Is This Company That Cleans Trash Cans Better At Marketing Than You?

Driving home the other day I saw a van for a company that cleans trash cans.

I had to snap a picture. Check it out:

Now, I had to send this along because this company cleans trash cans - a pretty obscure and seemingly simple business.

I can’t imagine they had a massive marketing budget.

They could have said anything on the side of their van.

And honestly, the designer in me is screaming because it could look so much prettier

BUT - and this is a big but - they got the message right.

Is it clear what problem they solve for people? The picture of the lady with her nose plugged does the trick.

Have they made clear what success looks like? That “before” and “after” shot is very clear.

Did they show me data to establish they had authority to fix my problem? “99.9% of all common micro-organisms gone!” tells me they can handle this. Come on, that’s a lot of percents.

I have two nasty trash cans at home and I honestly can’t stop thinking about calling these guys.

My home waste receptacle woes aside - there are two key takeaways here:

1. Clarity trumps pretty/clever/fancy marketing every time.

Obviously having BOTH is the killer combo - which is why I work we have a full-time designer on the team. Our content team gets you clarity. The design team gets you pretty.

You want both. But if you have to choose, start with clarity.

2. You want to be known for the problem you solve, not the thing you do.

B2B businesses that are known as experts in soling a specific problem get to charge premium rates, are more referable, and make more money.

The ones that keep only talking about their “commitment to customer service and integrity” on their website will struggle. Your customers already assume they will be getting those! Identify specific problems you solve and you’ll begin to pull ahead of the pack no matter what industry you’re in