The game for a successful pest control startup continues to change. Significant growth was once achieved from one of three expensive options – advertising, acquisitions, or door to door sales programs.
Now savvy pest control startups are growing from methods that cost less than advertising or acquisitions and attract a client base far better than the clients acquired through door to door sales.
But of course results vary from market to market. Which begs a question.
Which markets are best for a pest control startup?
You want a market that gets a lot of internet searches for pest services.
But choosing a market isn’t just about search volume. Searches for a one-time flea treatment in New York City isn’t worth as much as a search for year round pest and termite protection in Texas. So you want to consider the value of the searches in a market.
And then there’s the competition.
You don’t just want to look for demand. You want a market where demand is not oversupplied. Or better yet, you want a market where demand is undersupplied.
We call this the ‘Opportunity Score’.
Calculating The ‘Opportunity Score’
To determine the best places for a pest control start up (defined as ‘Opportunity Score’) we considered each market’s search volume, search value, total value, and competition grade.
Search Volume: Search Volume refers to the quantity of search engine queries performed in a given market.
Search Value: Search Value is the value of a single search query in a given market.
Total Value: Total Value is the product of a market’s Search Volume and Search Value.
Competition Grade: The Competition Grade of a market is the strength of a market’s competition.
Opportunity Score: The Opportunity Score of a market is the Total Value of the market divided by the Competition Grade.
Texas Shows Up Big
No real surprise that Texas showed up big but taking the top three spots is quite impressive. Congrats to those recent startups in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Great markets, especially relative to the strength of the competition.
California Makes A Good Showing
South California has moved up the list the last two years. Both Los Angeles and San Diego made the top five.
The Top Ten List
Pest Clicks calculated the Opportunity Score for every U.S. city with a minimum population of 380,000. Here are the top ten best places for 2017.
*Note: While you want cities with a high search volume, search value and total value rank – the opposite is true for competition rank. A city that is 1st in competition rank means it is the most competitive, not the least competitive. For example, Dallas has a competition rank of 44 – meaning there are 43 markets more competitive than Dallas.
Houston
Search Volume Rank: 1st
Search Value Rank: 6th
Total Value Rank: 1st
Competition Rank: 20th
Opportunity Rank: 1st
#2 Dallas
Search Volume Rank: 4th
Search Value Rank: 8th
Total Value Rank: 4th
Competition Rank: 44th
Opportunity Rank: 2nd
#3 Austin
Search Volume Rank: 2nd
Search Value Rank: 14th
Total Value Grade: 3rd
Competition Rank: 22nd
Opportunity Rank: 3rd
#4 Los Angeles
Search Volume Rank: 9th
Search Value Rank: 3rd
Total Value Rank: 2nd
Competition Rank: 21st
Opportunity Rank: 4th
#5 San Diego
Search Volume Rank: 6th
Search Value Rank: 7th
Total Value Rank: 6th
Competition Rank: 13th
Opportunity Rank: 5th
#6 Atlanta
Search Volume Rank: 4th
Search Value Rank: 9th
Total Value Rank: 7th
Competition Rank: 1oth
Opportunity Rank: 6th
#7 Seattle
Search Volume Rank: 17th
Search Value Rank: 1st
Total Value Rank: 5th
Competition Rank: 6th
Opportunity Rank: 7th
#8 Las Vegas
Search Volume Rank: 7th
Search Value Rank: 22nd
Total Value Rank: 9th
Competition Rank: 32nd
Opportunity Rank: 8th
#9 Charlotte
Search Volume Rank: 14th
Search Value Rank: 10th
Total Value Rank: 11th
Competition Rank: 37th
Opportunity Rank: 9th
#10 Jacksonville
Search Volume Rank: 10th
Search Value Rank: 21st
Total Value Rank: 13th
Competition Rank: 38th
Opportunity Rank: 10th
Conclusion
We want to hear your thoughts, insights, theories, and questions on social media or via email.
Do you think the hurricane and flood damage will increase pest control demand in Houston and Florida? Or will the damage of the storms have a negative impact on these markets?
If you want to know how your market stacks up or compare two markets contact us via our contact form.