Eighty-three percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas — and they know all about pests. From mice and rats to spiders, ants, and stinkbugs, pests have a knack for penetrating our homes and workplaces. Fleas and ticks can easily invade our living spaces by hitching a ride on our beloved pets (and sometimes, on us). And frequent travelers can even unknowingly bring pests like bedbugs back home in their suitcases.
Pests are not just a nuisance. They can create health risks, and the damage they cause to properties can be expensive. (The average cost of repairs to a home infested with termites is $3,000!) It’s no wonder, then, that the pest control sector is growing fast — and it’s projected to keep on expanding. In North America, the pest control market generated $9.5 billion in revenue in 2019. By 2027, revenue may reach $13.5 billion at an annual rate of growth of more than 4%.
Midsize and large pest control companies rightly want to grab a slice of that growth and improve their market share. In this post, we’ll examine 10 pest control marketing strategies that can help your pest control business get more leads, attract customers, and stand out from the crowd in an increasingly competitive market.
If you operate a midsize or large business, your pest control marketing plan probably involves placing pest control advertising in community newspapers and neighborhood flyers. Or, maybe you equip your team with door hangers and send them on door-to-door “9 arounds.” You might also use vehicle fleets with branded car wraps or magnetic signs touting your company’s expertise and contact information.
Those are all great strategies to grow a pest control business. But you can, and should, do more, given how competition is ratcheting up in this space. Here are 10 additional pest control marketing strategies to help you grow your pest control business.
Four in five consumers seeking home services businesses like pest control firms don’t have one company in mind when they’re searching. And with 55% of consumers conducting online research before making a pest control appointment, your company needs to be visible online, or it may be overlooked.
Given that many consumers today use smartphones to conduct searches for new businesses, optimising your website for mobile viewing is a must. Responsive design can help your site look perfect on every screen, and there are resources to help with this process. For example, Google offers Lighthouse, a free tool to compare and test website content, appearance, and loading speed on different-sized screens.
Don’t forget to optimise your website content, too. Popular search terms used by consumers include “pest control near me,” “best exterminator in [your city],” as well as specific phrases like “yellowjacket nest removal” and “insect fumigation.” Make sure you create website content centred around these and other common terms so you appear in local searches in your area. This will ensure nearby consumers can easily find your website when they have a pest problem.
Google has another tool to help you boost your business’s visibility in local search. A Business Profile on Google is free and provides you with visibility on Google Maps and in local search results. So, when consumers ask key search questions like “pest control services near me,” they’ll be more likely to see your business in their search results.
It takes only a few minutes to create a profile that includes your business address, contact details, website link, and a brief description of your pest control services. Be sure to keep your profile up to date and bolster your pest control branding by sharing photos of your team at work wearing gear with your logo.
Ask satisfied customers for reviews promptly after you’ve finished providing services, when the positive experience is still fresh. Timely requests for reviews can increase the likelihood of receiving authentic, enthusiastic feedback that can bolster your pest control company’s reputation and help you attract new business. (Know that three-quarters of consumers read online reviews before making a purchasing decision.)
Consider offering discounts or special offers to customers to encourage them to provide a review of your pest control business. Create a review section on your site and populate it with original reviews from satisfied clients.
Reposting reviews from third-party platforms, like Yelp and Angi, may result in Google penalising you in search for duplicating content. However, you can and should respond to reviews on these platforms, even if they are unflattering.
Like local search and Google Business Profile, social media provides a direct pathway to a large target audience. In a 2024 survey, 83% of Americans reported using YouTube, while 68% said they use Facebook. These two social platforms attract all age groups, while platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok tend to attract younger audiences.
Placing targeted ads on platforms like Facebook can help you reach and attract local customers searching for pest control solutions. Likewise, ads and informative, engaging video content on YouTube can elevate your brand and reel in leads.
You can optimise your social ad campaigns with an AI-powered technology like Invoca, which lets you track phone call conversions from social ads in addition to the online conversions you’re already tracking. You can determine the full return on investment (ROI) from your social advertising efforts, so you can make adjustments to your ad spend and strategy that can help increase the performance of your campaigns.
You should also invest in paid online advertising for your midsize or large pest control business, either through Google Ads or the many alternatives.
Google Ads are highly effective for targeting consumers using high-intent keywords when they search. For example, a consumer may have discovered a wasp nest in their attic and immediately searched online for “emergency pest control” or “wasp nest removal.” You’ll generate leads if you have those keywords built into your ads.
