How We Help Movers Generate Local Moving Leads
Keeping those trucks rolling all year long can be a difficult task. At Border West, we have worked to keep local moving leads coming steadily in for many businesses. While there are many ways to get more quote requests without spending money, some kind of advertising is going to be necessary if you want to stay busy all year long.
Below we’ve listed the absolute best ways to get local moving leads. Some of them cost money, others can be free. We recommend using as many approaches as you have the time and budget for. Follow these steps and your biggest problem will be buying more trucks!
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At the end of the first month, if we’re making you money, then begin paying our monthly fee.
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Contents:
Top 12 Tools for Movers
Google Ads for Movers
Questions about Getting Started?
We can help!
We know there’s like a gazillion websites out there that claim to have all the answers for making your website “show up first on Google”
Maybe you just have a few questions to see what are the best options for your company
Maybe you have absolutely no idea where to start
Call Border West at (512) 516-9867, or click the button and we can discuss it through email
We’ll answer any questions and see if maybe we can help. If we can’t, we’ll try to steer you in the right direction.
No pressure, no contracts, no over-inflated promises. Just honest answers.
1. Google Ads (formerly Adwords)
We’re coming hard right out of the gate with the number one best way to obtain more moving quote requests. Google can generate a great return for moving company ads, if they’re created correctly. Google pay per click ads can drive movers leads on a steady and consistent basis.
There is a staggering amount of competition between moving company ads. Many of the companies you’ll be advertising against have some seriously deep pockets. Hiring an experienced Google Ads manager for your pay per click campaign can get your moving company ads placed on the front page right next to the big dogs.
Google Ads for movers provides many options to target the exact audience you want. You can focus on specific zip codes, income levels, age groups, even the type of device the customer is searching on. Plus, budgets can be lowered and raised in real time, based on the need for more business.
If you’re interested in professional assistance, Border West would be happy to provide specific costs/return based on your company location, size of your business, and budget. Click our quote form if you’d like more information.
2. Google Maps
Let’s face it, Google has taken over a large portion of the internet. Where people used to look up a service provider in the Yellow Pages, now they pull out their phone and type it into Maps. Google Maps, in combination with Google My Business, has become a gigantic registry of businesses all over the world. They also pack in business information, customer reviews, photos, and exact directions.
Google Maps is one of the best places to advertise moving company offers and deals. Any new postings will show up in your business information, putting them directly in front of local customers. Google Maps also provides an option to buy display ads to make your business show up first on the Map listings. This can be an excellent source if you want to buy moving leads.
One thing to keep in mind is that few local movers put very much time into their Google Business/Maps account. Whether it’s responding to customer reviews or posting photos of moves, staying active on your account can set you apart from other local movers. Making sure information is accurate, getting great reviews, adding local keywords to your business description, and linking to your website are vital if you want to be one of the first companies listed.
3. Social Media
If you’re searching how to advertise a moving company, you can’t ignore Facebook. Social Media has become a powerful and steady force for generating local moving leads. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were once just something kids played with on their phones. Now, you can’t operate a successful business without them.
At Border West, we truly believe that the more places you advertise your business, the more successful it will be. Facebook is great for setting up a business profile page and running local moving company ads. Instagram is perfect for showing pictures of your trucks, crew, and jobs you’ve done. Twitter is one of the best places to advertise moving company updates.
These social media outlets, when used correctly, can provide a steady stream of quote requests for local moves. They’re also a great forum for customers to post comments and you to react in real time. Just be sure to keep your personal and business accounts separate. Potential customers probably don’t want to see photos from your Aunt’s birthday.
Border West provides social media management for local movers at affordable rates. Click our contact page for more information.
4. Movers.com
As an internet marketing company, Border West generally doesn’t work with listing services that only let you buy moving leads. But as a private business looking for more customers, it may be a great idea. Movers.com is exactly that.
The way it works is movers.com has a website where people from all over the US input their location to find a service provider. Companies in that location who are members of movers.com would then be contacted to provide an accurate quote. They would in turn have to pay for the movers lead.
