The waste management industry has reached unfathomable heights. Every day, the world’s population becomes more addicted to consumption, resulting in massive amounts of waste. These amounts have had alarming impacts on the ecosystem, endangering the planet and posing a threat to natural resources. International organizations send out SOS messages to raise awareness and make the world’s largest consumers more concerned about their environmental impact.

In this context, a new business has begun to show greater promise. Waste businesses are incredibly lucrative nowadays, with profits going toward environmental protection and creating a cleaner future for future generations. However, the general public is still unaware of managing their waste and what steps should be taken to reduce our carbon footprint to a bare minimum. Even though it may appear very simple to market such a well-known company, the reality is slightly different. If you want people to know about you, you still need a solid content marketing strategy along with your overall business growth strategies. This article will address how to commercialize your waste business and raise environmental awareness.

So, how do you market your waste disposal, recycling, hazardous waste disposal, and other services? How do you make people aware that your company exists? Traditionally, you interact with a prospect via email, phone, social media, or an in-person sales visit. You try to persuade your prospects to use your service through that channel. You will eventually gain a satisfied customer. Outbound marketing refers to the traditional process of actively seeking and persuading leads. 

Inbound marketing

Outbound marketing is acceptable. But what if you could use a marketing strategy that brought the lead to you? This is known as inbound marketing. It focuses on creating experiences that pique people’s interest in your company. People will come to your business rather than the other way around to increase brand awareness and credibility.

One of the most important aspects of successful inbound marketing is to provide your audience with content that is relevant, interesting, useful, and engaging to their needs. This can be achieved via the use of content marketing.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on developing, publishing, and disseminating valuable content to a specific audience.

• Attract leads 
• Convert leads to customers
• Promote your base
• Retain brand and customer loyalty
• Create brand awareness and creativity
• Provide relevant information about waste management, advocacies, recycling, and environmental issues
• Engage with an online community of customers, prospects, and environmentalists.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is about “consistently creating and compiling valuable and relevant content to change or enhance consumer behavior.” 

How to market your waste business

Make your brand more powerful

Content can either help you strengthen your brand on the market or completely demolish it. As a result, you must write your texts on the subject and proofread them before publishing them. Furthermore, if you do not have a customized marketing department or do not have the time to create engaging content yourself, you can find some tools to assist you:

• Buzzsumo—If you want to improve your content, you must first determine how well your current content performs. As a result, this tool will help you determine what type of content is trending in your industry and adapt to market updates.
• UpWork— You can find and hire professional writers who can write on any topic while adhering to their clients’ voices and making the content SEO-friendly.
• Grammarly—If you decide to write your content, you must proofread it before publishing. This tool will assist you in correcting any spelling or grammar errors.
• Canva—You’ll need visuals to help your readers better understand your content. Canva assists in the creation of appealing designs for any purpose.

Concentrate on a specialization

To help your waste business grow, focus on a specific niche. Waste management is, in fact, a highly regulated industry.

As a result, providing services to various types of clients is quite complex and expensive. Focusing on a specific market and becoming an industry expert is a better approach. 

Investigate your audience

“Before you begin writing your first posts, you should know to whom you are sending your message. Who exactly do you want to read your content? Do you want to attract those concerned about the environment or those looking for a profitable business idea? Based on your research, you will also find what the perfect tone to use is and how to layout your content to make it easier to read.

It will be easier to create content once you know who your target audience is. Furthermore, because you can touch on the most interesting topics for your prospective customers, it will be easier for you to engage with them and turn them into long-term partners.

Make education your number one priority

Many members of the general public should be more knowledgeable about recycling and waste management than they are. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, for example, the United States recycling rate in 2018 was only about one-third.

This is an excellent opportunity for waste management companies to educate consumers and increase revenue. It is vital to engage the local community. Some possibilities include

• Teach how to dispose of used motor oil properly
• Provide spring cleaning advice
• Host a recycling workshop; and
• Provide a discounted disposal day.

These options are an excellent way to educate the public about your company’s services while also informing them about recycling and proper HHW disposal. 

Make use of keywords

Waste management may be a hot topic right now, but that doesn’t mean it will be easier for your target audience to find your website. As a result, you must rank first in search results. One of the most effective strategies is to conduct keyword research for your topics. This is how you will rank first on search engines and increase your online visibility.

Visuals will not cut short your expectations

Waste management is a difficult subject. Everyone understands the importance of environmental protection, but not everyone understands how serious the situation is. People, on the other hand, respond very well to visuals. This means that using infographics and visuals to impact your audience is one of the best marketing strategies. You will raise awareness about your topic and help your audience understand how they can help the environment.

You can also make videos about serious environmental issues. This is how you can disseminate real information about how the environment is suffering and what you can do to protect it. You can also print your visuals and include them in your presentation map when discussing them with prospective clients and business partners. They will help you develop your image and demonstrate to your readers that you are a professional in your field.

Develop a marketing strategy

Various ones, including the following, can be effective in the waste management market:

• Product development strategy: You can target your marketing to one of several customer groups and the types of waste they generate. For example, your company can provide a variety of services to both residences and businesses. You can also choose from various business groups to determine how to handle their waste management needs. Your company must be aware of industry developments such as new hazardous waste and changes to current environmental laws. 
• Place strategy: It entails devising new methods of waste collection. This includes creating new collection bags at local stores to make it easier for residents to have their HHW picked up. 
• Pricing strategy: This includes a profit-generating strategy for both residential and commercial clients. When there is little local competition, there is more leeway. Another consideration is the revenue generated by the sale of recycled materials and the revenue generated by energy production. This increases profits while decreasing collection costs.
• Promotion strategy: The waste management sector should not only focus on the services it provides but also on how it benefits the environment. Marketing strategies that inspire people to think green can inform them about how your business is making that happen.

It is impossible to achieve much without the use of social media.

In today’s world, social media is incredibly powerful. You will notice people using Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter everywhere you look. As a result, if you want to reach the masses, you must be present on social media.

People need to be more informed about waste management than they are now. As a result, this is the best combination you can find to make people aware of their environmental impact. Use social media to deliver a strong message to your target audience.

Furthermore, people will instantly share any content that they think is interesting and educational for their friends. This will boost your popularity even further and help spread your message to their contact list. When it comes to social media, the golden rule is to keep your content short and interesting. Share your visuals as often as possible, but don’t overthink them.

Finally, whenever you publish a new post, include social media share buttons. It will be easier for your viewing public to share your content on their social media accounts, strengthening your market position.

Add hashtags to marketing content

According to Social Media Week, the first Twitter hashtag inspired by internet relay chat (IRC) was created in August 2007. Today, social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest can be used to market your waste business effectively. Some waste management-related hashtags are:

• #ecofriendly
• #recycle
• #environmental
• #reuse
• #sustainable
• #recyclingservices
• #recycling
• #reducereuserecycle
• #waste

To determine commonly used and generate hashtags, you can use social media marketing software and tools.

Keep a marketing budget

This can help to avoid overspending on marketing expenses while also increasing profit margins. Check your company’s monthly expenses to see how much money you can realistically spend on online marketing, for example.

Meanwhile, please remember that advertising is an investment in your business. When done correctly, it can result in a high return on investment (ROI). And as always, to make sure you have a marketing budget, keep Probill – automated waste management billing software in mind, so you can get paid on time and generate recurring revenue from your clients.

To sum it up

Waste management is a topic that will be debated for many years to come. People must understand how their actions affect the environment and figure out how to improve the situation. Thus, content marketing can be a great way to promote your business, increase profits, do something good for the world, and leave a legacy for our descendants.