How to Create and Design Your Cleaning Business Flyers?

One of the most effective forms of marketing for a cleaning business is distributing physical flyers to potential customers. If you take your time to design a quality flyer, you will have an effective tool to gain customers and grow your cleaning business.

Use these 15 tips to create a powerful flyer that converts prospects into clients:

1. Be concise
2. Have an irresistible offer
3. Write to your customer
4. Keep sections short
5. Use your logo & images
6. Use bulleted lists
7. Make an attention-grabbing headline
8. Have a call to action
9. Use testimonials
10. Include contact information
11. Use large font
12. Select colors that fit your brand message
13. Use quality paper stock (and coatings)
14. Utilize online resources
15. Distribute tactically

Be concise.

When it comes to creating flyers that potential customers will actually read, less is always more. Just like with other forms of advertising, you typically only have a couple seconds to either grab your customers attention or be discarded. Put your most important information at the top of the flyer in a large font, and only include essential information throughout the rest of the flyer. The objective of the flyer is to grab your readers attention and persuade them to take action (i.e. call you!)

If you want to share more information with your client, you can direct them to your website or Facebook page. For your cleaning business your format should be something like:

• Who you are (business name)
• What you have to offer (cleaning services)
• Why they should choose you (special services, discounts, competitive advantages, etc.)
• How to contact you (phone number, email address)

If you answer all these questions you are good to go. Each should be answered in less than one sentence or in a bulleted list.

Have an irresistible offer.

The people who will be receiving your flyer will likely fall into 1 of 3 categories:

1. Already have a cleaning service provider
2. Don’t have one and are looking for one
3. Don’t have one and aren’t looking for one

No matter what category they are in, including an irresistible offer in your flyer is the best way to convert them into a new client. Your offer should be something that your competition isn’t currently offering, or a special introductory rate to convince the potential customer to give you a shot. This can be a tricky balance to find. You don’t want to give away so much that you are losing money, but you want the deal to be good enough to attract substantial interest (i.e. customers who weren’t going to call you without the offer). Play around with different offers and track your results to find what works best for you.

Example:

“50% off your first cleaning and a 100% satisfaction guarantee”

Check out this article to learn some ways how to market your cleaning business.

Write to your customer.

When creating the content for your flyer make sure that you are including language that makes it sound like you are talking directly to your customer. Think about your customer’s pain points and how you can solve them. A flyer isn’t the time to go on and on about how great your company is and how long you’ve been in business. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes to develop content that appeals to them and will convince them to take action.

Example:

“Are you tired of spending hours cleaning every weekend? Get back to what you love and let us handle the dirty work!

Call us today for 50% off your first cleaning service!”

Keep sections short.

Just like you need to keep the overall flyer concise, write your sections in short, digestible chunks so your potential customer can skim through it and get all the information they need. If you have a catchy headline followed by a 200-word paragraph, your potential customer will likely stop there and throw your flyer in the garbage. It is also important to arrange your sections in a logical, easy to follow manner. This isn’t meant to be a 5-minute sit down read, your customer should be able to understand what it is you are offering and how they can receive that offer within a matter of seconds.

Use your logo & images.

Putting your logo at the top of your flyer and throughout the page helps your customer remember your brand and who you are. Utilize images of you and your employees on the job providing excellent customer service. This helps your cleaning business have a more personal and accessible feel to it. Combine pictures with short chunks of text to give your customer an easy to skim flyer.

Use bulleted lists.

Lists are another crucial part of helping your flyer be easily read and understood in a couple of seconds. What is easier to read?

“At Sonia’s Cleaning we offer a wide variety of services such as; mopping, vacuuming, window cleaning, appliance cleaning, dishwashing, bathroom and bedroom cleaning.”

Or

“At Sonia’s Cleaning we clean it all:

• Floors
• Windows
• Appliances
• Bathrooms
• Bedrooms
• Dishes

It instantly takes a long, boring sentence into a list that can be skimmed through in just over one second.

Make an attention-grabbing headline.

If you don’t spend the time to curate a catchy, powerful headline, your flyer will likely end up in the trash without the potential customer reading anything else. The biggest mistake we see when cleaning businesses create a headline is they use their business name or service instead of an offer. If your potential customer doesn’t know about your business, putting it in the giant font at the top of the flyer doesn’t entice them to keep reading. If you want your customer to keep reading, do your best to put your irresistible offer in the headline.

For example:

“Sonia’s Cleaning is now open!”

Or

“Call Sonia’s Cleaning to receive 50% off your first clean!”