It is still extremely competitive in many larger cities because there are dozens of moving companies in those locales. But, when potential customers search for a mover in those locations, movers.com comes up first. This is because they spend a ridiculous amount of money on SEO and online advertising. This also means that they can be a great way to get more quote requests, but you will pay for them.
5. Home Advisor
Home Advisor is very similar to moving.com in the way they operate. The only real difference is that Home Advisor sells potential jobs to companies in nearly 100 different industries. Comparatively though, Home Advisor is a giant. Moving.com spends around $1 million per month to show up higher on Google. Home Advisor’s budget (see below) is around $35 million per month.
From our experience at Border West, Home Advisor is something many companies use when they’re first starting out. After the company has been established, they’re continue to be listed on Home Advisor. They just rarely accept the offers that come through. For a more thorough description, check out online leads for contractors.
Is Home Advisor one of the best ways to advertise a moving company? In our opinion, not really. Can they be a good source to buy moving leads? Sure. There’s a reason they’re one of the biggest companies in the home services and repair industries. Someone must be using them.
6. Bing Ads-Microsoft Ads
Bing is Microsoft’s search engine, in case your’re one of the many people who only use Google. As huge as Microsoft is due to being the go-to operating system for decades, Bing has been underwhelming. Still though, there are many people who still use Bing for internet searches, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.
Pretty much any computer that isn’t a Mac or Chromebook, is going to have Microsoft already installed. All of those Microsoft computers have Internet Explorer and Bing set up as defaults. Many people who aren’t very tech savvy just use Bing because it’s there. By default, many of them are older people, who most likely are homeowners. These are also the type that would be likely to hire a moving company.
That was a very long way to say, that in our experience, Bing users fit right into the perfect demographics for movers ads. Also, with Bing you can buy moving leads for a fraction of the cost of Google Ads. And if you’re already using Google Ads to advertise your moving company, you can import that account to Bing Ads fairly easily. So easy in fact, Border West doesn’t charge anything to manage a Bing account for any client that we’re managing a Google Ads account for.
7. Property Managers, Realtors, and Apartment Locators
Connecting with realtors for moving leads is something that is suggested often on similar websites to this one. It is great in practice to have as many people referring clients to you as possible. But if it were easy to have realtors and property managers send customers constantly, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog.
Having a realtor refer clients to your moving company is almost as good as someone handing you a check. People generally develop a strong relationship with their realty professional. If they recommend that they use a business, the clients are going to trust the realtor’s recommendation. But how do you make this happen?
I’ve heard businesses sometimes offering realtors money or gift cards for leads. While I definitely don’t have a real estate license, I’m not sure if this is considered unethical for realtors. That doesn’t mean that it never happens.
The way Border West would suggest is for you to find a way to offer the realtors referrals in return. We’ve done multiple projects with people in real estate and similar industries, and they love a good referral just as much as anyone. A great way to accomplish this is create a realtor page on your website for your recommendations, then reach out to realtors asking if they would like to exchange client referrals. Targeted outreach is another service that Border West provides.
8. TV, Radio, Print
Yes, people still use television, radio, and publications to advertise. These may seem like old school methods, but in today’s world they can still be very effective in many industries. If you’re selling a product, your potential customers may not even know that they need or want it. Why would they then be searching the internet for it then?
So, do these type of methods of advertising work to get local moving leads? The answer is, kind of. And the reason is that it’s hard to tell exactly if a tv commercial or a billboard brought in a customer, unless you ask every single one. Even then, if it’s a radio jingle, your ad might have just been in the back of someone’s head when they sold their house. They may not even remember where they heard about you.
The biggest issue with these type of moving company ads is that they provide a service that people are going to seek out only when they need it. Most people don’t move all that often. So what is the likelihood that they’ll remember your newspaper ad or radio spot when they decide to? Probably not high. These forms of advertising can still provide moving leads, but tracking their efficiency is very difficult. With today’s technology, using the internet to advertise a moving company online almost always provides a much better return.
9. Google Local Services for Movers
If you’re not familiar with Google Local Services, it’s probably because it’s not yet available in your location. If it were, you’d be asking why those green boxes are always at the top of searches like “local moving company near me.” Google Local Services claim the top spots on searches with certain industries in select cities.
