7 creative ways to generate pest control leads

Key takeaways

• Partner with businesses and network with customers face-to-face to gain high-quality leads for your pest control business
• Make branding a priority to build trust and naturally gain 5-star reviews
• Invest in online ads to speed up your pest control lead generation

One of the biggest perks of starting a pest control business is knowing that wherever you’re located, your services are needed. Cockroaches alone affect residents of every single state in the U.S. But offering an essential service doesn’t mean pest control leads are guaranteed. Even if you’re the only pest control company in your area, you’re still competing against the DIY pest control products sold at local stores.

Luckily, getting new leads doesn’t have to be costly. You don’t have to (and shouldn’t) invest in pricey lead generation services—and you may even get better results if you don’t. With these seven tips, you can earn high-quality leads that actually fit your target audience, driving down your cost per lead.

1. Network with potential customers

Every business is a relationship-driven business—yes, even if you’re an exterminator. When you want to gain new leads, networking is a must-use marketing strategy that can help you establish a good rapport with potential clients and collect their contact information.

Getting started is simple. You can look for online and offline events that your ideal customers may be attending—like home and garden shows for residential pest control businesses—and show up with your business cards.

Or you can reach out directly to your target audience members on local Facebook Groups. When you encounter interested leads, ask to schedule a video call. Networking face-to-face can double the chances that you’ll get an enthusiastic “yes.”

No matter how you connect with customers, effectively networking for lead generation requires you to follow these two tips:

• Have genuine conversations. No one wants to feel like they’re chatting with a salesperson or a robot. Talk about topics other than your job, and listen more than you speak.
• Follow up. After you successfully collect phone numbers and emails, make use of them by following up—ideally two days after your first meeting.

2. Connect with local businesses

You don’t have to solely network with customers. Connecting with other business owners using similar tactics can be helpful for you too.

When you partner with businesses that have a similar target audience, you can agree to exclusively refer leads to each other. This means you can get a referral from a brand that your potential lead already trusts.

This can be especially effective if you partner with companies that offer services that are complementary to yours. For example, a landscaping business may be a good partner for a pest control company that offers termite treatments, while a furniture store may be a good partner for a bed bug exterminator.

3. Brand yourself to stand out

As you’re actively generating leads from any source—in-person networking, local partnerships, digital marketing, etc.—be sure your branding is consistent. Branding can play a key role in helping you build trust and stand out from competitors in the pest control industry.

Visually, branding may include your logo, colors, and fonts. Whether your audience is engaging with you via your website, social media pages, or elsewhere, these elements should remain the same to offer a consistent experience and make your brand instantly recognizable.

Branding goes well beyond visuals too. It can also include elements like your company values and your brand voice. Team members in any department that engages with customers—including marketing and customer support—should be trained to uphold these elements of your branding. For example, if “compassion” is one of your values, your team should know what it means to be compassionate when connecting with current and potential customers.

This way, every single employee can deliver the same experience at every touchpoint. If this experience is stellar, it can lead to direct referrals from clients or 5-star reviews on your Yelp Business Page, which both help you gain new customers.

4. Invest in online advertising

Online advertising is one of the most effective pest control lead generation tactics. Ads boost your content to prime spots on a given page—for example, above search results on Yelp or within your target audience’s Facebook feed—so you can get noticed by your ideal customers.

Digital ads are also often the most cost-effective form of advertising. Whether you’re running search engine ads, social media ads, or Yelp Ads, you can set your ad to only show up for the most relevant keywords and audience members and only pay a small cost per click. Plus, you can set your max budget and the duration of the ad campaign.

Whereas it can take a significant amount of time to reach and capture 100 new leads through unpaid marketing on these platforms (like standard LinkedIn or Facebook posts), advertising can help you potentially earn that amount within a week.

5. Create landing pages on your website

Landing pages are another powerful internet marketing tactic that quickly boosts your pest control lead generation. A landing page usually isn’t listed in your navigation. Rather, it’s designed to bring visitors who click in from ads or search engine results pages and turn them into leads.

When you have 10–15 landing pages, you can increase the number of leads you capture by 55%. And if you have over 40, that number jumps up to 500%. Landing pages effectively get your website visitors to take action.

So what does a landing page need to include? First off, it should give visitors a way to easily provide their contact information, such as a form at the end of the page. Your landing pages should also include one clear call to action (CTA), like “get a quote” or “request a free inspection.”

When creating landing pages, don’t forget to keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. In order for your page to rank high on search engines—and therefore give you as many pest control leads as possible—each of your landing pages should target specific keywords like “ant control” or “termite prevention.” For best results, keep each landing page focused on offering a specific solution instead of trying to market pest control as a whole.

6. Educate consumers on social media

All too often, property owners don’t seek out pest control services until they’re already in the thick of an infestation. On social media, you can change this (and win more pest control leads) by creating posts that inform users about the importance of year-round treatments. You might:

• Create infographics that help customers visualize how an infestation quietly grows
• Post images that show the signs of different types of pests
• Do a Facebook Live to answer questions about pest control in real-time

This is also a great content marketing tactic to offer value and position yourself as an industry expert, which further proves to customers why they should choose your brand.

7. Ask for referrals

Finally, don’t forget to make an ask. Many of your customers are likely willing to provide referrals or testimonials to help you gain pest control leads, and all they need is a little push to do so.

Referrals should be your priority. A referral means a customer is sending someone directly to your business. These personal recommendations are valuable, as word-of-mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing channels out there. Offer an attractive reward—such as a gift card or pest control discount—in exchange for successful referrals.

Earn more pest control leads for your business

There’s no need to invest in expensive (and often overpriced) lead generation companies to grow your business. When you take pest control lead generation into your own hands, you can get higher quality leads, while instead spending that budget on affordable online ads. 

By focusing on networking, branding, and online channels—and not being afraid to ask for referrals—you can achieve an ongoing flow of leads for your pest control business. Next, learn more about the types of digital advertising you can invest in to maximize your success.