Smart50 finalist Pest2Kill’s award-worthy marketing playbook

There’s nothing particularly sexy about pest control. It’s a service most people would rather not need, in a category where many businesses look and sound the same.

I head up marketing at Pest2Kill, one of Sydney’s largest independently owned pest management businesses. We compete with multinationals with far bigger budgets. We won’t win by outspending them, but we can be quicker, more human, and more willing to experiment.

It’s working. We’ve averaged around 35% year-on-year growth over the past four years, now have more than 25,000 customers, and this year were named a 2026 Smart50 finalist in three categories: Marketing, Community Hero and People Power.

Here’s what we’ve learned.

If everyone else looks the same, don’t

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Pest control marketing is predictable: pictures of pests, discounts and variations of “call us today”. Doing the same thing louder won’t make you memorable.

Six years ago, two of our team turned up to Mini-Mos, Australia’s largest children’s fun run, in giant cockroach costumes. That slightly ridiculous idea became our annual Racing Roaches season, taking us from school colour runs to charity fundraisers and even the Today Show.

The same thinking works in B2B. For the past two years we’ve sponsored The Hospitality Cup, a football tournament bringing together more than 30 hospitality groups, a major target market for us. Instead of simply putting our logo on a banner, we created “Beat the Roach”, a penalty shootout against our giant cockroach goalkeeper. It became one of the most talked-about activations of the day, gave us a natural way to engage with decision-makers and helped build relationships that have since resulted in major contracts.

The lesson: Look at how your competitors market themselves, then ask what you could do differently. If you’re paying to be in the room with your target market, give them a reason to interact with you and remember you.

Purpose and growth aren’t separate conversations

Doing something good for your community and growing your business don’t always have to be separate objectives. We created “Bugtacular”, a free educational children’s show led by our in-house entomologist, taking real insects and interactive activities into schools, preschools and women’s and children’s shelters. More than 1,700 children have now taken part.

It gave our team a sense of purpose and let us use our expertise differently, but there’s also a natural business connection. Education is an important target sector for Pest2Kill, so “Bugtacular” helped us build genuine relationships with schools while introducing our brand to hundreds of families.

We’ve seen the same thing through our partnership with Women’s Community Shelters. Over five years, we’ve provided over 60 complimentary pest control services across their network. We’ve now expanded that idea through our Community Partnership Initiative for local government clients, offering free services for vulnerable residents in the communities they serve.

The lesson: Look for the overlap between what your business is good at, what your community genuinely needs, and the people you want to build relationships with. Done well, it can give your team purpose, strengthen relationships and create authentic stories worth sharing.

Look inside your business for the story

Our technicians cross Sydney every day, which means we’re sitting on a huge amount of information about what pests are appearing, where and when. We analysed more than 100,000 pest control services to create the Pest2Kill Pest Trends Report. One standout finding was that spider enquiries increase 5.5 times during spring.

That’s a much better story than another generic “five ways to keep spiders out” article. We pitched the findings directly to media and landed coverage on realestate.com.au and Channel 9, where we brought live spiders into the studio.

Most small businesses don’t have a PR agency, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pitch stories yourself. Find journalists who cover your industry or producers behind relevant TV segments and contact them directly. I’ve pitched through email and LinkedIn. Keep it short, lead with the interesting fact and explain why their audience should care.

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The lesson: Look at the data, expertise and trends already sitting inside your business. What do you know that other people might find surprising? Find the strongest fact, build a simple story around it and don’t be afraid to pitch it yourself.

Creativity needs a commercial engine

Giant cockroaches and TV appearances make people remember us, but they don’t, on their own, make people book us. Behind the fun are the fundamentals: a strong website, Google Business Profiles, local search, reviews, Google Ads, useful content and consistent B2B marketing. We’ve built more than 1,500 five-star Google reviews, while our B2B activity continues to generate opportunities in the sectors we’re targeting.

The parent who sees kids dressed as cockroaches running through Sydney probably doesn’t need pest control that day. Six months later, they might. When they search “pest control near me”, we need to be there with strong reviews, a website that builds confidence and an easy way to book.

The lesson: Don’t choose between brand and performance marketing. Give people a reason to remember you, then make it easy for them to find, trust and choose you when they’re ready.

Boring business, interesting brand

Pest control will probably never be glamorous, and that’s fine. Your industry doesn’t have to be exciting for your brand to be interesting. Smaller businesses may not be able to outspend the biggest players in their category, but we can be quicker, more human, more creative and more willing to try something they wouldn’t. An unsexy business doesn’t have to mean boring marketing.

This article was first published by Business Builders.