Remember that your customer is always wanting to know what is in it for them and how you can benefit their life.

Ensure a high success rate for your cleaning business by checking out this article here.

Have a call to action.

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it is a critical part of a flyer that can’t be overlooked. Your call to action can be located anywhere on your flyer, but make sure it attracts the attention of your potential client. For your call-to-action to be effective make it:

• Easy to see
• Easy to understand
• Easy to take action

For your cleaning business, the call to action would typically be to make an appointment. Make sure you have your telephone number listed. A texting option is even better, as people don’t even have to make a call to set an appointment.

Use testimonials.

Testimonials are a great tool to include in your flyer. This gives your potential customers social proof that you are an established company and have provided excellent customer service to others in the community. If you could include a picture of the customer who gave the testimonial it gives it a more personal and impactful impression on your potential client.

Include contact information.

This is another one that might seem obvious, but there are plenty of flyers and advertisements that forget this key detail. The basic contact information to include on your flyer:

• Phone number (with texting option if possible)
• Email address
• Physical address
• Website/social media page

The phone number is by far the most important, this gives your customer a way to immediately get a hold of your company. Put your number in a prominent location on your flyer with an eye-catching color so it doesn’t get lost amongst the other information.

Use large font.

You might be starting to see a theme developing. The aim of the flyer is to make it as easy as possible for your potential customer to read your message and take action. Use large font throughout your flyer, especially for your headline, subheadings, and call to action.

Select colors that fit your brand.

Keep the color of your flyers consistent with your brand so that when customers see your other marketing materials they will recognize it more easily and be able to recall your business when it’s time to order a cleaning service. The exceptions to this rule are for your phone number and your call to action. If possible, have these align with your brand; but it is acceptable to have these be a bright, eye-catching color so your customer’s eyes are attracted to the most important parts of the flyer.

Use quality paper stock.

Using quality paper stock can drive up the pricing of your flyers, but it is typically well worth the cost. Quality over quantity is the name of the game when choosing your materials. When you cut costs and cut quality on your paper stock, your flyer comes off as unprofessional and your message is unlikely to be well received. Go to a local print shop and try out some different samples to find the highest quality that will fit within your budget. Optional paper coatings are another way to give your flyer a professional feel and stand out from the competition. In addition, these coatings help your flyers last longer and will survive the elements if left on a doorstep for too long. Explore the various gloss and matte finishes and see what works for you.

Utilize online resources.

There are numerous online resources that can help you incorporate all of the previous elements into your flyer design. These sites help with things such as:

• Templates
• Color schemes
• Professional formatting
• Images

Some sites that we recommend:

• Canva
• Adobe Spark
• Piktochart
• Poster My Wall

Browsing through these templates will help spark inspiration for your own flyer. Start with these websites to save you a lot of time and provide a professional look without much effort.

Distribute tactically.

You can have the best-looking flyers in the world, but if they aren’t in the hands of the right people, they will not be effective. Our recommendation is to deliver 5-10 flyers to neighbors around each house you clean. There are a number of reasons for this:

• You are already in the area.
• The neighbors hopefully saw your car in your client’s driveway (with your business name and logo).
• The neighbors can ask your customer about your service.
• If they buy your service, you will cut travel costs by having multiple customers in the same area.

Another great place to distribute your flyers is to team up with related local businesses that could use your services, such as:

• Real estate agents
• Homebuilders
• Property managers

Along with these, if you clean for local businesses you might be able to strike a deal so that if they keep your flyers in their lobby you offer them a discount. The options are endless here so don’t be afraid to get creative!

One other option is direct-mail advertising. This isn’t our first choice because it usually is very expensive and doesn’t offer much return. If you are going to do direct-mail advertising, try to target a very specific area, and have your message be tailored to this specific market.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should flyers be distributed to current customers?

Typically, no. If you have a current customer they already know about your company and the services you provide. If you are wanting to help retain these customers by offering a similar deal that you are promoting on your flyer, we recommend creating a smaller coupon that you can distribute to save on costs. If your customer is very loyal or a friend and wants to distribute your flyers you are more than welcome to leave some with them.

Should I include all my cleaning services on the flyer?

Listing all of your services may crowd the flyer with too many words. You should highlight your most important services, the ones that you are best at, or the ones that differentiate you from the competition.

To learn more on how to start your own cleaning business, check out my startup documents here.

Please note that the contents of this blog are for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Any action taken based on the information provided in this blog is solely at your own risk. Additionally, all images used in this blog are generated under the CC0 license of Creative Commons, which means they are free to use for any purpose without attribution.