Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

This was my first SMAZ event, so I didn’t really know what to expect.  Besides, I work for a pest control company, so how much is really applicable to killing crickets and scorpions, right?  Sure, we posted our “Black Widow vs. 27 Scorpions” video on YouTube last week, but even I understand that’s barely a drop in an enormous ocean.  For me, the SMAZ event was tremendously fascinating and motivating.  Here are the five most interesting ideas on my notepad. (A notepad! I know…ghetto huh? Next year I’ll be the guy next to me yesterday tweeting on the iPad in one hand, and tweeting from a different handle on the iPhone in the other hand.)

1.  96% of Y Generation interacts with social media.  Think about that.  That’s amazing!  The presenter immediately followed that stat up with “that’s more than Boomers watched television.”  Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare.  Didn’t blogging just come out like 6 years ago?!?  That’s an incredible statistic. Social media isn’t just some fad or popular wave.  It’s now a lifestyle.  My 12 and 14 year old nephews both have Facebook accounts.  My wife, both sister-in-laws, sister, brother-in-law and both brothers all have accounts.  As I think about it, other than our family relationship, that’s probably the one feature that we all commonly share.

2. Complete strangers are interested in my life. Take Twitter for example.  Some people follow 5,000 people, and may be followed themselves by 7,000 others.  Obviously your Ashton Kutchers and Paris Hiltons of the world are going to have hundreds of thousands of followers, but even Joe Shmo can build quite a crowd of listeners.  And I haven’t even specified if his tweets are anything of significance or value.  Maybe he’s tweeting what cereal he’s having in the morning.  Jane Nobody, who lives 1,500 miles away, might actually tweet back regarding his bowl of Cinnamon Life (which I had this morning, by the way). Seeing people connect is cool.

3. Keep your social mediums, company website and newsletters separate. This was a great point!  Keep in mind that while many people tend to gravitate towards one particular medium, there are many others that want all of them.  It’s possible, and likely, that one of your customers is also your Twitter follower, Facebook fan, website visitor, newsletter recipient, rewards member, VIP customers and your free walking billboard when they wear your company t-shirt.  Not everything that appears on your website needs to be a tweet or status update.  You also don’t need to re-post all your tweets and updates back into your monthly newsletter.  While there is a time and place to repeat things, your content should vary from one medium to another.  This reminds me of being a kid, and not wanting my food to invade each other on the dinner plate.  It may all be going to the same place, but I’d at least like to enjoy the flavors individually. Broccoli and hot-dogs shouldn’t be blended together.

4. The press release is still alive. I’ll admit, this was my inner-PR degree speaking from the shadows.  It’s fascinating to think how much the press release has changed and evolved in the last 5 years.  Before we had our list of media contacts, email bombed everyone, and followed up a few days later.  While this is still one way of doing it, the online press release has really changed the game in more ways than one.  Services like PRNewswire can get your release looked at by thousands of gatekeepers.  On top of that, it’s already online, which makes it searchable and viewable by potentially millions more.  On top of THAT, it’s great for SEO, given the fact that once it’s reposted it’s given your website a friendly backlink.  It’s like the gift that keeps on giving.

Shown by Sheila Kloefkorn of KEO Marketing (Phoenix, AZ)

And 5. Optimize EVERYTHING! I’ve even seen this work in pest control.  Last month we had sales close via the company blog.  We also closed sales via Facebook.  And, my boss even brought in a trackable sale via Twitter.  Whether it’s a Facebook post, a blog entry, a tweet, a video or even a photo, make sure all those items are properly optimized with the appropriate keywords.  Photos might be at the bottom of everyone’s “Need to Optimize” list, but just as important as your blog post.  Do This: Go to SERP, type in the name of your company, hit “search”, then hit the “images” option.  What’s on the first page?  I just did this for my favorite Mexican grill, Costa Vida.  All but two images on the first page belong to the Costa Vida restaurant.  (I’m all about the sweet pork salad. Do yourself a favor this weekend and try it out.)  Simply put, you never know how your next loyal customer is going to find you.  So it’s vitally important to make sure that they actually find you.  Imagine that!

Special thanks to everyone that made the SMAZ event a success.  Breakfast and lunch were great, the speakers were all great and it was fun to meet other locals within the same industry.  I even want to give a shout out to the parking garage guy that let us out of the garage for free.  See you all next year.

Steve Bitter
@stevebitter
Bulwark Exterminating

In light of the recent FTC law that will attempt to cure the blog-o-sphere from the potential false and/or misleading reviews, one blogger makes an excellent point:

If you deliver enough value BEFORE asking for the sale, you should be able to sell plenty of stuff forever.

- Frank Kern http://masscontrolsite.com/blog/?p=59

What Frank is getting at is that if you provide a quality service or a quality product then you shouldn’t need to worry about using underhanded or sneaking marketing tactics.  Companies that build on solid foundations will be solid companies.  This applies to pest control just as much as any other industry.  Read J.D. Powers book on Satisfaction.

BUT… I do disagree with Frank a little on the customer testimonials.  I believe that customer testimonials are the blood line of successful marketing.  You do what’s best for the customer and then they talk about it.  Those are the testimonials that sell.  Our pest control marketing efforts ultimately pale in comparison to our referrals.  So again, it is…

Quality Service first – Marketing Second.

If you don’t have a quality service or product then marketing becomes a black hole, sucking your money up almost as fast as it brings it in.

But just to make sure we are compliant with the FTC here is our disclaimer… **Customer testimonials on google are reviews from the customers and happy customers is a typical result of quality service as evident in our company wide survey that reports; 94% of customers would recommend us to a friend or family member.  All other companies listed on this site have not paid us, to date, anything to be listed here.  We offer our praises of other pest control companies freely and of our own accord.  We do accept backlinks from some of these companies and would gladly accept more backlinks from more quality services.

P.S. I, Thomas (not Bulwark Exterminating) feel that this FTC law is going to be very ambiguous and unenforceable.  So those the FTC wishes to take a beating on will be subject to a whipping post that has no bounds.