Basically, Google Local Services for movers are Google pay per click ads on steroids. When a company wants to be included in the program, they must be vetted with background checks, insurance, and required licenses. The companies must also have, or be willing to get, positive Google reviews. Once that happens, and after several weeks of processing, you can get your moving company on Google Local Services listings. That’s when the requests for moving quotes come pouring in.
If you’re interested in getting listed, our Google Local Services page is a great reference explaining the program. It also provides the current cities that Google Local Services for movers are available. Be aware, it’s a popular program and they’re adding new locations every month.
Getting a Google Local Services account can be very time consuming. Border West does setup Google Local Services for movers with most other services we provide, free of charge. That includes web design and maintenance, online advertising, SEO, or social media management. We will do this as a standalone service, for a small fee.
10. Website Search Engine Optimization
I’m not going to go too in depth here, but a well performing moving company website with SEO will be rewarding you with consistent quote requests for years to come. SEO or search engine optimization is basically doing things on your website to make it easier for people to find it (very basic description). If you already have a great website, but it doesn’t get much traffic, learning the foundation of SEO can help immensely. Ahref’s is an amazing resource for SEO. They have a very simple, but extremely helpful guide to basic SEO. Even the basics will put you miles ahead of other moving companies that are managing their own websites.
If you don’t have a mover website, and intend on building your own, that information is even more valuable. It is much easier to build a website with a great SEO foundation, than fix one that is already built poorly. If you’re looking to create your own, there are many free sites that can help, even if you have no prior experience.
I will say that if you’re not experienced, it is fairly difficult to build a moving company website that will perform well. Think of it like this; in your city, there are already maybe dozens of moving websites listed on Google. Your goal is to have yours be as close to the top of the search listings as possible. That means your website has to be better than all or most of the other sites there for that to happen. It’s not impossible, but certainly difficult.
Our personal recommendation: hire an expert. Border West can provide a free quote by contacting us. It’s worth a small investment to ensure your business isn’t suffering for years to come behind a crappy website.
11. Local Listings for Movers
Local listings for movers is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is. They are places where you can list your moving business, where customers can (hopefully) find you. This is a very broad term and can include any thing from the phone book to the local chamber of commerce. Depending on your area, there could be valuable local listing services like local newspaper websites that could be an excellent source of moving leads.
On a larger scale, there are many large databases to locally list your moving company. We’ll list a few of the more popular listing services for movers below:
Bing Places for Business
Very similar to Google My Business. Offers a business listing and a map view. They also have ads available.
YP.com (Yellowpages)
Yep, similar to the good old yellow pages. Even though it may seem outdated, there are still people who use this.
Chamber of Commerce
The Chamber of Commerce in your area will most likely charge a fee to join, but it can be worth it. In addition to getting listed in your local chamber, there are also functions where you can network in person. Also, there’s a national ChamberofCommerce.com where you can get a free listing.
Yelp
Yelp is a free listing service that provides customers the chance to review your business. They also offer advertising options where you can get more listings on their site. (Beware of issues with Yelp’s review system. A quick Google search will show you hundreds of angry business owners).
Manta
Manta is a huge database for businesses that provide listings and advertising. They focus heavily on service based small businesses, and can be a great way to get more moving quote requests.
Yahoo
Yep, they’re still around. Compared to Google, they’re a baby now, but they’re still relevant enough to take the time to list your company.
When listing your business, be absolutely certain that you list it perfectly exact on every single listing! If you don’t, it will hurt your website if you’re trying to optimize it for search. This is important enough that there are several companies that do this for a pretty hefty fee.
12. Word of Mouth
I know it should go without saying, but a personal referral is one of the best leads you’re going to get. It’s often overlooked in today’s digital world, but personal networking is still a powerful tool. Carry business cards, shake hands, and tell everyone you meet that you own a moving company.
This is something that’s easy to forget, and can even seem a little inappropriate. But the truth is, if you own a business that does work that you’re proud of, you should be excited to let people know. Don’t be afraid to ask people for referrals. You never know who just sold their house or got an new job out of state.
How Can A Small Local Mover Afford Google Ads for Moving Leads?
