Toucan Cleaners is an up-and-coming trashcan cleaning service in Lubbock, Texas. The Founders of the company are in my LinkedIn network, and I’ve been following along with their progress. Since they’re just getting started, I wanted to help them out by creating marketing content for their social media.
Building a Foundation for Marketing
Trashcan cleaning is a specific niche. I needed to start by determining the company’s target audience to know how to market it effectively. I narrowed it down as follows:
- People with disposable income
- People who own or rent a house
- Age group: 30s and older
Next, I needed to figure out how in the world to market trashcan cleaning. It’s kind of a hard thing to market, so I started by looking at what similar companies were doing. Several common marketing tactics for this include:
- Lots of before and after pictures
- Featured clean cans of the week
- Behind the scenes photos
- Focusing on the scary bacteria and pests living in dirty trash cans
The first two are only possible to use in marketing once the service is up and running. Otherwise, I’d be using pictures from other companies, which goes against the company’s core value of transparency.
As for behind-the-scenes photos, you can view how I tackled that here.
Making the Media
At the time of writing this, the company has not yet launched. Per their request, I will not be including any of their official content. For this blog post, I will be using example stock photos to demonstrate what I’ve created.
The Founders of Toucan Cleaners told me they wanted to start with their Instagram account. They also preferred to use a grid of photos to kick off their Instagram content, as it provides more sustenance than a bare-bones single introductory post.
I always thought making a photo grid on Instagram would require a lot of work and precise cropping. Turns out, there’s an app for that!
On both Desktop and Mobile, here’s what the grids look like posted to Instagram:
How it looks on Desktop
How it looks on Mobile
The captions for these photos would all be different.
Here are some examples of what they will say:
“Toucan Cleaners is the only trash can cleaning service in Lubbock! We’re proud to serve the city and maintain the cleanest cans in Raider Land!”
“Did you know we offer power washing, too? There’s so much this bird can do!”
“A dirty trash can is a breeding ground for biohazardous bacteria and germs. Contact us today and we’ll keep the filth away!”
“Want to get the most bang for your buck? Subscribe and pay upfront for 15% off your total subscription!”
“Toucan Cleaners provides service you can count on! We offer monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly subscriptions. If you’re not looking for commitment, we’ll do a one-time cleaning, too!”
“Do you find yourself taking a deep breath and holding it before opening your trash can lid? We’ve all been there. Toucan Cleaners is here to save to the day ✨”
Once Toucan Cleaners has launched, I will work with them on assigning the perfect captions to each post.
Using Humor for Memorable Marketing
Humor is an effective marketing tactic for any age group. I wanted to find funny trashcan videos to make into GIFs. The GIFs I made came from YouTube.
If you’ve never been to west Texas, believe me when I tell you to hold on to your hat! These specific GIFs illustrate something that is so relatable in windy Lubbock, Texas; these trashcans are clearly blowing open by strong winds.
Here are the GIFs I made:
Example caption:
Don’t let the stench hit you in the face 👊 Contact Toucan Cleaners today!
Example caption:
At Toucan Cleaners, we’ll fight the stench so you don’t have to 💪
Creating Instagram Ad Mockups
Next, I put together a couple of ads. I used Canva to create the graphics, then put them into a service called Mediamodifier to create mockup Instagram ads.
Pardon the watermark, here’s how they would look on Instagram:
Caption:
“Toucan Cleaners offers bulk cleaning packages for Homeowner Associations.”
The best way to get Toucan Cleaners’ services into neighborhoods around the city? Homeowner Associations. Providing discounts for bulk service accounts will help them become the city’s preferred trashcan cleaning service.
Caption:
“Toucan Cleaners is proud to protect you and your family from the dangers of a dirty trash can.”
These ads provide an eye-catching way to highlight a couple of key points. The second ad contains an example Toucan logo. I incorporated a tropical color scheme in both ads to align with the branding.
Conclusion
For this little Startup with big potential, I created targeted content for their Instagram account. The nine and six post grids display a larger picture that’s more aesthetically pleasing. In addition, I formatted a couple of memorable GIFs for the enjoyment of viewers. Finally, I generated mockups of what Instagram ads would look like. These are three tactics that are bound to attract new customers and help Toucan Cleaners hit the ground running!
Ves Slone 