It takes money to make money, right? But every penny is precious, and for growth-minded moving company owners, there are plenty of opportunities to invest across the business—in sales, operations, or your crew, to name a few.
So, why invest your dollars in marketing? And how much should you invest? Let’s take a look.
Why should moving companies invest in marketing?
Data shows that 25% of a moving company’s business comes from word-of-mouth referrals. These referrals are typically high-quality leads with a high booking rate. Which is great! But you can’t grow your business on word-of-mouth alone.
Sadly, less than half of moving companies met their revenue goals last year, and there’s a lot of ground to make up.
That’s why, according to our State of the Moving Industry Report, 40% of moving company owners plan to improve marketing, focusing on these key areas:
- Search engine optimization
- Adding or expanding paid ads
- Improving online presence
- Optimizing current marketing programs
How much should you invest in marketing?
Investing in marketing is key to maximizing your company’s growth and brand awareness. Surprisingly, many moving companies currently spend only a small percentage of their revenue on marketing.
In our State of the Moving Industry Report, we asked moving company owners,
How much is your marketing budget as a percentage of revenue?
- 33% (the most common answer) said 5% or less
- 30% said 6-10%
- 13% said 11-15%
- 13% said more than 15%
- 12% said unsure
So, what’s the sweet spot? Industry experts recommend investing 10-12% of revenue into marketing for growth and brand awareness.
That means most moving companies aren’t investing enough. It's understandable. Many owners struggle to execute and optimize their current marketing programs, so upping the investment feels daunting.
Recognizing the importance of marketing, nearly half of companies are planning to make a change. We asked,
Do you plan to change your marketing investment next year?
- 50% said their investment is staying the same
- 42% plan to increase their investment
- 8% plan to decrease their investment
How to increase marketing ROI
If you’re among the companies planning to invest more in marketing, the first thing you’ll want to know is, Is it working? Am I driving more leads and booking more jobs from my marketing investment?
This is crucial information. If you’re investing a percentage of revenue into marketing, you should expect marketing to return that revenue to the business—generating at least $2 for every $1 you put in.
Marketing ROI depends on many factors, from the quality of your lead sources to the effectiveness of your booking process. It’s a lot to wrap your arms around, but you can’t win until you know your numbers.
There’s where SmartMoving can help. Our profitability platform makes it easy to see marketing ROI and other key metrics with accurate, real-time reports, so you know exactly where your business stands.
Moving company owners can become masters of marketing with key insights at their fingertips, including:
- What marketing source has the best ROI?
- Why are we losing leads?
- Are we closing enough sales?
Armed with this knowledge, you’re ready to maximize your marketing ROI. Not only that, SmartMoving helps streamline your entire business from sales, operations, and crew management to storage, accounting, and payments—all in one place.
Hundreds of top moving companies rely on SmartMoving to power their business, boost profitability, and save valuable time. Book a free demo today!