So you’ve got a moving company in town and you’ve been doing well for a couple of years. You started off renting box trucks, then finally bought your own. You found a few ways to bring in moving leads online. Now you’re ready to think about really expanding, and you’re wondering, “Can Google Ads really work for my moving company?”
Generally, at this point, business owners will start doing some research themselves. They’ll search the names of other moving companies in town, then search their own. At the top of every search for movers in their area, they’ll see Google Ads taking the top few spots.
Usually, all the local big name moving companies are dominating the first page of Google search, for ads and just in general. Those guys have dozens of trucks, seen all hours of the day. That’s when movers start asking themselves, what would it cost to compete with big moving companies on Google Ads?
How Much Do Large Moving Companies Spend on Google Ads?
Short answer; a lot.
Online advertising is a great way to get local moving leads for movers. A large corporation can target ads in every major city across the United States and be very successful.
Check out the image below for the monthly Google Ad budget of a moving company you may have heard of:
This is a screenshot of the monthly stats of All My Sons Moving on Google.
While this may not be the easiest to understand, one part should make a lot of sense.
If you look at the bottom right, that’s their monthly AdWords (Google Ads) budget. That number, $376k is what All My Sons is spending per month. That’s $376,000. Every month.
While that number is very intimidating, there are a few important points to take from this:
- That number is spread all over the United States, divided up by many different cities. If you’re a moving company in LA trying to compete on online ads, they’re only spending a small portion of that monthly budget in your city.
- The estimated monthly clicks for that are 47,000. That boils down to an average of $8 per click. Now, assuming that average is the same in your area (it’s probably lower), how many targeted moving leads could you get with your budget?
- The fact that All My Sons is spending that much for pay per click ads every month must tell you something; they work. They may have been around for awhile, but they started out just like everyone else does. Getting a truck and finding some local moving leads.
So, How Can a Small Moving Company Get Leads With Adwords?
Just spend $800 and you’ll get 100 local moving leads, right?
Well, if it were that simple, everyone would be doing it. And that would mean that it wouldn’t work for anyone.
There are several ways that determine how your ads are ranked, that don’t have anything to do with your budget. These are defined by your Quality Score, which we explained in our pay per click page.
A very basic explanation is that Google knows that if the biggest company could just buy all the ad space, they would. Then, any smaller companies simply wouldn’t be able to compete, thus greatly reducing Google’s revenue. By basing ad placement on other factors like:
- What your keywords are
- How often your ad is clicked
- The length of time people stay on your landing page (website) afterwards
- How relevant your actual advertisements are to your business
- How well your advertisements have performed so far
There are many other factors that come into play, but basically, you can still be very effective on AdWords with a very limited budget. If you can get a good Quality Score.
How Can I Get The Most Out of My Google Ad Budget?
Ok, you’ve decided to look into trying to snatch up some of the business from the big corporations. You might not trade on the New York Stock Exchange, but you’re on your way.
What else can I do to make sure I get the most out of my ad budget?
Well, there are actually many other important targeting factors that can seriously help to make sure your advertising is reaching the right audience.
I mean, let’s face it. If you’re business is only showing up on teenager’s iPhones, you’re probably not going to sell a lot of moves.
So, what targeting factors can I adjust to make sure I reach the right audience?
Location
This is obviously the most important factor in making sure that your ads are reaching the right customers. If you operate a moving company in Denver, running advertising in Omaha is going to be a waste of money.
But with targeted ads on Google, you can break it down much more than that.
You are able to target specifics like
- Cities, towns, and municipalities
- Counties
- States
- Specific zip codes
- Specific mile radius from a point (anywhere in a 50 mile circle of Dallas)
Age Group/Gender
I think it’s safe to say that after being in business for a few years, almost any business owner can tell you a lot about their customers. Knowing this can offer some seriously beneficial insight with advertising.
With Google Ads, moving companies can choose which age groups they want to focus their campaigns on. They can also choose men and/or women in those age groups as well, divided into several categories.
This can be helpful for a couple of different ways.
First, if you’re working on a limited budget, you can spend most of all of your money on ages where you can get the best return. In a perfect world, no one would click on your ad unless they were actually wanting your services. Realistically though, If you just run advertising everywhere with no restraint, chances are, you’ll get poor results.