A tool like Invoca, which integrates with Google Ads, can improve paid ad effectiveness by showing which terms drive the most conversions on customer phone calls. This allows you to set clear campaign goals, track performance in real time, and adjust when needed to optimise campaign performance for an effective ROI.
A solid, informative content marketing strategy is essential for pest control businesses looking to generate more leads through effective marketing. Pest control is a highly specialised service, and pest control marketing is an opportunity to educate consumers about your services. It can help establish you and your pest control business as trusted industry authorities.
Consider creating a comprehensive FAQ section on your website along with blog posts, videos, or guides that emphasise tips for preventing pest infestations in homes, yards, or gardens. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has some useful tips on this. But as a subject matter expert with many firsthand experiences, you’ll likely have many of your own.
Populating your website and social media profiles with strong content will improve search engine optimisation (SEO), boost organic search, and generate more high-value leads.
If you generate more leads for your pest control business, you’ll want to optimise them. That will help you make sure you’re attracting and nurturing high-intent customers who could also become long-term customers. That’s what global leader Rentokil North America did with Invoca’s AI-powered call tracking platform.
By using Invoca to track every customer call and feed the call data to marketing, Rentokil produced a single source of truth regarding customer conversions for all pest control brands under its umbrella, including several local brands in North America like JC Ehrlich and Western Exterminator Company.
The Rentokil marketing team pushed Invoca’s call tracking data into Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Campaign Manager, and Microsoft Advertising to enable real-time bidding optimisations. This helped ensure campaign performance matched the group’s goals while reducing overall marketing costs.
Another way to generate more leads for your pest control company is to partner with complementary businesses. Real estate agents, property managers, and landscaping companies are excellent sources of referrals for pest control businesses because they have similar clients.
You can develop relationships with midsize and large firms in related business sectors by collaborating in cross-promotions or bundling services. For example, you could collaborate with a lawn and garden service on a neighborhood “9 around” promo. Or, perhaps your pest control company could offer discounted inspection services to new homebuyers working with a local real estate agent or homebuilder.
If you partner with another firm to help promote your midsize or large pest control business, ensure you’re clear about responsibilities and goals from the outset.
Pest control is a year-round business, but there are seasonal opportunities you can seize to help you generate more revenue.
Mosquitoes are most active in the summer when temperatures exceed 80 degrees. Rodents can be problematic at any time of the year, but they tend to invade houses and commercial buildings in winter, looking for food and warmth. Termites become hyperactive in spring.
By developing special promotions to meet the seasonal pest control needs of your target audiences, you can effectively grow your business throughout the year.
One of the best ways to generate leads is to differentiate your business from your competitors. Delivering a superior customer experience (CX) is critical to this aim.
A standout CX starts with meeting customers where they are. When Invoca recently surveyed consumers, 87% of respondents said they felt more confident in making high-consideration purchases by talking to an agent on the phone versus purchasing directly online. Your business should use this knowledge to create engaging, personalised omnichannel experiences that can help you drive customer loyalty.
You can do this in offline channels by immediately routing customers to the right agent with intelligent call routing. This tool can route callers based on which services they’ve shown an interest in online, where they’re located, and more.
In addition, AI tools like Invoca PreSense can enhance personalisation and make callers feel like VIPs. PreSense captures pre-call digital data — such as the caller’s name, location, and the web pages they visited — and then funnels that data to agents in real time. So, when an agent answers the phone, they can deliver a personal greeting rather than spending time asking for the caller’s details.
See how PreSense works in this short video:
There’s no single way to generate leads for your business. Pest control marketing requires a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates both online and offline strategies. Establishing a comprehensive online and social profile, including a Google Business Profile, investing in digital ads, and optimising local SEO is just the start.
Elevate your marketing strategy by creating seamless online-to-offline experiences. In addition to tracking digital interactions, consider using tools like Invoca to track and analyse phone interactions. This will give you more complete data about your target audience that you can use to optimise marketing campaigns — just like industry leader Rentokil did.
See how Invoca works in the video below:
If you’d like to learn more about the strategies and technologies your midsize or large pest control company can use to develop a successful marketing strategy that generates more high-intent leads, check out these resources from Invoca:
Invoca has AI-driven tools designed to help pest control marketing teams gather valuable insights about their target customers so they can connect with them more effectively. Sign up for a customised demo today to see our platform in action and learn how we can help you drive revenue growth by making data-driven marketing decisions.
