Background
In recent past, Trash Unlimited spent $2500 per year on advertisements in the yellow pages of the local phone book. There was not a great return on investment. With planning a consistent work, the company made great improvements. Are you curious to know the impact of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and other low-cost marketing efforts?
From January to July 2017 the Utah County based roll-off dumpster business has recognized some amazing growth— with 38% growth in clientele as a whole and an amazing 300% growth in residential clients. The astonishing thing here is that the company has spent exactly $0 in marketing and advertising. So what’s the secret to their success?
- Search Engine Optimization
- Quantity of Positive Reviews
- Shareable Social Media Content
An underlying factor is that Trash unlimited is committed to under promising and over delivering on the customer experience journey. Growing a business is only sustainable with steady revenue streams. Trash Unlimited created those revenue streams, in part by establishing a culture of hard work and quality. From the account manager, who has direct communication with the customer, to the drivers themselves, who show up on time with a smile on their face, it is this kind of business that sets the stage for growth.
Search Engine Optimization
Delving into the quantifiable actions, it starts with SEO. According to a recent report, Trash Unlimited has seen a 110% increase in the number of sessions—time spent on the website by users—in 2017 compared to 2016. Up until January of 2017, the trash Unlimited website was set up to run on the bare minimums. The six-page website was originally built with all of the title tags reading “Trash Unlimited” making it difficult for search engines to differentiate between the different web pages. With minimal effort, the website was optimized for search engine optimization, producing consistent and noticeable results. For example, if you compare the time line in figure 1, there are long stretches of little to no website activity. Once the website was updated, calls started to come in more frequently and much more consistently.
Figure 1
Reviews, Reviews, Reviews!
Another factor that has helped to boost business is an increase in positive reviews on Google as well as on Facebook. When searching for dumpster services locally, Trash Unlimited has 3 times the amount of reviews compared to the completion. Not only are there more reviews, but the quality of reviews are high. These reviews help boost the business’ search results pages.
Shareable Social Media Content
When looking at the company’s social media efforts, there are interesting insights in the last six months for Trash Unlimited. The company uses two platforms to communicate and engage with customers and potential customers—Facebook and Google+. A Facebook page was created for Trash Unlimited in 2011 but didn’t start to post consistently until the beginning of the year, 2016. Around the same time, Trash Unlimited started posting content on Google+. Consistent, bi-weekly posting set the stage to drive more traffic to the website, and to the phones.
In addition to a consistent posting schedule, Trash Unlimited started to produce shareable content. By using videos, quotes, and relatable images rather than frequent soliciting on social media, the company has seen a significant increase in the average shares of Facebook content. Average shares from the beginning of the year 2017 to the present are 7 shares per post, whereas in all previous periods the average shares were 0. Shares on Facebook play a significant role in the platform algorithm in determining how many people will be reached by the content.
Conclusion
With higher profit margins in the residential space, Trash Unlimited continues to shift from a heavy contractor customer base to a more residential customer base. Cutting the cost of advertising in the yellow pages and optimizing the website for google search pages has proven successful. As Trash Unlimited continues to reach potential customers through Facebook by creating shareable content, requesting reviews, and providing quality service, these strategies will continue to work together to the growth of the business and the acquisition of new customers.
This case study was completed by Michael Peterson, Social Media Marketer at American Name Services. You can download a PDF version here.