Secondly, and most importantly, is you can create different ads for different age groups. And different ones for men or women.
Imagine you were on the phone with two potential clients. One is a 46 year old woman. The other is a 23 year old man. Would you say the exact same thing to each of them to sell your moving services?
Probably not.
But even if you did, your tone would be different. Targeted age demographics gives you the ability to do just that.
Financial Status
Ok, this isn’t going to be as technical as it might sound.
Google doesn’t have your targeted audiences’ credit reports and tax returns on file. Well, maybe they do, but you’re not getting access to them.
What they do offer is the ability to narrow down a couple of other key factors that can play a big part in who sees your ads.
The first one, homeowner status, can be extremely important to moving companies. Some of our clients want as much business as possible, so they don’t care whether it is a one bedroom apartment, or a five bedroom house. They want it all.
Other moving companies with less time and resources would rather only focus on larger moves. They want big homes with big payouts.
Another part of this equation is being able to target “assumed” income levels. Like I said, this information isn’t from the IRS, but it is fairly accurate.
Maybe you don’t want moving leads from lower income levels. Or maybe you don’t have the equipment and staff to move clients into/out of million dollar homes.
Obviously, if you’re looking for a specific client, these can be helpful in making sure you reach them.
Maybe you want to just hit home runs. You’re going to spend all your budget on 40 and over homeowners who make over $500,000 per year and live in the most affluent areas.
Do four moves per month as a part time job. Doesn’t sound that bad.
Ad Scheduling
Ok, if you really want to maximize your options, scheduling is going to be like working with the big box of crayons.
The amount of options you can create with ad scheduling, combined with the other targeting abilities, are endless.
Since they’re pretty much infinite, I’ll just give a few examples of how ad scheduling can give you full control of your AdWords budget:
- You can increase your budget at the end and beginning of the month, when more people are moving
- You can not show ads at night or other times, when you’re less likely to respond right away
- This is another important factor-If someone reaches out to your company for a quote, how long do you think you have before they reach out to another mover? You need to respond to quote requests quickly
- Show ads targeted to an older crowd during the day because they’re probably not at work
- You can run advertising directed at 20 to 30 year old’s evenings and weekends, when they’re off
- You can slow or pause your campaigns when you get too busy to take on more customers
How Does All This Google Ads Information Help Me Get More Local Moving Leads?
I know, it seems like a lot. That’s because it is. Creating, building, managing, and monitoring an AdWords campaign everyday can be difficult. Full disclosure, this is what my company does for a living.
I’m not going to lie and tell you that you can’t do this on your own. I truly believe that a person can learn how to do anything it they have the desire. Especially, with all the information on the internet.
Hell, with YouTube alone, you could build your own moving truck, build your own computer, then learn how to program it. Running an online advertising campaign would probably be a breeze after that.
The simple fact is, you probably don’t have any desire to spend the time doing any of those things. And even if you did learn how to build a truck, how long would it take you to build one as good as Ford can?
This is how I approach clients with online advertising. And with Google Ads, there’s a lot more at stake than just your time. If you aren’t maximizing your ad budget, you’re wasting money there. Not to mention, all the potential customers you’re losing to other moving companies.
Plus, you could stop wasting your time reading blogs like this, trying to figure out how to run Google Ads for your moving company.
Fill out the form below and we’ll show you how we can bring in reliable moving leads, no matter where you live.
Conclusion
Keeping any business humming with a steady flow of customers is a difficult task. Especially when your business is dependent on people relocating. People only typically move a handful of times in their lives, so even if you do an amazing job, the chances they’ll call you again are slim.
Border West has provided advertising for movers many times and we understand that the business is cyclical, but unpredictable. We know the busy and slow times, and how to manage them both. We hope this post was helpful in creating new ideas to advertise your moving company. And if you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here to offer experienced help. Fill out the simple form below and we can get started. Let us show you how we can steadily keep quote requests popping up in your inbox!
Border West has extensive experience with digital marketing for movers. If you have a moving company that needs a new website, SEO, advertising help, or just more local moving leads, we’re here to help.
And remember, we require no contracts or long term commitments. Just fast results that get more moving quote requests filling your inbox.
