I’m going to tell you something that might sound crazy: I have friends that own massive companies where yard signs are their number one lead source. Over everything.
Not Facebook ads. Not Google. Not door knocking. Yard signs.
And I’m going to show you exactly how we use them at Pest Badger to plaster entire cities and generate customers on autopilot.
Do Yard Signs Even Work for Pest Control?
I get this question all the time: “Does this still work for pest control or is it mainly for the lawn side?”
Here’s the truth. Most people think of lawn signs as lawn care because that’s traditionally just what you see. But think about it differently.
It’s a service company thing. Think of security signs. Think of HVAC companies. Any other service that you can think of right now that has some sort of sign in the ground.
Those security signs that say “Protected by XYZ Company”? They’re not just there to keep people out. They’re there to brand for the company.
Think of it like that.
Where I Put Yard Signs (Everywhere)
There are a million ways to go about this, but I like to put them everywhere that I possibly can.
Obviously after every single service. If you’re driving down the road and you have crazy route density like we talked about, and every other house or every house has a Pest Badger pink sign, there’s no way that your neighbors didn’t see you.
But I go way beyond that.
The City Plastering Strategy
Two years ago, I made it my mission to plaster my whole city. They don’t love me, but I love doing this.
I’m putting them in boulevards along the highway. I put them in every intersection. I mean, middle of intersections. Every four way stop, which there’s only three in our area, but you get the point.
I am blasting them everywhere. And of course, after every service, we’re putting them in the yard, whether it’s pest control or lawn care.
Here’s a crazy story. I drive to Appleton to our other office, and this guy pulls in behind me at a QuikTrip. We were in our pink shirts.
He’s like, “What do you guys do?”
I was like, “Oh, we do pest control.”
He’s like, “I realized that, but I just went through Neenah and I’ve seen your signs everywhere. And I come down here, here you guys are.”
That’s the power of saturation.
The Funny City Story
So the city ended up calling me. This is a really funny story.
They said, “Hey, you can’t do this.”
I was like, “Okay.”
He’s like, “Well, you can either take them out or we can take them out.”
I’m like, “That sounds fair. You guys can take them out.”
And this is no joke. Hopefully they’re not listening to this, but my cousin works there. He’s like, “Hey, I have all your lawn signs. You want them back?”
So I got them all back.
Making It Fun
I have fun with it too. If you guys have seen my social media, I take my kids out with me for fun on the weekends. We’ll go put them everywhere. Little kids, we just plaster everywhere.
Of course, we have them on all the technicians’ trucks. They’re putting them in after every service.
What Size and Design Works Best
Everyone’s going to ask: what size sign do you put out there?
It’s different, right? You have the herbicide signs that have our Pest Badger logo. But I love the nine by twelve. They’re hard to find, but I love the nine by twelve.
It’s like a paper size, you know? It has our logo, it has our brand on there. It actually has a buggy (our badger mascot) driving a truck.
One says “Got Pest?” with our phone number. Another one says “Got Weeds.” That’s kind of funny, especially because we’re in Michigan where it’s legal.
The “Got Weeds” one has buggy pushing a fertilizer spreader.
Design Elements That Matter
Big lettering. I don’t know the exact size of font, but it’s big lettering. They’re pink. They stand out everywhere.
We’re literally putting them everywhere. From entrances to neighborhoods, four way stops, in the middle of traffic lights. You name it, we’re going to put them there.
It’s like I’m just going to put them out there and then just kind of ask for forgiveness if we get in trouble later.
I’ve never got fined. I’ve never had anyone call and get mad at me.
Do You Ask Customers First?
Everyone’s like, “Well, do you ask your customers?”
No. We just put them out there.
If they don’t want them out there, they’re going to take them out. And when you come back two weeks later, three weeks later, they’re still there.
To this day, I’m not joking, multiple times I hear: “Hey, can I have another sign? I lost my sign. Can you put it back in my yard?”
People love doing it for you, especially if you provide good service and you’re a reputable brand and a cool brand that people want to share.
The Economics Are Insane
It’s a massive win. It’s relatively inexpensive. I don’t know the exact cost, but it’s less than $10 for a sign.
That one sign can generate you one customer per year. Your customer acquisition cost compared to the lifetime value is crazy.
But it’s these small things, the guerrilla style marketing that no one thinks about doing anymore, that works so well. And it’s so easy.
Think Like Other Service Companies
I don’t want to get off topic here, but think of Liberty Tax. They have this big Liberty sign, this statue out there waving you down. And it works. They wouldn’t do it if it didn’t.
What are these things that don’t cost a lot of money that you can do?
