number of visitors your website receives from any marketing campaign, along with the percentage of those visitors who fill out your web forms or request quotes from your business.

Bonus tool (for reviews)

Want to get more reviews from your existing customers? Automate the process of asking and make it as easy as possible for them. 

NiceJob: NiceJob is the easiest way to get more reviews, referrals and sales. Rank higher in search results, Google Maps, win more traffic and be seen as the top-rated provider. 90% of consumers think reviews and referrals are more important than any info provided by a salesperson.

Want to learn about how window cleaning software can help you manage and grow your franchise? Read our ebook, How to Book More Jobs, Save Time and Money with the Right Tools. For an example of window cleaning software in action, read about how Men In Kilts uses Vonigo’s software to manage their entire franchise.