Think of grocery stores or parking lots. Could you go put things under their windshield? I’m not telling you what to do. Think of all these things outside the box.
I know A1 Garage Door has stickers that they put right next to garage door openers when they door knock. So when someone has an issue with their garage door, what are they going to do? Call the number on the sticker.
Same thing with the bin wash companies. They have stickers on top of bins. When bins get dirty, they just say, “Oh, my bin’s dirty. I’m going to call this.” It’s right there on top of it.
What are all these free things you can do like that?
All these small things that you can do, this offline marketing that works very well, are kind of similar to lawn signs. Plaster these things everywhere. They’re so cheap.
Like I said, I have friends that are in multi million dollar businesses, massive companies in big markets. Their number one lead source is their lawn signs.
The Yard Sign Design Strategy
Again, they’re kind of like a truck wrap. You’re going to have people that walk by and maybe take a picture, but honestly, they’re just going to Google you.
So we have our phone number just in case they want to call us, but I know they’re not going to call from that. They’re going to Google it.
The QR Code Experiment
We even tested QR codes. Put thousands of them out. I think three got scanned.
That wasn’t worth it. Tens of thousands, actually. And three got scanned.
Let’s put a phone number on there. The phone number actually worked better.
But they wouldn’t dial the phone number from there because they didn’t have a pain point yet. They were just going to Google it.
So how did you hear about us? “Oh, well, we saw the lawn signs.”
Great. You know which community they’re in, right? And again, going back to marketing at its finest, the guerrilla side of marketing, it’s hitting these same neighborhoods over and over and over again.
Keep It Simple
As far as design, there are millions of designs out there. You don’t have to go too crazy with this.
Obviously, use your brand, your colors. Mine has my buggy, the badger, driving a truck. You see a Pest Patrol or Pest Badger truck. He’s driving over a cockroach. You know what we do.
Sounds like the brand is on there. And then you have a pain point.
Super simple. Super direct. It gets that point across.
The Math That Makes It Worth It
If you can go spend eight to twelve dollars and it’s going to generate you, let’s just go with three leads, and they’re high converting because people are reaching out to call you, right?
It’s not like you’re disrupting them. They’re calling you. So you’re probably going to close the majority of these leads.
If you get three customers and you made $3,000 off a $10 yard sign, how many times would you do that over again?
You Have to Track Everything
But again, you have to track these things. You have to have a source code. You have to be using a CRM. I don’t care which one. Just use one that you can track these things.
Tracking Numbers Are Key
Another thing we didn’t really talk about is tracking numbers.
You should have a tracking number on all your marketing, whether that’s door hangers, yard signs, anything like that. A specific number that’s tied to those things so that when they call you, even if your CSR accidentally didn’t ask the source, like “How did you hear about us?”, you already know that you got that call from that source code, from that line.
That’s massive, because most people just think that’s just digital. They’re like, “Well, I’m tracking my website or I’m tracking my Facebook ads.”
You should be tracking your lawn signs, your door signs. You can get a phone number through CallRail or whatever platform to help have phone numbers that track this data.
So every time they call that specific number, you know, “Hey, they’re calling because of a yard sign, yard sign, yard sign,” or door hangers or whatever that may be.
A lot of people might not call that number, but they’re going to Google it and call, and you ask them anyway. So absolutely ask that.
How Long Do You Leave Signs Up?
Everyone’s different. Most people don’t really care.
The law in most places says you have to keep it for 24 hours. Some people don’t want them in their yard.
I’m not going to force them to. They take them out. They usually save them for us, though. When we come back, they hand it back to us.
Some people do toss them. Obviously, the majority don’t. So that just varies yard per yard or house per house and city by city.
Some cities might call you and tell you to take them out. Again, it’s like I’m just going to do it and ask for forgiveness later.
One city said they’re going to fine me a hundred bucks. I got 35 customers that day. I’m not worried about paying the hundred dollar fine.
Why Use Yard Signs for Pest Control
This is old school marketing that still works. All these offline tactics that people have forgotten about are absolute gold mines.
You combine this with your route density strategy, your door hangers, your Every Door Direct Mail, your Facebook ads, all targeting the same neighborhoods, and you create total market saturation.
That’s when the magic happens.
If you want to learn more strategies like this, join our free Facebook group, Pest Control Millionaires. We’ve got over 2,000 active members sharing what’s working right now in their pest control businesses.
And if you want the complete system for dominating your local market, grab a copy of Zip Code Kings. It’s the pest control marketing bible, and it’ll show you exactly how to implement all of these guerrilla marketing tactics together.
Go order 10,000 signs tonight. You won’t regret it.
